Sweet Shoppe Designs – The Sweetest Digital Scrapbooking Site on the Web

Hey everyone I’m excited to bring you one of our blog feature, Sweet Talk, which sheds some light on YOU. Our amazing community members. Once a month we will indulge in some “sweet talk” and have some fun getting to know you all a little bit better.

“When someone tells you a piece of their life, they’re giving you a gift.” – Patrick Rothfuss

We’ll start off with an ice breaker and show off some gorgeous pages then we’ll end the interview with a lightning round of 15 questions to learn some fun, interesting and cool things about a different member of the sweetest spot in town!

This month I’m excited to introduce: Jill (JillW in the forum)

Tell us a bit about yourself. How you came to find digital scrapbooking? Day job, where you live, pets, kids? Give us the tea!!

She says: “Gosh, it feels like years ago now, but one Sunday afternoon in the winter of 2006, I was extremely bored, so as I sat at my desktop PC, I Googled “computer crafts” and a digital scrapbooking site popped up. I was intrigued from the start! I dove right in and downloaded a free software program that afternoon. I remember how overwhelmed I felt. I do recall there were tears (and maybe even a cuss word or two) involved before I finally got the hang of it. I was hooked. I love being able to create beautiful pages to document memories, mementos and events. I hope it brings my family as much joy when they look at the pages and remember moments they may have forgotten, as it did when I created them. I am amazed at how much the industry has grown and evolved over the past seventeen years!”

“I’m happy to say that I no longer have a day job! My husband and I retired in 2021 and it’s the best thing ever! We live on a small parcel of land rural northwestern Illinois in the US; we are pretty far removed from any large cities. Our life style is pretty laid back and relaxed. Our son, daughter-in-law and three grand-kiddos live about 30 minutes from us and we try to spend as much time with them as possible. Emmitt, our new labradoodle grand-puppy joined the family a few weeks ago.”

 

I love our members and I love looking through the different galleries. Jill’s gallery always brings the beauty and the photos take center stage on her pages just like this one:

I love her Jill’s pages and look forward to seeing all of the places she visits and the people she has in her life. Her pages are all about the memories!

 

I asked Jill to choose her favorite pages from her own gallery and she was happy to share these with us:

“I love to create flowery clusters and sometimes everything just flows together perfectly while I?m scrapping and this felt like one of those pages”

“I enjoy mixing and matching designer’s kits. I used three different kits to create this page of our youngest granddaughter and love the way it come out”

“This layout pulls at my heartstrings a little. I loved finding all of the old photos I used and it was wonderful to take time and remember some of my favorite childhood memories”

 

 

Of course Jill has lots more of beautiful pages in her gallery. If you want to see more or leave her a little love in her gallery. I’m sure she would like that.  But this interview isn’t all about her gorgeous creations before we go let’s learn some more about Jill. I gave her a list of questions to choose from and asked her to answer any 15 of her choice.

What type of music are you into?
I listen to music from the 70’s most of the time. We have a pretty extensive LP collection and enjoy breaking out the record player and albums and listening to tunes from that era,

What’s the next place on your travel bucket list?
We will be traveling from Denver, through the Rocky Mountains and into Utah via the Rocky Mountaineer train this fall. We have a trip with the same train line planned through the Canadian Rockies in spring of 2024 and just booked an eastern seaboard / Canada cruise for fall of 2024.

Are you a binge watcher? What’s the last show you binged?
I enjoy binge watching on my laptop while I scrap on my desktop computer. I just finished Sweet Magnolias and previous to that, Virgin River (for the 3rd time). I also enjoy binge watching true crime shows.

What’s your guilty pleasure?
Hands down, ice cream.

Amusement park or National park?
Definitely National Park. National Parks, we’ve been able to visit quite a few since retirement, but have quite a few more on our bucket list to hit.

What is a weird talent you have?
Not sure it’s a true “talent”, but I am ambidextrous, writing and eating with my left hand, using scissors and using a baseball bat, bowling ball, etc with my right.

You have one superpower, what is it?
To take away heartache and sadness or hurt from my family.

What’s your favorite season?
Well, I do love to see the winter snow melt and watch the trees bud and the grass turn green. At the same time, I enjoy the cooler days and nights and changing of the leaves when fall sets in.

Share a pet peeve with us?
Not hearing “thank you” after making a purchase. In my opinion, “Have a great day” is just not the same as “thank you”.

Are you cooking at home or picking up to-go?
We cook at home the majority of the time, and when I say “we”, I mean mostly my hubby! He often times cooks and I clean up the mess afterward!

Is your bed every day?
Yes, it’s the first thing I do each day.

What’s inside of your purse right now?
My wallet, essential oils, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, eye glass cleaner, dental flossers, tissues, sunglasses and probably a coupon or two.

What’s on your desk at work or home?
Besides my large monitor and keyboard, there is a basketful of colorful sticky-note pads, a planner, a bottle of water or cup of coffee and my laptop for streaming and watching movies.

Is there ONE job you’d NEVER do?
Anything in the hands on medical field (God bless those who do)!

What was your first job?
I had just turned 18 and in addition to going to college, decided to take on a full time position with a large company in the area. I started out in Accounts Payable and worked hard over the years, eventually getting a management position. I was with the same company for 42 years.

 

I loved learning more about Jill, I’ve been in the forums with her for a long time and I have enjoyed seeing her pages flourish over the years. Much like her, my hubby is also the cook and I am more than happy to clean up the mess afterward, lol! Jill thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions and share more about you with us. Hope you all enjoyed learning some more about her too. Until next time….keep scrapping. See ya!