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

Hey everyone, Sweet Talk is back for 2024 with a slightly new format but the same awesome goal. Getting to know 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.

“Getting to know a diverse group of people leads to a better understanding of yourself.” — Alexander Den Heijer

Without further ado let’s dive into this month’s Sweet Talk interview with an amazing community member: tammybean04

Welcome to Sweet Talk, give us a short introduction of yourself/family and how you found digital scrapbooking.

Hey! Hey!

I’m a wife of 20 years, a mama of three adult, young men, which is crazy to me, and a mama to 2 fur babies, one of which is a 2 month old puppy. Yes, I’m a tad bit insane. LOL. I work from home part time as my autistic son’s DSP (direct support provider), so lots of time to scrap.

Speaking of scrapping, I found digital scrapbooking about 12-13 years ago. Before I started scrapping, I made sig tags, which is hilarious because now I can’t make a tag to save my life. I hate making them. Anyway, one of my friends started digital scrapbooking back in the day and she introduced me to it. From there, I was addicted.

As a mom of boys, I grew aggravated that there weren’t many boy kits out there, especially for older boys. So I learned to adapt my pages. I challenged myself to make any theme and color fit my boys, even what would typically be considered girlish. I’m not afraid to add flowers, foliage, and girl colors. In fact, I rock those pages and they generally turn out to be some of my favorite layouts. I show kits can be versatile and don’t need to be scrapped with your traditional gender.

When I’m not taking care of my family and scrapping, you can find me reading. I run a book blog in my spare time. Or at the Farmer’s Market, every Saturday morning.

Answer a few fun questions for us.

1. Give us [3] must haves for the layouts you create? Flowers/foliage (added as one element because I can’t use one without the other), paints, and ribbons. I love to cluster and you’ll always, always see lots of these on my page.
2. When is your prime scrapping time? When the mood strikes. I don’t really have a specific time to scrap. Sometimes it’s while the hubby is watching tv and other times it could be in the morning while drinking coffee. Although lately, I don’t get much scrap time as we have a new puppy. On top of that, my mojo has taken a break and decided to go on vacation.
3. What is your favorite thing to snack on when scrapping? I don’t really snack while scrapping.
4. Go to your gallery, what is the date and title of your very first layout here at SSD?  Just Another Day | May 10, 2010
5. Dig in your stash and show (or tell) us a kit/product from your favorite designer here at SSD and why?  Tracey’s Introvert Collection is one of my favorite kits in the store. I’m a total introvert and this kit fits me to the T. Introverts unite! On top of it feeling like it was made for me, the kit it self is so fun and gorgeous.
   
   1. In honor of our This or That challenge system taking its bow answer a Fast Five This-or-That: (use bold or underline)
      Templates or Freestyle
      Patterns or Solids
      Journaling or Word Strips
      Minimal or Clustered
      Lots of Photos or Photoless

And of course, please share with us your favorite layouts featuring the below & tell us why you chose them:

• a cool technique
  I struggled for the longest time with getting my butterflies to pop off the page, until a very kind designer gave me some advice. Using a premade shadow set I purchased, I alter the ribbon shadow to help pop my butterflies. My shadow is set on Linear burn. Opacity is set to 40. Angle depends on the way the shadows are falling, so either 120 or 45. Distance is 50. Spread is 0. Size is 100. Now these are my settings, and you can adjust yours to how you feel look best.
  
• your favorite element(s)
  I absolutely love to play with bold colors, paints, flowers/foliage, and ribbons. This is one of my favorites, showcasing those elements in gorgeous clusters.
  
• your choice
  I chose this page because it encases two of my loves…artsy and pocket scrapping. I especially love when I can showcase the two together.
  

Before you go, share with us a favorite tip you’ve learned over the years: A tip I would suggest is to never compare yourself to other scrappers. Something I am still working on. Scrap for those who matter and yourself. Everyone’s page is a personal journey. P.s. Don’t be afraid to use flowers on a boy page 

Thanks so much tammybean04 it’s been so much fun learning more about you. Until next time, keep scrapping. xo Kiana