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: tlowe

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

My husband and I have been together since 1993 when we met in MN. We moved to California in 1998 and got married in 2002. We have two beautiful kids, our daughter Taylor will be 20 and is in college at San Jose State, and Tristan our son, 17 will be graduating in May. They are my why of why I scrapbook. I am also a photographer and I have my own business Trishography that I started in 2011. I focus on families, seniors and sports photography. I was a Creative Memories Unit leader back in 2008, doing paper scrapbooking and in 2009 that’s when I was introduced to digital scrapbooking. I started teaching all my clients how to use our software and I am still using Artisan 5 today. I was on Simple Pleasure Designs creative team since 2013 and only scrapped with her designs because I loved them so much. And then in 2019 she decided to open shop here at Sweet Shoppe Designs. It opened up a whole new world of designers and friends. I love creating for all my teams here.

Answer a few fun questions for us.

1. Give us [3] must haves for the layouts you create? 1. Lots of floral and greenery. 2. Paint, gesso, masks. 3. Lots of Layers. 
2. When is your prime scrapping time? Being able to stay at home, I would say I scrap all during the day. I am on several creative teams here as well as another scrapping community so I keep busy creating.
3. What is your favorite thing to snack on when scrapping? I think I would have to say ice cream since it’s my favorite dessert, but we always have some sort of chips in the house so I would say an everyday snack is chips.
4. Go to your gallery, what is the date and title of your very first layout here at SSD? Feb 4, 2020 It was a spin a lift and I was hooked.
5. Dig in your stash and show (or tell) us a kit/product from your favorite designer here at SSD and why? I love every kit Jennifer at Simple Pleasure Designs has created. Her style is what I look for in other kits…Lots of floral choices, gorgeous artsy papers, fun wordart and personal handdrawn pieces. I have to say her Happy Place bundle is one of my favorites. Living in Southern California and 25 min from Disneyland I have used this kit on so many layouts when the kids were little and we were passholders. She created this collection when she did a family trip to Disneyland. It’s been revamped since she first released it and I love it.
   
6. 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
  Creating a layout from scratch. I love a grungy style layout and layering all that paint
  
• your favorite element(s)
  I love layering lots of flowers and greenery
  
• your choice
  I have a lot of favorite layouts and I couldn’t choose just one so I chose this layout that showcased some of my favorites. Love these page drafts by The Nifty Pixel that make it look like I’m at my desk creating all this.
  

Before you go, share with us a favorite tip you’ve learned over the years: When I was holding scrap crops back in the day, people would say I have so many years of photos to scrap I don’t know where to start and I would tell them start with the current year and work your way back. It gets you started with your creative mojo when you are not worried about doing past years and stressing about how much you have to accomplish.

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