Featured Designer – Fiddle Dee Dee Designs
Happy Friday Sweet Shoppers! How excited are you for the official changing of the seasons on Sunday? Here in North America it will officially be Fall / Autumn as of Sunday. I’m loving the cooler temps and the changing leaves, it is so pretty out there. I hope they last a little while – usually we get a big wind storm at the beginning of October and it takes all the leaves off the trees, so we don’t get to enjoy it for too long.
Today I get to introduce you to our newest Featured Designer, Cheryl Ashcraft of Fiddle Dee Dee Designs. Cheryl is a recent addition to our Sweet Shoppe designer team, and I’m so excited to let you get to know her better, as she’s been a staple in the Digi-scrap world for years now and we love having her here at SSD! I was fortunate enough to meet Cheryl in person in 2012, and I was in awe, it was like meeting royalty. She has so much class and kindness in real life – you can definitely see that come across in everything she does in her online presence too.
Before we find out more about Cheryl, check out this great template set, which is our newest Featured Designer product. It is FREE with any $10 purchase between now and when the new releases go live on Oct. 4th. Adventure Awaits is such a fun, energetic set filled with great layered triangles, painty goodness and spaces for any of your adventurous photos – from adventures outside to adventures on the couch, which is more my style.
Now let’s find out more about Cheryl!
Tell us about your journey with digital scrapbooking… How did you find out about it? Did you start with paper first? How did you get started designing? Where was your first shop? How and when did you end up at Sweet Shoppe Designs?
I started paper scrapbooking in 1996 when I was pregnant with my daughter Olivia. My mother purchased an 8.5 x 11 album kit for me, and I made some really, ahem, unusual color and pattern choices in those first pages. I moved to the 12 x 12 layout size a couple of years after I started. I ended up switching to digital scrapbooking after I read a tutorial about doing a circular photo collage in PSE. I ordered PSE, followed the tutorial and was hooked! I loved being able to customize my photo sizes instead of having to rely on the standard 4 x 6 photos I always got from my photos. The tutorial ended up leading me to some digital scrapbooking websites that I started exploring. My son was very young at the time and into everything, so paper scrapbooking was a chore. I would have to bring everything out and then put it all back in one session. It had gotten to the point that I just didn’t want to scrapbook anymore. When I realized that I could use PSE to scrapbook, I was delighted!
I started making digital layouts in August 2007. I began converting my layouts to templates and opened my first store in February 2010 at The Digichick. I was part of the Creative Team for The Digichick, and a designer that was supposed to have a template guest spot was unable to fulfill the obligation, so I asked if I could provide templates for that month. I was asked to stay on and continue creating as a designer. I moved my store to Scrap Orchard in July 2011 and was there until the store closed in 2015. I opened a store at The Lilypad and was there from January 2016 until August 2024. I’m currently selling my designs right here at my favorite online store, Sweet Shoppe Designs! I’ve been creating layouts for numerous Sweet Shoppe Designers for several years, and am so honored to now be designing alongside them.
How do you define your style? What does that style include? How has your style changed over the years?
I would describe my current style as “full page” or “maximalist.” I love including multiple photos as well as lots of paper pieces, patterned paper, and embellishments. I just let myself add things until I feel the layout is done. My style has definitely changed from a minimalist to a maximalist style. I will still scrap a minimalist or simple layout from time to time, but my go-to, default method of scrapbooking is definitely maximalist!
How do you stay motivated or deal with the loss of mojo?
The best way I stay motivated is simply to scrap layouts. Spending time going through my photos as well as looking through my digital kits really brings my creativity to life. I also love perusing online scrapbooking galleries, magazines, and DIY and home decorating YouTube videos.
Show us a preview for one of your first kits, compared to a recent kit you’re proud of. We want to see how far you’ve come!
Here’s a peek at my very first template set:
I revamped this set for my 10th anniversary and it’s available here at Sweet Shoppe!
Here’s my most recent template set!
Are you an adventurous person? What has been your greatest adventure?
I’m not an adventurous person. I fell when I was at university in 1991 right before my 21st birthday. I ended up having back surgery. The surgery helped me for many years, but after other falls and my degenerative disk disease, severe arthritis, and spinal stenosis, I have suffered with chronic pain.The pain is definitely a deterrent to me going on adventures.
I will still travel from time to time, but it’s a sacrifice as I have to recover for days and sometimes weeks afterwards. But don’t feel sorry for me! We all have different trials and problems, and this just happens to be mine. I am still able to go out to eat, do minimal shopping, visit with family, and do some light cleaning. I also decorate my home, although it takes me weeks to do what I used to be able to complete in a few hours. I have several hobbies and interests that help distract me from the pain. I scrap about my chronic pain as it is a daily part of my life. Making something pretty out of something ugly definitely helps me feel that I am in control of an uncontrollable situation.
Here are a few of my layouts that talk about my struggles with chronic pain:
What’s the last really great book you read or tv show you watched?
I read all kinds of novels, but I do love reading older publications. I had never read any of Herman Wouk’s novels, but I found this book at an estate sale and thought I would try it. Marjorie Morningstar was published in 1955, and then was made into a movie in 1958, starring Gene Kelly and Natalie Wood. It was so interesting to read about a Jewish family and community, and how the morals and values were changing radically even in the 1940’s.
Do you have hobbies other than scrapbooking, photography, or memory keeping? Tell us about them.
I love to read and it’s part of my daily. I read on my phone, Kindle or iPad, but I also love to hold a book in my hands.
These are the books I read in 2019 (a very slow reading year).
This layout is about the books I read in 2021.
This layout is about me spending my 51st birthday just reading and enjoying one of the books in my favorite series – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
I had all the Outlander series in paperback, but I wanted them in hard cover. I made this layout about my wish to get the entire series. My sister saw the layout and made my dream come true by giving me the hardcover set for Christmas!
I even scrap about visiting our local library. Even though I have stacks and stacks of books at home, I still manage to bring home as many as ten books from the library.
I also cross stitch, and I usually manage to stitch for at least an hour per day. In this layout, I documented getting these tapestry needles that are fabulous. They make stitching so smooth.
I worked on this Christmas cross stitch piece from October 27, 2022 to December 13, 2022.
Here’s another cross stitch piece in progress that I scrapped about. I actually just had this piece matted and framed and it’s on my wall at home now!
For a while, I had several projects going. I decided to complete all my unfinished pieces. This one took me from September 2013 until January 2017 to finish.
This is the latest project I finished on Sunday, September 15, 2024, and it’s called Yarn Party. It features cats and yarn. It’s a not-a-such-a-surprise Christmas present for my daughter Olivia (y’all know her as Studio Liv right here at Sweet Shoppe)! I’ve got to wash and press the piece and then Olivia will get to pick out the matting and framing.
I usually doodle, zentangle, or sketch while watching football games if I’m not cross stitching.
What song(s) are playing in the soundtrack of your life?
I usually always listen to Big Band playlists (Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman) while I’m designing. When I’m scrapping, I love to listen to 80’s playlists! I’m not a great singer, but I love to sing along, especially with my favorite 80’s hits!
Cheryl is also a prolific scrapper, as you can tell from all her great pages above.
She recorded her scrapbooking process using the Read To Escape Bundle by Studio Liv and Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs.
She has over 1100 videos on my YouTube channel that record her scrapbooking process. She has multiple playlists, including a playlist for Sweet Shoppe Designs.
Here is the main link to Cheryl’s YouTube channel:
Now check out these great layouts by the SugarBabes with Cheryl’s template set! These are perfect for so many different types of pages!
That’s it for today – come back next Friday to see which 15 products Cheryl has picked for her Featured Designer 15 sale that starts October 1st. You won’t want to miss it! Until then, keep on scrapping!
