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

Hey everyone, Sweet Talk is back for the final month of 2024. Getting to know YOU, our amazing community members is a wonderful opportunity! Once a month we will indulge in some “sweet talk” and have some fun getting to know you all a little bit better. This final month of 2024 is a fun twist where we get to know one of our amazing Sugarbabes.

“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 our amazing Sugarbabe: HeatherH

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

Hello! I’m Heather (HeatherH in digiland). I have been digital scrapbooking since 2008 and a paper scrapper for about 10 years before that. I discovered digital scrapbooking when I purchased a wide-format printer to use with my paper scrapbooking and there was a CD with it that had freebies and links to a digital scrapbooking site. I slowly started to poke around there and play with some digital supplies and eventually made the switch to digital. I live in a small town in Maine (USA) about an hour’s drive north of Bangor with my husband of 27 years (Paul). We have 2 adult sons, Connor (25) and Ian (21). Connor just purchased his own home and Ian is a junior in college so we will soon be empty nesters! I also work full-time as an x-ray tech at the local hospital.

Answer a few fun questions for us.

1. Give us [3] must haves for the layouts you create? Paints/stamps, String/thread, paper bits.
2. What is your scrapping style? I feel like my style is all over the place but I would consider myself mostly an ‘artsy’ style scrapper.
3. What is your favorite thing to snack on when scrapping? I don’t usually snack while scrapping. Mostly drinking coffee-strong, black, hot. Or a glass of wine on occasion.
4. How do you create so many pages during big events? I’m a slow scrapper so this is definitely a challenge for me. I just try to take it one product at a time and do my best. I always tell myself that I’d rather make fewer pages that I love than a ton of pages that are just ok.
5. As a Babe, do you still have challenges or struggles with scrapping? Definitely! Organization would be at the top of the list. Also, journaling is still a struggle even after so many years of scrapping. I usually do the bare minimum journaling or skip it altogether.
6. What hobbies do you have besides scrapbooking? Scrapbooking is my main hobby but I also enjoy cooking, exercising, making bows/wreaths and reading.
7. What techniques, trends, or products are inspiring you right now? I am very inspired by collage art lately and have a dedicated Pinterest board for inspiration . I love working with ephemera, torn paper bits and random mish mash items.

And of course, we love some Babe inspiration so please share with us your favorite layouts featuring the below & tell us why you chose them:

• •a cool technique
  Not necessarily cool, but I do use this technique quite often when my photos don’t really match the kit I want to use and I don’t want to switch them to black and white:
  In Photoshop:
  Open your photo(s) and several papers from the kit
  With your photo document selected – Image>Adjustments>Match Color
  
  
  A box will pop up – in the source drop-down menu, select one of the papers in the list.
  Play with the sliders until you get something you like
  
  
  I usually try it with a couple different papers and see what I get. This is a sample page where I used this technique. The photo sort of matched the kit but not quite so I gave it some help. This is one of my all-time favorite pages created for an old challenge here at SSD to use dream catchers on a page. It also features one of my favorite subjects-my youngest son who is ridiculously photogenic!
  
  
• •your favorite element(s)
  As mentioned above, I am inspired by collage art and this page is an example that was inspired by it. For this page, I did not use any background paper. The background was created with cards, ephemera and paper bits from the kit. I love this page because it?s fun and unique.
  
  
• •your choice
  This is one of my all-time favorite pages. I love the unique elements and how ‘real’ everything looks. I feel like I did a good job shadowing for realism. It also has a bit of artsy flair and features my other favorite subject, my oldest boy who is also ridiculously photogenic!
  

Before you go, share with us a favorite tip you’ve learned over the years: If you are just getting started with digital scrapbooking, I would definitely advise developing a good system for organizing your stash and photos. Get familiar with ACDsee or some other software that allows you to tag items and photos so they are searchable and easier to find when you need them. I didn’t do this. Don’t be me!

Thank you Heather for sharing with us. Until next time, happy scrapping. xo Kiana