{"id":68571,"date":"2021-05-07T17:03:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/?p=68571"},"modified":"2021-05-07T17:03:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T21:03:12","slug":"featured-designer-ponytails-designs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/featured-designer-ponytails-designs\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Designer – Ponytails Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Lovelies!\u00a0 It’s Friday and MAY!\u00a0 Already, I can’t believe it.\u00a0 We hope you’ve been able to find some time to enjoy the weather, if it’s nice in your corner of the world.\u00a0 It’s been pretty chilly here after a couple 80 degrees, we got hit with some gloomy ones in the 50s.\u00a0 Yuck!<\/p>\n

It’s time to introduce our next featured designer, Natasha Kitos<\/a> of Ponytails Designs!\u00a0 As you know, our fabulous designers are celebrating some of our most memorable days in our new A Day To Remember series of kits! Nat’s A Sunshiny Day<\/a> is exactly what we need, April Showers bring May Flowers, isn’t that the way it goes?\u00a0 I have always been a sucker for flowers and foliage in a kit and this one is full of it!\u00a0 Such pretty colors too.\u00a0 \u00a0Let\u2019s take a look!<\/p>\n

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Now that we’ve had a chance to oooh and aaah over A Sunshiny Day<\/a>, it’s time to get to the interview.\u00a0 Don’t you just love learning more about the designers?\u00a0 I know I do!<\/p>\n

We asked Nat questions about herself, her love for this hobby of ours, and some of her favorite layouts or products:<\/div>\n
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1) Walk us through a typical “day in the life” of you!<\/b><\/p>\n

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My days are pretty simple.\u00a0 I get up at 6:30 so I can enjoy a quiet cup of coffee before getting my daughter, Sarah, up at 7 to get ready for school.\u00a0 Then I’m at my computer checking emails, the forum, etc.\u00a0 I generally do 3 or 4 hours of planning or design work through the morning.\u00a0 If I have “real life” things to do, then I’ll usually do that after lunch.\u00a0 This will include running errands, doing barn\u00a0chores (we have two horses), and whatever else needs to be done that day.\u00a0 Then I’m at my computer again until dinner time.\u00a0 After dinner I spend some time with Sarah hanging out or watching a show.\u00a0 Once she’s in bed I may have a glass of wine or two and watch TV until\u00a0midnight or so.\u00a0 I work night shifts two nights a week as a 911 fire dispatcher, so those days I sleep as late as possible before getting up to start the day.\u00a0 Like I said, pretty simple and not very exciting!\u00a0 Basically, I spent the majority of my free time in front of my computer doing something related to scrapping, since it’s not only my work, it’s also my favorite hobby and my passion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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2) How has the industry changed since you first became a digital scrapbooker or\u00a0<\/b>designer? How has your style changed? Can you share one of your first previews\u00a0<\/b>so we can see how far you’ve come?<\/b><\/div>\n
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Oh my, things are so very different now from when I started, and in a good way!\u00a0 I think the skill level throughout the industry has improved immensely.\u00a0 The quality of product out there now is so amazing compared to where it used to be, both from a personal use perspective as well as in commercial use.\u00a0 As far as my personal style goes, I’ve changed over time from the cutesy\/themey type of kit to a more sophisticated style.\u00a0 I’m much more focused on color and overall feeling.\u00a0 I try very hard to include items that will work together well and cluster nicely.\u00a0 (I’m big on the clusters in my personal scrapping!)\u00a0 I’ve also started adding more depth in my papers, as well as messier items in general.\u00a0 I think these types of things balance out the prettier aspects of any kit.<\/div>\n
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This is one of my earliest kits created in the fall of 2012, a few months after I started designing.\u00a0 I remember at the time being so thrilled with it, but now it just makes me cringe!\u00a0 LOL!<\/div>\n
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3) What kit are you most proud of creating in the last year? Why?<\/b><\/div>\n
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I think my favorite is my Free Spirit collection.\u00a0 I just love everything about it.\u00a0 The message speaks to my heart, and the purples and golds are so gorgeous together!\u00a0 It’s a perfect blend of Boho and glam.<\/div>\n
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4)\u00a0 Is designing your only job, or do you work outside of designing?<\/b><\/div>\n
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As I mentioned above, I work night shifts as a fire dispatcher at our local 911 centre.\u00a0 It’s a challenging and rewarding job which has allowed\u00a0me a\u00a0glimpse of the best and worst of humanity,\u00a0which has definitely taken a toll.\u00a0 Now I generally work only two nights a week, which is plenty as I’m not getting any younger and those 12 hour night shifts are getting harder.\u00a0 It’s one of those jobs where you’re paid for what\u00a0could<\/i>\u00a0happen, so my shifts can range from sitting for hours with nothing to do\u00a0but read or crochet, to being so busy that I don’t have time to even go to the bathroom, let alone eat!\u00a0 After almost 18 years on the job, I’ve dispatched calls for just about everything you can imagine… from babies being born to the Olympics to plane crashes to massive dock fires.<\/div>\n
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Here’s a page I created years ago that commemorated one of my biggest fires to date.\u00a0 It was a bog fire that lasted weeks, but I was working the day it started and man, was that a day!<\/div>\n
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5) If you could visit anywhere (anyone), where would you go \/ who would you see
\nand why?<\/b><\/div>\n
My answer to this question is definitely different now than it would have been a year or two ago, but I’d say without a doubt I’d visit my daughter and son, both of whom live in the Seattle area.\u00a0 I’m in Canada and the borders have been closed, so I haven’t seen them in over a year now, which would have been inconceivable to me before this whole pandemic.\u00a0 I long to give them both a great, big hug!!!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"Now let\u2019s see A Sunshiny Day in action!\u00a0 \u00a0Here are a few layouts from our talented staff!\u00a0 First up, Nat scrapped with her own kit!\u00a0 We just adore when designers find time to scrap!!<\/p>\n

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With that, go fill up your shopping cart with $10, and A Sunshiny Day<\/a> will be automatically added for FREE! This special offer will only be available through Friday, May 21th when our new releases go live, so don\u2019t delay! And don\u2019t forget to come back next week for a sneak peek at Nat\u2019s Featured Designer 15 sale which will be Tuesday, May 18th! Have a great weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Lovelies!\u00a0 It’s Friday and MAY!\u00a0 Already, I can’t believe it.\u00a0 We hope you’ve been able to find some time to enjoy the weather, if it’s nice in your corner of the world.\u00a0 It’s been pretty chilly here after a couple 80 degrees, we got hit with some gloomy ones in the 50s.\u00a0 Yuck! It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":68575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[209,196,88,204,377,607,588],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68571"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68625,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68571\/revisions\/68625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}