Hello there everyone.  It’s Jackie here today with a special edition of Sunday Spotlight.  At the end of June Trixie Scraps welcomed of new group of ladies onto the Trixie Scraps Stars Team (including me) and we wanted to take a moment this month to introduce ourselves to you.

First off, we’ll hear from the three new layout artists on the team: Kassie, Jessica, and Helen S.

So ladies, tell us a little bit about yourselves and what inspires your layouts.
Kassie:  Hey, I’m Kassie and I am addicted to digital scrapping! It all started back in 2006 when I became a mommy to my adorable son, Braden. I wanted to stay home with him, but nap time could get pretty long…So, I started messing around with Photoshop and I fell in love! It became something to just pass the time to my absolute passion! Since then I have welcomed two more wondrful children into the world! Brooklyn who was born in 2006 and Brynlee, born in 2012. I am married to the love of my life and best friend in the world! I just love scrapping all of our wonderful memories together as a family!  I would say templates, others galleries, and kits all inspire my layouts. I love checking out the galleries to see all the fabulous layouts, and templates are pretty much a must for me- I don’t always use them like they are, but it really helps me get the creative juices flowing!
Jessica:  My name is Jessica. I am a military wife and am so lucky to be a SAHM. My passion is digiscrapping and photography. I’ve been scrapping for many years, but when we moved didn’t have room for my paper scrapping supplies. Which led me to digiscrapping, which I completely fell in love with it! Besides scrapping and photography, I love Disney, walking, the beach, movies, spending time with my family and friends and Patriots football! What inspires my layouts? Definately templates! But if I need more inspiration I’d have to say looking through galleries… I love looking at other peoples awesome work. There are so many talented scrappers out there!
Helen S:  I’m a 27 yr old mother and wife. I work in a school for children with Autism. I started digital scrapbooking in 2010 when I wanted to scrapbook my daughters first holiday (Disneyland Paris) she was only 4 months old at the time so I wanted to do a photobook of all the things she did. This is what started my obsession love for digi scrapping.  A few things inspire me, I have been known to like a kit so much I have purposely done something to take a photo to match the kit. I use templates all the time so if I see a template I really love I will be inspired by that to scrap certain photos. And also just photos inspire me, I take thousands of photos through out the year and I want those memories scraped and remember for my little girl.

Nice to get to know you all a little bit better.  So let’s talk favorites now.  What is your favorite Trixie Scraps kit and layout?
Kassie:  My favorite kit changes all the time, but I think my favorite one right now is Rise to It.  Picking a favorite layout is also a tough call, but I think I would have to say my layout using Remembering You.

Jessica:  Oh gosh, there are so many kits that I absolutely love so it’s hard to choose! But if I had to, I’d say Summer on the Boardwalk is ONE of my favs. My favorite Trixie Scraps layout that I have created was this one using Roll With It by North Meets South Studios.

Helen S:  Oh this is a toughie, my favourite is always what is recent so it’s Little Ladybug. I love the colours and the papers are amazing. The elements are just adorable. I will scrap a few pages using this kit.  I do generally love all my LO’s as if I don’t like the way the LO is going as I’m doing it I will bin it and start again so I only end up with pages I truly love and are proud of. Again I’m picking a recent page it’s my page using Little Ladybug.

Next up we also had three ladies come on board as MyMemories Specialists.  Say hello to Helen G, Kim, and Vanda.

Welcome ladies.  We’d love to know a little bit about you and where you get the inspiration for your layouts.
Helen G:  I was born and raised in Indonesia. After getting married, I moved to Ohio with my husband in September 2008. We have 2 girls who are 3,5 years old and few days old (who was just born on Thursday, 9/13 ^_^). We are hoping to move overseas in 2013, God’s willing.  I started scrapbooking since 2008 with paper/traditional scrapbooking. Then in 2011 I fell in love with digital scrapbooking. The very first software I used is MyMemories and then last Christmas my husband got me PSE10 as my Christmas gift. I still have a lot of things to learn using both softwares. I love working with templates. Until now, I love both types of scrapbooking, as they have their own uniqueness.  Besides scrapbooking, I also love exploring and learning how to make cards and some DIY crafts. Spending time with family is my priority and I am a coffee and chocolate lover. My other interests are movies, musics, reading books on my Kindle and traveling/exploring new places.  Templates and kits are the inspirations for my layouts.
Kim:  I am 53 years old and I don’t work except for watching my grandson sometimes which isn’t really a job.  I love crafting.  I quilt, do paper crafts, scrapbooking, etc.  I also love to travel.  A lot of ideas and inspiration for my layouts comes from jumping in and trying new things.  I also love to look at galleries to find different techniques and layouts.
Vanda:  I’m a computer programmer playing at being a stay at home mom after the birth of my second child.  I have to head back to work soon, but I’ve enjoyed staying home this summer spending time with my little girl and scrapping.  When I’m not digiscrapping I really like to knit, spin, and play games of all kinds.  My inspiration for my layouts almost always come from the stories behind my pictures.  I really want to scrap not just the picture, but the whole memory that goes with it.  When I’m scrapping I like to think about the “whole story” not just what the picture captures, and then i go look for the best kit that will help me tell that story.  The word art that comes with a kit often inspires me alot because it might help me tell part of the story that’s not in the picture.  A couple things that I think are different about my layouts is that i almost never use templates, and I almost always do quite a bit of journaling!

Thanks for the introduction ladies!  We’d love to hear more about your favorite Trixie Scraps kit and layout.
Helen G:  It’s a hard question  Sibling are Forever, Sunshine Day and Black Tie Event are my favorites so far. But I like all of her kits.  This is one of my favorite layouts.  I used Sunshine Day for it.

Kim:  So far, I have only had the pleasure of using one Trixie Scraps kit, Sibling are Forever, but I really love it.   I am patiently waiting to use a lot more very soon.  I browse the store often and keep a list of the kits I want to use.  Here’s a favorite layout that I created using that kit.

Vanda:  My favorite Trixie Scraps kit is definitely Just One Kiss.  My favorite layout is a tough one but I think I’m going to have to go with “I Love My Blanket” by rdjrneace using All About Me: The Littles.  I always love layouts that are very different than my own style, and this one is no exception.  Two things I have a hard time with are white space, and clustering, both things this layout does beautifully.  And of course I also love it because it captures a very sweet memory.

And lastly, Shilo and I came on board as new members of the Blog Team.

What are some things we should know about you ladies, and where do your find your inspiration?
Shilo:  I’m a 30 something mother of 5 (Aged 12 down to 2). I’ve lived my whole life in Utah and as a kid had only traveled outside of Utah to go to Idaho and Wyoming. I added a few more states to that after I got married. I’ve been married to my husband for almost 14 years now and I can’t remember or imagine life without him. I have a passion for all things crafty and scrapbookie, in fact I spend more money on crafts and scrapbooking than I do on clothes. My 5 kids give me lots to scrap about and I’m only about 8 years behind in all my scrapbooking. I don’t really like chocolate on it’s own, but I’ll never turn a candy bar down. I hate housework and never seem to be caught up on laundry. I can’t leave the house without my cell phone, but that’s only because it also serves as my mp3 player. I enjoy baking, but hate the cleaning up and the fat it adds to my body. I’m excited to be a part of the TS team and have enjoyed my time so far!  My inspiration usually comes from seeing other layouts in various places online and in magazine. Sometimes just the picture itself will inspire a layout and at times it plain comes down to feelings. I have a super hard time keeping a journal, but I figure my scrapbooking can serve as a journal if I put enough thought and feeling into a page.
Jackie:  I’m 28 years old and originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but recently relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada with my boyfriend. It is gorgeous out here by the ocean and I am loving the city so far.  I live with my boyfriend in a 2 bedroom apartment, with no kids or pets. I have a very large extended family back in Ontario though that I love to scrap about.  I am currently working with an insurance company in their customer service department. With my spare time, I enjoy crafting of many varieties (crochet, knitting, sewing, card making), reading, cooking, and volunteering for a non-profit organization called Destination Imagination (or DI). DI offers programming to students from kindergarten through university that emphasizes the development of creativity, teamwork, and problem solving skills. As a former participant, I know first hand the benefits of the program, and love making it available to kids. Each year in May the Global Finals tournament is held in Knoxville, TN, and I am usually lucky enough to attend as an appraiser. It is amazing the things that kids can come up with and put together completely on their own.  I have been paper scrapping for about 5 years, and digi scrapping for just over 7 months.  I tend to mainly take my layout inspiration from the photos I am scrapping.  Sometimes though, there is a kit that just calls out for me to use it, and in that case it becomes all about finding the perfect photo to use with the kit.

Thanks for letting us get to know a little about you.  What about sharing your favorite Trixie Scraps kit and layout with us?
Shilo:  It used to be All About Me: The Littles , but after last Monday’s release of Little Ladybug – I have a new fave. My nickname growing up was Shilo Bug and it was always associated with Ladybugs.  It’s hard for me to choose a favorite from another person because there are soooo many incredibly talented people out there. Everyone constantly amazes me and I think it’s one reason I enjoy doing Saturday With The Stars so much – it gives me a chance to show love to the team.  So, I feel funny showing off my own work, but here’s my favorite TS layout I’ve done so far, using Apples for Teacher.

Jackie:  The Trixie Scraps kit that I seem to come back to over and over again is Defining Me.  I just love the colors.  I recently got my hands on Rise to It though, and while I haven’t had the chance to create a layout with it yet, I can definitely see it becoming a new favorite.  There are way too many awesome layouts created by others for me to narrow it down to just one favorite, so I’ll share with you my favorite layout that I have created with a Trixie Scraps kit.  I made this layout of my sister for a speed scrap, and I really love the way it turned out.  The colors in the Partini in Paradise kit really make the page pop for me.

Thanks so much to all of you ladies for sharing with us today!

I hope you all enjoyed getting to know the new members of the Trixie Scraps Stars a little better.  You’ll be hearing lots more from them on the blog and seeing their fantastic work in the galleries over the coming months.  Next month we will go back to shining the spotlight on one of our Trixie Scraps fans, so be sure to keep sharing your layouts with us in the gallery.  You never know, we may chose you.

All Trixie Scraps Designs products can be found in the following online stores:
Trixie Scraps Shop * My Memories * Gotta Pixel * Scrapbook Bytes