Getting to Know You: Barb
Hello everyone! Are you ready to travel with me to the sunny state of Florida, USA, for the next interview of one of our dear Designer Digitals friends? I interviewed, Barb, aka Sawdust, and, I think you’re going to enjoy getting to know her better, just as much as I did. She’s one of the many friendly faces we meet in the Designer Digitals Gallery.
Barb, please introduce yourself. We’d like to know more about your family and how you got started creating digital scrapbooks.
I have been married to my husband, Jim, for 45 years. Just for the record, I definitely was a child bride!! LOL We have three children, two sons and a daughter, eight grand children and two great grand children scattered across the states. My husband and I were both born and raised in Ohio, raised our family there and moved to Florida after they were grown.
I was a former paper scrapper… well…really I was a former paper scrapper collector, which I believe a lot of paper scrappers are. I really collected more paper and embellishments than I ever scrapped. I had anything and everything new. I was so busy collecting that I scrapped very little!! I somehow became a regular on the Memory Makers Magazine forum. It was there that I met my very special friend Terry (MIDA78466) We chatted back and forth and then started “PMing” each other. That progressed to daily phone calls…me in Florida, she in Texas!! We still talk daily, once in a while, more than that. It was just one of those relationships that was meant to be, I guess.
Terry made the jump to the dark side! She tried and tried to persuade me to try digi. She said you will love it…and I don’t have anyone to talk digi with! Ugh. I had absolutely no desire to go digi. NONE. She was relentless!! Finally, she bought me an online class!!! Now what could I do? I was stuck for sure. She was sweet enough to get me the class, so I was going to be sweet enough to take it. (She’s was pretty sneaky doing that!) That one class literally changed my life. We just talked about that the other day. She said it was the best money she ever spent…I had to agree!!
That’s a heart warming story, Barb! Have you had the opportunity to meet your good friend, Terry, or any other digital scrappers from Designer Digitals?
Oddly enough, we have only met in person one time!! It was great. We met in Orlando when she had a continuing education class. It was then that both of us met Linda (earlofoxford). I have also been blessed to meet Lynn (grandmalynnie) and her sweet husband, Dick! Everyone on the forum is a special, special person. And, as everyone knows, we probably know each other better, never having met in person, than people who live next door to each other. We are all family here. Thank you Katie and Randy for giving this great gift to us!
What are your favorite subjects to scrap?
My favorite subject to scrap has to be slices of life. I love looking at life from a different perspective than others and scrapping that. I also love scrapping pages for others who don’t scrap at all. They are always so thrilled to see something on a page other than just their picture. I am doing an album for an old friend in Ohio and having a lot of fun with that, especially since it is of her kids that grew up with ours.
Creating scrapbooks for others makes you special, Barb. I think that is a super thoughtful thing to do. What software do you use?
I scrap using CS4 because my daughter is very nice to me!! I learned the basics with that first “gift” class I took and have continued with classes and searched tutorials on the web for new things to learn. There is always something exciting to learn in digi!
Do you have advice for the many new digital scrappers who are increasingly joining the Designer Digitals community?
As far as favorite supplies that I would recommend for beginners, it has to be templates. At first I felt like a lot of beginner digital scrappers that it was cheating to use a template that someone else had made. But I soon got over it. I also would tell beginners to get kits so they have elements and papers to go together until they build their stash, some alphas, of course, and a few flourishes and I personally have to have some loop da loops by Anna Aspnes!
You live in a great state for vacations. Would you recommend some places to visit that you love?
I love living in Florida. I would recommend somewhere air conditioned, LOL! Really, people need to get over the heat issue. It is beautiful here, even in the summer. You get used to the heat. I would say Busch Gardens, Disney, Universal and my favorite to recommend, the Kennedy Space Center. I love that. And be sure to take both tours. The second one, that most don’t take, is really the more fascinating.
I enjoyed a visit to your gallery, Barb. Even though it is very difficult to pick just one layout to highlight, which layout from your gallery do you choose?
My favorite LO would have to be the one of my husband. I wanted to do a LO that told them something about their dad. And this was truly him. So it is my favorite.
Barb’s Favorite Layout
That’s a wonderful tribute to your husband, Barb. Thanks, so much, for taking time to share with us and thanks for being an important part of the Designer Digitals community.
