Getting To Know You: Deanie
Hello friends! It’s my pleasure today to be able to share with everyone a little bit about our dear friend Deanie!
Deanie has been an active member of Designer Digitals since October 2007 and has most definitely been inspiring everyone ever since.
I asked Deanie to tell me a little about her life and here’s what she had to say:
“I’m a Mom to three adult kids, grandmother to four delightful grandpeople and wife of almost forty one years to husband John. We met in college in Tennessee and moved to California after college so he could attend graduate school. Sometime during my first year of teaching I took an Interior Design class and decided to go back to school to do something I really loved. I worked a few days a week until my third child was born and was then a SAHM until she went to school. I loved my job because I could arrange my time so I could be home when the kids came home from school. As my daughter got older she would go with me to the shop and “help”. She was one of the few eight year olds that knew what a damask fabric looked. We’ve lived in California, Georgia, California and Georgia, Arizona and now Georgia again. We moved here to be with our daughter after her husband died in a crash of a small plane in 2004. My guess is that we will stay here until we decide when and where to retire.”
Here are her answers to my interview questions:
1. How did you get started digital scrapbooking? What brought you do Designer Digitals?
During one particularly difficult period my DH shipped me off to my brother’s house for a week of R &R. My sweet SIL is a paper scrapper and told me to come with photos of our first grandchild and we would scrap together. It was fun, but I kept running to the computer to do this or that-and watched my brother edit the photos in Elements. When I got home, I discovered that we already had Elements. I went looking for some information and came across Jessica Sprague’s Computer Tips for Scrapbooking. With that in hand I Googled “digital scrapbooking” and found DD—for which I will be forever grateful!
2. Who or what are your favorite subjects for your scrapbook pages?
The grandchildren, Ava, Johnny, Drew and Noah, are my favorite subjects to photograph and scrap! Since they live on the West Coast and I live on the East Coast, I only get to see them about four times a year so I take a lot of photos when I am with them. Their parents post photos on Phanfare that I use to fill in the gaps between my visits with them. I’m doing better at documenting their lives than I did with my own children!
3. What are three things are your wishlist that you would like to have?
With three grandboys aged, 3, 2, and 1 Katie’s new Little Layette Kit and Supplement paper pack went on my wish list very quickly! Katie’s All Set Alpha, and Jesse’s Bicycle Ride Paper Pack are high on the list, too.
4. Do you plan your pages before you start or do you let the design evolve after you place the photo on the page?
When I am scrapping individual pages for the grandchildren, I usually take my inspiration from the photo and just let things happen on their own. I love using templates as a starting point as well, especially when mojo is in short supply. However, when I make a travel or special occasion book it has to be coordinated throughout. A rule that has helped me with this type of format is one I learned in design school—“unity with variety”.
5. Other than scrapbooking, what are your other interests/hobbies?
Reading is another passion I enjoy. My favorite genre is historic fiction, but lately my reading list has included such things as Half the Sky, Stones into Schools and Mountains to Mountains. These books are incredible stories of how one person, education or a small amount of money can change the awful plight of women and others in the developing world. I am very actively involved at church, from the decorating committee to the one to three year old Bible class. My other great love is architectural history which will be satiated during a “Stately Homes” visit to the UK in the fall.
Since Deanie said she couldn’t choose between any her grandchildren, she chose this layout as one of her favorites (and it just so happens to be one of mine too!):
Thank you Deanie for being such a wonderful part of our community here at Designer Digitals!
-Brittany
