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Hello everyone!!  Brittany here with another community member for you to get to know!

The interview today is with Stephie Long, who you might also know as daughter of our own Janet Long.
I asked Stephie to tell us a little about herself.
I have a close family of 4 sisters and 1 brother. I live in Idaho with my husband and 3-year-old daughter, Eden. It seems like lately all my siblings are moving away from me. After getting my bachelors in choral music education, I taught choir briefly in a high school before deciding to stay home with Eden. I now have a private voice studio in my home. I love teaching, but love being a mom more. I bake a lot of cupcakes and spend too much time playing and making messes in the kitchen.

How did you get started in digital scrapbooking?
I’ve done traditional scrapbooking with my mom ever since I was little. I remember looking through books that included some layouts using early digital scrapbooking techniques. I loved the photo effects and text directly on photos, but I didn’t think I could give up the textures and real elements of traditional scrapbooking. A few years later my sister (Becca) taught me how to scrapbook in Photoshop Elements. Now I can’t hardly stand to do anything the traditional way. Upon finding DD, I realized that I don’t have to sacrifice to use digital scrapbooking.

I love your use of color and your sense of style in your pages… where does your inspiration come from?
My scrapbooking really tends to reflect my decorating style, but I get the most inspiration from challenges and from other scrappers at DD.

What is your scrapping process? Do you start with a photo you want to scrap or with a kit? Do you mix it up a little?
I usually start with a photo to give me inspiration for colors or a theme. My daughter is really funny, so the crazy stories behind her pictures are what motivate and initiate the whole process.

When you aren’t scrapbooking, what other interests and hobbies do you have?
Decorating, crafting, music, baking, blogging, shopping for birthday presents (a guilt-free way to spend money).

What products from the store do you find yourself using over and over again?
Oh, I have lots of favorites! Anna’s stitches, Spot Dots, Little Bits alpha, flossy stitches, Ali’s Hand Drawn Words, Clean and Serene solids, Worn Edges, Nanyang Kit

I also asked her to share a favorite page of hers with us and she chose this beauty of her and her adorable daughter!

Thank you Steph for letting us get to know you a little better! 

This week we are going to think about family reunions.  Be they large or small . . . it is always wonderful to have family close by and sometimes it matters not if we have 50 or 5 people to have a good time and to share fond memories! I have been to reunions of over one hundred people and recently went to a delightful reunion of six girl cousins and my 96 year old aunt! No matter the number . . . they were both wonderful reunions!!  And, both would be wonderful to document as well.

If you have memories and/or photographs of family reunions I would love for you to join me and post your layouts in the Heritage Gallery.  Family reunions are a time of excitement . . . often in the busy world in which we live we don’t write or talk to our extended family often.  We may not see each other until a funeral brings us together.  This is why reunions are such a joy to share.  It is a time to remember the fun things in our own past and to learn more about the history of our families.

My page is a reunion from 1934 where several members from my grandmother’s family met in Alabama.  I cannot imagine just how many hours it took to drive from where my grandmother lived to where the reunion was held . . . it must have been quiet a journey.  I love that they have on their Sunday best . . . and that they are wearing their fabulous hats!  Katie’s little postage stamps with the ladies and their stylish hats were just what I needed to give my page a little “style”!

I used the following products from the Designer Digitals store for my layout:  Across the Meadow Kit,  Classic Cardstock: Natural Beauty,  Clock Parts No. 05,  Collageables No. 02,  Digitally Pressed Petals No. 03,  Exploring Layered Template,  On the Corners Brushes and Stamps No. 01,  Postcard Journalers No. 02,  Posted for Mom Postage Stamps,  Schmeared Blocks No. 02, Vintage Flashcard Words: Love No. 02 &  Whip Stitching No. 01.

I just have to include this quotation from Erma Bombeck . . . she always makes me laugh!  It reminds me of stories that my mother and her five sisters told of their growing up together.

“The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.”

Have a wonderful Labor Day holiday!

Congratulations to conorsmum. Her layout HeritageGmaForever has been selected as the featured layout of the week where she won a $ 5 DesignerDigitals Gift Certificate for product of her choice!

This week’s Adobe Photoshop or Elements tip of the week is now available on video. This weeks tip is on Creating a Line of Circles in Photoshop and Elements.