Hello! I’m here with a new interview with one of our Designer Digitals community members. You know and love her as Jazzmatazz (aka Tracy)!
I invited Tracy to share more of her personal story with us. Here’s how she describes herself:
I am a 50+ year old, homeschooling, digital scrapbook loving, stay-at-home mother to three beautiful children, two dogs, a hedgehog and a Beta fish. I was a Navy brat as a child, and the desire to move every three years still rears it head even now. Though I’ve moved 21 times in my life and lived primarily on the East or West Coast, I have always considered myself a Midwestern gal at heart. I have been a “Jacqueline” of all trades, holding a spectrum of jobs from Target cashier to circuit board manufacturer, from Naval Flight Officer to church newsletter editor, from a drama librarian to a physics and computer science teacher. My love growing up was math and science because I had not one shred of talent for drawing. Like most good things, I came to digital art late in life and have not looked back since.
I also asked Tracy how she happened to become active in the Designer Digitals community?
When I first started digital scrapbooking, I was a “freebie hound”, scouring the internet for digital freebies. I eventually came to realize that the freebies at DD were the absolute best. After I worked up the courage to post my first LO, there was no turning back. I had found my home.
Here are the other questions I asked Tracy and her interesting answers:
1. It’s obvious from your wonderful gallery of layouts that your family, especially your children, are a top priority in your life. How do you also squeeze in time in your busy schedule to scrap your pages and do you have a designated place to scrap?
LOL! I don’t sleep. 
I have always been a night owl; my sweet dh, on the other hand, conks out early. So once the children are in bed (and hubby, too), I have my scrapping time. I’m often up until midnight or 1:00 a.m. during the week working on the latest LO. I also try to grab spare moments during homeschool while my ds is working on assignments or a test. Since I am bound heart and soul to my iMac and EHD, I scrap at my desk in the bedroom. (It gets a bit cumbersome to carry around. Fortunately, at night, dh can sleep through my clickety-clacking on the keyboard and I work well in the dark ... uh, literally, not figuratively.
2. What drew you to begin scrapping digitally and how did you go about learning and perfecting the techniques you use on your pages?
I was a HORRIBLY slow paper scrapper. It would take me days and days just to do one LO because I would keep taking it apart to try different papers or different photo positions. When I first was introduced to digital scrapbooking, I was immediately drawn to the ease and speed with which I could explore different takes on a layout. I also loved the fact that it was not a destructive process for my photos. Add to that the fact that I could reuse those digital resources over and over again without using them up and easily change their color to add variety ... I was hooked!
Whatever I’ve learned in digital scrapbooking has been primarily through play and experimentation. I’m a “trial and error” sort of person. I love to see a new technique, take it apart, then try to replicate it on my own. Such an approach makes for some happy accidents. The downside is that I tend to brute force my way through something. I love to tackle “discovering” the technique on my own, but after I’ve found “a way” to get it done, I often buy one of Cassie’s tutorials to see how it can be done more gracefully. As for perfecting a technique, well ... I’ll let you know when I do.
3. Do you plan your scrapbook pages or do you like to wing it and see where your muse takes you when you begin a scrapbook page?
I usually have a vague notion of what I would like the page to look like, but the final LO is more often the result of experimentation and play than any keen initial vision. I’m not the best at visualizing things in my head; I need to see them on paper.
4. I noticed that you created a wonderful tribute album for your mother. Do you have ideas for your next projects and what advice do you have for scrappers who have never put together a special gift album?
One of the projects that has been on my heart of late is the creation of a faith album for my children. I have been struck by how often I document the day-to-day events or thoughts but how little I commit to paper those things that truly mean the most to me. If I can share with my children what I truly believe in life and how I came to those beliefs, as painful as some may be, I believe that will have real value for them as they face similar crossroads in the future. It is so important to me to have my children to know the faith I have and why.
I have done two huge projects in the past year—a tribute album for my mom and the yearbook for my children’s school. My best advice for anyone who wants to undertake such a project is: USE TEMPLATES!! They are a marvelous springboard for design, and they help relieve some of the creative stress.
5. Please share some favorite digitals designs from the DD store with us:
My top “go to” items are Vibe Alpha by Danelle Johnson (Art Warehouse) and any of Katie’s Classic Cardstock papers. I just love the wonderful texture of the cardstock. I also use brads from Pattie Knox’s Brad Bonanza and Anna’s fabulous stitching quite often.
Vibe Alpha by Art Warehouse
Classic Cardstock Paper Packs by Katie Pertiet
Brad Bonanza Kits 1, 2 and 3 by Pattie Knox
Stitched by Anna Kits
Tracy asked her DH to select a favorite layout from her gallery. He did a great job of picking a layout that represents the bold, bright colors Tracy loves.
Photography: Thank You
Here’s the link to Tracy’s gallery at Designer Digitals where you can see more of her fantastic work:
Jazzamatazz Gallery
Tracy, thank you, for your active participation in the forums and the idea gallery at Designer Digtals. I know everyone will benefit from a visit to your gallery and we also benefit from your friendship.
