Monday, May 20, 2013

Meet this week's Featured Designer! It's *Crazy-4-Monograms*!!

Good morning and Happy Monday Suite Peeps! It's time to share another of the AMAZING Designers at MyMemories.com with you! This week, I am super excited to introduce (or re-introduce) you to Mistyblue Allen from "Crazy-4-Monograms"! She has some awesome goodies in her shop at MyMemories.com and this week, they are ALL on sale!! Just use PROMO CODE: Crazy30Feature to save 30% on any goodies in the C-4-M shop! Here are some fun things that Mistyblue would like you to know about her:

My real name is Mistyblue Allen. I am a 34 year old stay at home mom of two boys 10 and 3.I lived in Japan for 12 years and worked for Ibaraki University as an assistant to the professor there. I spent a lot of my free time on the computer playing in Photoshop back when it was version 3 LOL, but went on maternity leave and when I was pregnant with my first son I started getting ideas about what to do with the pictures that I would be taking soon as he came along. I had never even heard of scrapbooking back then. But the idea of just plopping pictures into a plain picutre book just seemed so boring to me. So I got online and started looking for ideas to decorate a picture book and came across scrapbooking. Where I lived (very remote countryside) there were no scrapbooking stores or crafts stores that carries scrapbooking items. I started trying to make stuff just using construction paper to see if i could duplicate this or that and it was so much fun that I was on a niche from there. Eventually I started to order things from overseas on ebay and soon had a massive stash. Being that I had a boy I wanted a try at girly stuff. Though the finished stuff was nothing I could use and didnt know anyone over there who was into scrapbooking so I figured I would throw them up on ebay for a buck just so someone could put em to use. These were handmade monograms that I made and what blew my mind was that they not only sold fast but there were bidding wars going for them and requests for more and complete sets. They were fun to make and it would pay for my hobby so I started a little ebay thing for the next 5 years or so till I returned to the US. I had come across digital scrapbooking here and there but the idea never appealed to me as I enjoyed working with my hands too much yet one of the peeves I had was never being able to find what I needed when I needed it. The right elements but the wrong color and so on. I always thought how great would it be if I could just make the stuff myself. At one point a customer from Brazil wanted me to do a few digital projects for her. These were the first monograms to be digitally done. This first file took me almost 4 hours to do. But I was so impressed with how it turned out that I was rather hooked on the challenge. It wasn’t long after that that I completely tossed out the whole paper scrapping. I couldn’t imagine going into that any longer when I could make anything I needed and not have any supply cost. It was awesome! The freedom to create anything you can imagine was perfect for me. I ended up donating everything I had (1000s worth the stuff) to the local childrens hospital craft program since I had not used anything of it in over a year. Dont miss it. Hooked on digi! What I love most about the digital world is the people. I work with so many amazing gals. Karen at Snickerdoodles and Katie at Just So Scrappy have been so dear to me. We met up in Vegas for the digiscrapalooza a few years back and we had become such good friends that we hung out as if we did it ever weekend. Amazing gals in this industry. It really restores your faith in people and the goodness still out there.

Here's just a *FEW* of the amazing goodies you will find in her shop - check them ALL out!

Be sure to comment below and tell her YOUR favorite kit! She is giving away a fun little goodies to TEN LUCKY DUCKS!! So... comment below to enter today!! Winners posted next Monday here on the MyMemories blog!

Here are the Lucky Ducks from last week's awesome giveaway! If you are Marianne Barkman or Laurie K - please send me an email, I have some good news for you! EMAIL: LisaJ@MyMemories.com!

Hard to choose a favorite when a designer has so many options and types. I was thrilled to find the Boy Scout Word Art. Kitchen Helpers is terrific! Who Sang It touched my heart and I'm hoping for more to come - particularly since that one is 'number 1.' Puddle Jumpers is adorable. Love her work and now really glad to hear how she came to this addictive hobby.

This is so hard to choose just one kits as a favorite :). This is my most favorite kits : So Eggcited Combo Pack (it is so cute and spring like and I love spring), Schools Out Combo Pack (cause I have a lot of my graduation photo which I didn't scrap yet), Kitchen Helpers Combo Pack (I love to cook and love this kit LOL). Thanks for the chance !

I would love to get the Ice Ice Baby kit! We had so much snow this year and I got lots of pictures. I would love to add a splash of color to our otherwise "WHITE" Winter Wonderland! :) Thanks so much for the chance! :)

So Hard to pick just one!! My current favorite is School's Out. Thanks so much for the chance to win it.

In all seriousness though, I want to publically state how APPRECIATIVE I am of Mistyblue's kits because they contain cute multicultural people. It can be hard to find good inclusive kits that celebrate our children. For making our kids feel truly celebrated, I THANK YOU DEEPLY!! :)