Where do you get your product ideas? Who & what inspires you? Usually I get ideas from my own life and activities. If we take a trip to the beach, a beach kit will pop up soon. If my kids are doing activities, you’re likely to see kits featuring those. I guess most of my inspiration comes from my kids and what they’re doing. I love home design blogs for ideas and inspiration, and I also rely on my CT when looking for new ideas.

How long does it typically take you to design a full kit from concept to delivery? What is your process? I usually start with colors, especially if I have a certain theme in mind. I may browse blogs and websites, sift through magazines and catalogs, and even check out our closets while searching for colors. From there, I usually do solid papers to make sure my colors actually do work. I do a few “basic” patterned papers, then move on to elements, then back to themed patterned papers. The alpha is almost always last.

"This Woman's Work" Kit by Jennifer Fox Designs

What has been your most popular product? This Woman’s Work.

What is your favorite kit and why? My favorite changes all the time, but right now it’s Tomorrow’s Another Day. I just love the soft color palette. This kit was inspired by a tough week and just reminding myself that tomorrow would come. It’s a kit I really connect with.

"Tomorrow's Another Day" Kit by Jennifer Fox Designs

How do you incorporate “real life” scrapbooking into your personal & professional scrapbooking & design work? I try to focus my scrapping around real life. Sure, I create my fair share of “just for fun” pages, but I like my albums to be full of layouts that represent our real lives, both the good times and the bad. I think that transfers over into my design work because I want my kits to be versatile enough for real life scrapping. When designing templates, I always try to make journaling a focus, too, because I think getting those memories down on a page is the most important part of scrapping.

What fills your time when you are NOT scrapbooking? My kids and my husband.  We love to be outside and we love to travel. Both kids are very active in extracurricular activities that are time-consuming, so it seems we’re always busy. There’s rarely a dull moment.

"I've Got a Feeling" Kit by Jennifer Fox Designs

What advice do you have for fellow scrapbookers interested in pursuing the scrapbook product design field? Find a mentor who will help you navigate the design “world.” Ask questions, become really familiar with your program, and don’t be afraid to just play around to see what you come up with. Make sure you enjoy what you’re doing, because if you’re not, it will show in your work.

Anything else you’d like to add? You can also find me in these places:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Jennifer-Fox-Designs/223406264725?ref=nf

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jfoxdesigns

Blog: http://jenniferfoxdesigns.blogspot.com/

Our giveaway contest continues today … for a second chance at winning Jennifer’s great “Won’t You Tell Me Your Name” Kit, take a stroll through her store and find your favorite product created by Jennifer Fox Designs. Then come back here & link us up by clicking on the button below & following the prompts. (Hint: If you have trouble getting the Linky tool to work, try saving the kit image to your desktop & upload from there, then link it to the product page in the store.) Be sure to leave your name with the product link so we’ll know who our winner is! One random winner will be chosen from all comments left on yesterday’s blog post plus all links shared here today as of 10 p.m. tonight. The winner will be announced in tomorrow’s Story Board post.

To get things started, this is one of my favorites…

Kristin Rutten – Get the latest makeup and skincare trends. Visit me, your Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant.

Advertise with Log Your Memory – We offer a variety of economical sponsorship opportunities. Click HERE for more information.

Get the inside scoop, be the first to know about new product releases & get special discounts by subscribing to our new weekly newsletter, the Log Your Memory INSIDER. Delivered directly to your INBOX every Sunday afternoon.

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Name: Jennifer Fox

Username: jenniferfox

Location: North Carolina

Retail Outlets: The Digichick

Please tell us a little about yourself … your family, your background, pets, hobbies, etc… I am a former elementary school teacher turned SAHM. I have two (mostly) darling children who are 7 and 4 years old. I’ve been married for 9 years and to my college sweetheart. We live in North Carolina with our dog, Callie, and our puppy, Max.  I have an obsession with reading and usually have several books going at once. I adore yoga and hate running. I’m a Target junkie and could easily get lost for days in there. I think York Peppermint Patties are really the best food ever and I see no reason not to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – especially when they’re teamed with a great cup of coffee. I scrap compulsively and take more photos of my poor children that I will ever admit. I love college football and pull for my alma mater year after year. I constantly lose things and I’m horrible with names – but I’m kind, caring, and sort of patient and I think that makes up for a lot.

Are you a digital, paper or hybrid scrapper/designer? What do you like most about this method? I’m both a paper and digital scrapper. I started with paper years ago and still love it. I discovered digi about 2 years ago and was instantly addicted. Although I do still paper scrap, most of my pages are now digital…it’s just so much easier for me at this point in my life.

How long have you been a designer & how did you first get started? I’ve been designing for a year. I entered a contest at Funky Playground (after LOTS of pushing from a friend) in the spring of 2009 and actually won a spot in their store. It all began there and I couldn’t be happier.

Is scrapbook product design your full-time job? If not, what else do you do? I don’t consider it my full-time job at this point. Right now, my full-time job is being a stay-a-home mom and all that entails. Once both kids are in school, I certainly hope I can call it my full-time job!

What software & platform do you use in your design work? Do you use any other special tools? I use a PC and design with Photoshop CS3 (though I’m drooling over CS5). I use a Bamboo tablet, too.

Has your design style changed over time? What has influenced this? I think it’s definitely changed. In the beginning I was just learning and so I was all over the place. I still don’t know that I hold true to any one “feel,” but I’m comfortable now with what I do. I think I’m a bit eclectic, but mostly paper inspired. I think I lean in this direction based mostly on my own scrapping preferences and my background as a paper scrapper.

What is your biggest challenge as a scrapbook product designer? It changes almost daily. Sometimes it’s simply making time to design. Sometimes it’s a lack of mojo or creativity and I’ll get in a slump that can last anywhere from hours to weeks. Other times it’s finding a color palette and theme that fit what I have in my going on in my mind. Most often, time is my biggest challenge.

What has been the biggest reward or most fulfilling aspect of being a scrapbook product designer? I think the relationships I’ve formed with scrappers, designers, and my own creative team are the most wonderful reward from all of this. Of course I love designing and seeing people scrap their memories with my products, but I cherish these relationships above the rest.

Come back tomorrow to read the second half of Jennifer’s Q&A. Until then, here’s the brand new release you’ve all been waiting for … the full version of Won’t You Tell Me Your Name created especially for Log Your Memory to coordinate with Logbook Weekly Challenge #29!

"Won't You Tell Me Your Name" Kit by Jennifer Fox

This brand new kit is now available for purchase from Jennifer’s store, but one lucky Log Your Memory blog reader will win the entire kit for FREE in today’s Guest Designer Giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment below and tell us … if you could easily change your name to anything you wanted, would you? And what name would you choose? (Psst… stop by the blog tomorrow for a second chance at winning!)

One random winner will be drawn from all comments received on Monday & Tuesday’s blog posts as of 10 p.m. (Mountain) tomorrow, Tuesday, July 20th. If you’re reading this post via email or in our forum, be sure to return to the blog to leave your comment.

Our winner will be announced in Wednesday’s Story Board post. Good luck!

Kristin Rutten – Get the latest makeup and skincare trends. Visit me, your Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant.

Advertise with Log Your Memory – We offer a variety of economical sponsorship opportunities. Click HERE for more information.

Get the inside scoop, be the first to know about new product releases & get special discounts by subscribing to our new weekly newsletter, the Log Your Memory INSIDER. Delivered directly to your INBOX every Sunday afternoon.

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Anyone who attends these chats, which are now open to everyone, will receive a free layered template from Jennifer just for stopping by, great for use in your Weekly Challenge layouts or any other page you wish. The first of these chats for this month will be next Monday, July 12th, so mark your calendar now so you don’t miss out. (Even though there is no chat scheduled for today, Book Club members will find a free template for this week in the private forum.)

As always, those who complete and post their Monday challenge layouts by noon Mountain/2 p.m. Eastern on Thursday will receive a portion of the brand new digi-kit “Won’t You Tell Me Your Name” created by Jennifer to coordinate with Weekly Challenge #29. Complete all four challenges this month and receive all four pieces, which amounts to getting the complete kit absolutely free! That adds up to more than 100 MB of digital scrapbooking freebies for the kit alone, not to mention the four templates given away in the process!

Everyone is also invited to attend our Guest Designer Template Challenge Chat this Thursday, July 8th at 7 p.m. Mountain/9 p.m. Eastern for an hour of inspiration, a chance to visit with our generous Guest Designer, and you guessed it … a fabulous free layered template to use in the challenge.

To get all this fun started, Jennifer has provided an amazing gift for you today … a freebie download of this wonderful add-on kit below, which gives you a nice little sneak preview of the yet-to-be-released full-sized kit we keep talking about…

Click image to begin download (25.1 MB)

If you like what you see, I hope you’ll also check out Jenn’s store, where you’ll find lots more of her wonderful designs.

Have fun playing with these goodies … I’m sure Jennifer would love to hear from you in a comment below. And hope to see you at the chat!

A Big Thank You …

… to our June Guest Designer Bianca Oldenbeuving, as well as our June Calendar Girl Dawn McFarland! Both provided lots of inspiration and fun for us last month. Please also welcome this month’s lead Calendar Girl, Jennifer Barrette … known on our site as jennbarrette.

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Kristin Rutten – Get the latest makeup and skincare trends. Visit me, your Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant.

The Launch Coach - Free resources to help you promote YOUR products!

Advertise with Log Your Memory – We offer a variety of economical sponsorship opportunities. Click HERE for more information.

Get the inside scoop, be the first to know about new product releases & get special discounts by subscribing to our new weekly newsletter, the Log Your Memory INSIDER. Delivered directly to your INBOX every Sunday afternoon.

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