The best part about me is my family! I have been happily married to my teenage sweetheart for almost 24 years. We have a 21 year old daughter, Ashley, who is engaged to be married on New Years Eve of this year. (Makes me sound old, but really I’m not! LOL)

I lived in California my whole life until we made a major life change about 2 ½ years ago and relocated to Nashville Tennessee. It was one of the best decisions we ever made and have been blissfully happy here!

Anyone who knows me knows I am crazy about my nieces and nephews. They are the subjects of a lot of my pages. I have 5 nieces and nephews and another on the way! When one of my nephews was little, he couldn’t say “Aunt Sheri” so it came out “Aunt Re Re” and it just stuck. The next best thing to being a mom is being an aunt!

Why I scrapbook and how I got started:
I have always loved photos and collecting ephemera. For as long as I can remember, I have saved ticket stubs, notes, flowers, etc. I remember wanting my own camera even as a young child. I was always taking pictures. As I grew older, I remember feeling that as I looked at my photos there was always a story behind them that the photo alone couldn’t tell. That is when I began wanting to share the story behind the picture.

A good friend of mine introduced me to scrapbooking probably about 12 years ago. For a long time, I was just so busy that I didn’t have time to really do too much with it other than shop for supplies. It’s just been the past couple of years that I’ve had more time to cultivate my love for scrapbooking and really fill some albums. Now I can’t seem to stop. I have to create something all the time. I’m not a big TV watcher so my time is spent at my craft table.
My current favorite color combo:
I don’t really have one certain color combo as my favorite. I like all colors and try to create using the colors that best match what I’m trying to convey on my layout or project. I do gravitate to black. I love black whether it’s spray, mists or embellishments.
My favorite scrapbooking supply:
Elle’s Studio tags of course! Really, I do like them and use them on everything!

Other than Elle’s though, I think it would have to be my mists. I love them all! Glimmer Mist, Shimmerz, Ranger Color Wash, Luminarte Radiant Rains….I’m not picky! Anything that sprays color. I even love just the good old fashioned spray paint in a can. My family runs when I bring out the sprays…even the dog has been known to have a pink ear a time or two!
Who inspires me:
I am inspired by blogs and websites. I’m always excited when I stumble on a new link or blog that I haven’t seen before. There is so much creativity all around and I am inspired by that.

I have also learned to become very aware of my surroundings. I take inspiration from a lot of store displays, billboards and ads. They’ve already done the hard work…all I have to do is scrap-lift it! I watch their color combination’s too. I have really enjoyed learning about mixing colors that I wouldn’t have normally thought would go together.
My favorite thing about scrapbooking:
My favorite thing is that I get to tell the story behind the photos. I think that is more important than anything else. That’s the reason we all started doing this to begin with, right? I think sometimes it’s too easy to get caught up in the perfectly designed page that we forget about getting the story down. I have to keep reminding myself the stories are the most important thing.
About my scrapspace: Before we moved to Nashville I had a full scrap room all to myself. Well now I don’t have that luxury just yet…I have a little niche off the family room. But I have to say I just love it! It is close to the family when they’re watching tv or hanging out so I’m with them even when I’m scrapping. It’s a much smaller space than I had before but I find that I use my supplies much more instead of just storing them.
Thank you for sharing with us today, Sheri! It was great getting to know more about you! Your mini book is to die for – so awesome how you coordinated everything by color! And, your scrapbook room is beautiful! Love your use of red – so fun! We feel honored to have you apart of this team!

My husband and I have been married 10 wonderful years. We have two fantabulous kids; Lauryn is 7 and Peyton is 4 and a super cool dog named Cody who just turned 10 on the 8th. We live in a small town in Connecticut that is quintessentially “New England”. My husband and I are both from WA state and hope to move back to the Seattle area in the next couple years. You just can’t take the West Coast out of us! We enjoy spending our summers with our families in Western Washington, going to the beach, taking walks, playing with our kids and swimming in the beautiful lakes. While we don’t share the same hobby we are both passionate about ours – mine is papercrafting and his is sports. 🙂

I have galleries at: Two Peas, Flickr, Studio Calico.

I have been fortunate that my work has been selected for publication in Creating Keepsakes, Paper Crafts, Scrapbooks & Cards Today, CARDS Magazine and Scrapbook Trends. In fact I’m on the cover of the September issue of Scrapbook Trends this month! 🙂

What is your current favorite color combo:
Lately it’s been light blue/grey (e.g Hazel from Bazzill) along with naturals – I think because it’s so calming and spa-like – I am really obsessed with all the fabulous lined and grid papers that have come out recently – outside of that I am drawn to bright bold, fun colors

What is your favorite scrapbooking supply: patterned paper
Why do you scrapbook and how did you get started?
I scrapbook because I love to design with paper (I am a graphic designer by profession) and I love documenting my kids’ as they grow. I got started in 2004 when I was invited to a monthly crop from a Close to My Heart consultant-friend but took a break until 2008 after having my son. I have a lot of catching up to do still!
Who inspires you?
Oh, boy that is tough because I draw from so many resources. My go-to favorite designers are Christine Middlecamp, Susan Weinroth, Keisha Campbell, Piradee Talvana (Singapore), Anna-Maria Wolniak (Poland), Kim Watson (S Africa), and Marie-Laure Boisseau (France) to name just a few.
What is your favorite thing about scrapbooking?
What’s NOT to love?! The product. The photos. The artistic expression. The people who I’ve met as a result. Most importantly, is the legacy that I am leaving behind for my kids.
Thank you so much for sharing with us today, Amy, it was so fun getting to know more about you! Also, we love that layout you made – so inspiring! And, that scrapbook room looks amazing! We feel so lucky to have you as a member of our design team!

These were our FAVORITE part of Halloween last year and they were a HUGE hit when the trick-or-treaters came by! We know it’s early, but since we were getting so many requests for them already, we decided to make them available!

Today only, as a fun “launch” special, they are on sale for One Buck Wednesday! That’s right, today only, this download, that includes all 5 bag designs, is $1! You can get them here, at jessicasprague.com! Sale ends at midnight EST!
We are looking forward to an amazing Holiday season! I’ve got to start thinking about my costume 😉
xo, Elle

p.s. Look what was at the grocery store when I went yesterday?! The Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook is here! It is amazing and FULL of awesome ideas! We’ll be trying some out and posting about them! Can’t wait 🙂

Did you see the super cute mini book that Ann-Marie put together for the Inspiration Gallery? She created the envelopes out of tracing paper!!

Here’s a little tutorial she put together for us:

I have recently been loving the idea of creating my own envelopes, thanks to this lovely kit from Paper Source. But I didn’t want my envelopes to be your typical lightweight cardstock – I wanted them to be something different!
So I grabbed my tracing paper (yes, run-of-the-mill tracing paper that I’ve had since…oh, third grade) and created a bunch of the 4Bar size to make into a fun little minibook.
In order to make the “folios” for the pages of the book, fold the flap of Envelope A into its own pocket. Then grab Envelope B and stick that flap into the pocket of Envelope A. This way, you will see the pocket of Envelope A and the front side of Envelope B when the folio is open (as shown above).
Continue to create as many folios as necessary; each folio consisting of two envelopes…
…until you get to the last folio, where you will include 3 envelopes (so the pockets will all be on the inside of the book). Obviously, feel free to customize the amount of envelopes and the way you organize your folios – there are no rules!
Once I had my envelopes in order, I went to town embellishing them (my favorite part!)! When that was complete, I added a strip of AC Fabric Paper to the spine of the folios. (I found that a few drops of hot glue on the fabric strip helps to reinforce the integrity of the binding.) I had SO much fun with this project. Sometimes it’s fun to look around for unusual materials (such as tracing paper) and turn them into something exciting!

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Looks amazing and what a great use for that tracing paper! Thanks Ann-Marie for inspiring us to really get creative and use what we have on hand!

Don’t forget, you can view the inside of Ann-Marie’s mini book in the Inspiration Gallery!

Happy Labor Day! Is everyone having a fun extended weekend? I spent the weekend finalizing our holiday designs 🙂 and making this little mini book shown above! Full reveal coming soon – I promise!

This week we have tons in store – including a sneak peek of our new holiday designs, designer spotlights, tutorials and MORE!

And, we just released a new digital design!
You can get these pennant banners here. They come with a PNG and PDF files, so along with your digital projects, you can print them out at home and use them on your paper projects! Stay tuned for Wednesday, too! We have a Halloween special coming up for One Buck Wednesday 🙂

It’s going to be another great and fun week!
xo, Elle

p.s. Did you see this photo challenge from Becky Higgins? LOVE this idea and plan on making it a habit 🙂
It’s the view from my scrapbook table!

Today only, these fun Vintage Number tags are on sale for only $1 at jessicasprague.com! You can use them in your digital scrapbooking or print them out at home and use them on your paper layouts!
I’m working on a little a project for a fun feature and I’m using the Vintage Number tags to make a mini album! I was super excited when my 7Gypsies mini book covers arrived in the mail because it is almost the same size as these tags! WOOHOO!! It’s going to be perfect 🙂 Full reveal of this mini coming on September 13th with a super fun share that I am beyond excited to be apart of 😉

Stay tuned for tomorrow – we’ve got a fun tutorial coming from our design team member, Valerie!
xo, Elle

p.s. We’ve been getting a lot of inquires about our new holiday items! At this time we do not have an exact date set, but it should be soon! Make sure you are subscribed to our newsletter to be one of the first ones to know about it! Thank you so much for your interest! Love you all soo much!!