What inspired you to create this month's DST Gold Member kit?
I wanted to do something fresh and fun and a bit more on the girly side. It's winter and it's cold. I needed something that was inspired by spring so I could look forward to the things I love: flowers and gorgeous colours! I have two boys, so I usually scrap with boyish kits. Because I have a god-daughter now, I wanted to create something versatile, yet something I could use for her pretty pictures!

What is your favorite part or element of the kit?
I'd have to say my favourite part of the kit is the papers! I love playing with colour and texture, so it was exceedingly fun for me to create. I also love layering papers in my layouts, so I wanted to make sure they all went together well!

Tell us about your family:
I have been married to my husband, Eric, for twelve years and together we have two gorgeous boys. Blake is eleven and Cole is eight. We have a kitty named Cleo and a naughty pug named Stella. We live in southern British Columbia, Canada, in a packet desert located between two lakes. It's gorgeous here and I wouldn't trade it for anything! (Okay, well, maybe Aruba!)

How long have you been designing?
I have been designing since the fall of 2006. Though, technically, before I even discovered there was such a thing as digital scrapbooking, I designed my own backgrounds for my pages.

What program(s) do you use?
I use Photoshop CS4 for the most part. Every now and then, I dip into Photoshop Elements.

What part of designing comes easiest to you (themes, colors, papers, elements)?
The easiest part for me is coming up with the colour palette and making the papers. I love, love, love to create papers!

If you're running low on design mojo, where do you go to kick-start your creativity?
I usually like to take a walk along the lakeshore where there are lots of things to see (from eagles to mountains, plants to blue skies) or I take a trip to Home Depot and peruse the paint section. I also love home decor magazines.

What has been the greatest compliment you have received about your designs?
I always love to hear from my customers and I've had one recently who said she was so happy to discover my work and now is inspired to scrap an album she'd been putting off for emotional reasons. I love that I can inspire someone through my own inspiration. That makes it all completely worth it.

What book are you reading right now?
Right now I am reading Green Kids, Sage Families and Nigel Slater's Toast.

Slippers or barefoot?
Barefoot ninety percent of the time. I think my toes are claustrophobic. I hate not being able to move them around!

Favorite TV show?
It's a toss-up between "Grey's Anatomy," "House" and "Private Practice." Perhaps, since I would love to go to medical school, I love trying to solve the cases on "House" before the characters do.

Where is the farthest you have been from home?
I lived in Germany (Bremen, Berlin) for three months on exchange in high school. That is definitely the furthest away I've been. I LOVED every minute of my time there and would go back in a heartbeat!

What is your favorite quote?
"To laugh often and much. To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. To leave the world a better place. To know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

At the end of the day, how do you want to be remembered?
As someone with passion and compassion, who put family above all else and loved, and was loved.