Meet Our July 2011 Featured Designer: Traci Reed

I was inspired by pre-tween girls for this sweet little kit. Right before the attitude hits, when they still love unicorns and rainbows and draw all day? This kit’s for them.

What is your favorite part or element of the kit?

I love the color scheme and the distressing on the papers. I wanted to keep them from being to sugary sweet with a painted on newsprint feel for some of them and distressing on others.

Tell us about your family.

I’ve been married to my husband, Patrick, for seven years this year and we have two little boys, Karsten, who is seven and going into second grade, and Josiah, who is five and going into Kindergarten. Last year, we decided to try one more time for a baby girl and were blessed with Finn, our newest bouncing baby boy! He’s five months old now.

How long have you been designing?

My six-year design-a-versary is in the fall.

What program(s) do you use?

I use Illustrator and Photoshop CS4.

Link us to a layout that you have seen using your work that just left you awestruck.

Sherri is amazing always, but I just love this layout using At The Park from the Summer Staycation Collection by Meghan Mullens and me. It captures so much joy and movement!

What is your most recent finished project?

Meghan and I just finished the HUGE Summer Staycation Collection and I’m so proud of it! Six full kits designed to cover all of the things we do at home during the summer: barbecue, parks, pools, zoo, camping and going to the movies.

How much time do you allocate to designing in a typical week?

On normal weeks, about 20 hours total, spread through the week.

What is the latest you’ve ever stayed up to finish a design or scrap?

Three A.M. …before the baby was born. Now I have trouble staying up past 10:30 P.M.

What book are you reading right now?

I’m rereading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon–my favorite summer reads . And by the time I finish re-reading the series, the new book should be out!

Slippers or barefoot?

Barefoot.

Favorite television show?

We have several. Sons of Anarchy, True Blood, Game of Thrones, Weeds, So You Think You Can Dance, Fringe, Glee, Hell’s Kitchen, Dexter, The Biggest Loser, Boardwalk Empire… It goes on and on. I love my DVR!

Name five of your favorite CDs.

Adele – 21, Eminem – The Eminem Show, Adam Lambert – For Your Entertainment, Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory and Def Leppard – Hysteria.

If you could change one thing about this world, what would it be?

Hate. It think if we could take hate and intolerance out of the world, our problems would be solved.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you make your home?

Well, I’ve never been outside the U.S., but I would love to live in Ireland, France or Greece. Something about these places is magical to me and I would love to at least visit someday.

Which would you pick…more money or more time?

I would pick more money because it would allow me to work a little less and spend more time with my kids. If I picked more time, it would just be more time to work more to make more money.

Which of your accomplishments would your parents be most proud of?

My parents are most proud of the fact that I went back to school when my middle son was only two years old and juggled a full-time school carer with a full-time design business while raising my family and doing all those other things we are required to do as wives and mothers.

At the end of the day, how do you want to be remembered?

I want to be a remembered as a mom who did anything for her kids. I had my first son at nineteen years old and when faced with the decision to go work at Macy’s or take a chance and start a design business to be able to stay home with my son instead, I risked it. Since that day, I’ve worked hard every week to support my family and I’m proud of what I accomplished. I just want my kids to know that everything I did, I did for them.

Traci Reed
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Daydreams and Jellybeans

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