Digital Delights Winner Spotlight: Tonya Sheridan

Congratulations to the five Digital Delights winners who sold the most Studio J layouts from February 1 to March 15! For the next five weeks I will spotlight one of the winners a week to give you the scoop on why they each love Studio J.

This week’s spotlight is Tonya Sheridan! She’s an Executive Manager from Luray, Virginia and a big fan of Studio J. Read Tonya’s answers to these interview questions to learn her tips and tricks for using this online design software.

Q: What do you love most about Studio J?
A: The simplicity!  Or the complexity!  And having the ability to choose which better fits my needs at that particular moment!  I am a mom of three children—ages 5, 6 and 8 and they keep me jumping all the time.  I adore preserving their memories, their moments of shining, and even those everyday moments and Studio J gives me the freedom to do just that!  I encourage my customers to keep a journal of the moments they want to remember, the quirky little things that were said, as well as details when they take their photographs so that when they actually sit down to scrapbook those photographs a month from now, or 6 years from now, they will remember what was so meaningful.  I have done this with my own scrapbooking since I started.  With Studio J, I can journal these right away!  I can attend a baseball game, come home tuck the children in bed and sit right down and scrapbook in the moment—no need to gather materials, etc. just curl up with my laptop and create!  Love, love, love it!  I most definitely still scrapbook traditionally but this addition gives me the freedom to take my time on the traditional layouts and not feel rushed with a weight overhead that I have so much to get caught up on. 

Similarly, one of the projects that I am the most proud of is a “30 Days of Thanksgiving” album that I completed this past Thanksgiving.  Many of my friends were posting each day to Facebook what they were thankful for, and I decided I wanted to create an album filled with my thankfulness: with a layout for each day of the month.  This was an album for me and about me.  Traditionally, I would most likely still be working on this project, but with the help of Studio J, I was able to take an half hour each night and create a beautiful layout  that I was then able to place in an album that I will someday pass down to my children.  This is now one of my most cherished books.

I am also in love with having the ability to create a layout and print duplicates, or personalize for another child!  This again, makes my life so much easier!  I am currently working on a family scrapbook/cookbook and to date, I am making 19 copies.  I started the project several years ago but kept getting lost in how will I create more as children are born?  How do I know if I have purchased enough supplies to create the pages?  How will I afford all of the adhesives?  Studio J answered all of those questions for me!  Now, I can create the layout, print out my 19 copies and save the j-pegs for future births.  To me, Studio J has made the impossible, possible!

In the same sense, Studio J gives me the freedom to create a layout for one child and then personalize the same layout for a second child and I have created two layouts in half the time!  With three children, and a niece that I scrapbook for, my life has become so much easier. I have found this concept to be priceless as this year I became a Daisy Scout Leader.  I wanted to create an album for each of the girls in my troop and Studio J makes that possible.  Following each meeting, I come home and create a layout for the girls.  I then rotate each child into the focal picture and save the layout and continue until I have one layout for each of the Daisies.  I am overwhelmed with excitement to present each Daisy with her personalized book at the last meeting of the year.

I have found Studio J to be a fantastic resource in preserving my children’s artwork, writings, and the stories they want to tell.  What child doesn’t come home with hundreds of papers and pieces of artwork throughout the school year and each one is more precious than the last.  I have discovered that I can scan in the most important ones and whisk them into a Studio J layout for a sampling of their work.  Having been a teacher, I know that the teachers have to use what they have access to, but sometimes the thinner paper tears over time, the papers are heavy, the construction paper ones will most likely will fade over time and the paint flakes or mediums fall off.  By transferring the artwork to Studio J, there is no bulkiness or mess to deal with and my confidence is restored knowing that 15 years from now the art will still be there AND on acid free paper. 

Q: How do you get your customers interested in Studio J?
A: I have been using the 12" x 12" photographs (photographs dropped into the “No Limits”) with my customers as challenges at crops/events.  They have become intrigued with the quality and the price of the larger photographs.

I host weekend crops and at the end of the crops the attendees are always struggling to determine how they will get pictures to one another.  In the fall, I started including three custom made Studio J layouts of the crop to all of the crop participants.  These were received with complete delight!  What better signature on the end of a crop than completed pages that holds the memories of the time together.

I am in the process of introducing a new Studio J Club – the Sassy Digital Diva Club that will provide my customers with monthly Conference Call style classes and a Studio J Jam Session (where locals can come and work together and non-locals can call for assistance) as well as the earning of free rewards as they accumulate their layouts. 

This layout, “Sweet Cheeks” is created with the Express Collection with the title changed.  These are fantastic for beginning scrapbookers and are created with such ease! I am using these in my introduction to Studio J Class.

Other projects that I have used, are taking a photograph (such as the Boy Scouts at their Blue and Gold Dinner), loaded it into Studio J , adding the group name and date, embellishments etc. and then re-printed in the “No Limits” in both the left and right page  as a group photo for the group.  This was received very well by our Boy and Girl Scouts. 

I am now using Studio J to create and print flyers for my business—they show off the high print quality of the layouts, and speak for themselves. 

Thanks so much, Tonya! Check out Facebook for more of Tonya’s great Studio J ideas and tips. If you would like to see more of Tonya’s Studio J artwork, visit her blog. If you would like to shop with Tonya, visit her Online Business Address. Check my blog these next few weeks to hear from more Digital Delights winners about Studio J.