It's within laughing distance...

I've already laughed till I cried today, all from stories that past attendees of K.I.S.S. Crop-n-Shop Events started telling! I simply can't wait to make more memories with you ladies and believe me I'm ready to laugh till I cry or pee my pants as a fellow scrapper said!

Tonight we meet another new vendor to K.I.S.S. Ronda has been an online friend/business associate for a couple of years however this weekend will be the first time we get to meet in person. I can't wait for you ladies to see her products and I am very excited to meet her in person!!

Let's see what Ronda shared with us:

1. Tell us a little about yourself. I live in Miamisburg, OH right now but I'm in the process of buying a huge Victorian house in Washington Township. It's a rehab so I will have lots to do over the winter but I'm looking forward to working on it. I'm the mom of an awesome white boxer named J.J. and a meaner than average cat named Harley. I also have an adult step-daughter and two grandsons. By day, I'm a computer geek by day and by night (and weekends) a scrapbook business owner. Between the two, it keeps me busy and out of trouble.

2. Tell us a little about your business. Although it was originally my sister's idea, she backed out but I decided to go ahead anyway. My original thought was to have home parties and to provide affordable scrapbook supplies to people but after holding several crops with my friends and having them beg me to do their pages for them, I decided to start designing kits. The kits sold so well that I figured I would change my focus to kits. Although I had one store, when I discovered that the ScrapbookPageKits.com domain was available, I absolutely had to have it so now I have two web stores to manage. Then, a couple of years ago I purchased a Pazzles Inspiration which not only worked for kits but it allowed me to do overlays which are like photo collage mats for scrapbook pages. In the last 3 years, that has rapidly become my most popular item. The unique thing about the overlays is that they can be personalized at the crops while you wait. People LOVE having a sports overlay with their son or daughter's name on it. My newest product to come out is called Scrapbook Graffiti and it's just what it sounds like -- words for your scrapbook. Most of the titles are cut from Best Creation's Glitter cardstock and they all have some sort of graphic. They are the perfect way to add bling to your pages and best of all -- you can get custom glitter titles at the crops! Just stop by and let me know what you need!

3. What three things can you NOT scrap without? Gosh, I would have to say I absolutely HAVE to have one of my cutters, my Cutter Bee Scissors (and a supply of band aids for when I cut myself with them!), and my Tombow Mono Glue. Before I bought my cutters, I would have these really creative ideas for pages but could never come up with a paper piecing design that was easy to do. After learning to use the cutter, all that has changed! My motto now is, if I can dream it, I can cut it! ;) The Cutter Bee scissors are essential -- I use them to cut out detailed designs and pictures from scrapbook paper and photos and to trim up ragged edges on die cuts. They are also excellent for cutting cable ties when you leave your side cutters in the car and you are trying to tear down your booth after a show. The glue is an absolute necessity -- it's the ONLY glue I've found that will glue together die cuts and they won't come apart. A few years ago I tried a different brand and when I realized that a lot of my die cuts for the kits were falling apart within a few days, I immediately switched to Tombow and I'm glad I did.

4. Where do you draw inspiration from? It may sound strange but most of my inspiration comes from the scrapbook paper itself. I can look at a paper pattern and almost immediately get an idea for a layout. Although sometimes my ideas don't work out, most of the time the finished product turns into a beautiful page kit.

5. If you weren’t a scrapbook business owner what would you be? If I weren't a scrapbook business owner and was independently wealthy so that I didn't HAVE to work, I would be a photographer. I love taking pictures of people and nature. I'm not the sort of person to want to pose the person, though -- I prefer the candid shots when you can really see the true person shining through. If I had to work at a job that actually paid enough to live on, I would probably do exactly what I do in my day job -- I'm a computer programmer and database administrator and I truly love my job. Most days.

6. What three things do you usually have/do when scrapping that aren’t scrap related? At least one or two Tootsie Roll pops, music, and someone to entertain the dog. Seems like it never fails -- I get in the middle of doing something and the dog just absolutely MUST have attention...whether he thinks he heard something dangerous outside that he needs to protect me from or truly believes he is going to faint from hunger or just can't live another five minutes without playing, it doesn't matter. I have to stop and give him "Mom" time.

7. Complete the sentence… I am addicted to: Chocolate Tootsie Roll pops. I actually lucked out recently when Big Lots had bags of Tootsie Roll pops that were ALL chocolate and they were really cheap. People looked at me a little strange when I went to the register with 6 bags but who cares...I probably will never see any of those people again so their opinion of me and my addiction doesn't even matter to me. LOL!

8. My most embarrassing moment was: You don't even want to get me started. There have been SOO many of them in my life and most of them involve me sticking my foot in my mouth.

9. My favorite scrapbook moment was: I have a few but probably the best is the scrapbook that I surprised my mother-in-law with a couple of years ago for Christmas. I took her pictures and told her that I was going to scan them in so that my husband could have a copy of them. You should have seen her face when she opened her gift -- she showed that album to everyone who walked through the door for months!

10. I am most proud of:
My daughter. Although I am only her stepmom (and not even legally that anymore since her dad and I divorced), I can truly
say she is the one thing that I have done in my life that I am most proud of. I raised her from the time she was 5 and I look at her now and I can't believe it. She is a single mother raising two boys, ages 15 and 10, and even bought her own house a few years ago. She works at Miami University in the housekeeping department so I know she isn't making a lot of money, but she still manages to put food on the table and pay all her bills without the support of her deadbeat ex-husband.

I hope you've enjoyed getting to meet our vendors this year as we countdown the days to Memory Round Up. We still have a few more days so stay tuned!!