Q:: How long have you been in this design field?
Mamrotka :: Digital scrapbooking came my way about 3 years ago. From March 2007 I make my own kits and sell them.

Q:: What do you do to promote your products?
Mamrotka :: I promote my products at my blog, Facebook, my private fan forum and DigiShopTalk.
But I really like promote my products at ScrapBird forum because there’s everything: customers and the loyal members.

Q:: What does inspire you as a designer?
Mamrotka :: Everything! I have 2 boys so when I first started, I used to have kit after kit for boys. I’m quite busy with my kids, and the store - it’s a full time job. When I get a chance to design or if something shoots through my head, I sit and write it down first. I think of a name for the kit first and then I design around that name.

Q::I’ve found out many designers who end up opening a store and hosting it for other designers eventually find themselves working on the back scene of the site instead of designing full time. Does this happen to you too? How do you balance these two?
Mamrotka :: I’m usually successful organizing my work (my husband laughs over my shoulder ;). There are days when I have to spend all my time “managing” the store, and I can’t paint even if I want to. But these are rare. Looking at the average day, I can work on the store and after that I have plenty of time to make my kits.

Q::When is this store established and where is it from (country)? Tell us about the planning stage and how long it takes to get it online and serving customers.
Mamrotka :: The shop was established on 1st November 2008. I’m from Poland, the shop itself (servers) are located in France Planning stage: I’ve thought about starting my own shop for some time (maybe 2 months).
After the decision was made, it went fast! 3 days after registering domain the shop was online! First payment was made on the fifth day

Q:: Who helps you manage your store? Do you have any help in the management area?
Mamrotka :: I’m managing the store myself. For technical issues (and translation sometimes I have a husband

Q::Tell us what you have to run the store and design?
Mamrotka :: First of all - my favorite graphics program for making my designs: Painter. Other than that it’s just plain web browser (Firefox), email program and FTP client.
That’s all on my part, my husband uses his set of tools - they are usually white text on black background

Q:: Has your design style evolve? How did you make the transition?
Mamrotka :: Looking at my older kits, I can see the evolution of my style. I like hand-painted kits, designing such kits make me happy – that thing doesn’t change.

Q:: Tell us the process of hand-painted kits? How do you develop it into digital kit? What medium of paint do you use?
Mamrotka :: I paint using graphic tablet on my computer, so it’s instantly digital

Q:: Do you use a camera to capture realistic elements for your kits? How about a scanner?
Mamrotka :: Yes, I use both, but pictures are usually taken by my husband.

Q:: Do your family and friends understand and accept that this is your ‘job’? Mamrotka :: Yes, they accept and keep their finger crossed for my success.

Q:: Do you have any other hobbies?
Mamrotka :: I like mountain biking (but don’t have time for it recently), I like sketching and painting (not only for scrapbooking). Last but not least - I love cats - I’m oppening my own cattery Kocie Wrota*PL (Norwegian Forest Cats)

Q:: What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a digital designer?
Mamrotka :: Give it a go. Take your time in learning. If you like it, you will know its right for you and you will enjoy doing it.