(LemmonCity is located somewhere in cyber-scrapland between Eureka, California and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!)

Online friendships are often only as good as the time and effort you put into them, however, once in awhile you find one that just falls into place. Christie and I met at a pregnancy message board when we were both expecting our now nearly two year olds. I had been scrapping for about two years already, and had posted a thread wondering if anyone was interested, or was scrapping “undercover.” At this time, I was already pulling away from that online community and learning my way around the scrapping communities, just trying to find the right “home.” A few months after that original “Anyone Digital Scrapbooking?” post, I found an email from Christie in my inbox.

I remembered her right away, and HOW EXCITING, she was digital scrapbooking, too, having migrated from making signatures, and was wondering where I had gone. I am sure she had NO IDEA what I was about to get her into. I was immediately sending to her this designers’ shop and this online community. Together we learned what a RAK was and how fun a speed scrap can be. So needless to say, we quickly hit it off, and began chatting daily on messenger programs, sending each other screen shots of our projects and talking about our girls, who are only about two weeks apart in age! Although she is on the West Coast and I am on the East, we still communicate nearly every day (even on vacations via text and cell phone).

It wasn’t too long before we decided to jump into the designing end. I was first, and she was my BIGGEST cheerleader. Christie began designing just weeks later, and it took us about seven months to get into the same store. We swore we would never separate again.

And so it goes like clockwork! We remind each other of deadlines, keep each other posted on awesome sales, and most importantly, we do not compete against one another. My successes are her successes and hers are mine. It is a true test of our friendship when you add competition into the mix, and we just don’t do it. I will do anything I can to help her, promote her and uplift her and I know the feeling is mutual. That is why it works for us.

While we are both individuals, with individual ideas, we also enjoy working together, and do so quite often. We have started our own collaborative design team. You see, I design under the name Steel City Scraps, and she is Christie Lemmon Designs. Together we design as “LemmonCity Productions,” and we really enjoy working together, while keeping our individuality. Recently we even began sharing a creative team just to make our own lives easier! You can check us out at Lemmon City Production.

I can honestly say that if Christie hadn’t become a part of this hobby with me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I love that we sell at the same place, and we have each other to lean on during those no-mojo times. I often wonder if I would have made the jump to designing at all if it weren’t for her encouragement. It is an amazing thing how an online connection can bring two people together. We would have never had a chance to meet one another in real life being so far apart geographically, yet she is such a part of my everyday life now, I can’t imagine not having her as my “partner in scrap.”

~submitted by Rachel Sams
of Steel City Scraps