1. What are your favorite scrapbook manufacturers?
-Right now I am really into Bo Bunny. Their stuff is so fresh and the colors are vibrant and fun...not to mention all the fun new accents. For cardstock, I am a Bazzill girl through and through. It is pretty much the only brand of cardstock I use. I love all the textures and I can always find cardstock to match my layout. I also use lots of Basic Grey, Hero Arts stamps, Tim Holtz products, American Crafts Thickers, and of course my Cricut.
- I started scrapping back in 2000, when I was a senior in high school. I went on a couple of trips that year and I also had all of those high school memories to preserve. :) I went and visited my aunt and she introduced me to scrapbooking. That next week I headed to my local scrapbook store and picked up some supplies and created my first page. I was hooked!
3. How has your style evolved over the years?
-Looking back through my scrapbooks, I realize that my style has always stayed pretty consistent. Most of my layouts consist of multiple photos and each page has a story to tell. I like to use multiple patterned papers and a few key embellishments to tell my stories. Over the years, I have played with lots of different techniques on my scrapbook pages. I think that this comes from working at various scrapbook stores throughout the years where I had to learn about all the latest and greatest.
4. How often do you scrap about yourself (or scrap pictures that you are in)?
-Most of the pages I scrapbook are about me. Since I am single, I scrap about my life. My family, holidays, travels, fun nights spent with friends, and even my dog. I try to hand off my camera to someone else or get pictures from friends and family to ensure that I am in at least some of the pictures. :)
5. Do you have any other crafty hobbies?
-I love to make cards. I make 75 cards a month for my church’s birthday card ministry, so that keeps me pretty busy. I also have dabbled in cross-stitching and miniatures but paper crafting has pretty much taken over my life.
6. Where do you get your creative inspiration?
- Most of my creative inspiration comes from sketches and other people’s layouts. I usually end up altering some part of the design but it gives me a springboard for my ideas. Then I am free to plug in my own pictures, patterned papers, colors and embellishments to create my layouts. Sometimes I will design my own layouts from scratch but most of the time I just want to concentrate on capturing my memories in a stress-free manner.
7. What size pages do you normally scrap?
- I am definitely a 12x12 scrapper. Many of my layouts are double-page layouts. I love having the larger 12x24 inch space to play with and scrap multiple photos.
8. Do you have a favorite technique that you use on layouts or something that you think of as your signature?
- I love experimenting with different techniques on my layouts but a few of my favorites are using lots of photos on a page to tell my story, using border punches to add pizzazz to a strip of paper, and the ‘rule of 3s’ which is using 3 clusters of like objects on my pages, such as flowers, circles, or other embellishments. This technique is on just about every layout I make and I love how this look completes my pages.
9. Are you on any design teams?
-Currently I am not on any design teams. I was on the If It’s Groovy Blog design team from September 2009-May 2010 and I loved being challenged every month to create new layouts for the team.
10. Where is your favorite place to scrap? Is there a certain time of day that you prefer to scrap? (or when do you get the most scrapping done?)
-My favorite place to scrap is my scraproom because everything that I could ever possibly need (literally) is down there. I can go down there, turn on my favorite tunes, and get lost in my own little world. Right now I scrap whenever I have time. Since I work retail, my hours are a bit crazy so some days I am working in the afternoon while everyone else is at work and other times I am working late at night when everyone else is asleep.
11. What does your scrap room/area look like?
- My scrap room is located in the finished portion of our basement. I have basically taken over and turned the space into my giant creative space. My desk sits facing another desk and a table so I can invite lots of people over to scrap with me. To the side of my desk is my computer and printer. Since I print all my own photos I use this quite a bit. Then behind me is shelving that stores all my supplies, including patterned papers, stickers, ink, stamps, flowers, letters, chipboard, and my scrapbook albums.
12. Any tips on keeping all those scrap supplies organized?
-Organize the way you think about scrapbook supplies. For me I know my companies, so I tend to organize the bulk of my supplies by type and then by company. If you scrap by color, then organize by color. If you scrap by event, organize by events. For example, most of my patterned paper is organized by company, but I do have some that is organized by event (holidays, birthdays, Disney, etc) and a little bit of it is organized by color.
Also always be on the lookout for new ways to organize your supplies. You never know where you will find the perfect organizing solution. For example, I keep all my border strips organized by color family in silverware keepers that I found at Bed, Bath and Beyond. And compartmentalized tackle boxes hold my ribbon, eyelets, and brads.
13. Why do you scrap?
- I scrap because I love to preserve my photos and stories for me and my family. Before I started scrapping, I took lots of photos but they were always just sitting around in boxes or in photo albums. I never actually got them out or looked at them. When I started scrapping, I got those photos out of the boxes and added my personal story to them. I also love playing with paper and being creative. Scrapbooking has been a wonderful outlet for me to share my thoughts and feelings. I am able to put what is in my heart onto my pages and record and remember the little things that make me who I am.
