I’m a papercrafter. That’s a scrapbooker, cardmaker, altered artist and more all rolled into one — I love anything paper. Since discovering the craft of scrapbooking nearly 10 years ago my passion for the art of papercrafting has grown tremendously. From the very beginning I guess I was never your average scrapbooker who cut photos into little circles or triangles using decorative-edged scissors. I’ve never liked stickers and I don’t believe in following the ‘rules’ or that the scrapbook police will hunt me down if I don’t use acid-free/lignon-free materials only in my books.
I’ve always experimented with different materials and techniques to make my pages look appealing to me. I usually didn’t listen to other’s suggestions and just did my own thing. And that’s what I love about scrapbooking and papercrafting in general – there are no rules. This is a hobby you can do simply to please yourself and no one else and the best part is anyone can do it. Scrapbooking is nothing more than cut-and-paste. It just depends on where you want to cut and how you want to paste.
I’ve developed my own style over the years, a little distressed, a little vintage. I am drawn to certain products and companies because they blend well with my style like Ranger Industries, Stamper’s Anonymous and Prima Marketing. I create a lot of my own embellishments by using these products rather than purchasing ready-made and I teach my students how to do that as well. I draw from memories or favorite photos for my inspiration and recently jumped into the blogging world. You’ll find my blog here.
‘An Amazing Adventure’ started as a submission for Scrap Wars – a summer challenge promotion running at the local scrapbook store that I manage and where I teach. There was so much interest as to how it was created that I offered it as a class. A variety of techniques were used to age or distress the papers and embellishments and some found objects – like the song sheet – were added for depth and texture. Dennis and I celebrated 40 years of happy in 2009 and this photo was taken at a family gathering. It was such a nice photo of us that I used it to document the memory of our 40th anniversary. This finished page has become one of my favorites and will find it’s way into one of my scrapbooks!