Rachel is one of those people that after several months of business work a friendship developed. I cherish our friendship a lot :) Besides that she has an amazing hand with artsy and creative work too!

1. what do you do to get in your creative zone?

and it’s going to sound silly. i surround myself with my favorite inspiration, a polka dot rock found and given to me by my husband, a neat work space (as sick as that sounds), YES things need to be neat and organized, helps me envision calm and peace so that i can create great works. Sickening I know.

2. Do you ever create hidden meanings/messages in your work?

most recently YES. i used previous travel memorabilia and ephemera from road trips as a base layer for my canvas. it helped evoke a sense of gratitude for making an upcoming road trip possible. more of a hidden meaning to myself than the person that will receive it as a gift.

3. If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like?

A German-style beer (can I say that), ha. Tough question for me, all I ever think about is cupcakes and beer. Even when being creative. Ha.

4. What is my favorite creation?

There are many but a very recent one tops the charts right now. Tough times call for desperate measures. My mother-in-law is making it possible for a LOT of things, even the road trip that we are about to embark on, hence me using previous travel ephemera in her canvas. I adore this woman, she is my biggest fan. I hope she likes this gift.

5. What is your biggest creative success so far and why?

I’ve been published in books, magazines, online, etc. And I about came out of my skin when I was asked to join the 7 Gypsies creative team but nothing prides me more than my own will to take my creative life back most recently. Thanks to a recent creative workshop, I am going to be okay with time. Getting back to what I know and love is a huge success for me.

thanks Rachel :)

Nat

What is the Easter Bunny Blog Hop? Its a fun GIVEAWAY going on at Vintage Street Market! “Hop” around the Design Team’s blogs and gather their favorite color eggs. Fill your basket with these answers and enter to win a fun prize! Details can be found at www.vintagestreetmarket.com. What are you waiting for? Get hoppin’!

And here is my favorite egg color :)

Nat

Susan and I have been emailing back and forth for a while and I enjoyed our conversations a lot- and now finally I was able to also meet her at the CHA Winter Show :)

1. What do you do to get into your creative zone?  

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@font-face { font-family: “Calibri”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }Most of my work will have a story hidden within it. This is just the way I create. I work it layers and I build a story into my piece whatever it may be. For instance, the above canvas was made with recycled pattern pieces. Those pattern pieces mean a lot to me because my mother not only sewed all the time when I was growing up but she used this actually pattern that I used. I also tear out words and pieces from patterns and books that mean something to me or are keywords to the story of the artwork. So there is the picture that the person can see, but then there is the story that is worked into the piece that only I can understand unless I show some one! It just makes it extra special!

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Why, yummy pie OFCOURSE!!!!! Every single KIND!!!! I LUV them all!

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I love these altered baby shoes that I created a year and a half ago. They weren’t the best thing that I every created, but they meant the most to me because they went to a good cause. They were auctioned off at the Crop for Kids to raise some money for the Alberta Children’s Hospital. That made me feel really good about these little baby shoes!

@font-face { font-family: “Calibri”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }5. What is your biggest creative success so far and why?

I feel really blessed with a lot of things that are going on in my life. I got to be on a cooking Jean Pare ‘Company Cooking’ cooking show, I write for some awesome magazines & reviews, I am writing a book, and my husband & I created four wonderful children, but I guess my most exciting creative almost success(don’t want to jinx it), is the manufacturing of my own paper line this year!!!!  I am learning to believe in myself and to live my dreams!!!

Thank you so much Susan :)

Nat

So loving to have Erin, who I met last November at PACS and then also at the Winter CHA.  She is just one of the sweetest persons in the world! and check out her blog today-she is also doing a give away!

Erin Yamabe, is a Bay Area native, who is honored to be here on her dear friends’ blog! She is a SAHM to two little girls, who are the main subjects of her work. As Designer, Teacher, and DT Coordinator for My Little Shoebox, she finds her job very fun, challenging, and rewarding! Her work can be seen in Magazines in the U. S. and in Japan, on Scrapbook Memories TV Show, QVC UK and at CHA. She enjoys teaching locally, at CHA, and even abroad at PACS last Winter.

 1. What do you do to get into your creative zone?
My scrap space is the back of my kitchen…so when my little ones are in bed, I get out my goodies and scrap away! I love to listen to music and sometimes skype with scrappy friends while we are working away!

2. Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work?

Yes- I search for script paper, and have been known to write a letter to the person I’m scrapping about across a 12×12. Then, I paint with gesso, and a light mist of some sort…and sometimes highlight certain words, to reveal part of the letter. In each of my daughter’s books, there are letters I wrote to them behind each layout. Sometimes, too personal to put onto my work if it is being shown publicly.

3. If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like?

Hmm, I would think like chocolate. Not necessarily because of the end result, but more due to the amount I could consume during a creative session! LOL!

4.What is your favorite creation?

To date, it is a canvas that I created for a recent DT call. Through Nathalie at the Paper and Co Show, where we taught together, I learned many amazing techniques, so I tried a few out!

5. What is your biggest creative success so far and why?

After enduring many miscarriages, I would say that having my two precious daughters would be my biggest success! If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have found scrapbooking…and been blessed with design and teaching opportunities around the world!

Blessings,

Erin Yamabe

Thank you so much Erin!

Nat

Jamie is so amazingly talented, when I finally got to meet her last CHA it was the coolest- plus, she is just the sweetest girl in the world!

What do you do to get into your creative zone?

I thrive on chaos, I need noise around for me to work. I over think things when it’s too quiet.  My brain starts to hurt and smoke begins to escape my ears.  It must be something to do with having kids.  If I couldn’t deal with chaos I would be in real trouble lol.  But they inspire me so it’s all worth it. Here is my room.  As you can see I am not a neat freak.  And I LOVE paint :)

Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work?

Unfortunately I am not that clever lol.  I do create things though that I don’t post online, that I keep for myself.   

 If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like?

It would definitely be chocolate cake :)  Sweet, rich with substance, and only good in small amounts ;)

What is your favorite creation? 

My favorite creation would have to be this LO of the kiddos.  It was a turning point in my style that made me realize I could return to my fine arts abilities.  Also everything went together perfectly, which doesn’t happen often.  The picture feels so innocent, the colors and Prima fit so well and the finishing touch of a little Pink Floyd wisdom made for the perfect journaling.  

What is your biggest creative success so far and why?

My biggest success so far is being recognized by my fellow artists.  To have my work appreciated by women who work so hard on their own work and talent, means worlds to me. Working along side the talented people I have in the last year is amazing.

Thank you so much Jamie!

Nat

@font-face { font-family: “Arial”; }@font-face { font-family: “Calibri”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }p.MsoNoSpacing, li.MsoNoSpacing, div.MsoNoSpacing { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }Vanessa Spencer is one of my editors at Somerset Memories and I had the pleasure to meet her twice at CHA personally. It is always wonderful to write with her :)

Vanessa Spencer is from Rancho Santa Margarita, California. Vanessa is a mixed-media artist and is the Consulting Editor for Somerset Memories and manages The Shoppe at Somerset for Stampington & Company. To learn more about her visit her blog at http://www.artfulanthology.blogspot.com/  or her etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtfulAnthology.

1.  What do you do to get into your creative zone?

 A number of things motivate me to create. Visiting a new interesting place can be inspiring! For example I took a trip to Salvation Mountain in 2009. The amazing vibrant colors used to paint the mountain were certainly an inspiration.

A little blog hopping, flipping through the pages of art and craft magazines and books, and looking at the artwork and talent of other artists gets my creativity going as well. More recently though I have found that simply heading outdoors with my camera and taking all sorts of photographs is a great way to get inspired. There are a number of ways to kick it into gear and it’s good to change it up!

http://artfulanthology.blogspot.com/2011/03/trip-to-salvation-mountain.html

 2.  Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work? (if you have an example you would like to share- sent photo)

 I have a tendency to use butterfly images in my artwork. When I was 19 I had moved to Melbourne Australia and decided to take a watercolor painting class. One of the first project assignments was to just paint a picture, anything inspiring, no rules.

It was after the project assignment that the teacher came around to each student individually and we discussed what we had painted and why. It didn’t really occur to me until I finished it that I had painted a picture with some personal emotion behind it. The name “Vanessa” is of Greek origin and means “butterfly.”  The picture I had painted was of a butterfly, trapped inside a room (on a window) and I had painted a city outside the window.

I realized through the images of what I had painted that, I had in a way, painted myself trapped inside a big new city. I wish I knew what happened to that painting! I have moved an average of once per year for the past ten years so I’ve misplaced a few things along the way… I’ve always known the origin of my name and like many I just love the simplicity and beauty of a butterfly.

 3.  If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like?

One of my favorite treats is sugar cookies! Especially the pretty ones with colorful frosting and sprinkles. They take me back to my childhood. I think these represent how my artwork would taste: sweet, with a touch of nostalgia.

 4.  What is your favorite creation?

My most recent home décor project I’m actually quite proud of! My little girl recently transitioned from a toddler bed to a big girl bed. The bed I found was functional with drawers underneath it and was the right color to match the other furniture in her room except it had black drawers which were kind of dark looking and didn’t fit.

So I decided to finally use up some scraps of paper that had been sitting in a box in my craft room. I had Izzy help me tear up all the pieces and I simply decoupaged the drawers with all the colorful scrap pieces of paper. I love how it adds so much color to her bedroom, its bright and fun – perfect for a 4 year old!

 5.  What is your biggest creative success so far and why?

Simply being a published artist is a great creative success. I have had my artwork published in over 38 publications by Stampington & Company. But being a cover artist twice for Stampington & Company’s Take Ten publication has been my greatest success.

http://artfulanthology.blogspot.com/2011/02/cover-girl-x-2.html
Thank you so much Vanessa :)

Nat

Heidi is one of the people whose work always make me sit in awe and look at it over and over- I love love love her work! I’m so happy that we have lot’s of email contact the last couple months :)

1. What do you do to get into your creative zone?

This may sound silly… but I like to say that I “blank.” What is “blanking?” (Well, besides a made-up, Heidi phrase?) When I “blank” it means that I turn off any music or noise (oftentimes this includes putting my young son down for a nap!), I clean off my desk, putting any and every other project out of sight, and I start each project fresh. I start with my photo or item that I want to alter, and nothing else. Most importantly, I don’t look at anyone else’s work right before I begin a new project and enter that creative place. I find that starting completely fresh, with this clean, blank, slate – opens my project to all kinds of possibilites – and I am not influenced by anything else visually right at that moment. I want my photo (in a layout) to dictate what emotion I want the layout to portray in the end. I want the altered item to “speak” (I know, silly) to me. In the end I want my artwork to make me FEEL what I felt when I took the picture, or how I feel when I hold the altered item in my hand, and starting the creative process by embracing only what I love about those items in the beginning helps me to do this.

2. Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work?

Absolutely… because ultimately, what I am creating is a keepsake for my children. The story of us, who we are, who they were, and a lot of times these messages or events that I am documenting don’t mean anything to others, or aren’t for sharing! :) I often make pull out tags for behind photos, or little messages folded into the layouts. I also write journaling on the backsides of a lot of my work. These are messages to my children, to my husband, to myself… notes that are private, things that others don’t need to see. On another level, like I said above, I want my work to portray an emotion that I felt or feel when it comes to the subject matter, so while this feeling may be not as apparent, and remains “hidden” to other viewers… it is to me. The way I stitch or apply paint, the chaotic or neatly printed journaling, all of it means something to me. I want to remember this down the road too, so on the backside of my work, I write words, or tags so that I remember. “Joy, adoration, stress, contentment” are just an example of what you might find.

3. If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like?

A drumstick. Yep…. definitely a drumstick. Layers upon layers of yum. Each layer is delicious by itself and can certainly stand alone, but when you put it all together, the end result is absolutely scrumptious!  (Mmm, I think I need to go raid the freezer now…) And the best part of a drumstick? The surprise in the end (chocolate in the bottom) – yep, see right when I think I am finished with a project, I almost always add just one more thing…. and it finishes things off perfectly. :)

4. What is your favorite creation?

I hollowed out a book not too long ago, and altered it as a keepsake for my children. In the inside, I wrote them a letter… things I wanted them to know, things I wanted them to remember about me and who I am, and why. Things that I want for them, words that I hope will encourage them if/when I am no longer here. I poured my heart into the letter and into the book, and I hope one day it means as much to them as it does to me!

5. What is your biggest creative success so far and why?

I’m not sure that I can pinpoint one thing… so I guess I have to answer this with – 2011 is my greatest success, lol. This year has been amazing for me, already, and this creative adventure has me doing things that I never even thought were a possibility! Each little thing that happens means different things to me, for different reasons, so the whole journey has been more that I ever imagined. A few of the best things that have happened?

I wrote an article for Somerset Memories this year, and that was mind-blowing. Never in a million years could I have predicted that.

I begun teaching for several different companies and guest designing for others. Those opportunities have nurtured my soul and creativity in so many ways. Being able to surround myself with other people who share my passion for artwork has been so uplifting and I am grateful for every conversation, every paint stroke, every memory, I have with them!

And I can’t forget another extremely important event..

THIS ONE.
Guest blogging for Nathalie Kalbach, one of my long-standing, inspirational muses, is such an amazing honor. Thank you Nat, for everything.

xx Heidi

Thanks Sweet Heidi :)

Nat

I have been a follower of Aniia’s blog for a long time as I love her work. I was so happy to finally meet her last November at the Paper & Co show.

1. What do you do to get into your creative zone?
Oh geez. I depend on deadlines. I thrive on them. Deadlines, challenges and directions gives me the creativity I need. So if I don’t have a deadline or a “purpose” with my scrapbooking, my creativity feels pretty flat. Sounds sad, huh? Yikes. So whenever I feel restless because I don’t have anything I really oughta do (because – when I have deadlines I’m usually pretty good at getting them off the way so that I won’t have to stress, which in turn makes me stress for a few days then I don’t have anything to do the rest of the days when I actually could have been working on stuff in a non-stressed-way) I start looking for challenges and stuff on the web to join spark my creativity. And ofcourse, a glass of wine never hurt anybody *smirk*
Also? I think my messy desk should be mentioned. If I – once in a BLUE moon – attempt to put things where they’re supposed to belong and like, try to have a clean(ish) desk – I only get frustrated because I CAN NEVER FIND ANYTHING AT ALL! There IS a system in the mess. Sort of.

2. Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work?
You know, I’m a pretty private person really, so when I actually do feel like including deep, personal stuff (which I usually just have to share still – it’s not the same if I can’t share stuff on my blog/otherplaces…I’m weird I know, when I still insist I’m a very private person) I like to do it like that – envelopes, symbols and/or just gesso/paint over text – the point is just to have it written down, gotten it out of my system, not that anybody’s supposed to be able to read it…

3. If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like?

Haha, letsee, I love Ben&Jerry’s Ice Cream (especially the cookie dough one!!), so I’d love it if people found my work as delightful as that ;D

4. What is your favorite creation?

Erm. Just one!? Yikes. It’s like asking me to pick my favorite child! Sooo, since I have two children, it’d only be fair to let me share two favorite creations, no? *wink*

Ania2 – it came together perfectly, it contains happy colors, it uses my fave Hambly stuff, like transparency, kraft stickers, rub-ons, even fabric & one of my fave thing to do w/paper to get extra dimension (simply just fold the edges once or twice & staple it together), FELT..bling….sigh..

And Attitude_web – it contains ME (one of the rare images with me in them *wink* *grin*), my favorite stilettos and is an ode to them (because I’m afraid I’m getting too old for such footwear, too often opting for comfort than style these days – a sure sign I’m getting old! sigh!) And – uhm, colors, killer heels, sewing, lovely splatters, rub-ons, transparencies, tape, scraps – what more can you want??

5. What is your biggest creative success so far and why?
Oh gee, this one is hard – and I have to admit I am tempted to drag in my photography in here. You see, without scrapbooking I would probably not have taken up photography the same way I now do. Without the photography I would not have stood in front of my biggest and scariest task until now, a work position as a journalist, which only happened because the passion for photography led me to intern for the local newspaper as a pressphotographer for a year, which in turn helped me (and them, haha) discover my skills for writing, which in turn led me back on the path of journalism (a dream I had abandoned when I was in college), and now I’ve got a real job as a journalist…even if only for a few months (I’m filling in for someone who’s going on a maternity leave), it’s still a job I wouldn’t have dreamed I’d actually be offered, just like that…. I have not lost sight of my biggest dream, to be able to work as a fulltime pressphotographer, but this is a welcome step on the way…. plus..all the weddings I’ve been lucky to photograph – it’s amazing and a huge responsibility, being allowed to take such a small yet big part of someones wedding – to be the only one besides the bride and her closest one in all the preparations before the big “yes”, to capture their dreams, emotions and promises of the day – [insert delightful sigh] – simply..to have people actually trust you enough to give you a job, whether it’s accepting scrapbooking design teams, wanting you to do their photosessions or a fulltime job. I dare say starting with scrapbooking has given me all that.

Here is the link to my online portfolio by the way – http://www.annejolexander.com

Thanks Aniia !!!

Nat