Creative Team Spotlight: Jennifer Beason

I am thrilled to share with you the talent of my creative team member, Jennifer Beason.  She is a one of a kind crafter, who has an affection with all things altered. She is over the top with her creativity, and always crafts with such fresh and unique ideas. It is no wonder with her commercial art background...she's a real pro! Today, I have the privilege of spotlighting her by sharing some of her most recent projects.  

Here Jennifer created owl pillows using my die cut designs from Silhouette. She also used fabrics from my Wanna be a Cowboy collection for Riley Blake designs to create these little cuties.  

Q: What is your favorite technique?

A: My favorite technique I would have to be altering.  I love taking something and making it my own, or into something totally different.

This is what I'm talking about...no pattern here...she just jumped off with some inspiration from some fun products, and her creativity took off from there.  Check out those blanket stitched eyes, with the button center...and the ric rac, and the bows...she's adorable!

To make this adorable Jennifer used fabric from my cowboy collection for riley blake designs, she tea dyed the fabric, and sewed up an adorable Easter Bunny.  She decorated it with papers from my Cowboy collection for Creative Imagintions.

Q.  Where did you learn to design?

A: I've always been interested in creating things, my favorite toys as a child were a little sewing machine and art set.  I always knew I wanted to work in a field that would allow me to be creative. So attending the Art Institute after high school was a natural step for me. I studied commercial art and fashion illustration and loved it.  After collage working as a ceramic artist for a while and then in the signage industry also helped in the growth of my design skills.

Q.  What influence your design choices?

A: So many things can influence my design choices, movies, books even the shape of something, but a lot of the time it's product.  Another big influence are my kids, I like to make things they will enjoy.

Oh, the details!  LOVE it!

Q.  Who are your artsy inspirations?

A:  A few of my artsy inspirations at the moment are Mary Engelbreit, Maureen Miller, Anne Geddes, and Rachelle Anne Miller.

Here, Jennifer used fabric from my Enchanted Garden Collection for Riley Blake designs to "recycle" this little caddy. This is so clever and cute...love the monograms!

Q.  What do you enjoy doing besides crafting?

A: Besides crafting I like to bake. I also enjoy gardening and traveling, although I haven't had much time for either one lately.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know creative team member Jennifer Beason better through her words and crafts. She is one special lady, and I am honored to have her as part of my creative team. She's a blogger...so add her to your list of blog stops...you'll be glad you did!

Creative Team Spotlight: Guiseppa Gubler

I get to highlight Guiseppa this month!  Guiseppa is freaky talented with her innovative ideas and creativity and is certainly a joy to have as part of my creative team. She is a paper crafter at heart, but also loves to dabble with fabric and other dimensional crafts. I interviewed Guiseppa and this is what she said:

Q.  What is your favorite Technique?
A.  Well...if you can call it a technique I guess it would be using pop dots.  I love adding dimension to my projects.  I go through so many pop dots...I should have taken stock in them.  If you look closely at some of the projects I have done here, you will see the dimension.

Guiseppa used Creative Imaginations "Real Wood" (a wood laminated paper product) as her  base for this layout. Love how the wood works with her daughter's hair and the grass in the background. Her title and various shapes are Samantha Walker die cuts for the Silhouette machine.

Q.  Where did you learn to design?
A.  Well, it wasn't something I learned in school..LOL!  I stared scrapbooking 16 years ago and I haven't stopped.  I guess I am self taught.  I just got better and better at the craft year after year.  I taught myself by just trying new techniques and styles.  I guess if you spend most of your days scrapbooking then you get pretty good at designing...at least I hope!  Hehe!

For this layout Guiseppa created the birdcage with Samantha Walker digital dies as well as other designer dies for Silhouette.  I love that Guiseppa created a page about herself...so often, that is who we scrapbook about the least, and it is wonderful when crafters take a moment to document their own personalities and life happenings.

Q.  What influence your design choices?
A.  Well, I love looking at the new trends and I am always wanting to try them out.  I think I just take the trends and make them my own.  I get a lot of scrappy inspiration from online and scrapbooking magazines.

The cowboy hat is a Samantha Walker digital die for Silhouette. Love the various textures on this layout!

Q.  Who are your artsy inspirations?
A.  I love Danielle Flanders, Christine Middlecamp and Leena Loh...just to name a few.  I do have to say the the lovely Samantha Walker has become a real inspiration to me! (I'm blushing, Guiseppa, that is sweet of you to say so...I promise that I didn't ask this question to fish for that answer.)  She always coming up with fun, new and exciting products for us girls to get our craft on with.  I was just going through some of my Silhouette files, and yes, most of them are Samantha Walker's designs.  Being on this design team has really helped me to broaden my crafty horizon and try new things that I have never done before and I credit that to Samantha Walker.

The hearts and scallops are Samantha Walker digital dies for Silhouette. 
Love the dangly button and bow idea...see, she's clever!

Q.  What do you enjoy doing besides crafting?
A.  I love the outdoors!  You can often find our family up in the mountains with our trailer, fishing poles and 4 wheeler, ready for the outdoorsy experience.  We spent much of our summer camping, hiking, fishing and 4 wheeling.  I also enjoy exercising.  Since I have lost over 50 pounds exercising has become part of my life.  I recently have taken up Zumba.  This is a real fun way to get my dance on...which I really miss, one of my other loves in life!  Yes, I do love to dance and you can often find me in my scrapbook room listening to music and when a fun beat comes on I don't hesitate to dance!

The "little birdie" title is a Samantha Walker die for the Silhouette machine. She also used Lori Whitlock digital dies also for the Silhouette machine. 

 The fleur de lis is a Samantha Walker digital die for the Silhouette machine. Check out Guiseppa's paper roses with bead details...so pretty!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Guiseppa better.

CHA Report...the Etsy Generation!

Last month I had the opportunity to go to CHA (Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show) in Los Angeles. As always it was a smorgasbord of delicious new trends, and exciting new products. One trend I saw come through strong was catering to the "Etsy Generation." If you haven't heard of Etsy, then you haven't been on the internet lately. Etsy is the non-auction equivalent to e-bay for home-crafters and indie (independent) artists to sell their wares. Etsy is also a trend seekers hot spot. Etsy has it's finger on the pulse of the younger generation.  And what is cool to them? Well, in one word, Vintage...but really, it's more than that! This generation is revisiting Grandma's crafts and many other lost hand-arts. That makes me so happy! Hallelujah!

What exactly draws these women to these lost crafts, retro color schemes, and kitschy themes? One thing I am learning, is that many of these crafters are young.  They are 20 somethings to mid 30 somethings.  That means the majority of these crafters are post 70's babies...women who were born in the 1980's.  It dawned on me, that this group of ladies totally missed the living through the colorful 1960's and 1970's! So in order to reflect the essence of a more carefree and simple period of time, I believe they are drawn to recreating that colorful past by reincarnating the crafts of those eras with uber-cool twists.

They literally want to live through those decades, so they are doing it vicariously through their crafts. It makes sense to me that in this complicated decade, with our current trials and hardships around us, and particularly the recession; these artist with their resourcefulness and creativity, have invented a way to make an extra buck or two by using their hands to make useful works of art. Some of these crafters are more than supplementing their incomes and have built a loyal customer base and big businesses. I think it's marvelous! Long live the lost arts, crafts...and folk-arts!

One of the biggest trends in crafts that I see is the resurgence of yarn and needle crafts. Yarn is hot!  In fact...Yarn gets my vote for "product of the show." They were by far some of my favorite booths at the show...with decadent displays of knitted capes and shawls, cozy hats and fuzzy sweaters.  One of the manufacturer's had a chic fashion show going on with gorgeous designs. The textures and colors were so wearable, and bundled my heart with warmth. It's not just clothing or afghans that are being created with yarn these days, but also crocheted flowers and cute cuddly creatures, bags, soft jewelry, cup warmers to finger puppets and so much more!  Yarn reminds me of my Grandma's house laden with bright-random colored afghans with flower-centered "granny squares." These afghans were crocheted with whatever skeen of yarn was available at the time.

The eclectic mish-mash of colors also seems to be embraced by this young "etsy-generation." Yet, it seems to be a mish-mash with skilled purpose.  Color schemes seem to flow, then have that one pop of spunky unexpected color that works...like Hot Pink juxtaposed with Olive and brown and orange. I love the innocence of such combinations. They make me smile!

Yarn can be Sophisticated...

Photo From Mojospastyle. Link to her etsy shop.

To Fun and Funky...

Photo from Evalinen. Link to her etsy shop.

To absolutely adorably cute! (it's a baby hat...so sweet!)

Photo from FidlestyxStudios. Link to her etsy shop.

Beyond the yarn...the etsy generation has inspired designers of fabric, paper and stickers to look at kitschy themes. Retro Rockets, woodland critters, vintage nursery rhymes, ephemera from the past, flamingos, gnomes, lace, doilies, flowers, flowers and more flowers. And beyond paper and yarn, I even saw an entire booth dedicated to paint by numbers on black velvet...though I don't think many of us are ready for another slew of "Velvet Elvis" paintings. Though I do think the idea of crafts from the past are definitely what is motoring the craft industry today. The future of the craft industry is bright in our past!

Creative Team Spotlight: Eva Dobilas

Each month at the begining of the month I am going to feature one of my creative team members so you can get to know them.  This Month, I'm starting with Eva Dobilas.  I love her flair for design and bright color choices.  I know I enjoyed getting to know her better, I hope you will too!

Love card created by Eva Dobilas with Ooh La La collection by Samantha Walker for Creative Imaginations.
Eva used Silhouette dies: artisan_rectangular_C00444_19210, abstract_flourish_border_C00447_19210

I interviewed Eva, and this is what she said:

Q: What is your favorite technique?
A: I don’t have a favorite technique per se, I simply like to try new things that attract me. Sometimes, it’s an old technique, that is was just rediscovered strikes me and gets me inspired to create. One thing I love is using my Silhouette, so if that can be called a technique, than that would be it

Eva used papers and stickers and ribbon from Sweet Tooth and Christmas in the Kitchen collections by Samantha Walker for Creative Imaginations.

Q: Where did you learn how to design?
A: I have been creating for 13 years or so, and throughout these years I learned a lot from my peers, just perusing magazines, online galleries, and I have been fortunate to take classes from well known artists and you could say I picked up a lot of things from them. But I always say, if one has the passion for something, they will learn everything that helps them to achieve their goal and my heart is in designing, so you could say I have done a lot of “homework” and practiced a lot. It’s been a fun journey and it’s something that I am still on as I continue to grow.

Eva used Silhoutte die joy_word_snowflake__C01091_19210  to create this ornament.

Q: What influences your design choices?
A: I lot of things can influence my design choices, not all at once, of course, but here are a few to mention. Silhouette shapes, colors, textures, papers, fabrics, stamps, coloring mediums….

This card was created with papers from the Ooh La La collection by Samantha Walker for Creative Imaginations.

Q: Who are your artsy inspirations...
A: Throughout my years of drooling over gorgeous creations done by other designers, I have collected a lot that inspire me and that I just adore. Here are a few, but really there are so many designers that I just love, so it’s hard to narrow them down to just a few: Amy Sheffer, Betsy Veldman, Jennifer McGuire, Tim Holtz, Christine Middlecamp.

Q: What do you enjoy doing besides crafting and designing…
A: I enjoy cooking, baking, in fact I am thinking of writing a dessert book based on my mom’s recipes, which are all incredibly amazing Hungarian yummy pastries, nothing like that on the market and everyone should have something sweet in their life…lol. I also love to knit, and just recently made a really pretty scarf for my hubby. My other favorite thing to do is reading anything spiritual and coaching people to change their perception about things that may have held them back in the past and help them achieve happiness and peace in their life.

Eva used paper and stickers from Wanna Be a Cowboy collection by Samantha Walker for Creative Imaginations. She used Silhouette Die set: 3_nesting_artisan_shapes_C00493_19210  

Eva is quite creative, and has shared with us a step by step to create this fun embellished T-shirt.
Eva was inspired by a technique she learned from Amy Tangerine’s t-shirts and also her son’s sweatshirt design inspired me to do this.


1. You will need a t-shirt, fabric and Silhouette machine.

 
2. Cut out Love Letters Silhouette shape and cut large enough design for t-shirt. Eva used fabric from the Enchanted Garden collection by Samantha Walker for Riley Blake Design. Eva also used Silhouette die: love_letters_C00754_19210 

3. Trace pattern on the fabric and cut it out, leaving enough space around it, so you can stitch around it.

4. Turn t-shirt inside out and place the cut out fabric on the inside, where you would want your design to be.

5. Hand stitch on the traced line.

6. Once all stitched, turn t-shirt right side out and cut t-shirt inside the stitched lines, so the fabric will show through.

And the end result gives you a designer t-shirt.

Mom's Quilt! She's Amazing!

I was so glad to have special "pop-in" visitors today...my Mom and Dad came by--only for a brief visit.  But any visitors right now, whether long or short, were welcomed. I've felt a little house bound this week with a my youngest being sick with a nasty cold and pink eye. Having one sick kid certainly changes the mood around the house as he's been a little touchy, and my other two kids have been stir crazy as we haven't gone anywhere all weekend. That's probably why Talon decided he would go to church by himself today...it was just nice for him to get out of the house and do something else. I was proud of the initiative he took to get there...he rode his bike, and stayed until the end. He's a good kid.

My Mom came with the newest quilt she put together. This one is for my sister Sara's little baby...to be born this week. I absolutely adore this quilt! It is just yummy! In my Dad's words...he said, "it screams Baskin and Robbins." Which is quite appropriate as that is where my sister worked all through high school. My Mom used my Wanna Be a Cowboy fabric from Riley Blake. She used the soft cotton flannel from this collection on the back. I love how she used cream to offset the stars showing off the variety of fabrics she used. So cute! The pink border sets everything off so nicely...it matches more closely, the photo turned the color more lavender...which it is not.  My Mom's smile is my favorite thing about this photo...she looks so pleased with her work of art...and she should be, because she did such a beautiful job!  I think she is up to 15 quilts for 15 grandbabies...way to go, Mom!

Scratch-book'n...

Here's what I walked into this morning after my shower...my kids at the kitchen table, crafting.  Isn't that a sweet picture of pure bliss?

"What-cha doing," I asked...

My little son replied, "Scratch-book'n, Mama."

I thought it was so cute...and it was...until they realized that they only had one glue-stick between the two of them.  Two pair of scissors, but one glue-stick...I riffled through the junk drawer trying to find another one, but came up dry.  Literally.  I found three dried up ones with the caps off.  Ugh...I'm constantly reminding them to put the caps back on the glue, and the caps back on the markers too, and to clean up when they are done...and and and...

Their argument got a little heated...

I explained sharing...(as if this were a foreign concept, this is my favorite topic to talk about with them lately.)

"Take turns." I said.  "When she cuts with scissors, you use the glue stick, and vice versa." Everyone will be happy.

They chose not to understand the lecture...

So out of desperation (because I can't stand my kids fighting..) I got out my dot n' roller adhesive.

Okay...in my mind, they both have glue, everyone's happy now, right?

WRONG!  Oh soooooo wrong.  I felt so stupid.  Why didn't I see it coming.

Of course.

One glue is obviously better than the other, and it's not too hard for anyone to figure out which one is superior.

Doh!  I guess I mean dot!

Back to square one...

"Okay, Sydney, when you are cutting, let Colin use the dot n' roller."  "Colin when you are looking through the magazine, you let Sydney use it."  Hmmmm....didn't I just hear that repeated in my head nearly seconds ago?

Here's the solution I came up with...

Okay, so if I were a perfect Mom...I would have probably said, "okay, then we will put it all away if you can't share." Then dealt with the aftermath.

However with insurmountable mounds of laundry piling up in my laundry room, deadlines for work, and just needing a moment of sanity...I gave in to two rollers.  I hope they don't enjoy them as much as I do...I'm a glue freak too, and I want some left for me.