Living My Dream

The Long and Boring Story...

...of me becoming a published scrapper is about to be told. Yep, I am going to blog about what Elizabeth Gardner wants to know (hi Elizabeth!!!). She asked me about my start in the industry in an email, so blame her if I am boring today and come back tomorrow for another Creating Keepsakes book give-a-way blog post! 

Before starting my story, here is a card I made this weekend. I LOVE IT! Why? Because it was so FUN to make and I made it just for FUN! Technique Tuesday sent me some of their stamps and I couldn't wait to play with them. When I was at CHA, I fell in love with these little lady stamps - there are five different sets that you can see if you click on the TT link. I am absolutely in love with twine lately - I can't stop using it (or buying it for that matter)! The blue dots on the background are mist - I sprayed it on my finger and touched the background for subtle color splats.

And now for the story of how I got into the industry. I have told bits and pieces of this before, so please forgive me if I am repetitive (and read on!).

When Sophie was born 11 years ago, I officially retired from my job in the computer industry and I started scrapping. As I got into this new found hobby, I read about the CK HOF contest and I decided to enter it. I did for a few years, but I never won. My husband put many of my pages on our family website and sent it to all his friends and family.

In 2004 got a call from the Director of Marketing at MAMBI and she wanted me to design pages for them. She had seen my pages on our website that was sent to her husband who knew my husband. And that was the start of my official job in the industry. I've been designing pages for them for about seven years now - crazy!

The job for MAMBI was my start to getting published. They submitted some of my work to Memory Makers and I was in there a couple of times. I kept entering the HOF contest each year, but didn't win. Finally after about 4 years of trying, I decided to enter the Memory Makers Masters contest. By this time, I had a little more experience under my belt. I had won one of the Chatterbox top 25 album contests and a big contest at scrapbook.com. And I had been published a few times in Memory Makers, Scrapbook Trends and Scrapbooks Etc.

I won the Masters contest the second year I entered along with some very talented ladies: Jessica Spraque, Kelly Goree, Vanessa Hudson, Valerie Salmon, Lisa Vanderveen, Angelia Wiggington, Danielle Thompson, Amber Baley, and Susan Weinroth (what a team, huh?!?!). And this was the first year I didn't enter HOF since I was now exclusive with MM for a year. About eight months into our year, they were bought out and we were phased out very quickly. Here is a page I made right after winning their contest - my journaling kind of outlines the story above up to that point:

This was one of my entry pages and they used it on their ad for the contest the following year. It opened up and the inside had more pictures and journaling.

I wanted to continue being published, so I started posting my pages on the Creating Keepsakes website. I soon got a call from Jana who was in charge of publishing back then. She said she loved my work and she picked up a couple of my pages for publication. I entered HOF again in 2007 and I won as an Honorable Mention with some very talented girls such as April Foster (who then started Studio Calico). They announced that 2008 would be the last year for HOF and I knew if I ever wanted to accomplish the goal of winning, this had to be my year! They were only picking 10 winners though (instead of 25) which made my chances of winning even smaller! They started a Dream Team that year and they were phasing out HOF.  I put everything I could into that entry and luckily it was my year after six tries! And my timing could NOT have been more perfect. The next year I was asked to be on the Dream Team and have been now for the past three years.

As far as design teams go, I have never been one to want to be on lots of teams as I really prefer to keep my work load manageable while putting my mom duties first. The first team I ever tried out for was Maya Road a few years ago. That was my start to my love affair with making mini albums. I was then asked by Elsie to be on her Love, Elsie team which was exclusive, so I left Maya Road. I did that for a few months before she exited the industry. Sharon Soneff from Creative Imaginations asked me to be on her team as well for a short period until she also got out of the industry. This past year, I decided to try out for a team that I really wanted to be on: American Crafts. I was very happy to make the team as I love their products! Between Mambi, American Crafts and CK, I am a very busy girl!

I also did some teaching during the last eight years. I taught at a Scrapbook Expo, at several stores in the area, and many times at Scrapbook Oasis. I got to the point where I would only teach about once a year because it was so time consuming that I didn't want it to take me away from spending time with my kids. But now I have stopped teaching almost completely because of my health issues (I can't handle lots of noise and commotion or my ear goes into spasms).

And that is my story. I hope anyone who is interested in being published can pick up one key point from this story: keep trying and don't give up on accomplishing your goals! There are TONS of talented girls out there and you have to be willing to do a lot of work to make it in the industry. You need to constantly be improving and keeping up with current trends. You have to submit, submit and submit and not take it personally when you don't get your pages picked up. You have to be willing to make any changes to your pages that are requested by editors with a smile on your face. And you have to be responsible in turning things in on time and staying consistent with the quality of your work.  

I have always put my family first and made work decisions based on the time I have to devote to this hobby. I often turn down opportunities because I don't like to travel and I don't like to have too many commitments. The beach is way too fun and my kids will only be small for such a short time! I also advise that you have to keep a balance that works for you so you don't burn out as many designers do in this industry. I know I haven't burned out for 8 years now because I keep the right balance for me and my life. That was my public apology to any that I have "blown off" when requesting me to be a guest designer - haha! Karen Grunberg from the Creative Therapy blog just told me that I was harder to nail down than Tim Holtz! After three years of trying, she finally got me to commit and I am the guest on her blog this week (I couldn't resist when I met her cute self at CHA this year and she yelled at me for blowing her off for so long- ha!).  

And that is enough about ME! Now, what about you? Anyone have any questions or need any advice? Just post your questions and I will attempt to answer them! xoxo Suzy

PS - And Elizabeth Gardner, I promise to get back to you soon, but this is a start, right?!?!

And the winner is....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

35

Timestamp: 2011-05-14 16:32:47 UTC

I'm basing the number on the past two posts - all comments totalled 58. There were 27 on the first post and 31 on the second. I am counting the first post as the first 27 and then counting to eight comments on the second post to get to 35. And the winner is:

I LOVE how bright and airy your space looks! I especially love the sofa and princess TV I see peeking out! I keep talking myself out of picking up this copy of CK even though I want it so bad! TY for the chance to win one! Happy Wednesday!

Posted by: Cindy S | May 11, 2011 at 10:41 AM

Congratulations Cindy S! I will have CK send one out to you right away! Hope you enjoy it!

suzy

My Creative Space

I am posting twice today. The last post is about the newest book by Creating Keepsakes and Megan Hoeppner called Creative Spaces 2011. Leave a comment on this post OR that one (not both please) to win a free copy of this wonderful new publication. I will announce a winner on Saturday morning. This post is to show you a few pictures of my space and tell you some of my organization tips (a shall we call it, wet your appetite post!). Just think of seeing all these type of organizational details from tons of well-known scrapper's personal spaces!

My scraproom was previously a guest room and then was my step-daughter Jordan's room for a couple of years. The wallpaper was put in by the last owners, so although I like it, it is NOT what I would choose. One day I will change it and if I do, it will be a hand-painted mural by me all over the walls! How fun that will be! It isn't fancy. It isn't big. But I keep it very organized so every thing I need is at my fingertips and easy to find.

I have shelves over my desk that I keep many of my supplies on. I like that I can just reach up and grab one while working on my layouts. I also have some little baskets (from Target) that hold my inks, glitters, etc... for easy access. I keep some of my favorite projects on the top two shelves. I like to have projects I have made displayed around my room - it makes me happy! 

I work at a tall table - I like to be standing while I scrap. I have a tool caddy from Home Depot (for screws and manly items!) that holds many of my supplies. Again, this keeps them organized and close at hand while I am creating. I go through it often to make sure it has my most recent purchases and weed out the older things I don't use any more. I keep my tools and markers (seen in the last picture) out as well. 

My favorite supplies are my buttons - they just look so yummy and are so colorful! I use canning jars from Walmart for them. I have my rick rack (another favorite supply) and buttons on a shelf above my computer desk. Both desks were purchased from Ikea. I also have some projects on that shelf and all my mini albums on a tall shelf beside the desk.

I have four baskets under my desk with supplies that I go through before making a layout. One is for letters which are organized by color. The next is for all my American Crafts embellishments. Then I have two for little and big stickers and embellishments. These were all purchased at Michaels. If I haven't stated it yet, I really like my supplies to be out in the open. I go through these baskets often and remove anything I won't be using. For publication, we have to use recent products that are still able to be purchased, so I weed out stuff all the time. Once it is taken out of these baskets, it goes into my dining room. In there, I have a whole filing system of plastic drawers (like the ones below in my closet) by holiday/season/subject where I put all supplies. When the girls are making something or friends come over to scrap, they use those supplies. They can just pull out a drawer for birthdays and make a quick card. It makes the overflow usable and easy to access. No one touches the baskets under my desk but ME! :)

I keep my ribbon in cookie jars from Walmart on a shelf from Target. It is organized by color and again, close for quick and easy access. I also go through these jars often and put the overflow in the dining room. I also have a jar just for the most recently purchased trims that I want to use right away. And I have an entire container of American Crafts ribbons that I go to as well. I am a ribbon freak - I have WAY too much!!! The baskets on top have my favorite punches and my most-used stamps in them. Can you say easy-access? haha

Organizing paper is probably the most challenging thing. Again, I have to weed out the old and keep only recent in "my" stash. And yes, the rest goes into a similar filing system in the dining room for guests/kids! All my dining room supplies are against the one wall that cannot be seen from the entry, so they really are hidden. For paper in my office, I have two types of racks. The ones behind the couch hold cardstock by color on one side and patterned paper by color on the other. The two you can see are by holiday/occassion on the right and by manufacturer on the left. This is the newest, I want to use right away stuff. I also keep my design team paper on these shelves. For example, on my Crate shelf, I have both their paper, their chipboard and their stickers that are in 12x12 sheets. This makes it easy to find things I really want to use. Before starting a project, I usually go through this side of the rack and the baskets under my desk pulling whatever matches. The manufacturers that get their own shelf (because they are my favorites) are: MAMBI, Crate, Sassafrass, American Crafts, Fancy Pants, Basic Grey, Bella Blvd., Studio Calico, My Minds Eye, October Afternoon, and Echo Park. There are also some that have a couple combined (Jillibean and Lily Bee are two current favorites).

The closet isn't pretty, but it is a necessity in holding many of my other supplies. I took the doors off recently which makes access much easier and forces me to keep it clean! I have TONS of stuff in here that I use often - fabric, inks, stamps, adhesive overflow, embossing, chipboard, ribbon spools in the long containers by color, etc... The girls have a little TV on the table and a big couch to hang out on. In the TV stand is all of their stuff for homework as they usually do it in this room. In the closet I also have a box of embellishments for Christmas and Halloween and I just pull it out when working on a page for that holiday.

So that is all the detail shots, but you will have to look in the special issue to see the entire thing! Thanks for visiting and don't forget to leave a comment so you can be part of my drawing for a free copy of the Creative Spaces 2011 special issue!!! Thanks all! suzy

Creating Keepsakes Special Issue Give-a-way!!!

Hello my scrapbooking friends! Today I am blogging about a new publication from Creating Keepsakes that is just coming out called Creative Spaces 2011. It was written by my sweet friend Megan Hoeppner who is one of the sweetest girls I know! And I have to say, after seeing ALL the scrap spaces in this issue, her's was my favorite because it is filled with delightful PINK!  

Based on the popular Creating Keepsakes column of the same name, this new special issue showcases beautiful and practical scrap and craft spaces alike to inspire you. But that's not all. We'll also show you how to get these inspiring looks with easy and inexpensive do-it-yourself approaches. Whether you have a little space or a lot, this special issue will help you make the most of your space in order to get the most from your scrapbooking. Take a look inside the issue:

You can purchase an issue at the Scrap and Paper shop (use coupon code SPACESBB for free shipping in the US by 5/27/11). OR, you can leave a comment on this blog post to win a free copy. Also check all the other CK contributors blogs for free give-a-ways to increase your chances of winning! I will pick a winner on Saturday morning! Suzy

NSD Challenge and the Winner Is....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

27

Timestamp: 2011-05-09 14:58:03 UTC

And the winner is:

Another wonderful layout. I've only used banners once so far, which I hand cut, but now I have bought some flags and must plan a layout for them. For NSD, I couldn't sneak any time to scrap but I did go to my LSS and bought myself some product that I had been eyeing. I gave myself persmission not to resist as my celebration of NSD and Mother's Day! I hope all the mothers have a great day and have a chance to reflect on the true joy and blessing that motherhood is!

Posted by: Jeannine | May 08, 2011 at 06:26 AM

Jeannine - contact me via email and I will send some goodies out to you for one more Mother's Day gift!!! Thanks everyone for entering!

National Scrapbook Day Challenge:

My challenge for the Big Picture Classes and Creating Keepsakes National Scrapbook Day Celebration was to make a hand-made banner across the top of your layout. Here are some examples and the steps I showed for the challenge:

This banner example was made with the Confetti line by American Crafts.

The apple banner was made by punching apples out of white cardstock. I have this really cute apple punch thanks to Miss Kim Watson. She had ordered some product to be delivered to my house so she could take it home with her. While packing it up, she decided to leave this little gem for me since she didn't think she would really use it (nor did I!). I was determined to show her that it was a very useful punch and so I made this layout in her honor!!! See Kim, do you want your punch back? hehe I then colored in the apples using Copic markers and shaded with three colors. I hung them from some twine.

For this layout (which you have seen before!!!), I stamped many of the images on the page using Hero Art stamps and black ink on white cardstock. I then colored them all in with markers and cut them out. I placed them on the page with pop dots behind them and attached the top of each clothing item to a line of rick rack.

For this layout, I used premade banner die cuts from Three Bugs In A Rug. Although I feel much better from my Bugphobia disease, I'm not real fond of that company name. I just started itching again!

I had a great time going through all the layouts that were made for the challenge. I wanted to post some of my favorites here. There were so many great takes on banner making!

This layout was made by Belinda Langner who has a blog. I love how she used the banner in the middle of the page and kept it simple using Crate patterned paper to make it. It adds such a fun touch to the layout!

This layout appealed to me for several reasons. First of all, after not eating sugar or carbs for 13 days now, I want to rip this cookie right off the screen and eat it. Have you ever seen a better looking cookie or am I just starving for a treat? Second, I love how she used the banner for her title and kept it really simple and small - perfect! And last, I loved how she clustered the little flowers in the bottom corner. This layout makes me LIKE flowers! It was made by Melissa Huie who has a blog with lots of beautiful work on it!

This layout makes me LOVE digi-scrapping! The colors are amazing and I love how clean, yet detailed it is. The banner is such a beautiful touch to the top and I like that she used it on a boy page! It "points" to the picture and the story so your eye goes right to what is important! This was made by "tnscrapper".

Thanks to every one who participated in the challenge - it was a really fun day!!! Suzy

Fancy Pants Guest Blogger Today!

How did I forget? I just posted the last post about NSD and I totally forgot I was the guest blogger at Fancy Pants today. And I worked SO hard on the projects!!! I made a mini album with the line called Beach Babes that I am in love with. It is a lot like the summer album classes I teach at Scrapbook Oasis and has LOTS of pages in it. Here is the cover of the album:

Now, go read my last post that I put up a few minutes ago and leave a comment to win some products as part of the NSD celebration (don't want anyone to miss that one!)!!!!!!! suzy

NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY (and a give-a-way)!!!

How lucky is it for us that National Scrapbook Day falls on Mother's Day weekend, huh? I think it is a great opportunity to demand some "mom" time and make some goodies! If you are planning on scrapping, I hope you will join me for my creative challenge from 3:00 - 4:00 at this event:

Creative Crop
In Celebration of National Scrapbook Day
Big Picture Classes and Creating Keepsakes Magazine are teaming up to bring you a fun-filled Creative Crop for National Scrapbook Day! The online event will kick-off on Saturday, May 7th at 9am PST. You can look forward to 12 jam-packed hours offering creative challenges every hour, live chats with industry professionals, amazing giveaways, and constant inspiration and interaction! The best part? It's all FREE!

My challenge has to do with my love for banners. I will be doing a chat as well, so I would love to have some of my blog friends join me! All of the details about the event are HERE. You need to sign up to reserve a seat, but once you do it is a FREE day of scrapping challenges from some of the industry pros like Stacy Julian, some of the CK Editors and some of my favorite scrappers like Cindy Tobey and Mou Saha. 

I also want to send some product to one of my blog readers to celebrate NSD. I will be putting together a package of supplies that will include some Maya Road, American Crafts, Studio Calico and others for one lucky winner! (pics to come tomorrow). So leave a comment on this post with what you will be doing to celebrate NSD (or Mother's Day) this weekend. I will pick a winner on Monday morning.  

I will leave you with one of my layouts that will be used to demonstrate my NSD challenge! Hope to see you tomorrow!!!!!!! And a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all!!! SUZY

A Bad Case of "Bugphobia" and AC layouts

I suspect stressful times affect people in different ways, emotionally and physically. My stress has manifested itself in a mental illness I have named "Bugphobia". I can't stop itching my head and freaking out about bugs in my house to the point of a slightly neurotic obsession with it.

First, the girls had lice. So I have determined that I must have lice and the nice lady who came out and charged me half my life savings must have been wrong when she said I was lice free. It has been a week and a half since she was here. The girls are clean. My house is most definitely clean. But my head is itchy and I can't stop combing it with the special nit comb to just make SURE I don't have any little bugs in my hair!  

Add to my bug phobia my complete abhorrence and fear of ticks. I have found ticks on Mayzie many times picked up from our long nature walks. I have become an expert on removing them. My girls have gotten a tick or two from said foofoo dog. But me? NEVER!!! No, no, no. Because if I got one, who would remove it properly? You have to use tweezers and take the little guys by surprise coming up behind them ever so quietly and grabbing them right where they are attached to the skin. If you don't do it quickly, they will vomit in you and their stomach contents can make you very sick. And if you don't get them right where they join the skin, you might leave their heads in which can cause an infection. The way you KNOW you got ALL of them is if you can see a little piece of skin hanging from their front teeth which is YOUR flesh...  

Saturday morning I woke up feeling something crawling on my leg in my bed - UNDER the covers. I freaked when I saw it was a tick (better then a bedbug though, right?)! And he was looking for a place to sink his teeth into! I yelled at Sophie to go grab some toilet paper and I bumped him with a pen to he wouldn't bite me. He crawled onto the end of my pen and fell off. Into my bed. And hid. Or so I thought... I searched the bed (tore it apart), me, my robe, and everything within a 10 foot area around the episode and no tick could be found. I told Tom we had finally found a solution to guaranteeing the girls didn't climb in our bed at night - a tick on the loose! But I didn't think I would be sleeping in our bed either...

I finally gave up and went in to take a shower. I was rubbing my head and I felt a bump on the back of my scalp in my hair. I HAD FOUND THE TICK!!! And HE had found a nice little breakfast cafe. In the ONE spot I couldn't reach! I had to have Tom remove him. He hates bugs and was so freaked out screaming the whole time because it had legs that were moving. He did successfully remove it and half my hair too and then ran from the room screaming. I proceeded to soak my head in alcohol not knowing where his bite was and wanting to make sure I was properly disinfected!

I then proceeded to check the dog and she had five ticks on her that day - we must have had a romp in the wrong location. We have now put Frontline on her and are tick free. But the combo of ticks and lice have me completely freaked out. Next, we will have bedbugs and that will completely put me over the edge! I can't stop itching - ahhhhhhhhhh!

And on to some better news...I found out yesterday that Huge is "stable". Going to the doctor next week to get some measurements and hearing tests to assure all is good, but the word stable has a positive spin to it, don't you think??? We wouldn't want an "unstable" growth in our heads, would we?!?!?!?! Yep, my mood has greatly improved. Now if I can just get rid of bugphobia, life will be good.

Here are a couple of American Crafts layouts that I made this weekend. I think I made each of these layouts in less than an hour - all the cute American Crafts products make it so easy to pull together quick layouts!

American Crafts Products Used: Patterned Paper: Dreamy (35385) - Peachy Keen Patterned Paper, Oh So Dandy (35372) - Peachy Keen Patterned Paper, Dandy (35397) - Hello Sunshine Patterned Paper, Duchess (89389) - Dear Lizzy Carded Ribbon, Dear Lizzy (89375) - Value 24 Pack Premium Ribbon, Hardcover Aquatic (53138) - Thickers, Duck (89391) - City Park Premium Ribbon, Sunset Blush (53182) - Thickers, Daylight (78148) - Details, Good Morning (42194) - Remarks Books, Pounce (43378) - Minimarks Sheets, Foreword (43389) - Minimark Sheets, Sunshine (72012) - Delights, Decorative Tape (61733) - Mixtape

American Crafts Products Used: Gossamer (35409) - Hello Sunshine Paper, No Sweat (35378) - Peachy Keen Paper, A Wrinkle In Time (35301) - The Classics Patterned Paper, Hardcover Dragon Fruit (53136) - Thickers, Pounce (43378) - Minimarks, Good Golly! (70068) - Flair, Dear Lizzy Christmas (85513) - Metal Rose Brads, Shout (72009) - Delights, Audrey (42191) - Remarks Books, Daylight (78048) - Details, 4"x6" Cards (64009) - Just Right

Have a great day blog friends!!! I'll be posting tomorrow about an exciting event happening on Saturday which is National Scrapbooking Day!!! And with it being Mother's Day weekend, I think we can all use that as an excuse to scrap allllllllll weekend long! Suzy