Virtual Blog Tour

Last week, I got an email from my good friend Sharon Fritchman asking me to participate in a virtual blog tour, so of course I said yes.  (Click the link to see her beautiful work!)  My assignment was to answer four questions, then send my readers off to check out another inspiring crafter.  So here we go!


1) What are you working on?

I always have at least a dozen things in progress!  Looking around the craft room, I can see layouts in various stages of completion, a pile of supplies for a Cub Scout Day Camp session I'm leading at the end of the month, and gifts that still need to be wrapped for Trevor's birthday.  I also see Star Wars crafts, something I NEVER thought I'd make.  Here's the latest one that Trevor and I made together.  I'm not even sure what it is, but he assures me that we did a great job. Well, he did.  All I did was help him snip pipe cleaners and cut the tricky areas of felt.

I'll be using it and a bunch of other items for Trevor's Star Wars themed birthday party next weekend.  Previous parties (Angry Birds, Lego, maze party, etc) have been a breeze for me to put together compared to this Star Wars one.  Fingers crossed for a theme I actually know something about next year!  I have a year to talk him into something cool, like Camping, Harry Potter, Detectives, or Mad Scientists.  

2) How does your work differ from others?

My work differs from other people's because I do so many different creative things.  I'm a scrapbooker and a cardmaker, but I also design kids' crafts and throw themed parties.  I've recently taken beginning jewelry, glass flamework, and lapidary classes, just to name a few.  I dabble in recipe creating and cake decorating.  I love cooking challenges and get great pleasure out of turning ordinary experiences into something fun and unusual.

 Handprint Owls

Name Skeleton

Trevor deRosier: Second Grader

Giraffe Cake

3) Why do you create what you do?

I scrapbook to record our memories and as an artistic expression.  I make cards because it is cheaper than buying them and it's a good way to use up scraps from my layouts.  I design and make kids' crafts because it's something I can do with Trevor and because it's a connection to my teaching days.  I take classes about random crafts because I love learning new things.  I make up recipes to enter in fairs and I decorate cakes because it is fun.  I like cooking challenges because it takes the everyday activity of putting food on the table and makes it into a game.  I like turning ordinary experiences into something fun and unusual because small adventures are still adventures.

Our first Chopped Challenge

4)  How does your creative process work?

At any given time, there are thousands of ideas swirling around in my head.  Mostly they are ideas for kids' crafts and scrapbook layouts.  I carry a notebook at all times and scrawl down my ideas as soon as I can.  If you watch me walking to pick up Trevor from school, you'll almost always see me with my notebook out.  It's not unusual for me to stop in the middle of the grocery store and write down an idea or sketch out a layout.  My inspiration comes from all around.  I keep just about every basic craft supply imaginable on hand at all times so that I can make things as soon as possible when inspiration strikes.  Despite that, I probably only make a tiny fraction of a percent of the ideas I have.  There are always new ideas that push the older ones aside.  Occasionally I'll sift through my notes and sketches and find a gem that I'll go back and create.

...

Now that you've learned a little more about me, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Michelle O'Driscoll!  Michelle lives in a growing rural town just outside of St. John’s, the capital city of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.  She is married with 2 young children, 3 dogs and 5 goldfish.  Many of Michelle’s scrapbook pages include the family, trips and life events. She has been scrapbooking for 11 years and making all her cards for the past 6 years.  She shares all her papercrafting adventures at http://scrapbookingsos.blogspot.ca/.