This quick video tells you about changes going on at Get It Scrapped and about a great deal on 11 classes that we’re retiring on December 31st. Get all 11 today in hyperlinked, bookmarked PDF files great for viewing on your tablet, ipad, e-reader or computer. (And, of course, you can print them out if that’s what you prefer). Purchase before December 5th for two value-packed bonuses.

Related posts:

1. Changes at Get It Scrapped and January Classes
2. The Get It Scrapped Project #1
3. Get It Scrapped Member Spotlight: Brenda Neff

Coloring with Copic markers is a great summertime activity — and an activity you can share with the younger people in your life, whether they’re doodling, drawing Manga-like illustrations, or making sweet pictures.

Michelle Houghton, (art, aerobics, and certified copics teacher–yep, she’s got the training and the energy!) makes it easy and fun.

Michelle Houghton’s brand new class Copic Coloring #1 starts Tuesday, June 14th. (Registration will close on June 17th — and not only do you miss out on this class after that date, the special bundle price that includes self-paced class Copic Craze goes away).

Ten lessons will be posted over 5 weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays–pick them up at your convenience. Ask Michelle questions in the private forum and share your creations in the private gallery.

Are you ready to put your Copic markers to use while ramping up your shading and blending skills and creating a variety of artwork for cards, scrapbook pages, journals and other projects?
If yes, this is the class for you.

Michelle Houghton has selected 12 images (by herself and 3 stamp artists) and built lessons around them that teach you advanced shading, shadowing, blending, and color combination skills. You’ll finish class with 12 digital stamps to use again and again, a collection of  beautifully colored and shaded images for your projects, and lots of Copic know-how!

In Copic Coloring, you’ll color and shade 12 printable images by Michelle and top stamp designers using step-by-step coloring and shading how-to in 10 illustrated lessons. Get support and share your work in private forum and gallery.

Note: Copic Coloring is a workshop beginning June 14th. Copic Craze is a self-paced class. Both are accessed in the Get It Scrapped classroom. After paying in Paypal, wait a few seconds to be directed to the classroom. If you’re new to the classroom you’ll set up a username and password. If you’ve taken classes in this classroom before (not the forums, but the classroom) you’ll enter your username and password to log in. Once logged in, you’ll find a welcome message for Copic Coloring under “Current Workshops” and you’ll find Copic Craze under “Self-paced classes.”

Michelle Houghton’s illustrated, step-by-step images will teach you to color and shade 12 images you can use on cards, scrapbook pages, journals and other projects.

The images you’ll work with were chosen to encompass a variety of looks that will push your skills to the next level.

You’ll learn new blending techniques, the steps to create more realistic shading, and how to combine Copic color families.

Contributing stamp artists

• Michelle Houghton
• Christy Croll of Tiddly Inks
• Tammy Siemers Thompson of A Day For Daisies
• Michelle Perkett of Michelle Perkett Design Studios

Images you’ll receive and work with

• Lesson 1 – Cloud and Sun
• Lesson 2 – Girl with “Poppy” Flower (stamp by Tiddly Inks)
• Lesson 3 – Sheep (with multiple hats)
• Lesson 4 – Pollen Nymph (stamp by A Day For Daisies)
• Lesson 5 – Roses
• Lesson 6 – Flying Birthday Girl (stamp by Michelle Perkett Studio)
• Lesson 7 – Sunflower
• Lesson 8 – Always the Flower Girl (stamp by Tiddly Inks)
• Lesson 9 – Owl
• Lesson 10 – Snail and Mushroom

Register now for:

• 10 lessons over 5 weeks
• 12 digital printable images from 4 different artists
• Advanced blending instruction
• Realistic shading and shadowing techniques
• Tips for combining Copic color families
• Private forum and gallery where you can get support and feedback from Michelle and other students

This class is for those who have been coloring for a while or who have taken an introductory class on Copic markers. Michelle’s self-paced “Copic Craze” is available immediately and teaches basic blending techniques, feathering, numbering systems, introductory shading to get you up and running with Copic markers. Purchase Copic Craze WITH Copic Coloring to save $13.

Note: Copic Coloring is a workshop beginning June 14th. Copic Craze is a self-paced class. Both are accessed in the Get It Scrapped classroom. After paying in Paypal, wait a few seconds to be directed to the classroom. If you’re new to the classroom you’ll set up a username and password. If you’ve taken classes in this classroom before (not the forums, but the classroom) you’ll enter your username and password to log in. Once logged in, you’ll find a welcome message for Copic Coloring under “Current Workshops” and you’ll find Copic Craze under “Self-paced classes.”

Related posts:

1. 3 Techniques for Using Copic Marker Inks on Fabric (copic marker tutorial no 24)
2. How to use copic markers tutorial 3 | using the blending marker
3. Fun Copic Ink Technique How-To (copic marker tutorial no 25)

Interview by Amy Kingsford

GIS Username: rinda

Member Since: October 2009

Post Count: 148

Alum of: Building Pages with Debbie Hodge;  Art Journaling 101, 102, 201, 301 and 103 with Dina Wakley.

Blog: Gallo Organico

Maria Ontiveros  is from El Granada, California (a semi-rural coastal town about twenty miles south of San Francisco). In cyberspace, she goes by her childhood nickname “Rinda” (a condensed version of Maria Linda). Maria’s artistic interests include scrapbooking, card making, photography, art journaling and mixed media collage.  She has been happily married for 25 years, and has two wonderful children (Henry, 15, and Clara, 12).  Maria makes her living as a law professor at the University of San Francisco, where her area of specialty is labor and employment law, with an emphasis on workplaces issues affecting immigrants and women of color.

When I asked Maria to tell us a little more about her life as a Scrapbooker…here’s what she had to say:

• I started scrapbooking in 1994 when Creative Memories was just starting to expand. My husband and I needed to create a scrapbook as part of the adoption process, and one of my friends had just been to a CM party, so she got me started. In 2001, I joined Club Scrap and became completely obsessed with scrapbooking!
• I am mainly a chronological scrapbooker, scrapping the regular events of our lives.  So, most of my scrapbook pages are about the kids’ activities, family gatherings and vacations.  I have very slowly been working on a heritage scrapbook as well.  I’m a non-digi, paper girl all the way.
• I tend to scrapbook in bursts – at weekend getaways or in response to online classes.  I usually scrapbook in the morning, after the kids are at school and before I feel the need to get “real work” done.

• I think what stands out in my scapbooking style is that I scrap a lot of pictures!  My typical scrapbook layout is a two page spread, featuring nine photographs and lots of journaling. The pages tend to be linear and fairly uncluttered.
• My scrappy must-haves include my large tonic guillotine cutter, my ATG tape gun, Club Scrap paper, ink and brads.
• Three things on my scrappy wish-list include more Tim Holtz distress inks, a crop-o-dile, and every single paper made by Graphic 45!
• I’d really like to try out all those new texture and embossing folders that Tim Holtz and others have created, but I haven’t had a chance yet.
• I tend to draw my inspiration primarily from my photographs and the story I want to tell with them.  This leads me to a certain color palette, style of papers and embellishments.
• I have two favorite GIS classes:  Building Pages with Debbie Hodge and Art Journaling 101 with Dina Wakley.  Building Pages really helped me understand why I liked certain page styles more than others and helped my scrapbooking evolve, while still remaining true to my own style.  Dina’s class opened up the world of art journaling to me in a way that allows me to record my memories and thoughts and to be creative on an almost daily basis.

• I love this layout first because it’s a picture that made me stop and catch my breath. The focal image photograph made me realize just how grown up my daughter and her friend have become! Truthfully, I still think of them as toddlers, but here they really appear to be on the cusp of becoming teenagers! I also love the contrasting colors and the assortment of embellishments I used (the painted chipboard flourishes, the various ribbons, all the charms). Finally, I love it because it was a stretch for me – I don’t tend to leave “white space” on my pages, but I did hear and I love the way it turned out.

I’d like to offer a big thanks to Maria for sharing her art with us this month and invite all of you to take the time to visit her blog and her gallery, as I know you will be inspired by all of her creativity!  Thanks for reading this month’s Member Spotlight and if you are interested in participating in a future Spotlight please contact me swilde1957@yahoo.com

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She teaches at Masterful Scrapbook Design, Creative Passion Classes and also shares ideas, inspiration and instruction on creative approaches to modern scrapbooking and papercrafting at her site AmyKingsford.com

Related posts:

1. Member Spotlight: Sharon Knopic
2. Member Spotlight: Cheryl McCain
3. Get It Scrapped Member Spotlight: Brenda Neff

Interview by Amy Kingsford

GIS Username: Sherelm

Joined: April 2009

Posts: 2,642

Most Active In: Non-Scrapbook Related Forum

Alum of: In Loving Memory, Beautifully Handmade Cards and Beautifully Handmade Embellishments with Tania Willis;  Oodles of Doodles with Michelle Houghton; Building Pages with Debbie Hodge; Shutterfly Saavy with Pattie Knox; and Scraproom with a View with Doris Sander.

Sharon’s Blog: Dreams of My Creative Mind

Sharon Linda Knopic (who was given her sister Linda’s name who passed away one year and a day before Sharon’s birth, as a middle name) has always lived in the Hershey, PA area—home of Hershey Chocolate and the Three Mile Island nuclear facility.  Though Sharon would describe herself as “technically” living alone, she also shares her home with two dogs (Disney and Scully) and two Siamese kitties (Clarkie and Pearl) She also receives frequent visits from all of the geese and ducks on the lake she lives beside. In addition to being a scrapbooker, Sharon plays both the piano and the organ, and also loves to crochet, sew, and quilt.

I recently asked Sharon a few questions about her hobby…so let’s hear what Sharon had to say about her scrapbooking in her own words:

• I’ve been scrapbooking since 1996, the year after my mother died, and left so many priceless photos of the family. I wanted to give my siblings their own photos, so I did my first albums for them. Since then I became the first teacher at Hershey’s “Times to Remember” LSS and taught at the Great American Scrapbook Conventions and Memories Expos.
• I scrapbook two things: 1) my mother’s heritage photos, and 2) my life .
  My goal is to have names to go with all of my pictures, from the turn of the 1800’s into the 1900’s, before I’m done scrapping.
• While I love scrapbooking with my friends in Paradise, Lancaster County, PA, I really enjoy scrapbooking on my bed. Before I had a scrapbook room, that’s where I scrapped, and old habits are hard to break. I do try to do a little each evening, but most of my scrapbooking is done on the weekend. Once winter comes, I love my hobby even more – snow falling and scrapping with cocoa – it doesn’t get any better than that!

Related posts:

1. Member Spotlight: Beverly Schweppe
2. Member Spotlight: Maria Ontiveros
3. Member Spotlight: Cheryl McCain

Interview by Amy Kingsford

Get It Scrapped! Teacher

Member Since: August 2008

Posts: 1,514

Classes Taught: Art Journaling 101, Art Journaling 102, Art Journaling 201: “Masterful” Art Journaling, and Art Journaling 301: Graffiti of My Life.

Designs For: Tim Holtz, Maya Road, Jenni Bowlin Studios, Kitschy Designs and Hambly Studios.

Website: DinaWakley.com

Dina lives in Glendale, AZ with her 3 boys and husband. She grew up all over the place including in Ohio, Michigan and England! Dina volunteers as a docent at the Phoenix Art Musuem and loves giving tours to school kids.  As you could guess, Dina absolutely loves everything about paper arts, especially art journaling, mixed media art, and scrapbooking. One of Dina’s deepest passions—aside from art—is traveling!  Dina also enjoys cooking good food, eating good food, hanging out with good friends, and reading good books!

When I asked Dina a little bit about her art and her creative process, here is what she had to say:

Related posts:

1. Dina Wakley
2. Teacher Spotlight: Michelle Houghton
3. Member Spotlight: Maria Ontiveros

Interview by Amy Kingsford

Username: Larkensnanny

Posts: 1,778

Most Active In: Non-Scrapbook Related Forum

Joined: April 2008 Alum of: More than 30 GIS classes, from at least 10 of our teachers!

Linda’s Blog: Coffee Chat

Linda Bizjak (aka Larkensnanny) lives in Columbus, Ohio with her sweet husband Edward. They are fortunate enough to live right next door to their oldest daughter, her daughter’s partner, and three grandchildren. Linda has four grown daughters and one stepson. She has eight grandchildren who she loves to spoil and spend most of her time with. In addition to scrapbooking, Linda also keeps busy with crafts and sewing. Linda has worn many different hats throughout the years, holding jobs that include running a fashion business, a certified daycare, and 25 years of teaching sign language. Crafting has always been her favorite way to spend her time. She especially loves making dolls and other sewing projects.

When we asked Linda some questions about her hobby, here’s what she had to say:

• I have been scrapbooking for about 15 or 20 years now. I started out with the Creative Memories format and have evolved from there. I have been a consultant for both Creative Memories and Close to My Heart products.
• My favorite subject to scrap is usually my grandchildren, but I also enjoy doing heritage pages of my family and distant relatives. I especially love telling the stories and hope that my current stories of my immediate family will someday be enjoyed by future generations.

• I have a lovely scrap room in the basement of our house and and now that I am retired I find myself in my craft room at least part of every day. I also love going out to crops and retreats and do that as often as I can.
• My style of scrapping has changed drastically over time. I started out with the little triangle cardstock in the corner of every page and all the photos cut either in a circle or oval. Now I love the grungy look and I use a much more planned sketch to make the layout interesting and put the focus where I really want it. I have learned so much from being a part of this GIS site and just know I will continue to learn and my style will change again and again.
• I don’t think I could possibly do a layout without my two cutters. I have a small one for trimming photos and a large one for cutting cardstock and printed paper. I love my Cricut Expressions machine and use it constantly for making titles and other die cuts.
• I always have a wish list of cartridges that I want for my Expression, but I also love trying new gadgets and the latest one that I am wishing for is the i-rock tool for attaching bling to a page. I really think my biggest wish is for a new computer so that I can have Photoshop and other cool editing programs for my photos and pages.
• The technique that I wish I knew how to do is to edit and alter my photos better. I would love to be more savvy in using Photoshop and other tricks like making a collage of photos into a word. On a simpler line, I really wish I knew how to work with masks to get more interesting effects on a page.

• My inspiration comes mostly from seeing other people’s work. GIS is a gold mine of inspiration and instruction. I love browsing through the gallery just to find something that tickles me that day. I also love books that have been published by Debbie Hodge, Sherry Steveson, as well as the Page Maps and other sketches. I really love sketches and it helps me get started so much faster. I don’t always stick to the sketch, but it gives me a bit of direction in a concrete way.
• My very favorite class here at GIS is Page Parts. I feel like I really learned the basics from that class and I could go to any extreme that I wanted to after I got down the basics. However, I have to say I have taken nearly every one of the classes offered here and I have never had a bad one. They are always so clear and so instructive, encouraging me to put my own flare on to it. (Editor’s note: While Page Parts is no longer offered here, much of the material from that class is covered in our free class Where Scrapbooking Ideas  Come From.)

• It was very hard to decide on one particular layout that I call a favorite. I tend to put a great deal of sentiment into my pages and at the time of construction, they are all favorites. I am choosing for now the latest layout that I did of my brother Beetle. I just like the way it came together with the rustic look and the old newspaper article. The dog tags were a fun addition because I thought of this layout as the Making of Beetle Bailey.

A big thank you to Linda for sharing with us this month.  Linda has been a dear friend to many of us for a couple of years now and I hope you enjoyed taking a closer look at some of her work, while learning some new things about her!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She teaches at Masterful Scrapbook Design, Creative Passion Classes and also shares ideas, inspiration and instruction on creative approaches to modern scrapbooking and papercrafting at her site AmyKingsford.com

Related posts:

1. Member Spotlight: Sharon Knopic
2. Member Spotlight: Maria Ontiveros
3. Member Spotlight: Cheryl McCain

Interview by Amy Kingsford

GIS Username: twistedpeppermint
Joined: January 2010
Most Active In: Non-Scrapbook Related Forums
Alum of: The Very Basics and Your Life: Thru the Lens with Katrina Kennedy

Beverly Schweppe was born and raised in Missouri and moved to the Kansas City area in 1986. She has been happily married for 22 years and has 2 boys, Tanner (19) and Corey (16).  Bev has been a SAHM for the last 7 years and is currently considering rejoining the work force. On an average day she can have anywhere from 3 to 8 boys hanging out around her home…what a handful!  She loves taking pictures of her boys and the many sports they’ve competed in throughout the years. She also enjoys researching her family’s genealogy and hopes to complete a heritage scrapbook someday.

Here’s what Bev had to say about her memory keeping activities:

• Even as a young girl I’ve always taken pictures and kept ticket stubs, flyers, bumper stickers, newspaper clippings, etc. I actually tried my hand at paper scrapbooking in 2006. I did a 12×12 book on my son’s baseball season. At the same time I started digital scrapbooking. I fell in love with digital.
• I mostly scrapbook my family. I scrap the present, and when I have time I work backwards with older photos.
• I scrapbook at my computer that actually sits in the living room so I’m always around the family, even when I’m scrapping. Sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes it can be a little distracting, but I’m always available to my family this way.
• I’m an exclusively digital scrapper. I like to use lots of pictures on a page. I usually scrap an event or something the boys are doing. I bounce around a lot, sometimes I use templates, sometimes I’m into blending, and sometimes I like clean straight lines.
• I love using staples, solid paper, and tags for dates, in my los.  I also like to look for different fonts to try out.

• The three scrapboooking things I wish for most are: 1) I need more RAM for my computer; 2) I could use another external hard drive; and 3) I’d also like Lightroom for adjusting my pictures.
• One day I’d like to try making my own cards. I enjoy sending cards to family and friends for all occasions so to make them myself would be really nice. I’m also in need of embellishment placement guidance. I hear there is a class here at GIS for that!
• I get most of my inspiration from blogs and websites.
• My favorite GIS class….that’s a tough one. I am really enjoying all of the classes here, as they are so versatile. I am learning so much about my camera from Katrina’s classes (The Very Basics and Your Life: Captured through the Lens) The Very Basics class led me to GIS. There is so much to just soak up here. I’m reading and printing everything. And I love the free class from Debbie Hodge, “Scrap your Story.” Before reading those lessons I had pretty much left myself out of all pictures and scrapbook pages.

• Picking a favorite layout is hard, but I think I have decided today that my favorite layout is from last year’s vacation. We took 6 boys and went to Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. The layout isn’t very creative but it makes me smile and reminds me of how much fun we had. We have be going here for vacation for about the last 23 years.

Thanks Bev for sharing a little bit about yourself.  It was such a pleasure to interview and get to know one of our newer, yet highly motivated members.  Bev is a perfect example of how much fun you can have keeping memories, when you simply dive right in!  I hope to continue to get to know you better in the future and look forward to taking many more classes with you here at Get It Scrapped!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She teaches at Masterful Scrapbook Design, Creative Passion Classes and also shares ideas, inspiration and instruction on creative approaches to modern scrapbooking and papercrafting at her site AmyKingsford.com

Related posts:

1. Member Spotlight: Sharon Knopic
2. Member Spotlight: Maria Ontiveros
3. Get It Scrapped Member Spotlight: Brenda Neff

Interview by Amy Kingsford

Username: mvscrapper

Joined:April 2009Active Posts:1,181

Most Active In: Non-Scrapbook Related Forum

Alum of: Beautifully Handmade Embellishments, Beautifully Handmade Cards, Scrapbooking with Fabric and In Loving Memory, The Very Basics, Your Life Thru the Lens, Souvenirs of the Season, Get It Stamped, Building Pages and Product Pizzazz 102.

Brenda’s Blog: The Abrielle Neff Foundation

Brenda Neff lives in a rural community in NW Missouri with her husband and children.  She was blessed with 3 girls, Madyson (Mady) 10, Elly 3, and Abrielle (Abby), who went to Heaven when she was almost 4.   Brenda works as the controller for an agricultural cooperative and enjoys spending her spare time with her family.  She is a Girl Scout leader and a chauffer for everything her beautiful girls are involved in.

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She teaches at Masterful Scrapbook Design, Creative Passion Classes and also shares ideas, inspiration and instruction on creative approaches to modern scrapbooking and papercrafting at her site AmyKingsford.com

Related posts:

1. Member Spotlight: Beverly Schweppe
2. Member Spotlight: Sharon Knopic
3. Member Spotlight: Maria Ontiveros

Username: scrapweaver
Member Since: April 2008
Posts: 2,195
Most Active in: Non-Scrapbook Related Forum
Alum of: Page Parts, Sense & Sensibility Symposium, Back to Class, Embellishments: Beautifully Handmade, Product Pizzazz, and Art Journaling 101.
Teaching: Oodles of Doodles
Michelle’s Blog: Scrapweaver

Hi I am Michelle Houghton or better known as “scrapweaver” on the web.  I am a stay-at-home Mom who teaches aerobics and scrapbooking classes on the side.  I have been married to an amazing man for 12 years and have two beautiful girls, Sara and Lori, 7 and 5.  We live in Iowa now but both John and I have lived all over the country.  I have lived at last count in 9 different states and 14 different communities across the US.  Hopefully we have settled now for a good long while.  Besides the obvious passion for everything scrappy I love the out of doors, dance, and fitness.  It is all enough to keep me busy and out of trouble. I have been scrapping a little over 12 years.  I started right before John and I got married.

• Mostly I scrap my family.  My two girls are the stars and the rest of us are the supporting cast–  but with those two beautiful faces no one seems to be too upset to take the backseat.
• I have a beautiful scrapbook room now so I am mostly busy there, but I am known to pack up my gear and hit a local crop for an evening too.  Nights are my best scrapping time when my kids are in bed. I have fewer distractions then–although as they get older that is changing too!
• Describing my style is difficult.  I would say a lot of times I am a copier in that I tend to take on other people’s styles that I am learning from, but the layouts you would recognize as mine, all have an artistic, hand-made element to them.
• Besides the obvious must-haves, I would have to say pens would definitely make my list. I am not sure if any of my layouts in the past few years are missing a Sharpie on them somewhere.

• There are really only two items on my wish list right now:  1) an electronic cutter, which is big money so it is on the waiting list, but I would love to be able to hook up to the computer and have endless fonts without wasting the extra letters; and  2) Can a girl have too many Copic markers?  They are a current obsession of mine–and there are over 300 colors!
• I wish I had more time for art journaling.  I have done some and love it but have a hard time finding more time to do that on top of scrapping and writing for GIS.
• I get a lot of inspiration on-line from blogs, and our GIS site.  I love playing with product too.  Just playing and pushing things into new functions with challenges, motivates me to do some of my best work.
• My favorite class here at GIS, hands down, was Page Parts.  This was such a turning point for me with my scrapbooking.  It allowed me to find ways to put my art back into my pages and really pushed me to start thinking before I just slapped product on the page.
• These are two of my favorite layouts from around the time I took Debbie’s Page Parts class.  I love that they have a distinctly “me” look to them with my art work.  They are pages that came together easily at least in terms of ideas, they excited me while I was working on them and make me smile when I come back to them today.
  (Note from Debbie – I remember when Michelle, took that class and made these layouts, and how her style became stronger and more appealing than ever. That class isn’t on the books anymore — but I’ve been posting bits of it in the design area here. Also, look for a free class-by-email coming soon that will include that material reworked.)

Thanks Michelle for giving us an extra special glimpse into your life! Thanks also for all you do here at Get It Scrapped! in addition to teaching — including playing a major role in the hosting our recent birthday bash and being deeply involved with the community in our forums.

Keep a look out for Memory Maker’s 2011 Edition of “Big Book of Scrapbooking Ideas” where Michelle will have five layouts published…and look for another of her layouts in Scrapbooking.com’s e-zine!  WAY TO GO!!!  Also keep your eye on the homepage for more of Michelle’s wonderful articles on Copic Markers! We look forward to all of the scrappy wisdom to come from you in the future!

Related posts:

1. Michelle Houghton
2. Teacher Spotlight: Dina Wakley
3. Member Spotlight: Cheryl McCain

Interview by Amy Kingsford

GIS Username: fcivira
Joined: September 2009
Most Active In: Scrapbooking with Fabric forums
Alum of: Scrapbooking w/ Fabric with Tania Willis, Life Captured Through the Lens by Katrina Kennedy, and The Street Where You Live with Jane Howden.
Personal Blog: Scrapfriends & Family (NOTE: Francis’ blog is published in Spanish, but you can paste the address here for translation)

Francis Civira is a happy wife to Henry who is her “soul mate and her sunshine everyday.” She’s a mom to children Paula (4 ) who is a crafty girl and loves all of mom’s supplies and is an artist all her own and Gabriel (1) who is a very happy baby and a sweet part of Francis’ day.

Francis lives in Caracas, Venezuela, a tropical country, where they only have two kinds of months: the sunny ones and the rainy ones! Francis is an information engineer and really loves her job, because she has the opportunity to travel, meet with different people, enrich her “life’s vision” and of course buy scrapbook goodies!  In Caracas they have just have one scrapbook shop, ‘Scrap It!’. This store was how Francis came to learn of scrapbooking and eventually hooked on it!

We are so happy that Francis discovered scrapbooking and eventually came to find us here at Get It Scrapped! I have had the privilege of taking a couple of classes with Francis. I have always been fascinated with her attention to color and detail and her desire to always learn more! So as you can imagine I was very delighted to interview her for this month’s Member Spotlight!

When I asked Francis a few questions about her scrapbooking and her creative process here is what she shared:

I started scrapbooking at the end of the year 2005. It wasn’t long before I was hooked because when I was young I had organized my photos, memorabilia, and journaling and added details to embellish my memories. I was always a fan and lover all papers and cardstock, crayons, stamps, colors, and cute details for my school supplies. Today I think that scrapbook always was seeking me!

Most of my layouts are of or about my family. I really have the goal to create layouts that tell my daily routine and histories about me.

This year I scrapbook mostly on the weekends.  For now I usually set all my supplies at the dining table, because I do not have a scrapbook room yet.  In the next month, though, we are moving into a new apartment and I will have my own scrap room!

I am a traditional scrapbooker, because I love textures in my layouts and because digital scrapbooking has not yet caught my eye! In the short amount of time I have to scrapbook my memories, sketches help me to be more productive. I am somewhat of a “scrapbooker in progress” because I feel that I am still transforming my hobby into a passion! And I absolutely love to try new techniques all the time!

I always have alphabets and numbers for titles as well as flowers, rub-ons, ribbon, and buttons in all colors, handmade journaling tags, and fabrics on hand!

My wish list consists of (1) learning new techniques and trends about scrapbooking here at Get It Scrapped. GIS is such a talented community and It offers a great opportunity for scrapbookers like me, with limited resources to train locally; (2) a Digital SLR Camera, in order to improve my photography techniques; and (3) more dies for my Sizzix big shot machine!

I’d like to try sewing machine techniques in my artwork. Recently my husband gave me a sewing machine as a gift, but I have not tried to use it in my layouts yet!

I get most of my inspiration from blogs by amazing scrapbookers, my favorites are:

• Laura Vegas
• Lisa Day
• Valerie Salmon
• Janna Wilson
• Tania Willis

My favorite class at GIS was Scrapbooking with Fabric, with Tania Willis, because Tania surprised me a lot in each lesson. In this class she used resources accessible to me. Overall it was a really cool experience!

“Celebracion de Amor” (Celebration of Love) is my favorite layout because I think it shows our happy life together at the beach…I really enjoyed creating the squares with the thread around them!

Thanks for sharing Francis!  I love learning about all of our friends all over the world…as I hope you all do, as well!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She teaches at Masterful Scrapbook Design, Creative Passion Classes and also shares ideas, inspiration and instruction on creative approaches to modern scrapbooking and papercrafting at her site AmyKingsford.com

Related posts:

1. Member Spotlight: Beverly Schweppe
2. Member Spotlight: Sharon Knopic
3. Member Spotlight: Maria Ontiveros