Today we are celebrating me! . . . . Awkward! So I guess I will tell you my story. I am a stay at home mom to a blended family of 9 children. Yes...you read that correctly. I have 9 children and 3 son-in-laws, and 1 beautiful granddaughter. A few of my children must deal with the effects of Autism and Bi-Polar. It's challenging for them, but they have beautiful spirits and strength beyond their years. I love my big, chaotic family!
I have been a scrapbook teacher and designer for 15 years. Over the years I have worked with lots and lots of stores, as well as taught thousands of women at conferences and scrapbook stores. However. . . By far my favorite part of my career has been designing and getting to know so many talented women. It's what I love most about scrapbooking. The instant connection with other ladies, sharing ideas, supporting an inspiring each other. It's like one giant slumber party! After teaching for so long I decided I wanted to branch out and try my hand at creating my own lines. I signed with Creative Imaginations and worked with them to make and create three of my own lines.The lines I created with them are: I'm Pregnant, I'm Adopted, and my fav Spit Up Couture! The whole concept behind the lines is "Keepin' it Real". Everything has truth in it with a large dose of humor!They have been in scrapbook stores and Michaels's around the United States.
Currently I have been freelancing at home. I still design for Stacy's scrapbook store and design different pieces for clients. I really love the variety of it all. I love that now I am blessed to be able to paint, create sculptures, create gifts for my clients all from my studio at home. I love the everyday variety of it. I have my own blog, as well as creating the blog postings for Stacy's Scrap Shack
Some of my Lines:
*Notice my favorite sticker on this one..."The morning commute" *
Here is a really fun project I made with this line. It's a folder of mini albums that house my pregnancy test (Ok...a blank one that I marked pregnant, I just couldn't put the real one in) and a book for each month of my pregnancy. Some months I didn't have any photos, so I just used stock photos from the internet!
I have to show you my favorite paper from "Spit Up Couture", because it's so fun . . .
I recently took a class where you had to bring a painting by an artist you were inspired by and re-create their painting. It works because your able to follow something without thinking about it, and it has a way of unblocking you. I chose a painting by Lisa Walsh. You can see her blog here.
Here is my painting. By the way it did help, totally unblocked me:
Here's some samples of ALL the things I like to dabble in. From ATC's Cards, scrapbooking, painting, sketching, photography and PARTIES! (if you knew me, you would see how this makes sense because I'm kinda all over the place. I'm that dog in the movie "UP" who in mid sentence will stop talking and say . . . "Squirrel!")
So that's me in a nutshell, wife, mother, friend, artist and all around crafting spaz!
Fabulous!!!
Posted by: Diane | 05/13/2011 at 12:17 PM