It is always fun to meet new people, make new friends, and find out what people are doing! That’s exactly what the Creative Blog Tour is all about! This is an ongoing blog hop. I’m not sure who first started it, but has been fun visiting new blogs, meeting new creative people, seeing their creations, and hearing about their process. Last week, Lisa Harris, from MyKreativePursuits.com was kind enough to tag me in her blog post. Be sure to check out her blog and meet her if you haven’t already!

At the end of this post I’m tagging other people. Since this blog tour was set up to allow readers to get to know a little more about the bloggers, we were given a list of four questions to answer. So here we go:

1. What am I working on?

Lately I’ve been working on a series showing how easy it is to do digital scrapbooking with Studio J free, online software from Close to My Heart! It is perfect for anyone who thought they couldn’t learn to do digital scrapbooking, or even for someone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of time learning a software program! Here is a recent video showing how easy it is to make this 2 page layout! Here are also some other layouts using Studio J.

Most recently, I am in the middle of an unexpected project, like I am so often! In the midst of of applying to a design team, as a group, we decided that since it was a new endeavor, we would create a new website and blog. I ended up sharing the back end of building a website with one of my online business friends. There was some basic artwork needed for the website, and I worked on that as well. You can often find me doing techie things along with my more creative projects. This particular site is a challenge site, where there will be creative challenges and winners! It will be launching on July 2nd, and I’ll post the info and link then! So stay tuned.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

This is a difficult question because I find it hard to identify with a single genre. I love creating in general, and don’t like to box myself into a single type of work. Some people may feel like that makes me a jack of all trades and master of none. I can live with that, because I thrive on learning and expanding my knowledge and skills. Even within some of my projects, you’ll find variety. For instance, I do paper scrapbooking as well as digital. In card making I may create in paper and embellishments, or I may do a hybrid version combining digital with paper and embellishments. I’m not sure anyone could identify my art journaling, because it has variety as well! Mixed media – well that’s mixed, too!

Here is a sampling of some of my projects. You can click on the images, they are linked back to the posts they were in. I’m happy to say I have a better camera now, and hope my photography skills will soon improve your view of my work!

Mixed media with paint and paper piecing.

Mixed media home decor using maps.

Mixed media with image transfer and masking.

Digital scrapbooking.

Art journal page with image transfer.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

The main reason I started my website was to really urge others to give new techniques or products a try! You never know what you may really enjoy doing! Often you’ll find me telling a crazy story about myself or my family, because that’s life and who we are! People tend to take themselves too seriously! Lighten up, have some fun. Life can be too short and we should enjoy the special people around us. I firmly believe we should also take time for the creative things we want to do, or our creative soul just withers away and a part of us dies. People who spend time on whatever their creative hearts desire tend to be a little happier. I like to be happy and have fun! How about you?

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

When scrapbooking, it usually is a story that starts a page; or a photo or group of photos which I really want to get on a page and tell the story. Other creative aspects are much more free flowing in the way they come about. Inspiration can come from a color scheme, phrase, word, photo or something random. Inspiration is everywhere!

Now, I’d like you to meet these crafty bloggers and visit them on their websites:

Kelli Panique is creator of Use It Scrapbooking. Her mission is to motivate scrappers to use all the fun products they purchase! Kelli made her first scrapbook at age 14 in a magnetic album with hand drawn rainbow bubble letters for titles. She has been hoarding  collecting crafty supplies ever since. Her style (and handwriting) has improved since then and she enjoys teaching others how to get the most out of their scrapbooking supplies while telling their stories. Kelli has taught at local scrapbook stores and now is teaching scrapbooking techniques on her YouTube channel. You can find Kelli at www.UseItScrapbooking.com. 

Debbie O’Neal is the creator of Scrap Me Quick Designs and is passionate about die cut machine crafting. She shares die cut tips and techniques to inspire your own creativity and expand your die cut machine knowledge. She has been a contributor to the online die cut magazine, Die Cut Crazy; and those of us who know Debbie like to call her the Queen of Die Cutting! Visit Debbie at www.ScrapMeQuickDesigns.com

Thanks for visiting!