Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Tuesday Treat

Today’s featured stamper is Micki, a woman whom I have had the pleasure to meet and get to know. She is a very talented stamper, but like many, does not give herself enough credit. The following is a brief bio written by Micki herself as well as some fantastic projects with supply lists.

"Hi, let me introduce myself. My name is Micki and I am a wife to a wonderful husband, a mother to an awesome daughter and son-in-law, a grandmother to the worlds most adorable two granddaughters (I know – I’m being biased, lol), and a craft-a-holic. I was born and raised in Bad Hersfeld, Germany and immigrated to Leavenworth, Kansas 31 years ago. Several years ago, we bought an old Victorian house in Wathena, Kansas which is west of St. Joseph, Missouri, so we could be closer to the kids.

I have always dabbled in some kind of craft; crochet & knitting, quilting, sewing, folk art stuff, one-stroke painting and yes, had even tried rubberstamping about 15 years ago. Being German and having been raised in Germany, arts & crafts are taught early on in school. I distinctly remember in 3rd grade having to knit a sweater and it still brings a chuckle out of me as I had cheated and had my ‘Oma’ knit it for me.

So as I had mentioned, I tried rubberstamping before but it did not catch my interest. Back then it was too labor intensive in my opinion. Years later, a friend invited me to a Stampin’ Up! Workshop and I truly responded with “Ugh, I tried stamping and I am not interested. And scrapbooking – no thanks”. Honest to goodness, that was my answer. Kari just said to come, it’ll be fun, a night away for you and you don’t have to buy a thing. Well….. I’m sure you can imagine how the rest of the story goes. The demonstrator showed 3 different cards, which took less than 10 minutes each and a major light bulb went off in my head…. As for scrapbooking, having grandchildren changed my mind really quick.

I have been a demonstrator now for close to 3 years and joined Utah Divas International shortly after starting my demoship. Through UDI, I have learned so much and am still learning which is so much fun. I have met an amazing community of crafters that are always there to offer creative feedback, encouragement and just inspire me to step outside of my comfort zone and just create! Customers are not customers but have become my friends and crafting buddies. When I have a workshop, it’s more like a creative forum and it is so much fun to absorb all that creativity. Not to mention the laughs we share.

That is my story. To sum it up- Creative Stress Relief. My stamping & scrapbooking allows me to forget about the daily challenges of work, stress and general every day trials & tribulations and helps me to unwind."

A little about the 12x12 scrapbook page created here. Scrapbooking is relatively hard for me because I tend to ‘over analyze’ and instead of letting it be, I alter a page a gadzillion times before going back to the original layout. Sound familiar? This page was intended to be a Christmas present…. (I know :)) for a close friend who lives in Oklahoma and I realized I better just ‘do it’ so she can have it by Easter. It is my first time using Rub Ons and I absolutely fell in love with them, which is why no stamps were used. I had too much fun with the Rub-Ons. I also used Stampin’ Up!’s On Board Chipboard, colored it with the Chocolate Chip re-inker. The colors were randomly chosen since they appealed to me and seemed to go better with the Sepia tone of the photo.

Circle of Friends
Paper
􀂉 101556 Old Olive
􀂉 105141 Pumpkin Pie
􀂉 100946 More Mustard
􀂉 102851 Basic Black (scraps)
Ink Pads/Markers
􀂉 101065 Chocolate Chip Reinker
􀂉 105021 White Gel Pen
Accessories
􀂉 109179 On Board Ginormous Pieces
􀂉 111276 Love Birds Rub Ons
􀂉 111228 Love & Happiness Rub Ons (SAB)
􀂉 110720 Flower Fusion
􀂉 109113 Square Rhinestones Ice
􀂉 109041 5-Petal Punch
􀂉 109043 Scalloped Circle Punch

The Essence of Love cards were an idea about using Transparency sheets. I know I saw a similar idea somewhere with other stamps and I’m sure that’s how I came up with this idea, I just can’t remember where or who otherwise I would give credit.

Essence of Love
Stamps/Wheels

􀂉 111494 Essence of Love
Paper
􀂉 108641Wild Wasabi
􀂉 109178 Prints Designer Series Certainly Celery
􀂉 Transparency from office supply
Ink Pads/Markers
􀂉 Staz On Black (or White)
Accessories
􀂉 Silver or Gold Brads
􀂉 Wild Wasabi Double-Stitched Ribbon

Happy Petals
Stamps/Wheels

􀂉 109445 Pick A Petal
􀂉 107375 Happy Everything
Paper

􀂉 100730 Whisper White
􀂉 102837 Only Orange

Ink Pads/Markers

􀂉 102696 Only Orange Classic Ink
􀂉 102913 Only Orange Reinker

Accessories
􀂉 110720 Flower Fusion
􀂉 109113 Square Rhinestone - Ice
􀂉 109114 Pretties Kit
􀂉 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders
􀂉 Tea Dye


Thanks, Micki, for telling us about yourself and sharing your great projects with us! As always, I look forward to seeing what you create next.

Have fun stampin' and creatin'!

3 comments:

carolm said...

love your projects micki. i could not see the possibilities for the set with the transparency, but i have actually seen a couple of things now that are ok. still won't buy it, but i least i don't hate it anymore. lol

thanx for sharing! xoxo ~ carol.

EdieB said...

Micki!

I was with Carol on Essence of Love, but you have shown me the light. I'll be adding it on to my next order. All of your projects are terrific.I love your color choices. TFS, EdieB

Alicia said...

Micki-
Thank you so much for sharing yourself and your creativity with us. Keep it up. You have great ideas and I love to see your creations. :)

Alicia