Happy Wednesday! Kelly here with a look at your fabulous April Guest Designer, Suzy Plantamura. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Suzy in person over the past year, I let me tell you... she's one of those friends who you LOVE spending time with. Hilarious, energetic, and kind-hearted on top of all her creativity. Be sure to check out her beautiful layouts in this month's gallery.
Here's a little Q&A with my fabulous friend Suzy...
When did you start scrapbooking? When I had my daughter Sophie (who is now 11), I had never been a home mom and didn’t quite know what to do with my time! I loved art and crafts and had dabbled in scrapping before (can you say Creative Memories?), so I dove in more seriously. After making a few pages, I decided I was a pro and it was time to enter the CK HOF contest. I didn’t win of course, but my husband put my pages on our families online website and sent them to some friends. One of these friends had a wife who was the Creative Director at “meandmybigideas”. She asked me to do design work for them and this was way back when they were making stick people stickers, but I still said yes!!! I kept entering HOF every year for the next six before I finally won in 2008, the last year the contest was held! I have been doing work for CK ever since and love it.
Where do you find your inspiration? EVERYWHERE I LOOK! Life inspires me. Photo’s inspire me. Nature inspires me. New supplies inspire me. Looking at scrapbook magazines and blogs inspire me. I have to admit, I am almost ALWAYS inspired to scrap. It doesn’t take much to get me in the mood to create. If anything, I just wish I had more time to play with my supplies!
what's your favorite thing about this hobby? My pure love of creating and my love of a challenge. I love thinking of new and different ways to combine and use products and pushing myself to think “out side the box”. The challenge of improving or coming up with new techniques keeps scrapbooking interesting and I never tire of it!
What do you like to focus on when you scrapbook (photos, design, journaling, etc)? I take TONS of pictures and they are the start to each page idea. I print my photos and then go through my stash of papers and embellishments to find things that match which is the most time consuming part! My favorite part of making a scrapbook page is when all the papers and photos are glued down and I get to add the little embellishment clusters and details that finish off the page.
Besides scrapbooking, what other things do you like to do in your spare time? I love spending time with my girls and all their friends going to the beach and having funky girl photo shoots where they pick out crazy outfits and we take tons of pictures (the girls LOVE doing this!). I am at the school doing room mom stuff and taking pictures so often that I should be on the payroll! I am very involved in my church and work with the children there as well. I walk/run with my dog for about 5 miles daily – she is in great shape for a little fluffy cock-a-poo!
Five fun facts about you...
1) There is a book called “The Color Code” written by Taylor Hartman that puts personalities into four colors: red (driven by power), blue (driven by emotion), white (driven by peace), and yellow (driven by fun). I have a bad case of yellow and having FUN in life is definitely my priority!
2) I used to be a career woman and was the VP of Sales at a large computer company. I laugh at the memories of my serious, respected, executive behavior now that I am a crazy, fun, carefree child entertainer!
3) I detest shopping – any kind – the grocery store and mall are my worst enemies. My son has always gone to the grocery store, Costco or Target with me picking out food, bringing in all the bags and putting it all away. He leaves TOMORROW for two years to serve a mission in Argentina for our church and I joke that we probably won’t have any food in the house for those two years (but we will still eat – just out!).
4) I don’t like Christmas much – sooooo much stress, so much shopping, so much money spent. I get grumpy in December – bad, bad me!
5) I would have had 10 kids if God thought is was the right thing for me. I’m going to completely fall apart when my kids leave the nest and I will be one of those weird old ladies that have 10 dogs to keep me company and give me unconditional love!
I also asked Suzy to share one of her favorite photos...
I picked this family photo that we used on our Christmas card last year because it was the first and probably the last time for quite a while that we were all six together (seven with the dog)! We were visiting my parents in St. George, Utah for Thanksgiving and I fell in love with this supposedly haunted barn that was across the street from my nephews school. Very rustic and definitely falling apart, but no ghosts were present!
Thanks for being a wonderful Guest Designer, Suzy!
Suzy, if you are reading this, you seem like such fun!! You and I would get along great, plus we have girls the same age...lol!! Love these pages you made for this blog post, congrats again on being guest designer!
Posted by: Laurie | 04/13/2011 at 12:46 PM
you have a beautiful family. =)
Posted by: Debbie | 04/13/2011 at 12:58 PM
I agree 100% on Christmas! I love the actual day when family gets together to open presents and talk and eat but I hate all the stressing before- and I really don't like shopping either- except for scraps. :) Suzy is a great choice- love her work.
Posted by: Michelle Hernandez | 04/14/2011 at 07:49 AM
Oh Suzy, you are fab! I'm with you on shopping and Christmas. Although I do like food shopping. I'll do that for you for the next two years. :)
Posted by: Linda Barber | 04/16/2011 at 02:31 PM