Member Spotlight: Stephanie Baxter

Stephanie Baxter has been a long-time member at Studio Calico and we love the contribution she brings to the message board and gallery. She's just all-around inspiring and fabulous with her creative layouts and her positive attitude. I'm excited to get to put Stephanie in the spotlight this month!

Name: Stephanie Baxter
Studio Calico Username: *paperandglue*
City, State, Country: London, UK
Blog: http://stephaniebaxter.blogspot.com

When did you start scrapbooking and what got you started? I first became aware of scrapbooking about 7 years ago when I got a Saturday job in a little scrapbooking store near where I lived. Through that, I found my way to the online world of scrapbooking and kept up with things that way, although I didn’t do much scrapbooking then! It’s only been in the last 2-3 years or so that I’ve really gotten into it properly and made it my hobby.

What are your top 5 favorite products and why? There are SO many to choose from!! I guess I’d have to say patterned paper (I love American Crafts, October Afternoon, Crate Paper, Pebbles and SC, of course!), Thickers, punches, white or vanilla cardstock and dimensional adhesive. I use these products on pretty much EVERY layout I make!

What is your favorite Studio Calico product and why? I am LOVING all the wood veneer stuff right now...I think the asterisks are my favourite! I also can’t wait for the new camera ones. Mister Huey’s is also a definite favourite.

What is your favorite go-to or signature technique? I’m not really a technique-y kind of scrapper, but I do love to use dimensional adhesive on all my pages, either to use on the photos or on a journaling spot or something...I just like the dimension it gives and the way it makes stuff pop off the page. I also love to mix and match different patterned papers...I can’t get enough of paper!

Where do you find your inspiration? Pinterest is a huge source of inspiration for me right now. I find all sorts of random images on there that I try to use as a starting point for a page. I also love looking through the SC gallery at both the DT work and the member’s layouts...so many inspiring people there, it’s unbelievable!

What is your favorite color and/or color combo? This is something that changes for me all the time! If you asked me next week, I’d probably say something completely different! Right now, I absolutely adore grey with soft and pretty pinks, greens and yellows, a la the new Dear Lizzy Neopolitan line.

Tell us a bit about your design process. I try and start with something that inspires me...this might be an image from Pinterest, a quote or just a new product that I can’t wait to use. From there I pick a bunch of products that I think I might want to use, lay down my photos, pieces of paper and embellishments without gluing them down...I spend quite a bit of time moving bits around before committing to adhering them down! I agonise and deliberate for ages about where things should go, although you’d never know that from looking at my pages since they are often quite simple! I always do my journaling last. Always. I like to look at the whole page with the photos on it to give me some sort of emotional response which then helps me phrase what I want to say.

Tell us a bit about what else you do since we know you are creative in more ways than just scrapbooking. I have to be quite creative in my job sometimes since I teach 6 and 7 year olds...we’re always doing some sort of arty project! I actually made a display with the kids that took a bit of inspiration from Kelly Purkey’s amazing map layouts!! Our topic is Africa and the display is a massive collage map of Africa showing the different environments (rainforest, desert, savannah, etc.)...before sticking the collage on the wall, I made a larger map and used it as a mask before going to town on the board with some Mr Huey’s!! Many thanks to Kelly for the amazing idea! I also love photography, although since starting teaching I don’t really have much time for it. Working with children has really given me a passion for children’s photography though... I’d love to do that some day!