Last month, we decided to share a bit of ourselves with our users, by sharing one of our favorite things: our Buddy Lea doll. She is so special to us, having entered our Two Peas world as a Joke for Christmas, but has turned into so much more. Buddy goes with us everywhere, participates in everything we do, and is generally a source of amusement for us. Starting last month, Buddy Lea has been traveling around the Two Peas world! She was sent out with a special journal to keep all of her journey notes up to date and ready to share with us when she arrives home. Her first journey was out to Candi Leonard----she arrived during a week that Candi was moving. Be sure to look at the Where in the Two Peas World is Buddy Lea page on the website to see what she did when she was visiting Candi. This page will be updated whenever we have received her home again. She recently accompanied us to Las Vegas for Memory Trends. She had a great time eating at the buffets, checking out the slot machines, walking the strip, and riding the roller coaster at the NY, NY casino and hotel. She also checked in with several of the Garden Girls at the trade show. We have a lot of photos to share, be on the look out for those very shortly! Buddy Lea will be on the go again this weekend. She may arrive on anyone’s doorstep next week!!

Be sure to check out the special Holiday cards gallery in the Creating Garden. It is so full of great ideas for all of your holiday cards!

 

"MM mini card rub ons" by Amy Grendell	"art/artist" by Kim Heffington
"newsletter: new daisy d's transparency frames" by Jamie Waters	"three generations" by Joy Uzarraga

When did you start scrapbooking? How were you introduced to it?
I have loved Mrs. Grossman's stickers since 1980. I would save up my babysitting money so that I could buy stickers and stationary at the Gingerbread House, a little boutique and gift shop in my neighborhood. I can still remember pulling down on that roll of rainbows. Paper and stickers have always made me feel so happy. My mom and I used to talk about how they were so pretty you should be able to eat them. It was hard sending them off on cards, never to see them again. After having my first child in 1996, I received a pack of Hot off the Press paper and a Creating Keepsake magazine, and it all began there. It was so fun to be able to use pretty paper and stickers for something functional, yet I was able to keep the finished product!

What are your sources for inspiration?
I have found the Garden and Gallery here at Two Peas to be a huge inspiration for me since I began lurking 4 years ago. I also love idea books. I can't get enough of them. I love to look at them over and over. I would say the thing that motivates me to scrap the most is looking at the magazine Home Companion. It isn't a scrap mag, but it just makes me want to create.

How do you get started on projects (layouts, etc)?
I love to work on many things at once. Usually the photos motivate me to begin. I find papers, then I decide to take my time on the journaling, and finally I set it down to rest while I think about it more. Once that layout is sitting, I usually get motivated by other photos, find papers that I need to use right at that moment, and once again set the page down for awhile to rest, because I know that I want my journaling to be more meaningful. Then I get motivated by another set of photos sitting on my desk...you get the idea!

What things do you like to communicate through your work?
In a few years when my kids are teens, I want them to be able to pick up these albums and read that they are loved. I want them to feel that no matter how hard things get for them, their parents are crazy for them and want them to feel secure in that.

What have been your biggest achievements or greatest layouts or moments with this hobby?
Being asked to be a Garden Girl was thrilling for me. I will never forget that day. I also really loved the layout that was chosen for a CK Honorable Mention 2003. It was one of my most favorite photos that I have ever taken.

What kind of goals do you have with your scrapbooking?
I want to create lots and lots of simple scrapbooks. I want to keep most of my photos in a box or in photo albums. I want to create simple albums that have a title page, dedication page, contents page, section pages and filler pages. Can you tell which idea book I have been reading every night before bed?

Where do you scrap? do you attend crops or conventions?
I scrap in our office/scraproom at a nice, large table. About 3 or 4 times a year, I scrap with three of my Minnesota scrapbook buddies alternating homes.

Where does scrapbooking fit into your life? Do you scrap in the morning, evening, late night? when do you do your greatest work?
I usually do my greatest work right before a deadline, but I am trying to change that, because that can be really hard on my family. I am a late night scrapper, but there are times when I scrap in the morning before my kids wake. I wish that were more often.

What does your family think of your scrapbooking?
I think my girls love scrounging through my supplies. They love all the papers and stickers and doo dads and want to use them on their own pages. They also really want to help me and add things to pages that have a perfect amount of white space. "Mom, this needs another sticker."

Do you have a favorite product line, paper, sticker, or cardstock color?
I love that so many cardstock companies have come out with such gorgeous shades of pink. It makes me so happy to have so many choices of pink! I have always loved Anna Griffen and K&Co floral papers. I have found that the brights and stripes of Ki memories, Paper Fever, and SEI have become new favorites for me. I have Basic Gray and Making Memories Cosmopolitan papers framed in my house on the walls in four different rooms. I can't get enough of patterened paper!

What do you want the peas to know about you?
I love being a wife, mother, friend, reading tutor, and scrapbooker. I feel that I have a really full, fun life. There are days that don't feel as fun, but I feel so encouraged by the friends that I have made through this hobby. I really rely on my friendships to carry me through Minnesota winters.