Member Spotlight - Amy Rechkemmer

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

Well, my name is Amy Louise Rechkemmer. I live in a small town in northeast Iowa. I am blessed to be a stay at home Mom to two wonderful rambunctious little boys. Owen who is 6 and my little Lane who is 3. We are trying for another baby, and I praying to be blessed with a girl. You see I grew up with a lot of men in my life. I had five brothers and no sisters. So I am ready to be have some female bonding!
I have been married to my husband Jake for 12 years. He is a beer salesmen for a new brewery that started here in Iowa and he also hobby farms. Before being a stay at home Mom I was an insurance agent for Farm Bureau. I graduated from UNI in 2003 with a degree in Finance and Accounting. I plan to go back to work someday, but am really enjoying being at home with my little ones for now. I do scrapbooking for hire so that brings in a little fun money and so does being a consultant for AC Bailey Designs.

2. How and when did you start scrap booking?

My mother in law actually got me started. I was visiting her one day and she showed me her books. I was hooked right away. This was a little over 6 years ago right before Owen was born. I have been scraping ever since.

3. How would you describe your scrap booking style?

My style has definitely changed over the years. I really like pages that look simple and clean yet have a lot of layering and detail. This is what I try to do, it just doesn't always turn out that way. I love using lots of papers, ribbon, and embellies.

4. How often do you journal? Is it important to you?

This is an area I need to work on. I try to journal for every occasion but it doesn't always happen. I get carried away with creating a layout and then forget about actually writing about it.

5. Do you have a dedicated scrap space ( room )?

I guess you could call it that. I have a big space in my basement where I keep all my stuff and my tables. I have monthly crops down there and can fit about 12 people. On the other side are the kids toys, so it nice, they play in the same big room as Mom.

What does it look like right now? ( if you have a photo you want to share that is great)
It is pretty organized! I try to clean up and reorganize after every LO. However, while I have a "work in progress" in can look pretty messy.

6. What are your "go to " tools or supplies when you scrap?

Let's see it would have to be my paper cuter, my inks, and my ribbon. I use them on just about every layout.

7. Where do you start when you get ready to create- sketches, supplies, photos...?

I always start with the photos. I count how many photos I have for an occasion and figure out how many 2 page layouts I will make out of them. Then I will look through my paper to see what goes good, and then I add embellies.

8. Are you a scrapper or an artist?

Tough one. I am a scrapper, but my layouts are my masterpiece. So a little of both!

by: C. Mercer