Member Spotlight-Gail Connor

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
I am married to Michael. We have 4 children, Erica (33), Nicholas (22), Anthony (21) and Meagan (14). One grandson Hunter (7) and a dog Casey.We also have a hermit crab and a beta fish. Only Meagan lives at home. Anthony is home for the summer, going to college. Nick lives an hour and 15 minutes north and Erica/Hunter live in the same town as us. We live in Rindge, NH which is a beautiful, small country town. We have a lake and a mountain- we have all 4 seasons, but we do not have cable TV, high speed Internet or local shopping!
2. How and when did you start scrap booking?
I started scrapping about 9 years ago. My niece was very scrappy and always wanted me to try it- but my kids were older and I have few pics and the ones I had of them were not good so I avoided it. Finally she dragged me to a card class, I loved it, I was making cards and altering gifts for a few years and then I decide to scrap a box of honeymoon pics I had and I got hooked! That album, by the way, is still not completed.
3. How would you describe your scrap booking style?
Always evolving and changing, I am most comfortable doing shabby/chic stuff.
4. How often do you journal? Is it important to you?
I journal not nearly enough. It is important to me. I know I need to get better, I hate my handwriting and that is a real big part of why I do so little.I am getting better and I am the master at hidden journaling!

5. Do you have a dedicated scrap space ( room )?
Yes, it is a 8x8 closet and mostly for storage- it is a MESS right now.I usually scrap on the dining room table and that is really neat at the moment despite my three active projects.
6. What are your "go to " tools or supplies when you scrap?
THICKERS- I love them and can never get enough and inks-I love to distress everything and ink things.
7. Where do you start when you get ready to create- sketches, supplies, photos...?
I start with the papers. I find a collection of pattern paper or something that speaks to me. It usually screams out, "Please scrap last years Christmas pics/vacation/birthday/etc. pics with me" -So I start there. I do not scrap in order- I found that process very frustrating, I just create-

8. Are you a scrapper or an artist?
I think I am an artist. I want to make great pages and feel it is an expression of myself to create. It is not important to me to have every detail and every event in a book on a shelf. I have many incomplete albums going. I have a honeymoon one, a vacation one and a family one, and I have one for each of the children always going. When I complete a page it goes into the "correct" album. The kids like to compare books and count pages and tease me about who has more.

By: C. Mercer

Member Spotlight-Rhonda Ulichny

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your family. I live right here in Downeast Maine, born and raised here. My husband, Mike and I have been together almost 15 years and married almost 11 years. We have two wonderful children, Ryan who is five and will be headed to Kindergarten in the fall, and Mercedes who will be four in October and will be starting preschool in the fall. I was lucky enough to lose my job when Ryan was born so I have been able to be a "stay at home mom". I have loved it and hope I can continue even after they are in school full time
2. How and when did you start scrap booking? About 13 years ago I was introduced to scrap booking through a local Creative Memories consultant. I fell in love instantly! I had parties, can't tell you how many of those scissors I have kicking around the house! The last 2 1/2 years have been an eye awakening experience for me in the scrap book world. We live in kind of a rural area where there is not much to choose from for supplies, I have learned so much from scrapbook forums and mostly AC Bailey!
3. How would you describe your scrap booking style? This is hard because I really think I am a minimalist when it comes to my layouts, I don't love a lot of "stuff" on it. But sometimes I come up with a layout with so much stuff on it and LOVE it! I am not quite a flat scrapper but pretty close. Definitely not a digital scrapper, I am pretty technically challenged.
4. How often do you journal? Is it important to you? Lately I try to journal as soon as I finish the layout, however, I have stacks of layouts that I never journal and now I can't remember a thing about the layout! It is very important to me to journal, especially now that I have kids. I really want them to know about what we did, even if it wasn't a birthday or some sort of celebration. I also love to use words from songs when I really can't think of something to say about the picture or pictures, sometimes the words to the song says it all!

5. Do you have a dedicated scrap space ( room )? Yeah, sure. Two weeks before we found out we were accidentally pregnant with Mercedes my husband built me shelves and bought me a table and desk and set my spare room up as a scrap space, it was beautiful, for a short amount of time. I now have a 4' X 4' closet that I share with hundreds of DVDs and music Cd's and board games. All the stuff gets dragged out and I scrap standing up at an island in my kitchen. You would think as messy as I get with it the husband would finish our entry way, where my new scrap area will be just so we can see the counter top again!
What does it look like right now? My closet is such a mess. I find my basics that I use, but I really need to clean it up and purge, so I can see what I really have.
6. What are your "go to " tools or supplies when you scrap? Trimmer, scissors, adhesive, cardstock, patterned paper, ink and my cricut for my titles. You can make a simple beautiful layout with just that stuff. Of course lately I have been doing my journaling on the computer because I am addicted to journal strips.
7. Where do you start when you get ready to create- sketches, supplies, photos...? Nine times out of ten I start with a sketch. I just love sketches. Sometimes I like to copy it exactly, other times I just love to see how different I can make it while keeping the basic sketch intact.

8. Are you a scrapper or an artist? I wouldn't call myself an artist, though I wouldn't mind it. Scrapping for me is like therapy, it is a hobby, and in the end I have created something very meaningful for someone someday.

by:C. Mercer