1. Who is your biggest creative influence?
In the papercrafts field I hugely admire the work of Katie Licht, Dina Wakely and Magda Bolinskafor. And I am so inspired by the work of collage artist Graham Rawle, assemblage artist Joseph Cornell and painters Paul Klee and Mark Rothko. Oh and I love the cartoons of Berger & Wyse.
2. Why and when did you start creating?
Ever since I could hold a pen I’ve been writing and ever since I was allowed near scissors I’ve been making things. But as for ‘why’ I create … I don’t exactly know. I think a lot of it is about creating order and inventing or telling stories from random moments and random scraps of paper.
3. What is your favourite thing to create (and why)?
At the moment it’s anything to do with vintage and/or found paper and text. So that’s scrapbook pages, collage and even the paper packs I make – I love putting those together. I’m also settling into a style of art/visual-journaling which feels ‘right’ to me, so that’s a favourite [for this week at least!!].
4. Do you have a favourite song to create to?
I don’t often have music on while I’m creating as I get too distracted and end up singing along and tapping the table instead of working! I mainly listen to dramas and documentaries on Radio 4 or sometimes Classical music on Radio 3 [but then I run the risk of pretending to conduct an orchestra with a pencil.]
5. What are your favourite materials/mediums to create with.
Patterned papers, text cut from books and magazines and white paint.
6. Your blog turned 3 in November, how did you go about creating a successful blog?
I guess it depends what you consider ‘successful’! But it’s good of you to say so!
I’m afraid I’m a bit of an over achiever, I don’t like to do things if I’m not going to throw myself in fully and learn all about them. So I’ve read lots of tutorials on everything from making blog buttons – to keeping readers interested and engaged. I also created a wide variety of categories and features I return to from time to time [like ‘My Month in Numbers’ or my ‘Overheard’ conversations amongst others] so I always have options of what to blog about – they’re like prompts and they focus my mind on what kind of atmosphere I’d like to create over there.
Whenever possible I like to create a blog series which readers can really join in with [eg. Tips for the Twitter Curious; Tips for the Design Team Curious; Going Postal] rather than constantly talk about myself!
If anything I have too many ideas about what I want to blog about, so I write them all down and add ideas and photos to draft posts whenever I get 5 minutes spare. That way there’s always a choice of things to complete and publish when I get more time. I’ve even been known to keep a spreadsheet of posts, to keep me organised, especially when I’m blogging a series over several weeks/months.
7. How do you keep your blog balanced with your life?
If you call sitting next to my partner on the sofa while I blog ‘balance’ … then that’s how I manage it! Other than that … I don’t think I’ve found the answer to the balance question. That said, I took a nice long break from it over Christmas and New Year and came back refreshed. Plus I never take my laptop away with me on holiday!
8. What gave you the inspiration for your purple phase blog series?
It was during a discussion with Shimelle Laine on Twitter where I mentioned that, at that particular moment in time, purple had been my regular ‘go to’ colour in both my crafting and clothing. When she responded that many scrappers have, over time, told her they find it the hardest colour to use … I had a spark of inspiration to create a series where I could share new, interesting ways to use it and, like most of my favourite ideas, I had to start working on it straight away. When it’s fun and it’s something which excites me, I don’t mind putting in the time it takes to produce enough interesting content for a full series.
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V x
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