Sunday, June 1, 2008

Please Welcome May & June's Guest Designer!

I am soooo thrilled to introduce Natasha Trupp (aka tashers) as the Verve Visual Guest Designer for May and June! I had the priviledge of meeting her at CHA in February, and she is just a sweetheart. I am such a big fan of her work, and when I saw her samples for this month's release, I was droolin! You can see more of her work on her blog, Palmtrees and Pogosticks.

Here are some fun questions I sent to Natasha so we could all get to know her better, and here is what she had to say!

1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I guess I really became hooked the autumn of 2004. It started out with that one little catalog. I poured over it daily, making wishlist after wishlist. Shortly after I found SCS, then I started making sketches on any scrap paper I could find and continually adding to my "resources" (aka more stamps! etc).

2. How often do you stamp? I try to do a little every day. If I don't get the chance during the work week, then I try to have a mini stamp fest on the weekend.


3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarassing stamping related injury. Even though I'm quite clumsy, I haven't given myself any really entertaining injuries. The most common one is with the ribbon scissors and my thumb. I never put that much force into cutting, so it's never been more than a bit of broken skin on either side of my thumb. Tip: always look at what your cutting, and be sure to move any digits out of the way!


4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with? It can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. It depends on the look I'm going for.

5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space. My creative space, despite my best efforts and monthly clean-ups, is a disaster. I like to have everything at an arm's reach away, but there just aren't enough convenient storage spaces. So I keep storing stuff on my table
top, and what once was a table that could easily sit 4 people, now only has my 18x12 inches of workspace, plus a whole lot of stuff.


6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without? Why? Hmm, it's a toss up between an embossing gun (and an electric source, of course) and a crop-a-dile. I absolutely love the effect of embossing, it can really add that little extra something to your project. The crop-a-dile just does so much, it's easy on my hands, it's quiet, and I'm sure it could come in handy on that island ;)


7. What is your biggest source of inspiration? My biggest source of inspiration are sketches, any kind of sketches. I take down sketches from cards I have seen from other stampers, from manufactured cards, weekly
challenges, advertisements, scrapbook pages, anything. I cannot get enough of them. Whenever you are stuck, they can really guide you to a nice finished product. I've finally started keeping a serious "sketches" book. They're all in one place, and it's growing quickly!

8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why?
I have always found myself leaning towards Valerie Stangle's projects. When I first joined SCS, her cards always caught my eye. I love her style, the colour palettes she uses, and the way she uses patterned papers on her projects. It's just always perfection!


9. What is your favorite part of the creative process? My favorite part is the planning- deciding on a layout, deciding what colours I'll use, what kind embellishments will work, that sort of thing, and then after the planning, seeing it all come together. There's nothing better than having an idea on your mind, and being able to bring that idea to life exactly how you wanted!



I have shown you some of my favorite projects that Natasha sent. To see them all, visit her Verve Gallery!