I'm so happy to introduce one of the Guest Designers for August, because I have been such a huge fan of hers FOREVER!! Introducing....Janine Tinklenberg! It is no secret that the "Great JanTink" loves stamping and Verve. Several of her projects literally took my breath away for this release, and I'm happy to have her join us this months so I can have the pleasure of showing them to you!! You can also see more of Janine's work on her blog, Stamps, Paper, Scissors. Make time to read it...she is not only talented, but hilarious!
The first project I want to show you is this card from Grateful Elegance. It literally made me say, "OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" When I saw it. I love the colors, the details, just everything!Before I show you more, I'll share the little "Verve-i-View" that I asked Janine to fill out for me.
1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I went to a MOPS meeting and someone had brought in some stamps for us to make Christmas cards. As I sat coloring in my image with some colored pencils, I thought, "WOW! This is FUN! And if I make my own Christmas cards, I will save MONEY!!!" Yeah...it's a very funny story, isn't it?
2. How often do you stamp? Usually every day for a couple of hours. Sometimes, if I'm suffering from Mojo-a-Gogo, I'll take a day off and do something else.
3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarrassing stamping related injury. Well, a couple of years ago, I had a stamping workshop at our church. The workshop went very well and I was hauling everything out to my car in the pouring rain. As I ran back to the steps to go down to the door, I tripped and fell all the way down on the cement floor of the stair well, fracturing my wrist and my elbow. As I dragged myself in, moaning, my hostess and her friend and her friend's daughter, were all horrified. They helped me roll over and told me I had a little cut on my forehead. I said, "OH geez! Now I'm going to look like Harry Potter!"
I stupidly did not go to the emergency room, but waited until the next day (which was a Friday) to go to my doctor. The upshot of it was I ended up in the emergency room anyway on Tuesday because my doctor couldn't splint it and only sent me for xrays. I finally got a brace made when I went to the orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday. Should have just gone to the emergency room to begin with!
Luckily it was my left arm...but I had two workshops in the next couple of weeks, so I had fun telling my guests that I broke my arm stamping!
4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with? An hour or two.
5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space. I have a stamping room/class room in my basement. My husband (who is a blues musician) has one half of the basement for his recording studio studio (we call it the Man Cave) and I have one half for my stuff. Most of my storage is contrived from stuff I've scrounged from other areas of the house, so I have shoe organizers, toy bins, iris carts and old dressers. I have a big yellow chrome dinette table to stamp on that used to belong to my grandmother and I have some tables I bought from Office Depot for my students. I've put bulletin boards up for displaying cards...it's not the most beautiful space, but one of my customers said, "I think I've died and gone to stamp heaven!" the first time she came to a class, so it can't be that bad!I stamp until I create a big mess, then I leave it until I'm ready to stamp again. I find that cleaning up before I stamp gets me ready mentally and helps me start thinking about what I want to do. Sometimes I dive in without cleaning, but most of the time I find that I can't really think well unless I have a clean desk.
Now a break from the Verve-i-View for another card. This one features Beautiful You. I love how she created a background with the swirly flower! Janine's color choices inspire me BIGTIME. They are so vibrant and GOJUS!!6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what craft tool would you take with you? Why?
I find these sorts of questions frustrating, because a) it's not going to happen and b) I couldn't just choose ONE thing, I'd want more than that! If I had to choose one thing, I'd say scissors, because it's impossible to create anything without a good pair!7. What is your biggest source of inspiration? Color! I am a color junkie! I can't have too many colors of cardstock, ink, plus ribbon and other stuff to match!
8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why? Shelli Gardner. I would love to own my own big stamping company and get to stamp for a living! But since I'm just a little too lazy to put in the time, I guess I never need to grow up!
One last card to leave you with before you go. I love love love the way she combined the red and orange...so brave! And that flower? YUMMY! This one just makes me wish I had thought to do that! hehe
Thanks again to Janine for all her contributions so far to the Verve August Release. You can see her creations in all their glory (These are just a few of my faves) in her Verve Gallery. These are just a taste of what's to come...she will be working more with the August releases during the month!
Stay tuned tomorrow for another Guest Designer Spotlight! And if you haven't seen the fabulous deal on the August Release, check it out HERE!
