Okay, on with the fun stuff! Today I'm excited to shine our little Verve spotlight on one of this month's Guest Divas, Betty Wright!
Betty (gbedwright on SCS) has been wowing me as a participant in our Verve challenges the last couple months. Her designs are always so detailed, with beautiful dimension, embellishments and a touch of elegance. And from a look at her gallery, I think she might love making square cards even more than I do! Is that possible? A girl after my own heart! :) Her cards for this release were gorgeous in every way, so let's get to the eye candy!Before I get to Betty's answers to our VERVE-i-view, I'll start things off with this beautiful card using the new O Christmas Tree set. I just love the gorgeous ribbon embellishments, the subtle shading and the elegance of this traditional Christmas card. So beautiful!
When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I went to a Stampin' Up! party and was hooked immediately. My concept of stamping prior to then were those office ink pads and a date stamp.
How often do you stamp? I like to say I stamp at least something every day. I may skip a day here and there. However, just because I stamp does not mean I finish a project or card. Sometimes I am just playing around with background looks and color schemes. This process calms me.
What's your favorite embellishment or finishing detail?
Those little gold and silver pearls at Michael's. I always loved the brads, but I never really know where my card design will go. Often, I would have everything assembled only to think that it needs a few brads here and there. Then, I would have to pry everything apart and add the brads. With the pearls, I just lift and stick. LOVE that!!!
Okay, time for a little eye candy intermission. There's so much to love about this gorgeous card from Betty. The way she used the sentiment to create such an elegant Old World background, and the beautiful way she stacked two of the ball ornaments from Holly Jolly along with a star from Star of Wonder makes my head spin with possibilities! Love it!
How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with?Honestly, I think the color challenge cards are the quickest. It takes me a bit to choose my colors. Once those are chosen, I then start playing around with color ratios. There have been times where I have completed a card in a little over an hour and times where I have had to walk away from my craft table because I over think it. Many times if this happens frequently in the same day, I will just set that item aside and start something new.
Tell me about your creative space. My craft room is organized chaos....with lots of little pieces of stuff everywhere at times it seems! I know where the most used items go and must have those stay in the right place because when the right brain starts creating the mundane thoughts like where I put the scissors, tape runner, etc.... are not kept in any memory cells. I have to have a place where I force myself to set those so I know where they are. Otherwise, I have to start talking out loud and asking myself questions. My right brain creative moment cannot comprehend thought words, hence the talking out loud part.
What is your usual starting point for a project? Oftentimes, from doing design work, a stamp set is my starting point. It is wonderful to have a challenge to focus on along with the set sometimes, though. Many times I take notes and do actual sketches for specific set cards. I will play around with a layout and a stamp set and figure out what goes where. That is what I call my precrafting stage. It helps me stay focused on big projects if I take notes.
Time for one last card from Betty. This one uses the new Christmas in the Air and Holly Jolly sets. I adore the little heart button she used to mirror the Christmas in the heart sentiment, and the tiny pearls on the tree just dress it up to perfection. A total treat for the eye!
What is your biggest source of inspiration?Of course, I get a lot of inspiration from other people. I like to think we all feed off of each other. However, one of the biggest sources is color. I really love colors!!! Anything from home decor, fashion, billboards, cookware, whatever. If it has color, I am always looking for a way to use the pattern or combo of colors on a card.
Who in the crafting world do you most admire and why? There are a lot of people's work that I admire. However, if I had to say one person, it would have to be Tim Holtz. His products are just amazing!!!! It completely changed the way I stamped. I do not own near enough of his stuff!!!
What is your favorite set from this release? Now, this is hard since I love them all!!! Of course, to be fair, I narrowed it down to two. O Christmas Tree and Holly Jolly. The first one because I love the images. I love making an assortment of Christmas cards, but I sometimes need to make a few fast that are the same. The tree image in this set is a stand alone, no coloring, beautifully shaded tree. Stamp it and it is done look! Aside from that, there are wreaths, a small poinsettia, two Merry Christmas sentiments...a big one and a small one as well as several other fabulous sayings all with the most beautiful font!!! The Holly Jolly set is fabulous because it has ornaments, poinsettias, holly, and sentiments. The sizes vary from true stand alone images, to images that make beautiful stamped backgrounds. Just gorgeous!!!
I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about this fabulous stamper as much as I have! To see the rest of the projects Betty made for our release, you can check out her Guest Diva album in our gallery, or visit her blog, Stamping to the Wright, for her newest creations. I just loved all of her beautiful creations for our release and she was such a joy to work with. Be sure to give her a little shout out for all her hard work!
Thanks for stopping by! Tune in tomorrow as we shine our spotlight on Jessie Rone!
