Friday, September 12, 2008

Guest Diva Spotlight - Suzanne Dean

Today I'm happy to introduce you to another Guest Diva for September... welcome Suzanne Dean! I fell in love with Suzanne's designs from her blog Scrap Bitz...her coloring and style is amazing! You may have seen her on Splitcoast as suzannejdean as well. Let's get to know her, shall we?


1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I have been stamping for 5 years ever since one of my good friends became a Stampin' Up Demo. I had been scrapbooking for many years, but I really loved the selection of stamps and variety of ways you could use them. I have a degree in Computer Science but art has always been my true love and this allows me many ways to express it.

2. How often do you stamp? At least a couple of hours a day (mostly while my kids are in school or at night)--it's truly my escape and form of relaxation.

3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarrassing stamping related injury. I don't know if it's that funny but I actually stabbed a hatpin underneath my thumb nail and out the other side of my finger--a result of rushing to finish a project so I could start dinner. It is still hurting me--my left thumb is out of commission for awhile!

I love the feel of this card Suzanne created using So Happy and Abundant Blessings. The soft colors , the shimmer of the embossing powder, and the little pearl accents all make this card gorgeous!

Here's some more of Suzanne's Q & A:
4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with? It can take me anywhere from 1 to 5 hours. I usually have an idea of what I want to do, but sometimes the execution takes me awhile.


5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space. When I start a project my craft room has to be spotless and everything in its place or I can't think. After a project it looks like a tornado swept through, but I clean it all up before I start my next project. Crazy I know, but my mind doesn't work well when faced with lots of clutter and mess, not too mention losing things (which I have done)!

6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without? Why? My Copics and Stampin' Up paper snips. This way I could color all the stamped images I brought with me and cut them out. I love to cut my images out and pop them up with dimensionals--I love the 3-D layered look. And 99% of the time, my images are colored with Copics--I just love them! This way when I got off the island I'd be able to go home and finish lots of projects--hee hee!!

I absolutely love this little scalloped circle card Suzanne made using the birdie from Birthday Surprise. He sparkles and shimmers, and she even created a little accent using Shrink Plastic and one of the birthday sentiments. So cute!!

And here's the end of Suzanne's Verve-i-view:
7. What is your biggest source of inspiration? Everything inspires me from gorgeous patterned paper to a beautiful ad in a magazine. I also love to visit other's blogs and see what they are creating--there are so many talented artists, how can you not but be inspired by them.

8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why? Let's see...any of the wonderful women who own their own stamp companies (Julee, Kim, Gina, etc.). That's been a dream of my own for awhile, someday maybe!

9. What is your favorite part of the creative process? Hands down it would be coloring. I have loved to color since I was a kid and it's just so relaxing. I love to pick out my patterned paper and then "decorate" my images the way I like them--there is nothing better!

This last project is probably my favorite of Suzanne's...I love the way she paper pieced the vase from Abundant Blessings and captured the softness and elegance with the sheer loopy bow and the added glimmer with the flowers.

Thanks again to Suzanne for playing with us this month. You can continue to see more of her Verve creations and other fabulous designs on her blog, Scrap Bitz. We're so lucky to have two fabulous guests for September!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend, and don't forget to mosey back here on Tuesday... Susan is kicking off a new Project Parade Challenge!!