Creative Journey Blog Series--Meet Guest #2!

Welcome back, friends! Thanks for joining me for the next edition of the Creative Journey blog series.

It's ironic, because just this week I've been struggling with feeling like I haven't progressed in the industry, I'm not good enough, etc. Even though I have been blessed with wonderful opportunities, the insecurity doesn't just disappear, so I need this blog series this week as much as anybody.

Today's guest is the funny, wonderful and talented Lisa Truesdell!

Here's what Lisa shared about her journey in the industry:

I started, as many do, by finding the Pub board at 2peas. totally intrigued by the idea of having my work published. I submitted sporadically for a while, and then started following magazine calls more closely. Creating for calls pushed me beyond my comfort zone - and deadlines make me more motivated to get to my desk! There were a lot of ups and downs - I learned quickly to separate my emotions from the "rejections." I learned that there's a lot of WORK involved, and that it doesn't always pay off. I learned to weigh the pros and cons of every opportunity that came along, and to pass on ones that didn't resonate with me. I learned to give up some dreams for the sake of others.

I've been working fairly steadily in the industry for almost 4 years now. I still submit. I still get discouraged at times. I still make pages that I hate (there's one about to be pulled apart for pieces on my desk as I write!). And I still get a thrill when I get an email about a layout being picked up or an assignment.

I love what I do. It isn't a perfect job - for all the fun creative time there's paperwork, supply lists, following up and stressful deadlines to deal with. But at the end of the day, the fact that i get to share inspiration and help to promote memory keeping really fuels my creative soul.

Lisa also has some great advice for scrappers looking to break into the industry:

My best advice is to have a sounding board. I have a handful of friends that started making their way into the industry around the same time as I did, and they were (and ARE!) an invaluable support. They were the fresh eyes to look at a layout that wasn't working. They were there to commiserate when an opportunity passed me by. They were there to cheer for me when things went well. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be where I am today without the love and support of these women.

I also think it's important to learn how to market yourself. what do YOU do well? What can you offer a company? There are a lot of designers out there who make great pages--learn what's special about your work, and figure out how it can benefit you and the people you work for.

I've also found that it's KEY to separate your emotions from your work. Not easy, but really essential so that you can be "in the game" but still keep your love for the craft in place.

Here's a layout that illustrates Lisa's fun, eclectic style:


As Lisa says:Do you ever finish a page and it just evokes EXACTLY the emotion you were going for? This is one of those pages. It totally captures my littlest right now.

Lisa Truesdell lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in a midtown neighborhood filled with big trees and old houses. When her mother started scrapbooking, Lisa was surprised to see how far the hobby had come, and quickly fell in love with a craft that allowed her to experiment with colors and patterns, words and photographs. She's now been scrapbooking for 6 years and her pages are detailed and whimsical. She loves to mix and layer bits of patterned paper with lots of sewing. Lisa finds inspiration in quilt patterns and decor magazines, and loves to record the small moments in her family's life that would otherwise be forgotten.

Lisa has been married to Matthew for 13 years and is a stay-at-home mom to their three boys--Alex, Ben and Sam. When she's not making pages or chasing her boys, she is slowly teaching herself to use her sewing machine on fabric. She also subscribes to too many magazines and is useless from the moment she starts a new book until she finishes it.

Lisa was a Creating Keepsakes Honorable Mention winner in 2006, and has had her work published in BHG Scrapbooks Etc., Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Scrapbook Trends and Cards Magazine. She is currently designing for Studio Calico and is a Two Peas in a Bucket Garden Girl.

Thanks for joining us, Lisa! And don't forget to pop by next Monday for another entry in the series!

Happy Birthday, Theresa!

The talented and sweet Theresa is celebrating a birthday today, so we're having a little blog party for her!

I got to know Theresa through blogging, and her comments always enlighten me and crack me up at the same time. I hope this is one FABULOUS birthday for you, my friend!

And how cute is this itty-bitty birthday cake:

source

The next stop on the blog hop is Lydia! And if you want to start at the beginning, check out the Scrapbookers Anonymous blog.

Thanks for coming by and have a great Friday!

And to feed my curiosity, what's the best birthday YOU'VE ever had?

It's a Wedding Kind of Week.....

I love weddings. Mine was two and half years ago, and--ahem--I have yet to complete a scrapbook about it. I'm really delinquent in scrapbooking large life events.

Given this delinquency, I was pleased to find out that the topic for the Write. Click. Scrapbook gallery this month was weddings! You can see the whole gallery here.

For my layout, I focused on one element of the day, the fact that I gained a new family as well as a husband. I used lots of Crate Paper's Portrait line, and some Studio Calico veneer butterflies for good measure.

And a little closeup:

Up there in the corner is one of my favorite punches--the Martha Stewart starburst. It's an oldie, but a goodie. I think it just adds the perfect touch to any project, whether used as a circle or cut in half. (And no, I'm not getting paid for this. I'm just a huge starburst fan)

And now, down to some business:

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!!!!!

I have to pick another (let's hope it's the last!) winner for my blog giveaway--the Random.org # is 21, and the winner is Meredith!

Meredith said...

I must confess I haven't purged for some time but every now and then I slip a few things my daughter and sons way for them to scrap with (they are 4, 6, 8, 9!!) They love it!
I love the haul of goodies that you have there!!
My email: john.treloar@bigpond.com

Also, I promised a prize pack to whoever guessed what my blog secret was--and the winner of that is Sarah Webb!

Sarah Webb said...

I am going to guess an inspirational series... Something on scrapping ;) Maybe something for Ella? Looking forward to what it might be!

Ladies, email me at keshet.starr@gmail.com to collect your prizes! Also, don't forget to check back here on Mondays for a new Creative Journey blog series post! (we skipped this week for the holiday weekend).

So tell me--are YOU as bad as I am in scrapping events like weddings??

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I'm looking forward to spending most of the day with family and going to a friend's BBQ in the evening, but before I go, I wanted to share some fun Fourth of July inspiration I discovered on Pinterest!

Some delicious-looking snack options:

I have a not-so-little "thing" for chocolate dipped strawberries. I always want to buy one at Godiva, but they run something like $8 a berry. So needless to say, I'm VERY excited by this patriotic strawberries.

[Image source = http://scrambledhenfruit.blogspot.com/2010/06/red-white-and-blue-berries.html]

And after my run-in with cake pops, I've been thinking that marshmallow pops might be the way of the future. Check out these lovelies:

[Image source = http://www.alamodemaven.com/2011/06/thoughtful-place-festive-4th.html]

A good dress never hurt anyone, and this patriotic number is no exception:

I like how it's fun and flirty and color appropriate without being over the top.

[Image source = http://www.judithmarch.com/collections_detail.cfm?form=469&cat=5]

I'm also in love with the fun decor ideas I found. Pinwheels galore:

and tags for beverages, oh my!
[Image sources = http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2010/06/starspangled-pinspinners-for-this-fridays-freebie.html, http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2009/07/diy-4th-of-july/]

And last but not least, I LOVE a good tablescape.

This one has such a feminine feel to it despite the bright primary colors:

[Image source = http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/red-white-and-blue-clip-art-crafts?lpgStart=1&currentslide=12&currentChapter=1]

What are YOUR plans for the Fourth? And are there fireworks involved?

Sweet and Scrappy

Life has been quite the whirlwind lately!

In the past few weeks, I've hung out with a relative from Israel,

and discovered my new favorite spot in all of NYC......Sixteen Handles. (That's right--handles, not candles. I was highly confused by this at first.)

It's a frozen yogurt place with 16 flavors and countless, countless toppings--everything from gummy bears to cheesecake bites to chocolate covered pretzels to fresh mango! And (gotta love New York), it's all kosher!

Here were our debut yogurt selections:

Is it just me, or does the first one look way better? Not that I'm biased, of course:)

And since I'm in a sunshiney mood, I want to show you this mini album I created for Write. Click. Scrapbook a while back. It's full of random bits and pieces and lots of my favorite products, and just makes me happy to look at.

For the cover, I used one of my most favorite Elle's Studio journaling tags. Love this one so, so much.

The album is filled with random people, places and things that I love. I pretty much had fun and varied the design a lot!

Hmmm--food seems to be making a lot of appearances in this blog post. Oh, well:)

I created the front and back of my album by using binder clips and cardboard covers to keep it sturdy.

And that's probably enough images for one day! I will be back soon to pick some WINNERS though, so stay tuned:)

So tell me--what's YOUR favorite treat this summer? (Not that I need new ideas.....ha!)

Creative Journey Blog Series--See who our first guest is!

Today is an exciting day because I get to share one of the little secrets I've had up my sleeve for a little while now!

I've talked on my blog before about how hard it can be to break into this industry. Even though I've been fortunate in my opportunities, I've definitely been rejected more than I've been accepted, and definitely struggled with the insecurity, questioning, and "why am I trying this anyway?" feelings afterwards.

The one thing that's always made me feel better is hearing stories from other scrappers who are very successful in the industry about how long it took them to get where they are, and how many rejections they dealt with on the way. If you're trying to break into the industry and struggling--you're not alone. And hopefully this blog series will be a good reminder of that!

Our first guest in this Creative Journey blog series is the fabulous Jen Jockish!



Here's what Jen had to say about her experience in the industry:

I began scrapbooking in 2004, after finding twopeasinabucket.com through a web search. I was completely in awe of most of the layouts I saw, and would frequently read the Pub message board. I was so impressed with all those women being published regularly and designing for manufacturers and companies. While I thought it would be fun to be published, I didn't think for a second my work was worthy. About a year after I began scrapbooking, I decided to submit some pages. I thought it would be a kick to see my pages in print. I figured the worst that could happen was they wouldn't be picked up, and nothing ventured, nothing gained. I began by submitting to Scrapbook Trends and Creating Keepsakes. After about 6 -8 months of fairly regular submissions, I got an e-mail asking for a page from ST. Needless to say, I was over the moon. I had a few more pages picked up by ST over the course of the next few years. Not once did I hear a peep from Creating Keepsakes and I was fairly regular in my submissions to them. I also applied for a few design teams and was rejected. There was one team that I was so excited about and thought my pages were a great fit for the company. That rejection was crushing to me, and it took time for me to regain some confidence.

Around 2007, something clicked. Until then, I was constantly looking through galleries and seeing page after beautiful page and feeling my work did not measure up. I would browse and instead of feeling inspired, I would feel dejected. Instead of creating pages from my heart, I was creating them from my head. I was trying to live up to what I thought editors and design teams wanted. I was constantly searching for ways to break the mold to create new and innovative pages. Really...it's paper and glue and it can only be done in so many ways. I was wearing myself out trying to figure out what other people wanted. I was just trying way too hard. So I stopped. I'd become so caught up in the frenzy of wanting to be published or on a design team that it was no longer fun. I stepped back from the on-line world of scrapbooking and began creating in my basement just doing what I wanted with no rules or expectations. I fell back in love with scrapbooking and with the simple joy of making something with my hands. I didn't question if the pages were good enough. They were good enough to me and that was what mattered. I began to tell myself frequently that "I made it - it's mine and it will be beautiful no matter what." Because to me and my family it was beautiful. I was creating by my rules and stopped looking for validation. I just had fun. Shortly after that is when the calls started coming. CK finally called and then kept calling. I am blessed to have had great opportunities in this industry. I firmly believe that they happened when I was finally able to let go and enjoy the ride.

Keshet asked me to share tips on how to break into the industry. While I am in no way an expert on this, I am an expert on my own journey and am happy to share my experiences. A few things I've learned -

Don't try to anticipate what editors, design teams or companies want. You have no idea what they're looking for. It could be something very specific or just a general design sensibility. If you're not chosen for something try to remember how subjective this all is.

Be consistent. I don't think that I am in any way the best designer out there but I am consistent. I'm consistent with my designs and am consistently on time. I believe a big reason why I've been given some great opportunities in this industry is because people know what they will get with me.

Be professional. That means no whining, no gossiping, no complaining. If you're looking to break into the industry and have this be more than a hobby, treat it like what you hope it to become - a job.

Be persistent! It took me 5 years of regular submitting to break into CK. Don't give up and just keep on pushing.

Find your niche and stick with it. Figure out where your talents lie and how they can best be put to use.

You will make mistakes. I've learned a few lessons the hard way and you likely will too.

Be yoursef and you will shine.

I love Jen focuses on keeping the love for scrapping, and being consistently and authentically YOU--wise words.

Here's a gorgeous layout that shows off Jen's beautiful style:

Jen lives in Central Illinois and is married to Brad. They have a 4 year old daughter Ayla and an almost 1 year old, Nora. When she's not scrapbooking you can find her curled up with a good book.

Jen has been scrapbooking for 8 years and has been fortunate to have been published in BHG Scrapbooks Etc., Scrapbook Trends and Creating Keepsakes as well as numerous other publications. Jen was a 2010 member of the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team and currently designs for Two Peas in a Bucket, Studio Calico and American Crafts. Check out her blog at http://www.gingergrace.typepad.com

Winner, winner take 2--and a guessing game!

First order of business: a new winner for the giveaway!

My random.org # was 33, and the winner is......(drumroll please....)

Ann said...

I purged just 2 weeks ago. I've got a stack of 200 sheets of paper and a box of everything else to donate to a local charity.

____

Congratulations, Ann! Shoot me an email at keshetstarr@gmail.com, and I'll get you all sorted out!

Second order of business: I have a fun little surprise I'm putting together at this blog starting Monday? Can anyone guess what it is?

Closest guess gets a little prize pack (again, US only unless you don't mind paying shipping!)

Have a fabulous weekend, friends! Do YOU have any exciting plans?