Welcome to New Design Team Member - Scrapdolly

We are thrilled to announce some new design team members, starting today with Karen Leahy - Scrapdolly.

A few words from Karen together with some of her favourite paper and digital layouts:

I live with my husband and soul mate Nigel and we share our home with our feline family –  one normal cat and a pair of very naughty Bengals.  I am a headmistress of a local school for 3 – 11 years olds and scrapping is my relaxation and de-stress therapy after a hectic day at work.

I discovered scrapping in 2003, almost by accident, and to say it was a life changing experience is no understatement. Scrapping is not a hobby, it is a way of life for me. Scrapping is my daily therapy and relaxation, my artistic and creative outlet, my escape from the daily grind. It has opened so many doors for me, has introduced me to so many new friends and is a source of great pleasure.

I had always kept ‘traditional’ sugar paper scrapbooks ever since I was a young child, my photo albums have always been annotated and I have always kept every little bit of memorabilia. I have always loved photography and enjoyed art, though I was never very good at either, so scrapping was a natural hobby for me to embrace. 

I like to try and scrap every aspect of my life, from the good, the sad, the funny, the everyday and the special. Many of my albums feature the cats and I enjoy trying to come up with quirky ideas for cat pages. I enjoy making travel albums and scrapping pictures of my god-daughter’s children. I enjoy scrapping the small everyday moments as they make up the tapestry of our lives. I also have quite a serious mini book addiction which is starting to take over space in our home. 

A few years ago I discovered the wonders of digital scrapbooking and, whilst I would never give up my paper and glue and real life embellishments, digital scrapping is something I really enjoy. It has endless possibilities and there are things you can do digitally that you would find impossible to do with paper and card. I enjoy both forms of scrapbooking equally and for totally different reasons. My style is reasonably simple and my focus is very much on the journaling. Words mean a great deal to me and I like to include lots on my page. I also love including humour in my pages – especially the animal pages, of which I do many.

 

I have been lucky in the past 10 years to have been selected to work on many design teams for different suppliers, retailers and magazines. I have been on the Design team for, amongst others, UK Scrappers, A Trip Down Memory Lane, It’s a Creative World, Craft Obsessions and Charmed Cards and Crafts I have also worked as a permanent design team member for three different scrapbooking magazines and have had pages published in books in both the UK and the US. I am proud to have been on the digital creative teams for Dawn Inskip, Shimelle Lane and for the store Pickleberrypop. I was one of the winners of the National Treasures Competition, a winner of the Best Of British Scrapbooking and I was runner up in Scrapbooker of the Year. I have taught at local crops and have run classes on my blog, Dolly’s Dreamings. (http://dollysdreamings.typepad.com)

 

Most of all I just enjoy scrapping, in both paper and digital formats. I love recording my life and the lives of those around me, I love the creative outlet, the chance to be artistic without having to be able to draw or paint, the chance to make gifts for others, the opportunity to work with pretty things in different ways. Can I ever see myself not scrapping? No.

I was thrilled to be invited to join the amazing girls at Scrapology. I have admired their work for a long time and enjoy their monthly challenges. I am very much looking forward to being a part of their team and having he chance to share in the challenges with everyone. I hope that, in completing many of the challenges digitally, I can inspire more digital scrappers to play along with everyone at Scrapology.

Welcome to Karen and we are very pleased to have you on the team.

Back soon with more exciting news of another new DT member.