When it comes to crafting I have one rule: it’s gotta make me happy. If I am not having a good time and enjoying my creative play time I want no part in it! My name is May Flaum, and I adore lilacs, books with happy endings, and a good mystery. If I’m not in my studio (aka ‘the bat cave’) then I’m probably out running around having fun with my family or cooking up a storm. I’m a mom, wife, and lifelong crafter living in sunny California - and I am the design team coordinator and do all the behind the scenes stuff here at Simon Says Stamp and Show. I have been working in the scrapbooking industry for nearly a decade now – I love it! I’ve authored two books, I teach on-line classes, and I’ve worked with some amazing companies along the way. Since I’m a no-rules kind of girl, I’m not afraid to get super grungy or work with bright colors, or dabble in lace and doilies then make something more splattered and wild. If I have one piece of advice to share, it’s always to be true to your creative heart.
It is my pleasure to introduce to you the members of the Stamp & Show design team. From all over the world - they're an amazing bunch. I'll let them speak for themselves - and to get to know even more about their creative style be sure to visit their blogs.
I'm thankful I have the opportunity to pass my love for crafting to my daughter, who also likes to create with me. While I don't sell much anymore, I am good at hoarding all things crafty. I really have a problem getting rid of potential elements for Art. Luckily, I get to use them all up when I teach technique classes, or make special DT pieces here for Simon Says Stamp & Show.
The creative process is very fascinating to me, how ideas emerge, develop and interrelate, with the final product almost always being something quite different from what I initially imagined. Every project is a creative adventure. I love trying new and old techniques, to experiment and try different products and tools. Favorites include stamps, ink, dies, paint, playing with textures, words and color, building little scenes, and adding meaningful details that help tell a story.
I am Swedish, but stay in South Africa a large part of the time. We have a little boy who can often be found raiding my study for interesting craft items. Apart from papercrafting, I enjoy the outdoors, good books and photography. These interests also influence my art, since you will often find me reaching for text elements, nature stamps, and photos.
My projects are usually not called complete unless I have some sort of ink, paint or mist under my fingernails at the end. Hi, I am Ashli Oliver, a recovering graphic designer, a homeschooling mother, wife, daughter, coffee addict, knitter and gardener with an extreme passion for mixed media paper crafting and memory keeping. I find great joy in both the creative process and the final piece. Most of my craft time is in the wee hours of the evening when all of the kiddos are in dream land. Although, I am certainly known to grab every snippet available during the day to shuffle some paper around or glue a bit here and there. I have been an artist my entire life. I followed my dreams and attended art school here in my home state of Georgia. While I mostly wanted to play with paint and glue, I chose a more sensible major of Digital Multi-Media and Photography. After working in that industry on and off, I put my computer and brushes aside to start my family. Never in a million years did I think that scrapbooking and the paper craft industry would re-awaken the artist in me that I had put away so many years ago. Thanks to a good friend who showed me the ropes just one short year ago, I have jumped into a pile of pretty paper and I am never looking back.
I am not afraid to play, experiment, and make mistakes. Today's mistake might just be tomorrow's masterpiece. Armed with my beloved pens, mists and patterned paper, I anxiously await my next crafty adventure!
I have always expressed myself though art in one form or another. It began with crayons and progressed from there! Even after I married my high school sweetheart and we started a family, I tried to find a little “me” time to keep my curious, creative side fed. Now our children are grown with babies of their own and I am able to completely dive head first into the creative waters.My name is Candy Colwell and I live in Springfield, Missouri. I love to teach classes and share as much as I can about techniques, products and ideas. Helping people realize that they really can create things they never thought possible gives me joy! Thus the name of my blog; Creativity is Contagious! Experimenting with different styles, mediums and dimensional elements fascinates me. I love the vintage, grunge and altered styles because they never get boring. They are fun and challenge me to think outside the box and see things differently when I’m working on a project. After attending Ranger U in April of 2011, I can truthfully say that I am now totally obsessed with this wonderful art journey that I am on.
When I am not in my favorite room in my home; my craft room, I enjoy spending time with my wonderful husband and our two children and their families. We have four precious grandchildren that keep us on our toes!
I've been crafting for close to 10 years now and some of you may know me as Dan99 on a number of craft forums and groups. I have a background in computer graphics so I started out designing things on the computer and printing and cutting them to use in hybrid projects. I never thought I would get into stamping, but once I tried it I was hooked! Now I enjoy nothing more than working on grungy, inky, quirky pieces, whether they be cards, tags, altered art or home decor items. I feel my best pieces are the ones that have something to say or a story to tell and I'm frequently influenced by music, art and everyday life.Outside of crafting, I love to cook, which also means that I love to eat! I spent several years during my childhood in the USA and I still get a kick out of seeing different parts of the world - I find immersing myself in a different place, language and culture for a while such a fascinating and enriching thing to do. I'm a huge tennis nut, and and my other hobbies include movies, video games, and (of course) blogging!
From Holland with Love! I'm Sandra Mouwen and as you probably may have guessed, I'm from the Netherlands. I love living here and think it's a great place to be. Despite the bad weather (which we complain about daily), it's a really beautiful place with lots of different cultures and lots of different scenery. I've been crafting for more than three years. I started with sewing hammocks for my pet rat Wall-e! He really was the reason why I learned to sew and it was the starting point of my crafting adventure. From hammocks for Wall-e, I started making bags, purses, cloths, and jewelry. My craft room is now my oasis, and I spend as much time in there as I can. So if you're looking for me and I'm not at work, you know where to find me.When I'm not crafting I love going to the movies, I go every week. I like all kind of different genres, but I really like action movies. Last summer I came in contact with the distress ink line from Tim Holtz and it really got me interested in paper crafting. In my crafting I also like different styles, but my absolute fav is grunge.
Hi I’m Sarah Engels-Greer, living in Ludlow, England with my Belgian hubby and baby daughter. Although born in England I have spent many years abroad working as a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer.My crafting is strongly influenced by my dance background and I have a real passion for composition, imagery and detail. My style is very eclectic and I happily dabble in grungy, girly, altered and vintage moods. I’m also a self-confessed ‘tweakaholic’ and can lose all track of time when in my crafty sanctuary. Whether a simple card or mixed media project, it has to ‘speak’ to me and hopefully to others. I truly savour the creative process of bringing an idea to life and believe inspiration is all around us. The next creative spark could be right under your nose.
Hi, my name is Suzanne Czosek and I live in the Midwest (USA). Between my husband, three children, and our pets we have a houseful that always seems on the go. Whenever we are not busy running kids somewhere I am often found getting creative in my craft room. The family joke is they know where to find me when they need me!Creativity has always been a passion for me. In elementary school when we had our choice of electives my first choice was always art. My other passions include my family, reading and gardening, and I have also dabbled in cross stitch, floral arrangements, painting, and drawing. About five years ago a good friend of mine gave out hand crafted treat bags and cards at work that caught my attention. She happily shared how she made them and immediately I fell in love with stamping, inks and paper crafting.
Since then I have grown in my art in exploring all types of media, techniques, styles and genres of paper crafting. I love learning something new and adapting it in a project with a little unique twist or idea. Anytime there is a new technique or tools I have to play with it and get the feel for it. For me the journey of trying something new is more satisfying than the finished projects.
As long as I continue to enjoy the journey I will continue to be passionate in my creative endeavors. When I am not sitting in my craft room beavering away, you will find me hunting around antique stores searching for that unique piece or digging in my garden waiting for inspiration to strike. I take so much inspiration from my garden particularly colour combinations, which often influence my colour choices in my creative ventures.Those close to me also refer to me as the “heart queen” as I love anything heart related; ornaments, stamps, pictures, jewellery, I collect it all; some would say I also have a passion for collecting plants and crafting goodies too. I say “we all have a few bad habits- I just have more than most!”
I am all about the little details, they complete a piece for me and make a creative piece unique, something I strive to maintain. I have been crafting for 13 years and my obsession really took hold when I ran my own shop for nine years. Now that I’ve closed the doors on that adventure I have more time to craft. I’ve written for and been published in many magazines and serve on a number of Design Teams. I love to dabble with many products and I have a new favourite every month, but my go-to products are my Distress Inks. I use them every day and will not be parted from them.
This is me, Tracy Evans, residing in Crewe, Cheshire (the centre of the universe) in the UK with my husband Ian, two children Ryan and Laura and my 2 year old pug, Mitzi. I love to create and inspire.
I LOVE bright colours, you may often feel like you need to wear your sunglasses when you look at some of my projects. I love to try and make “pretty” things and “manly” things, and not too much in between. I LOVE to try new techniques and look for the latest and greatest product to play with, especially if it involves ink!
I am a Canadian living in beautiful Muskoka, a tourist destination for many cottagers. My other passions are my family, my mini Australian dog Roxy and two Ragdoll kittens Niko and Mya, competing in triathlons, knitting, reading, spinning wool, and hanging out with my crafting friends.
