Polka-dots, bold graphic patterns, black and white, bright colors, and all things cheerful and happy . . .these are my favorite things! Want to know a few more random tidbits about me?
2. I went to college to become an art teacher. But just before graduation I said, “Hmmm, funny how this is NOT what I want to do after all.” Despite that, I do love teaching, and I do love art, and I do love kids. After graduating, I spent a few years teaching preschool, then second and third grade, before my kiddos were born. And I loved it.
3. I have complete conversations with my husband while I sleep, and I don’t remember them in the morning. I do bizarre, crazy stuff, and he has learned to discredit anything I say or do after 11pm. One of his favorite stories involves me diving under the covers to escape a giant purple spider.
And the crafting stuff. . .well, I can thank my sweet mommy, who became a Close to My Heart consultant, when I was in middle school. We stamped and scrapbooked, and made cards together. And I was officially hooked. Once I became at stay-at-home mom, I had more time to play - plus I needed a creative connection with the world. In 2007, I started to submit my work to magazines. (Find my resume here!) The most mind blowing moment of my crafty life, was receiving a call from the entire staff of editors at Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine, to invite me to become one of the magazine's Go-to Gals/Contributing Editors. Working for this craft publication was an amazing honor, and I learned so very much during my time there. The publisher's decision to cease publication was the saddest day of my papercrafting career. The good news is, I made amazing, talented friends who continue to bless my life even after our last magazine hit the shelves.
I have been honored to work with some of the best designers and manufacturers in the industry, and I am blessed by the amazing opportunities I've been given!
Nowadays, I've got a super sweet job at Fun Stampers Journey+Spellbinders. Along with a creative team of designers, I create projects for catalogs, promotional materials, social media, and videos. I've had the opportunity to work at special events and conventions, and sometimes I've even popped on stage to demo. (Find some of my work with FSJ+Spellbinders here.)
I'm also proud to be on the design team at Impression Obsession. They have the widest variety of stamps I think I've ever seen! Every style, shape, and size imaginable, and you'll find the perfect sentiments to coordinate. It's a pleasure to support this great stamp and die company!
Feel free to email me at TomatoL at aol dot com, if you have any questions or comments! I'd love to talk to you! You can also find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Feel free to email me at TomatoL at aol dot com, if you have any questions or comments! I'd love to talk to you! You can also find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Disclosure:
Affiliate sales are an incredibly helpful way to support bloggers. I participate in a few affiliate programs, but I can promise you this - if I am promoting a product on my blog, I've used it and I love it. I don't blog FOR affiliate sales, I blog for YOU and for ME (because crafters gotta craft!) It is a huge blessing when I see an affiliate sale come through - like Christmas morning, even if it's only 25 cents! I still cheer! And did you know, there is NO extra cost to YOU when you shop through affiliate links! Win-win for us all!
Thank you - seriously, THANK YOU from the bottom of my crafty heart for shopping through my links. I appreciate you! (You're kind of a big deal!)
I participate in the following affiliate programs:
Spellbinders + FSJ
It has been a pleasure to work as a concept designer for FSJ for the past 5 years, and as we have merged with Spellbinders it has opened the doors to so much new fun product. These two companies are an amazing team - and we love to pair FSJ's paper and ink with Spellbinders + FSJ's stamps, dies, and accessories.
Impression Obsession
Do you love red rubber stamps? IO offers cling mounted and wood mounted stamps, plus a selection of clear stamp sets - and thin metal dies. Their quality is excellent, and seriously - you could spend DAYS browsing their website. So. Much. Product. Every time I peruse their website I see something I haven't seen before. You can also buy rubber stamps individually - so if you find just the perfect image or sentiment you need - you can grab it a la carte, or part of a set.
Scrapbook.com and Simon Says Stamp
Both of these online stores are places I check regularly for all kinds of crafty goodness. They run great sales, have outstanding customer service, and they have great blogs and social media accounts for sharing AMAZING inspiration.
Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Thank you - seriously, THANK YOU from the bottom of my crafty heart for shopping through my links. I appreciate you! (You're kind of a big deal!)
I participate in the following affiliate programs:
Spellbinders + FSJ
It has been a pleasure to work as a concept designer for FSJ for the past 5 years, and as we have merged with Spellbinders it has opened the doors to so much new fun product. These two companies are an amazing team - and we love to pair FSJ's paper and ink with Spellbinders + FSJ's stamps, dies, and accessories.
Impression Obsession
Do you love red rubber stamps? IO offers cling mounted and wood mounted stamps, plus a selection of clear stamp sets - and thin metal dies. Their quality is excellent, and seriously - you could spend DAYS browsing their website. So. Much. Product. Every time I peruse their website I see something I haven't seen before. You can also buy rubber stamps individually - so if you find just the perfect image or sentiment you need - you can grab it a la carte, or part of a set.
Scrapbook.com and Simon Says Stamp
Both of these online stores are places I check regularly for all kinds of crafty goodness. They run great sales, have outstanding customer service, and they have great blogs and social media accounts for sharing AMAZING inspiration.
Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Sweet 'n Sassy sells clear stamps that are top quality and so pretty!!! I love to support this small business and I absolutely love everything I've purchased from there. It's been a privilege to work as a guest designer for Sweet 'n Sassy a few times over the years too!
Mabel's Labels
These are the BEST labels for kids school gear, sports gear, clothing and more. Heck, they're even great for labeling my craft supplies! The go through the dishwasher and washing machine and they DO.NOT.COME.OFF. Totally customizable and really awesome products.
