Beginners luck

Hello! Stephanie here - Wife, Mother, Foster Mother, Teaching Assistant and Crafter!

I live and work in Welwyn Garden City in leafy Hertfordshire with my husband, our two daughters (one is ours biologically and the other we are lucky enough to foster) and our two Labradors.

I've always been interested in art/crafting of any kind.  As a child I hand-sewed clothes for my dolls and as a teen I studied display and exhibition design at college alongside A-level art.  After having our daughter I changed direction again and got more into baking and turning out some really quite good cakes and cupcakes and taught myself to machine sew making items of clothing, blinds for our home etc.  During my baking time I had attended a local scrapbooking class but unfortunately I had found the class too late and it was the last one they were holding before closing.  I periodically searched the internet for classes but in the words of U2 "I still couldn't find what I was looking for!"

It was five long years of not scrapbooking until a friend at a party happened to mention that she was taking photos for life documented........I just had to find out more and facebooked my friend Karen the very next day to find out what this was and how could I get involved. 

Karen put me in touch with my now friend, scrapbooking buddy and fellow design team mate Niki Rowland.  I booked my first class a week or so later and from that class booked a weekend away with the ladies and then the natural progression was to attend the lovely weekend retreats with GoGoGetaway which I absolutely love going too and the monthly crops they hold.

I am so glad I acted on that comment as life has definitely been more glitter covered as a result! Niki has nurtured me from a novice scrapbooker who ALWAYS had to follow the designers plan (like strictly to the "T") to someone that thinks of her own designs in advance and is planning her own pages from scratch! 

I also decided recently that I wanted to progress in my scrapbooking journey and if I wanted to do so, I would need to buy some serious tech! |That's why, when I was asked what I wanted for Christmas my answer was a Silhouette Cameo!

When I saw the ad. on facebook from Niki saying about the new design team I joked saying I'd apply next year once I was more familiar with the machine.  Again Niki, being Niki encouraged me to contact Lisa and the team at Graph Tec GB and ask them how they felt about a beginners blog, all the trials and tribulations of being a newbie. Luckily for me they loved the idea and here I am beginning my Silhouette Cameo journey with you.  

Here are a few of my favourite designs from this year.