What made this layout special to us?

We love the rich color scheme Lori used and how she placed her pumpkins on the page to draw attention to the photo mats and journaling blocks.

Hello again! I'm sooo excited to be back for another year as a Design Team Member for The Wishblading Well.

My name is Lori and I live in Elk Ridge, Utah. I am the mother to three boys (four if you count my husband that never grew up!) We enjoy camping, 4-wheeling, fishing, and any sports our boys happen to be in. Sports and scouts keep us busy year round and then some it seems like.

I have a Klic-N-Kut and I absolutely love it! I had a Wishblade last year, but decided I needed to upgrade with all of the scrapbooking I do and the swap groups I am in. I do a lot of cutting and love the ability to cut faster, design faster, and cut bigger! I loved the free telephone lessons that came with the cutter when I bought it so I could have someone answer all of the questions I had. I also love the tutorials and helpful people on all of the Yahoo groups out there.

I am an avid scrapbooker. In fact, I set a goal last year to do 365 pages and I accomplished it! I can't believe it myself, but I go to lots of crops and I counted all of the swap pages I put together also. We do our swaps as kits, so we make the kits for everyone in the group and then get together and assemble the pages and put our own pictures on it. I love to scrapbook with friends and with the music blaring and lots of treats! My hubby and boys are gone one weekend a month to scout campouts, so I have my neighbors over when the men are gone and we eat treats and scrapbook until we can't stay up any longer. I scrapbook with all of my sisters-in-law twice a year in April and October for an entire weekend. I also have a friend that rents a hotel conference room 4 times a year and we get together and try to get something done there also. I am a great copier! I am not too great at coming up with my own original ideas, but I love page sketches in magazines and I have printed a bunch off from online sites and that is what I usually use to put my pages together.

I used to take my whole house to crops, but I have since learned to make up kits the week before my overnight crops. I put the paper, the sketch I am using, the embellishments and cut out all of my stuff for each page (usually 4 of each page, 1 for each of my boys and 1 for me). I put everything in the sheet protector and take it along with my adhesive, scissors, and paper cutter to the crops. I can get 30-40 pages done at a weekend crop this way because I am mass producing 4 of the same page so it goes fast and I don't have to come up with ideas there.

I am looking forward to another great year of buckets and scrapbooking. Join in on the fun and send in the layouts you make for Tiffani and Kelly to put on their site!

FAQ

Which cutter do you use, how long have you had it, and tell us something that was really helpful to you in learning how to use the machine?

I started with a Cricut, then I had a Wishblade for about 6 months and then I bought a Klic N Kut last year in February. The thing that was most helpful in learning how to use my machine was joining swaps. It pushed me to learn. My first swap file was pathetic and it took me about 8 hours to do it, but I learned so much along the way. I could probably do the same file now in about 5 minutes.

 Describe your crafting process (for example: are you a planner? Do you create layouts or cards "off the cuff"? Do you like to create alone or with friends? With or without music? etc.)

I love to use page maps to do my layouts. I am not really a card maker although I do make them sometimes. My favorite books are “Cherish” and “Imagine” by Jeanette Lynton. They have the best page maps and tell you exactly what sizes of things to cut so you don't waste lots of paper. I would also love to get the sketch book by Becky Higgins someday. I would much rather create with friends. I scrapbook monthly with my neighborhood at my house when my boys and husband have scout campouts. I have a 2 day crop at my house in April and October with my sisters in law. I have a friend that hosts a crop at a conference room at a hotel quarterly where about 15-20 of us get together. When I am alone, I have to listen to music.

 What do you typically pack to take to a crop?

I used to pack my whole house, but now I use my sketch books and make “kits” before I go. I get the pictures, pick the paper, ribbon, buttons, eyelets, etc and put them all in the sheet protector along with my cut out titles so now all I take is my “kits”, adhesive, paper cutter, scissors, and a few odds and ends of scrap paper. It is much more compact and I can get around 60 kits put together on a weekend crop. I usually have to do multiples (1 for each of my 3 boys and one for me) of basically the same pictures or at least the same event, so I just come up with 1 idea for all 4.

 Tell us a fun or little known fact about you. (This one doesn't have to relate to scrapbooking or cutting at all.

I love to go 4 wheeling and on the wave runners, but I hate the boat. Maybe if I drove it myself it would be better. I guess I am a control freak because I like to drive myself, I hate to ride with someone else.