CEDT - Meet Trace Metcalfe

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Trace Metcalfe

Last (and by no means least) is the final member of our DT; Trace Metcalfe. You will no doubt be familiar with Tracey's work as Trace has been another valued member of the Creative Expressions Design Team for over a year now! We are delighted to have her back for another year.

For those of you who haven't met Trace before, here is a bit more information about her:-

Introduce yourself briefly... Hi I am Trace Metcalfe a crafty wife and mum of 3, I love crafting and my main passion is stamping. I love how you can start with a plain piece of card or tags, a piece of board or canvas and with stamps and inks create something from nothing! My main influence is Tim Holtz whose work never fails to amaze and inspire me…..and without the distress range not sure where my crafting would be!

How did you get into crafting? I started crafting from an early age and have always dabbled in all sorts, silk painting, drawing ( not very well! ) and many more and then after moving far away from my family and friends went to a stamping workshop and came away armed with stamps , inks and a heat tool….the rest as they say is history!

How would you describe your style? My style is constantly changing and developing slightly as I tweak my style but I guess my style is vintage. I love all things distress and am always a sucker for steampunk and male inspired creations. Although I do have a softer side too!

Where do you draw inspiration from? My main inspiration is Tim Holtz, whose work is a constant source of inspiration and whose products I just love! However since being part of the wonderful blogging community I am also inspired by the wealth of talent and inspiration from lots of my blogging friends.

What’s your favourite technique right now? My favourite technique right now and actually a total loved technique of all time is wrinkle free distress.. I also love using this technique with Distress Stains and Distress paints.

What’s your favourite colour? For crafty purposes it has to be brown, from the gorgeous tones of vintage photo to the softness of frayed burlap…I love how many wonderful shades of brown are in the Distress palette.

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? Nothing, I do love a cup of coffee though.

What do you do when you’re not crafting? When I am not crafting I love spending time with my lovely children and wonderful Husband and also spend many an hour pouring over my crafty friends blogs... oh and Pinterest! Lots of inspiration to be had there too! If I am not doing that I am probably shopping for crafty goodies to add to my stash!

Tell us a random fact about yourself... I used to be a primary school teacher.

What craft tool couldn't you live without? My Craft mat, blending tools, Distress inks and stamps……sorry I NEED all these! Oh and tags!

If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you would save from your craft room? My Tim Holtz stamps and some photos of my family.

You can see more gorgeous cards and mixed media makes from Tracy on her blog here, including all her Creative Expressions DT pieces. 

We hope you've enjoyed 'meeting' our Design Team over the last eight weeks! If you have we would love to hear your feedback, just leave a comment below or on our Facebook page. 

CEDT - Meet Tracy Evans

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Tracy Evans

Tracy Evans is another member of our DT who is staying with us for another year of crafting shenanigans - and we are delighted to have her back!

For those of you who haven't met Tracy before, here is a bit of information about her and her passion for crafting:-

Introduce yourself briefly... My name is Tracy Evans: wife, mother, friend, gardeners and dabbler in many things crafty! Impatient, impulsive, with an addictive personality and probably a little obsessive about the little details. 

How did you get into crafting? I began approximately thirteen years ago when I was a stay at home mum with my son Ryan, then three years old. I needed a creative outlet, something for me and on a whim I attended a stamping workshop; and the rest as they say is history.

Before having my children I had a very busy career and I was itching to get my teeth into something new. Stamping took hold and I became so passionate that my hobby became my business, running a craft shop for nine years. I closed the door around three years ago to spend more time with my children and on my passions. 

How would you describe your style?

I am rather an eclectic crafter, leaning more towards the grungy, collage style. I am all about the little details... They complete a creative piece for me and make my creations unique, something I strive to maintain for as long as I craft.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Inspiration is everywhere! My garden often inspires my colour choices; plant combinations and colours inspire me with every passing season. I also find inspiration in home decor and fashion magazines, which highlight current trends in colours, patterns and styles that we can use in creative pieces.

What's your favourite technique right now?  At the moment it's the Tim Holtz Riveted Patchwork technique, from his Compendium of Curiosities II book. This technique really appeals as it co-ordinates with the steampunk/industrial makes I love to create. I also love to work on pieces for men, I find it a challenge and love to think outside the box when it comes to artwork that appeals to men.

What's your favourite colour? Oh no just one favourite colour? This is difficult! My favourites change by the day, but if I had to pick one it would be brown as it work so well with my grungy, vintage style.

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? I am one of those crafters who cannot snack whilst creating, purely because I am a little obsessive about keeping my work area clean and tidy! I would have chocolate finger prints all over my work if I snacked. 

I have learned from experience, on many occasions I've taken a cup of tea to my craft room only to place a paintbrush into it! Not a good idea and doesn't add anything to the flavour!

What do you do when you are not crafting? If I'm not crafting (which doesn't happen often!) you'll find me digging in the garden or on my allotment. I love my garden, there's nothing more satisfying than watching your garden grow. You can also find me at the gym. I love to keep active and exercise always helps my creative thought process!

Tell us a random fact about yourself... I was once a Personal Assistant to the CEO of a FTSE 100 company.

What craft tool couldn't you live without? Only ONE? You have got to be kidding! After much thought I think it would be my Fiskars Paper Trimmer as I could not cut a straight line with a pair of scissors if my life depended on it! I could add another hundred products to this list though!

If your house was on fire, what's the first thing you would save from your craft room? As long as my family and little dog were safe, I would have to save all my rubber stamps...well that is one product there's just lots of them haha!

  

You can see more gorgeous cards and mixed media makes from Tracy on her blog here, including all her Creative Expressions DT pieces. 

CEDT - Meet Donna Ratcliffe

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Donna Ratcliffe

Here is a photo of one of the projects Donna submitted to us as part of her CEDT application:-

About Donna:-

Introduce yourself briefly... I’m Donna and I’m a craftaholic! Had a full time cake decorating business with my mother for many years but now this has become very much a part time business and I now work full time in a large craft retail chain.  Pretty much all my spare time is spent either crafting, reading or walking and playing with my crazy dog. So as I say a craftaholic….if I’m not working in craft I’m playing with it!

How did you get into crafting? I had a grandmother who liked to make things and my mother has always been a crafty type so I guess it’s in the genes! I’ve enjoyed arts and crafts ever since I was a little girl and over the years have done many different crafts……cross stitching, sewing, jewellery, knitting, crochet, cake decorating (professionally) and of course paper crafting.

How would you describe your style?  I guess I lean more to the vintage and grungy side but with a dash of prettiness thrown in!!

Where do you draw inspiration from? It comes from all sorts of places…….tv, magazines, things I see around me…..I’ll see something that catches my eye and think ‘ooh now if I was to do that and combine it with…….and then I could……’ and all of a sudden I have a new project floating round in my head!

What’s your favourite technique right now? Not so much a technique but recently rediscovered my cosmic shimmer paints that had sat in the back of the cupboard for a few years so enjoying playing with those at the moment.

What’s your favourite colour? Pick one colour? Sorry can’t be done! I guess I lean towards the autumn shades BUT then I also like pinks, lilacs and blues…………..told you I couldn’t pick one!

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? Not so bothered about snacking whilst crafting but you have to have a good cup of tea (or 2 or 3) whilst crafting!

What do you do when you’re not crafting? Think about crafting! No, seriously I like to read and spend time with my crazy spaniel.

Tell us a random fact about yourself... love a fish finger sandwich complete with brown sauce! How’s that for random!! LOL!

What craft tool couldn’t you live without? Something very simple but incredibly useful….my non-stick craft sheet.

If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you would save from your craft room? In all honesty I probably wouldn’t think of saving anything as long as my family and dog was safe. If I did try to grab anything it would probably be my boxes of stamps.

If you want to see more of Donna's creative designs, then visit her blog and FOLLOW HER at http://donnaslittlecraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/

Welcome to the team Donna - we are all really excited to work with you and see your fabu

CEDT - Meet Kim Dellow

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Kim Dellow

We have been really lucky to keep some of our previous Design Team, so you should all be very familiar with Kim and her work as she has been a valued member of the CEDT for quite some time! But for those of you that haven't met Kim before, here is an introduction to Kim and her work:-

Introduce yourself briefly... Hi my name is Kim Dellow and I'm an artist, crafter, blogger living in London, UK. I live with my wonderful partner David in a flat that is fast becoming overrun with arts and craft products! Yikes! I have a paper and fabric fetish but shhh! - It's a secret so don't tell anyone! You can find me on my blog, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/kim.dellow) and on Twitter (@KimDellow).

How did you get into crafting? At heart I think I've always been a bit arty and crafty. I dabbled as a kid, but didn't pursue it until about five years ago when I started making cards as a way to relax. Then I entered the Papercraft Essentials magazine Papercrafter of the Year Competition in 2008, purely on a whim and never expecting to actually win. I did win and am really lucky to still be regularly published in Papercraft Essentials and Simply Cards & Papercraft  now.

How would you describe your style? Erm...I'm a bit of a Jane of all styles, master of none. I like everything from grungy to cute and try my hand at it all. But I think I'm at my happiest when I'm getting messy with colour; and playing with paper, fabric and stitch too. I love creating with recycled packaging and corrugated card.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Got to say it, but everywhere! Like most arty, crafty folk I draw inspiration from any place it strikes. But I firmly believe that you have to put the hours in to make good use of that inspiration!  

What's your favourite technique right now? Playing with watercolour is making me happy at the moment, I'm learning lots about this medium!

What's your favourite colour? I'm a jewel colour person and teal is one of my faves. But I do try to break out of my comfort zone every once in a while to expand my colour combos.

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? I don't tend to snack. If I do though it would be fruit as we don't really have crisps or biscuits in the flat (they don't last long enough!). 

What do you do when you're not crafting? Exploring my home town of London or trying out different cuisines, and drinking tea with my feet up.

Tell us a random fact about yourself... I can touch my nose with my tongue and pick pencils up with my toes - too much detail?

What craft tool could you not live without? Scissors!

If your flat was on fire, what's the first thing you would save from your craft room? Yikes! Sewing machine? All my colour making materials? Sketchbooks?! Oh boy!

You can take a peek at more of Kim's stunning creations, including all of her Creative Expressions DT projects, on her bloghere. 

CEDT - Meet Cathi O'Neill

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Cathi O'Neill

Here is a photo of one of the projects Cathi submitted to us as part of her CEDT application:-

About Cathi:-

Introduce yourself briefly... I am so excited to be designing for Creative Expressions! My name is Cathi O'Neill, I am an American who married an Irishman and I have been living in Ireland since 1997. I live in a beautiful village on the Shannon River with my DH of 18 years (wow, that makes me feel old!) and my two beautiful daughters, Aine (onya) 10 and Aisling (ashling) 9 who are the subject of many of my projects!!

I have always love crafting since I was a little girl. My grandmother taught me to knit and crochet and I remember sewing Barbie doll clothes with her on her front porch! I am a knitter and quilter as well, but have recently in the last two years found stamping, card making and scrap booking, and an obsession was born!! I truly love creating and make vintage cards to sell here in our local village cafe as well as stacks of mixed media and shabby/vintage style layouts to keep and share with family! I also love to do canvases, tags, ATCs and altered projects, barely a day goes by when I haven't done something crafty!!

I am currently on the design teams for several manufacturers: Couture Creations, Molossi Chipboard, Paper Wings Productions, Tresors de Luxe Etsy Lace Shop, Visible Image stamps and Paper Temptress speciality card stock store. I also design for challenge blogs Scrap Africa, Frosted Designs and Sugar Creek Hollow, and have guest designed for challenge blogs Keeping the Best and Scrap it with a Song, C'est Magnifique Kit Club, Scraps of Elegance Kit Club and Crop Stop online store. I truly enjoy the challenge and inspiration that paper crafting bring me.

How did you get into crafting? I have always crafted since I was young, but I found paper crafting when I was home recuperating from surgery and off my feet for six weeks. I had just received a Silhouette cutter to make some vinyl wall decals when I realized it would cut paper too… I started with my children’s glue stick and some basic card die cuts, then an obsession was born!! I spent those weeks recuperating watching videos on card making and then found some shops to buy some stamps and inks and away I went! My quilting and knitting filled studio had to make way for inks, mists, flowers, papers…

How would you describe your style? My style is constantly evolving, but I have always had a strong pull towards vintage and grunge and sometimes shabby chic. As I have gotten more into stamping and inking, my style is evolving again to include a lot of mixed media.

Where do you draw inspiration from? I find inspiration everywhere, from other talented crafters, from my gorgeous place I live but especially from my little girls!!

What’s your favourite technique right now? I have been using a lot of mixed media lately, so I would say right now my favourite techniques are just adding a lot of stamping, mists, modelling paste and masking to my projects!

What’s your favourite colour? My favourite colour combination is teal and brown, but I have a love of purple too!!

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? I am back into weight loss right now, so I am trying to be good…generally I just have a water bottle near my craft space!

What do you do when you’re not crafting? I run around as mom taxi for my children, swim, meet up with friends…

Tell us a random fact about yourself... At 23 I travelled alone from England to Egypt visiting Eastern Europe, Turkey and Israel along the way…an amazing trip where I saw amazing things and met some wonderful people.

What craft tool couldn't you live without? I have so many tools I use it is hard to narrow it! I guess it would be my Big Shot and Dies! But I use Walnut Stain Distress Ink an awful lot on my paper edges too, lol!!

If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you would save from your craft room?

Aside from the layouts of my girls, I think it would have to be my awesome spinning ink pad holder, I have all the Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Re inkers (I am a bit of a collector!!)

If you want to see more of Cathi's creative projects, then visit her blog and FOLLOW HER at http://celticknotted.blogspot.co.uk/

Welcome to the team Cathi!!! Can't wait to see what amazing creations you have up your sleeve for us!!!

CEDT - Meet Tracy Heaton

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Tracy Heaton

Here is a photo of one of the projects Tracy submitted to us as part of her CEDT application:-

About Tracy:-

Introduce yourself briefly... My name is Tracy Heaton, I live on Anglesey with my husband, daughter, two dogs, one cat and three chickens.

How did you get into crafting? I don't really remember not crafting. I started sewing and knitting when I was really young. I've had a go at most crafts, including quilting, glass painting, mosaic and dressmaking. I discovered paper crafting about 15 years ago and have never looked back.

How would you describe your style? Experimental. Whilst sometimes I have an idea of where I'm going with a project, I often adopt a 'go with the flow' approach and try a variety of techniques to produce a finished piece

Where do you draw inspiration from? I'm so lucky to live in a beautiful part of the country, and can't help but be inspired by my surroundings, the ever changing textures and colours of the sea and countryside never fail to inspire.

What’s your favourite technique right now? I love to add texture to my projects and at the moment that includes texture paste and ink sprays.

What’s your favourite colour? I love blues and reds, but find it so difficult to choose a favourite colour – I love them all!

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? I don't tend to snack whilst crafting, but I can't live without my Red bush tea – it's my crafting essential.

What do you do when you’re not crafting? I craft most days, in fact, if I'm not crafting, it's probably because I'm asleep!

Tell us a random fact about yourself... I'm a pop music trivia whiz

What craft tool couldn't you live without? My Tim Holtz ruler

If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you would save from your craft room? My Distress ink/paint/stain stash.

If you want to see more of Tracy's projects, then visit her blog and FOLLOW HER at http://www.ahintofmagnolia.blogspot.co.uk/

Welcome to the team Tracy - looking forward to seeing all of your amazing projects!!

CEDT - Meet Pam Smith

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Pam Smith

Here is a photo of one of the projects Pam submitted to us as part of her CEDT application:-

About Pam:-

Introduce yourself briefly... I'm Pam, married with 2 grown-up Daughters, 1 Grandson and 2 grown-up Step Children. I teach workshops on cruise shops as well as on land. I've been crafting since 2002 and it keeps me from my second hobby; eating too much chocolate!

How did you get into crafting? Accidentally! I found a set of stamps in a DIY shop that were reduce in price, so I thought I would have a go!

How would you describe your style? Quirky, Inky & Painty.

Where do you draw your inspiration from? Blogs, magazines and  the BSSBS at Ally Pally!

What's your favourite technique right now? Rubber stamping - always. I also like Ink/Paint techniques and working on canvases.

What's your favourite colour? Blue.

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? Anything! Mostly chocolate though!

What do you do when you're not crafting? Travelling on cruise shops, reading, paying the Ukulele and going on archaeological digs.

Tell us a random fact about yourself... I teach Ukulele.

What craft tool couldn't you live without? My paper trimmer. But please can I have Cut-N-Dry Foam as well??

If your house was on fire, what's the first thing you would save from your craft room? My drawer unit containing most of my rubber stamps.

If you want to see more of Pam's creative projects, then visit her blog and FOLLOW HER at http://www.smiffyscards.blogspot.co.uk/

Welcome to the team Pam - can't wait to see what amazing creations you have up your sleeve for us!!!

CEDT - Meet Neil Burley

Creative Expressions Design Team - Meet the Team

Name: Neil Burley

Here is a photo of one of the projects Neil submitted to us as part of his CEDT application:-

About Neil:

Introduce yourself briefly... I'm Neil Burley, also known on the internet as perfectly4med, and I've just finished an extended diploma in Art and Design at Leicester College and opened my own teaching studio.

How did you get into crafting? It started with squidging some paint between pearlescent paper – and then I got introduced to rubber stamping. Over fifteen years later, I've made it into my career.

How would you describe your style? A bit of everything! I can create anything from a clean and simple card to a large sculpture for the garden, a 12 x 12” layout to a beaded necklace. I also quilt and crochet. I like to learn new techniques and use whatever is new in craft-land, so my ‘style’ is constantly evolving.

Where do you draw inspiration from? I'm used to being inspired by the products and materials I've been asked to use. For my ‘freestyle’ pieces, nature and geometry are my main inspirations. For techniques I turn to magazines, books and art journalling videos on the internet.

What’s your favourite technique right now? Water colouring with Distress Re inkers over a heat embossed resist.

What’s your favourite colour? Anything in the blue/purple spectrum.

What do you like to snack on whilst crafting? I don’t snack while crafting as I don’t like the greasy finger marks. I normally have a cup of tea or a diet coke on the side though.

What do you do when you’re not crafting? Dreaming new designs and ideas, planning new workshops, teaching them, keeping the allotment, walking my two dogs or catching up with admin and accounts. Oh, and I'm responsible for the housework.

Tell us a random fact about yourself... I used to be a psychiatrist.

What craft tool couldn't you live without? My scalpel (kept from my Uni days!)

If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you would save from your craft room?

The computer! It has a digital record of all my work, college course as well as being a significant investment – I’d have to blog the event after all!

If you want to see more of Neil's creative designs, then visit his blog and FOLLOW HIM at http://perfectly4med.co.uk 

Welcome to the team Neil - we are really excited to have you on board and look forward to seeing what amazing projects you create for us over the next year!