Hello everyone! We have another newer member to get to know this month. Stephanie Gates, or Effie as she also goes by.
I have been admiring her work in the gallery over the past several months and reached out to her to see if she would be willing to tell us a bit more about herself. In her own words:
Hi there. Stephanie Gates here! I was so pleased when Denise contacted me. I’m pretty new to Cocoa Daisy but I am so inspired by the products and by all the great projects posted here. I’ve been in love with paper most of my life. I’m always happiest with my fingers covered in paint and glue!
My day job is staff support at the local University Library where I help keep track of not only books, but VHS tapes, CDs, cassette tapes, LPs, and DVDs.
The rest of the time, when I’m not at my craft desk, I’m a member of a theatre company that works both here in Central Pennsylvania and in New Jersey. We focus on literacy and creativity, and do lots of work with creative dramatics for children and youth. Our next two local productions feature William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe! All of which keeps me plenty busy … But gives me plenty of things to scrapbook!
I asked Stephanie my favorite questions:
what talent would you most like to have
Creatively, I’d like to be able to sketch and watercolor. I’ve been working on an illustrated journal for about a year now and I’m better after lots of practice but I still have so much to learn and improve on!!
favorite quote that describes yourself or your life right now?
“Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.” Julia Cameron
what is a quality you most like in a person?
Kindness is a wonderful quality in a person.
What is on your mind lately? or what is changing in your mind lately?
I’m just wrapping up the two month Index Card a Day challenge (http://daisyyellowart.com/icad/icad-faq.html), and the push to create daily has been a great kick in the pants! I’m ready to work larger than 4×6 inches, but I’ve loved pushing myself to do some art every day. And I did a couple of process videos and enjoyed putting those together and I think it’s something I’d like to explore more… If I can talk myself into speaking on camera!! But I’m looking forward to getting back to journaling my days in both my Travelers Notebook and my Hobonichi.
Where do you find/get your strength?
As an introvert I need a good balance between time alone and time with friends. There’s nothing like a great time with a few close friends to make the day better. But time alone to pursue creative outlets is also wonderfully restorative. And, I recently adopted a cat, Toby, which makes coming home even better!
Stephanie I love your answers and I agree with the balance between alone time and time with friends and a cat lady is my kind of lady!
Here are some of my favorite layouts by Stephanie. She has a gift with layers and color. I love the sometimes quirky things she adds to her pages. The embellishments are always clustered so beautifully.
So pretty aren’t they?
Check out her social media and say hello!
and Youtube
Thank you so much Stephanie for sharing your beautiful talent with us and for answering my questions. Can’t wait to see more Toby layouts!
Thank you, Effie, for sharing your fabulous creations…….always love looking at your lo’s with all the layers and embellies, not to mention love your designs.
Thanks Julie … and everyone else for stopping by and saying Hi! I love the scrappy community here!!