Guest Designer - Featuring Kerry Duff

Kerry is a fabulous artist and fabulous youtube participant.  Her enthusiasm for her craft and her life are contagious.  Although Kerry and I have not met in person, we share our passion for all things paper.  I asked Kerry to talk about herself a bit and this is what she had to say:

I started Scrapbooking in 1994 with Creative Memories…and was hooked on scrapbooking from the very 1st class..and even went on to sell it for a while.  I am married to a wonderful man of 17 years, and have 2 loves of my life , Makenna 12, and Griffin 7.  I am in the Ohio Air National Guard as an Active Duty Member, and have served for 23 years and will retire in less then 5 years, its a job that lets me afford to scrapbook, and I have great friends there.  I found scrapbooking on youtube in July of 2010, and have made lots of great connections with people on there..and truly learned so much about scrapbooking, and mixed media.  I have also run a lot of 5/10Ks and 1 1/2 marathon.   By way of introduction - I asked Kerry some questions...those and her answers are below: your favorite thing to work on is:  Layouts for scrapbooks (my kids love to look at them) and making minis of any kind and cards  your favorite paper company is:  not fair question LOL!!!  I like them all…G45, K and Co, October Afternoon, Sassafrass Lass, Websters, PinkPaislee, 7 Gypsies, Basic Grey  your go-to product is:  my ATG, paper of any kind  your style can best be described as:   I don't really have a style…it depends on my mood and the project can be real clean and simple or grungy and heavy with embellishments most my scrapping gets done: (when)  the weekends in the morning, and weeknights after the kids homework..and Mondays I am off during the day kids at school  if i could only take three crafty things with me on a long weekend they would be:  my ATG, something to cut with, and paper!!

So you can see why we think Kerry is fabulous.  Without further ado - here's Kerry's first project followed by her notes on the project:

On this layout the font I used in the photo collage was a driving factor of what style I was going to use.  Old School!!

I like a lot of layers but knew I couldn't make it a bulky since it was going to go into a scrapbook album
and I am finding that I like to use a lot of different papers… just by getting out all the papers I like..see how they go and how they don't go..and use the ones I really like… I tend to use my scraps 1st..that is if I find one I like otherwise I start with a whole new piece of paper…and I try to stay with the same company…but not always…sometimes I use many different companies..but in a way that, they match.

Then I just cut pieces from the papers I like and lay them out on the page..and this is the fun part..   A lot alot of times I will have seen a layout that I like from a magazine, the internet, a blog and use that as inspiration…and I make it my own…sometimes I cut all the pieces and sometimes I tear away…it really depends on the project and my mood!! As far as the shapes of the pieces I just cut or tear…and see how it works…sometimes it does and sometimes I have to rethink it!!

My favorite element on this page is the notebook paper that I stamped and then crumpled all up..there is some kinda satisfaction about that for me..I flatten it out somewhat..and distress it them a lil Tim Holtz Ink.  When I distress I mainly use a foam applicator.

I like when there is a mess up..and it just works!!

I also inked all the edges of everything withTim Holtz Distress Ink.  I seem to distress a lot of the items I create with…it just makes it blend into the project better...
Kerry has lots more to share.  Visit her YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/duffer9904.  It's possible that Kerry has a coupon to share....ya never know.

Come back tomorrow for more from Kerry....you won't be disappointed.