Contributor Center Stage - Leena Loh

For May, we're happy to dedicate the Contributor Center Stage to Creative Team Contributor Leena Loh!Leena is an active part of the Studio Calico community, creating bright, clean Project Life® spreads full of gorgeously photographed scenes of her travels (including amazing food photography!) and her family. Be sure to check out her projects in the Gallery this month! Here's your chance to learn a little more about Leena - scrapbooking history, craftroom organization, and more! We're so thankful for the talented team that helps to spread the joy of memory-keeping all over the world.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: I've been an avid scrapbooker the past 8 years and this crafting passion of mine has been keeping me sane from all the craziness happening at home and work. My creative space is a sanctuary for me to stay happy and free. I live in the sunny tropical island of Singapore with my husband and son and my two Jack Russells. You can see me actively sharing snippets of my life on Instagram on my crafting, family, and my love for food and traveling.

How long have you been scrapbooking? I’ve been scrapbooking for the past 8 years. I started off scrapping traditional layouts, took a short break due to my heavy work commitment and finally turned to Project Life®. It has been the most enjoyable period for me the past few years, documenting my life journey and putting them into albums filled with memories. When I look back in time in the years to come, I’ll be thankful for taking up Project Life®.

What’s your go-to technique? I don’t usually fill my Project Life® with lots of techniques, as I like to keep it simple with words, pictures and a little touch of embellishments. But recently I’ve developed a liking to stamping.

In one of the filler cards in my May’s Project Life® spread, I did a repetitive stamping on a journal card from Lauren (Carolina Moon PL add-on 2).

I inked the ‘keeping it real’ stamp from Lauren with Memento Luxe ink and stamped it repeatedly on the journal card.

I then adhered one of the circle stickers over the stamped background.

Lastly, I added a strip of phrase from the Authentique Petite Diction sticker to complete the filler card.

How do you stay organized? I'm thankful that I have a craft space within our study room that is located just next to a big window that have a generous stream of natural lighting through out the year.

This is where I spend a few hours of my weekends getting my Project Life® done. On the table I have a couple of library card wooden drawers that I stored all the bits and pieces of embellishments. I love that they are within an arm's length, allowing me to reach out easily. One of my favorite storage solutions that I built with my husband's help last year is my washi tape holder. I filled this holder with almost 170 pieces of my washi tape collection!

Next to my table is where I parked my all time favorite Raskog cart that is filled with more of my Project Life® must-have items.

I'm also a big fan of Ikea storage boxes and baskets. I store most of my scrapbook goodies in these boxes and baskets and they're just located at the other opposite of my scrap table.

My other favorite storage pieces that help me organize my PL cards and embellishments would be the acrylic drawer for all my wood veneers, toolbox for my PL cards, mini ceramic bowls for small embellishments and handbook for my stamps.

What is the crafting tool you can’t live without? It's definitely my Fiskar paper trimmer, tiny attacher, precision scissor, date roller stamp, and corner chomper.

Where do you go to get ideas? I spend a lot of time getting ideas and inspiration from both Pinterest and Instagram. These two social media platforms are filled with thousands of great ideas for crafting and daily reads as well.

Learn more about Leena by following her here at Studio Calico, and check out her work with the Carolina Moon kits in the Creative Team Gallery this month!