December 2016 | Member Spotlight

Hi, I'm Penny (@Penny)! I lived my entire life in Texas and Oklahoma until 2008, when my husband's job took us to Cleveland, Ohio. After 3 years there, we moved to sunny Arizona! Until we moved to Ohio, I was a communication professor, teaching college for more than 20 years. Now I still communicate - but as a full-time, stay-at-home mom. My husband and I have been married 28 years and have a 19-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. I love to read, sing, cook, sew, and craft. I mainly make scrapbook layouts and cards, but I have been known to make a mini album or pocket page now and then. I also love to make scrappy quilts. My fabric and paper may someday take over the house.

Member Since:

I have been a member at SC since 2008, always subbing to the scrapbook kit (with only one break along the way) and often to other kits. I had been a member of an online scrapping community in Oklahoma, and when it closed down, a friend from there introduced me to SC. Having just moved to a new state, the message boards were a great place for me to "hang out" and feel like I had some like-minded friends!

Why Studio Calico?

What I value most about SC is the creative inspiration! I am more of a "scraplifter" than an original, so I get lots of great ideas from the gallery. The products in the kits and the challenges also inspire me to get out of creative ruts and try new things. I rarely pass up a challenge on the blog or the message boards. My next favorite, though, is the community. I've only met a few SC members in person, but I feel like I know so many of you as friends.

SC Must-Have:

I love all the word/phrase strips and stickers that SC puts in the kits. I am all about words and text (see above: Communication professor), so I will search through my whole collection to find just the text that fits a project. This also carries over to my quilting. I've made 3 quilts recently that were all about words. It's very hard for me to pass up fabric, paper, or embellishments with cool text.

Proud of:

It's hard to choose a favorite project because whenever I look at one, I start seeing the flaws in it instead of the sentiment. But I love this one (below) because it's my husband and me! I also love it because it has words, stitching, and lots of patterned paper. And like I mentioned before, not only do I like challenges, but I like to combine challenges, and this one involved THREE. One of them even had a quilt block as the inspiration piece. So, it was like a perfect storm of putting a page together.

Coming soon (on my list):

I currently have more Disney-related photos than I will ever be able to scrapbook. Besides the family trips, both to Disneyland and Disney World, now my daughter is in the Disney College Program in Orlando. And she never misses a photo opportunity! I should probably wait until her program is over in May and put them all in one album. But I keep printing them when she sends them, and they're more fun to scrap than what goes on in day-to-day Arizona. Fun fact, and then I'm done: After our first family trip to Orlando, I made an "A to Z" album with a layout for every letter. Like I said, I'm into words.