member spotlight | Anabelle

Anabelle O'Malley has been a Studio Calico member since November of 2007. Her work in our gallery has been favorited by many of you, and we love seeing her in the Studio Calico classroom as both an inspiring contributor and a student. Here's your chance to get to know Anabelle a bit better!

Hi. I'm Anabelle O'Malley (SC username : agomalley). I've been paper crafting for nine years, since my son was a baby. I love this hobby! Scrapping is definitely my creative outlet - I try to do something every day. I live with my husband, son and our mischievous orange tabby. They definitely give me lots of inspiration. Lately, I've developed a love for mixed media and have had a lot of fun trying out new techniques. I'm a teacher, by profession, so the summer time is definitely my favorite time of year. Aside from paper crafting, I love to cook (and eat), read, hit the gym and spend time hanging out with family and friends.

(night at the museum)

What are your top 5 favorite products and why?

1. Chipboard- I love to use it as layering elements and as focal pieces for my layouts and cards. There are so many cute chipboard elements out there these days. They add great texture. Chipboard alphas are my favorite to use or titles.

2. Watercolors- I am loving using watercolors these days, especially as I create backgrounds for my pages. I just recently got some Gelatos and Inktense pencils and am having so much fun trying new techniques with them.

3. My Silhouette- It may have sat in the box forever (I'm embarrassed to say how long.), but I'm making up for it now. I've been using it to cut fun elements for my projects. I especially like creating backgrounds and titles.

4. Foam Adhesive- I use it on everything! I love having texture on my pages and it really does the trick.

5. Patterned Paper- I am definitely a patterned paper junkie. I love colors and patterns! I often cut elements from patterned paper and use them to embellish my page.

(I Scream, You Scream)

Where do you find your inspiration?

I often use the products I'm creating with for inspiration. To get design ideas, I love Pinterest. I love pinning pieces of art and other interesting graphics to get my ideas.

Perusing the galleries of my favorite scrappers is another way that I become inspired. If I feel like I don't have any mojo, I just start blog hopping and I get tons of ideas.

(Summer PL week 2)

What is your favorite color and/or color combo?
Right now I am loving anything with aqua. I often pair it with pink or red. Navy blue is finding it's way into my work more and more these days. Since I mostly scrap my son, I'm glad to see this trend continuing!

(Summer Love)

Tell us a bit about your design process.
I don't really have one! I tend to design early in the morning because that is when my creative mind works best. Usually, I will start with the products I want to use. I'll pull out papers and then look for embellishments that will support my page theme. Once I start a page, I will work on it for a couple of hours - start to finish. I don't like to have projects lingering on my table if I can help out. Once it's done, I'll prop it up on my shelf and look at it for a bit to see if it looks ok. If I am satisfied, then I'm done. I have to clean my space and put everything away before I start something new.

(Hello!)

Tell us a bit about what else you do since we know you are creative in more ways than just scrapbooking :

I am a teacher, so I think my profession lends itself to being creative. Mostly recently I have been teaching preschool, so I love to be creative in the ways that I plan opportunities for children to play and learn. Art is definitely my favorite area in the classroom! Cooking is another one of my passions. I love trying new recipes and foods. Unfortunately, I'm the only one in the family usually eats them - my hubby and son are not very adventurous when it comes t food. Luckily, I have great neighbors who like to cook and eat with me, so we often have impromptu dinners together.

Thank you for letting us shine the spotlight on you, Anabelle - and thank you for being an inspiring member of the Studio Calico community! If you'd like to see more of Anabelle's work, stop by her Studio Calico gallery or her blog.