Member Spotlight | MandieLou

This month, get to know Studio Calico member Mandie Pierce (MandieLou). Mandie is a mother, Air Force wife and scrapbooker currently stationed in south Florida. Learn more about Mandie and her style below!

My name is Mandie Pierce. I am a stay at home mom to 3 kids (ages 16, 11 and 9) and an Air Force wife. We are currently stationed south Florida. We have had the opportunity to live all over the U.S in the past 14 years. We've now gone about as far North and as far South as the Air Force can send us. Never in my years growing up in Tennessee would I have imagined living in Alaska or California. We've lived in both and would move back to either in a heartbeat, if given a chance! I have been a scrapbooker all of my life, really. I always kept random bits and things in albums, and I've always loved paper goods and office supplies. (love the smell when you walk into a Staples store. Who's with me?) I became a scrapbooker, as we think of it, when my 16 year old was a baby. I discovered Suzy's Zoo stickers and patterned paper at Michael's. It became a love affair with deckle edged scissors, cutting photos into shapes and Paperkins after that! Thank goodness I found Studio Calico and we've moved past those! In 2011, I started doing Project Life, as well. I have a terrible memory; I feel like Project Life will be such a great way to go back and remember all the little bits of life that I've forgotten. In addition to scrapbooking, I love to cook and feed people. It gives me great joy to give someone a meal they enjoy. I often come up with dishes on my own or tweak recipes I've found. I almost never keep the recipe as is. It drives my friends crazy when they ask for a recipe because my answer is almost always, "There isn't a set one, but let me tell you approximately what I did. " I'm also an over user of emoji, an avid reader of all kinds of fiction, an avid drinker of coffee, a lover of all kinds of music, an avid TV watcher and a less than avid (but does it anyway) runner. In my spare time, I provide daily taxi services to my children and oversee the completion of homework. Generally tears are involved with the homework. (mine)

SC Member since:

All-time favorite kit:

This is a hard one to answer. There are so many I have loved for various reasons. I've been here for almost 8 years! How about Top 5 Kits? Asking me to choose a single favorite kit is like asking me to choose which kid I love most. Impossible. So, in no particular order: Cirque, Yearbook, Cotillion, Blue Note and Pop Art. That was hard. There are more than 5. But, if I have to limit, that is what I am going with.

What do you do when your kit comes?

When my kit comes, I try to open it right away. I open each bag and go through it a couple of times. Then I go through the papers and flip them to the side I like best. I open the embellishments and oooh and aaah over them. I put the embellishments, smaller stamp sets and cards into a divided plastic tray and put it in my Alex cart. The paper and bigger items (like the sticker sheet from the February kit or the frame stamp set) stay in the zipper pouch and go into a wire basket where I store them. When I want to use the kit, I pull the pouch & tray. I keep them like that until I either use the kit up or I don't have any more room in my cart.

What is your go to technique?

This one is easy. Sewing. I love stitching things down to the page.

What are your top 5 products?

1: Prismatic White cardstock from Bazzill Basics.

2: Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

3: Bright, bold patterned papers.

4: Versamark Black Ink

5: Labels. I'll take all the labels, please.

Where do you go when your mojo is low?

The Studio Calico member gallery is always brimming with great work. I love to peruse it regularly, low mojo or not! I also love flipping through home décor magazines. They always have great patterns and color combos!