I met Jennifer Sizemore, scrapbooker extraordinaire, at January's Scrap For A Cause. She's one of those fantastic people that, when you meet her, you feel like you've known her for years. She's easy-going, talented, and has the kind of dry wit that I appreciate. A month ago, I featured Lisa Martinez as a local artist and I asked for suggestions for other "local artist" features. A ton of people (starting with you Jennie Gift!) e-mailed me asking that I feature "Sizemore". So... here's the scoop on the illustrious Miss Jennifer:
Jennifer, her husband (of, count them, 15 years!) Dave, her 8 year-old funny little boy Jacob, two cats and a dog live in Manassas, VA. A full time Associate Director for a military association, she plans conferences and events around the country. She has been keeping scrapbooks in some form since high school (which, by the way is in Punxsutawney, PA for all of you "Groundhog Day" fans!). She even presented her husband (then her boyfriend) a whole album of their first year together on their second dating anniversary. Back then she used brown paper pages and scotch tape, but eighteen years later, she still gets that album out to reminisce with him.
"Paper crafting is my biggest obsession. Creating layouts is my therapy after a long day at work. It is my creative outlet, my means of recording our day to day lives, andy my gift to future generations. I teach classes from time to time, and love to pass my obsession along to others." Jennifer has been published in Paperkuts, Creating Keepsakes Idea Books, The Big Book of Little Accents, Memory Makers, Rubber Stamper, Paper Crafts, Pine Cone Press and Simple Scrapbooks. She has been on design teams for several online stores, Quickutz, and Lazar StudioWerx. She is currently on the Fiber Scraps design team. She has a fantastic blog (where, I admit, I steal some of my ideas...) that you'll want to check out!
I asked Suni to come up with some interview questions. Here they are, along with Jennifer's clever responses:
Do you still have any of your teenage journals? If so, have you scrapped any of the embarrassing things in them?
I am such a packrat for memorabilia, I even have notes that my friends and I passed back and forth in class. *ahem* I mean, in the halls. I hadn't thought about scrapping anything that OLD, and certainly not anything embarrassing... what a great idea! I'll add that to my to do list and get right on it.
What is your scrapping soundtrack?
I usually scrap with my iTunes going on my computer, which means classic rock, 80s pop, and country music. If Jacob is in the room, it is Spongebob and the Hamsterdance Song.
What do you think is or was the most annoying trend?
Oh, where do I even start with this one? I know "everything is okay, as long as you love it" yadda yadda yadda. But really, I cannot stand the look of the extreme freestyle stuff. I also don't like a crazy mix of fonts. Anything more than 2-3 on a layout, and I can hear my college advertising teacher lecturing us about proper typography.
Last craft/scrapping related daydream?
Let's see, I was stuck in a scrapbook store with Orlando Bloom (as Will Turner) and we were trying to figure out how to get the glue to adhere properly. Really, it was craft related.
If you were banned from buying anything but cardstock/adhesive what would you miss most?
Ribbon. I would stop scrapbooking if I had to do it without ribbon.
What is your most embarrassing lo?
Anything from the era of decorative scissors. I had them all and I was not afraid to use them.
Have you reworked any of your early lo's?
Remember when chalk was first introduced to scrappers? There was that book about how to enhance die cuts. Remember? Well, I bought it and some chalk and went to town on every die cut I had ever proudly pasted on a layout. The look much better now. ;)
Is there any scrapping splurge you regret?
All those Frances Meyer kits from MJ Designs. In my own defense, there wasn't much else to buy for scrappers back then.
If money was no object, what tool would you buy?
If you see Jennifer around (and she's always around), go up & introduce yourself. She's very open & friendly and you might just get inspired by her!!