Do you ever
find yourself at a loss for motivation or
inspiration to scrap? Me too, and a lot more
often then people think I do. Whenever I lose
my creative edge, I usually take a few steps
back, sit down and look through my scrap
magazines or surf through online galleries.
This is exactly how I gained such a huge “big
girl” crush on the scrapper that I had the
amazing opportunity to interview for this
month’s article! Kelly Goree!
Her work can
be seen in almost ANY scrapbooking magazine you
pick up off your bookstore’s shelf. Most of you
know that we met Kelly at this year’s summer
CHA, what you might not know is the hilarious
story that came with this meeting (if you are
interested in knowing this, you will have to ask
the “star” of the incident). Kelly’s laugh is
infectious and her smile makes you feel
instantly at ease. She tells funny stories
while scrapping and loves to hear yours. So
without further ado, may I introduce you to
Kelly Goree!
How and why
did you begin scrapbooking?
Oh, gosh. If
I really think about it, I guess I could say
that I’ve been scrapbooking since I was in high
school. I would keep mementos of all sorts (like
dance tickets or friends’ notes) and place them
in one of those magnetic albums along with my
favorite photos. But it wasn’t until early 2000
after my oldest son was born that I started
scrapbooking in a more modern way. A few online
friends of mine suggested that I might really
like it. I thought I could possibly try my hand
at a baby album but couldn’t see it going much
farther than that. A trip to Michael's, some
HOTP papers and some pretty horrid theme
stickers later, and I haven’t looked back.
Your pages
can be seen in almost ANY paper magazines that
scrappers read. What made you decide to start
submitting your work for publication and who was
your first ever publication with?
For my first
submission, I really credit the encouragement of
a scrapping friend of mine who had already had a
little luck with getting some pages published.
She suggested that I should give it a try when I
probably wouldn’t have ever done it on my own. I
submitted my first page in January of 2004 and
then received my first publication request ever
that Valentine’s Day from Ivy Cottage Creations
(now known as Scrapbook Trends).
With having
three boys, do you ever long to scrap with girly
colors? If so, how do you overcome lack of
pictures (if any)?
Yes and no.
I do what I must to scrap with all kinds of
paper - I'm equal opportunity that way! I'll
confess to stealing, err, borrowing, a sweet
little girl or two or five for my scrapping
purposes, but then again, I've also been known
to go ahead and scrap with pink for my boys,
too.
Your photos
are beautiful! Your son’s faces just jump right
out of the pictures. What camera are you
currently using and do you do a lot of photo
editing prior to printing?
Thank you! I
currently have a Canon Digital Rebel XT and use
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 for image processing. My
preference is for my images to be really vivid,
so I definitely play with contrast and
sharpening of my images at the very least, and
often a bit more.
On a lot of
your pages I have seen awesome photo
enhancements and perfectly chosen computer
fonts. What other types of hybrid scrapbooking
techniques do you enjoy? What are a few of your
favorite digital/hybrid products to use?
I have to
admit that's almost the extent of my hybrid
scrapping. I do my own image enhancements and I
will, on occasion, add frames or distressed
edges to my photos or print journaling directly
on a photo. I might even print and hand cut a
particular title if I'm feeling adventurous!
I am not sure
if everyone knows that you are currently a
full-time designer for Basic Grey. What
everyone DOES know is that you have done AMAZING
things with their paper line! Have you ever
received a paper line from them and just been at
a loss of what to do with it? In addition, what
has been your favorite Basic Grey line?
You're trying
to get me into trouble, aren't you, Bri?! I think it's safe to say
that I've had to work with a line or two that
weren't my very favorite, though they’re pretty
rare.
Color Me
Silly has to be my all-time favorite collection.
I just adore that line and would have a hard
time finding something I “couldn’t” scrap using
it which explains why I hoard it! Of the current
releases, I really love the folk art feel of
Urban Prairie. It’s just so easy to work
with.
If you could
give your scrapbooking style a label or name,
what would it be and why? (i.e., as silly as it
sounds, I would call myself a “Clunky, Hybrid
Ink-slinger”. Clunky = clean, yet funky. Hybrid
= I use my computer on about 98% of my layouts.
Ink-slinger = I am a writer. I love adding a
story to my layouts so that I never forget the
moment.)
I've always
called my style "traditional with a twist," but
yours sounds SO much cuter! I say traditional
because I still like to be pretty linear and
"contain" things within my pages yet I try to
have a “twist” like an unexpected bit of color
or maybe a cluster of embellishments - something
that's just a little bit funky and different.
Besides Basic
Grey, do you have any personal favorite
manufacturers?
Well, sure,
though I find my taste gravitating toward those
companies that are polar opposites of Basic Grey
just for something different - those like KI
Memories, American Crafts, and Making Memories.
I also really love the funkiness (is that a
word?!) of Heidi Swapp’s designs.
For me, my
computer and paper trimmer would have to be two
tools I could not scrap without. If you had to
choose your two favorite tools, what would they
be?
Tools?
Definitely my BG magnetic mat (I don’t own a
trimmer!) and my computer.
There are
times that my scrapping “Mojo” is at an all-time
low and it will take me a week to really snap
back into my creative cycle. Do you ever go
through creative “lulls” and if so, how do you
recharge your “Mojo”?
Absolutely!
My husband calls it my scrapper’s block. I find
that if I’m able to step back a bit and take a
break for a few days it usually fades a bit. I
also enjoy doing other crafts like card making
or sewing that still allows me to be creative
but in a different way which gets those creative
juices flowing again.
Do you have
any favorite quotes or words to live by?
It's funny
you ask this. Right now the words that are all
over our house are by Winston Churchill and they
go like this, "Attitude is a little thing that
makes a BIG difference." Let's just say I have
an eight-year-old that needs a little work on
his right now, and well, we can all use that
reminder!
Thank you SO
much for taking the time to sit and answer a few
questions for our readers! I know that we all
thoroughly enjoyed meeting you at CHA this past
summer, do you have any more scrapbooking
appearances before the end of the year that our
readers might be able to stop and say hello?
You’re so
welcome, thank you for asking me to be a part of
this. I just returned from Creative Escape, so
right now, I don’t have anything scheduled from
now until the end of the year. I’ll definitely
be at CHA Winter 2009, though! I’d love for
anyone to stop by, say hi and create with me a
bit!
A great big
thank you to Kelly! You are so amazing, girl!
And just to make our article even MORE amazing,
Kelly provided this beautiful layout featuring
Basic Grey’s new line, Ambrosia!
