Birthday Party on a Tree Stump WITH a guest designer

Happy Saturday Stampers!!
Today I am super excited to share
a project and a little information
on our GUEST DESIGNER, Betty Benton!!!

 

GD Q&A

Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Betty Benton and I live in Conroe, Texas, just north of Houston, Texas with Larry, my husband of 30 plus years who is very tolerant of my stamping addiction! My daughter Amanda, lives nearby with her family and my two grandchildren, Ashton, age 6, and Brianna, age 3.

What is your blog address?

My blog address is bbstamps@blogspot.com. My inititals are BB, which led to my “grandma” name of BeeBee. I’d love to have you drop by and visit my blog anytime!!

How long have you been paper crafting?

My daughter introduced me to stamping in 2005. I saw a "Nuggest Purse" that got me totally hooked! I’ve always loved miniature things so this “nugget purse” really grabbed my attention!

Describe your crafting style.

I prefer the CAS (clean and simple) style, although I do like layers, ribbons and embellishments – just not all at the same time!! I also enjoy using my photos on cards (birds, deer, flowers, scenery, etc.)

Has any of your work been published?

I’ve never had any work published – I guess you’d say that I’m self-published – on my blog and stampTV gallery!

Describe your crafting work area.

I have a fairly large guest bedroom and have completely taken over half of it for my crafting area. It is a hodgepodge of different types of storage areas and is normally very messy! One of these days I’d like to have something more professional, where everything matches and I have enough flat space for crafting. At present, cans for scissors, colored pencils, pens, markers, etc. and my laptop, external hard drive, heat embossing tool, phone, etc. take up a lot of room on my desk!

What is your favorite "go to" embellishment? I love embossing – both heat embossing with powders and dry embossing with my Big Shot and embossing folders. My “go to” embossing folder is Cuttlebug’s Swiss Dots. Running close behind embossing is ribbon and brads.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

I get inspiration from sketch and color challenges and projects that have been posted online. When I first began stamping I would pick a card from the Stampin’ Up catalog and start there. I was always amazed how much differently my card would turn out from the inspiration card. Now that I have found online sources of sketches and projects, I am able to view many different examples made from one single sketch, expressing each creator’s individuality!

Where do you post your work?

Most of my work is posted on my blog and in the stampTV gallery. I also have a small gallery on Splitcoaststampers. For several years I have been sending out thank you cards to volunteers who stay in our church nursery. This year I am changing my focus to Operation Write Home. I love the idea of my cards helping military personnel to send their love home to their families.

Give us one paper crafting tip/piece of advice.
One piece of crafting advice: I saw this on Splitcoaststampers and didn’t try it for a long time because I didn’t think it would work. I am so bad about putting a matted focal image on my card and it being crooked. If I just simply can’t live it with it, I pull out the dental floss and use that to pry the piece up from the card. Works almost every time without ruining the focal image or the card.

Hello Everyone! Betty Benton here, Guest Designer for Creative Clear Stamps' Birthday Bash. The image I have used on my card is from one of the newest releases, Make A Wish. These two friends are so sweet, getting together to share a birthday celebration. Chocolate cake is the best, don't you think?? This set also includes six different birthday greetings; you'll find one that perfect for every card! I'll have another post next Saturday; hope you'll come back to join me!