Guest Designer: Robyn Wood

A very big welcome to our very FIRST Guest Designer the fabulous Robyn Wood - yippeee! I emailed Robyn a few questions so we can all get to now her a little better:

Passion 4 Paper - Guest Designer Questionnaire

Tell us your name and a little bit about yourself?
My name is Robyn Wood and I live in Brisbane with my husband, two busy teenage sons and two fur-babies (dogs) who really think they are actually humans!
Crafting has always been present in my life - I learnt to sew on an old Singer treadle when I was four & later earned pocket money in my parent’s upholstery business by sewing cushion covers.
A lifelong love of colour & texture was strengthened when I rediscovered papercraft in the mid 90’s and I have been happily stamping & scrapbooking ever since. I enjoy sharing my skills through my blog, participating in swaps and going to my local stamping group.
The four of us love to cook, especially when friends come to visit. My son’s friends always know they are in for a treat when visiting. I work part time as a quality assurance chemist for a small pharmaceutical/cosmetic manufacturer and recently passed the milestone of having worked for 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry.
Do you have a blog or an online gallery where we can see more of your art?
I am a very sporadic blogger but you can find my blog, Purple Salt and my Flickr page. I am also quite addicted to Pinterest and would love you to take a look at my boards.
What type of items do you create?
Card making is a constant passion, I love how you can sit down and with just a few supplies, create something which brings such joy when given away. My projects are usually technique based or come about when playing with new products but usually feature stamped images and of course – lots of colour!
A fascination for mini books led to me joining regular artist book swaps with a Brisbane based group and it is fun to come up with new ideas, especially as the other ladies don’t stamp.
I discovered art journaling a while ago and find that I am able to combine my fascination for mixed media with a tangible record of thoughts and impressions.
I have been scrapbooking since my boys were toddlers but there always seem to be other projects on my to do list :).
Each month I participate in the ATC swap run by Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door Stamps - I have been lucky to have made some wonderful crafty friends through these swaps while swapping great miniature art.
Over the last two years I have been learning to felt and I am finding it another addictive hobby! Of course, I already have a huge mountain of felting supplies!
Why did you first start creating?
Like many card makers I started stamping when I saw gold embossing for the first time! I quickly signed up for a class and was hooked.
What is your favourite subject/theme and why?
Christmas cards would have to be a favourite, I usually start early in the year and create about 40 different ones plus a bunch of tags to give to family & friends. It is so lovely to hear that people look forward to my handmade Christmas card and that is usually the only one they keep :)
Do you like any particular styles and is there someone who’s work you really admire who creates in this style ?
My style is quite eclectic and ranges from simple & graphic to grungy. It seems to change depending on the products I am using but a common thread is colour! I love the work of Tim Holtz and Godelieve Tijskens, Becca Feeken & Teresa Abajo are some of my favourite craft bloggers.
Do you have a favourite company and if so a favourite product? What makes it so special?
It would be a toss between Darkroom Door & Tim Holtz. I love Rachel's complete range and like how the paper products & stamps co-ordinate so well.
What were your 5 favourite items released in the last 12 months?
Distress markers, Dylusions sprays, Pan Pastels, Faber Castel Gelatos & the Summer Distress ink collection.
What would you like to see released, a new colour of your favourite item, new sizes, new textures, new products – if you could have anything what would it be.
Anyone who visits my house quickly sees that I have a thing for dragonflies. I constantly use butterflies and dragonflies in my pieces so a range featuring them in turquoise tones would be fabulous.
Do you have a favourite embellishment or product, something that is your ‘Go-To’ item on almost every project?
Looking at my desk in the midst of creating it would have to be my Distress inks. It is great that the colour palette has been broadened with the special collections.
Is there a product you love, that you’d like to see carried in our store?
Gelatos! Though I think you must have read my mind about Pan Pastels as I see they are now available for pre-order.
Where do you craft?
I have been doing consulting work from home since my boys were born so have always been lucky to have my own space. I went back to formal part time work a few years ago so the study has morphed into a more art orientated space.
What are the 10 craft items you would have to take with you if stranded on a desert island (ignore the fact you may need to survive lol) what craft supplies do you HAVE-TO-HAVE?
Scissors, Smash journalling pen, art journal, black ink, gesso, Darkroom Door Script background stamp, Tim Holtz Papillion stamps, Distress marker set & as many Distress inks as I could carry!
What is your favourite creation.
My favourite is usually the last one I created! My current favourite is the canvas I created in a class with Tim Holtz when he visited Australia last month. The class was so much fun and it was wonderful to see Tim in action. He is an absolute mine of information and I learnt so much during the class, it was an amazing day!

and finally here are a few of Robyn's recent creations....

Darkroom Door ATC

This is the ATC I made for the April swap earlier this year. The theme was to use the Wordblock stamps. I love to use these stamps as an embossing powder resist, in this case I stamped over a sheet from an old dictionary. A sponging of distress inks pops the wording on the stamp beautifully. The simple embellishment of cut out brush & pen finishes it off.

Bird Card

I was lucky to get some Lindy’s Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays as a gift from Passion 4 Paper for this guest post so here is a card I created with my new sprays. The background was a spritz of Ponderosa pine olive & Tibetan poppy teal. The images came from my new Dylusions stamp sets. The bird is paper pieced & the trees were given a bit of extra colour with Distress markers. The card has a gorgeous, shimmery look that is so hard to catch with a photo.

Wedding Card

This is a card I created for my cousin’s wedding in 2010 and I still love the simplicity and combination of colours. She had a theme of pink & yellow with frangipani’s as the accent so the paper fitted perfectly.

Robyn - thank you so much for sharing your art and some of your crafting story with us here at Passion 4 Paper, we can't wait to see what else you create with your Guest Design Team member goodies.

The Passion 4 Paper Team

Comments

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I've been MIA for a week and I come back and have all this gorgeous eye candy to admire. Love your beautiful work. The colours on your atc and bird card are awesome and really pop. The project in your first pic, I have one and it was an awesome day ☺

Posted by: ros madley | 14/07/2012 at 11:00 AM