Have you ever had one of those dreams – no not the one where you go to school and you don’t seem to have any clothes on – no – one of the really good dreams. Well, there was a time when I truly had a dream that I was on the My Mind’s Eye Design Team and it was so exciting, so imagine my surprise when I was contacted to be the guest designer for the month of August! Needless to say – I had to oblige! I am so happy to be here with you all this month. Scrapbooking is somewhat of an addiction of mine and My Mind’s Eye is most definitely my drug of choice.
First off a little history. I have always been artistic. I remember wanting to be an artist when I was in Kindergarten. My sweet mom is one of the most creative people I know and she taught me it was good to be creative and she was always doing some sort of project here and there so I guess I inherited that from her. (Thanks Mom!) I have been scrapbooking for about 13 years. Think back to the good old days of deckle edges scissors and cutting our photos into awesome shapes like balloons and hearts. Ya – that’s when I was introduced to scrapbooking. I started shortly after my oldest daughter was born and I haven’t stopped since (although I have hung up my photo stencils.)
I was fortunate enough to be able to start teaching at my local scrapbook store about a year after that and they haven’t been able to get rid of me yet. If you are ever in the Salt Lake area, come by Heartland Paper Company and say Hi. My first love has always been teaching scrapbooking and paper crafting. I have taught it all from beginning scrapbooking to more advanced techniques. Recently I was named the design team coordinator for Heartland Paper and have loved that angle of this hobby as well. I get so much inspiration from those around me, and because everyone has there own style, I always learn new techniques from them. I have just recently started blogging and am in the process of adding more to that everyday. So it may be a little sparse now, but stay tuned! I tend to keep my designs very simple and clean. I love using sketches when I scrapbook and I really love grid type of layouts also. I am dabbling in card making and altered items but I mainly do layouts.
I live in Syracuse, Utah with my amazing husband Brad. He has always been very supportive of my hobby and I am lucky that he puts up with all the messes that I make around the house when I am in “create mode”. I have 3 super fun kiddos, Ashlyn who is 14, Ethan who is 11 and Madalyn who is 9. They keep me hopping between sports and gymnastics and choir lessons and plays. They are troopers who put up with my “mamaratzzi” phases. We also have a whole bunch of furry friends: 2 horses, 2 cockatiels, a fat old kitty cat and a lovable yellow lab named Boomer. They make me crazy, but I couldn’t live with out them.
Here are just a few fun facts about me:
- I LOOOOVE my Silhouette cutting machine.
- I have recently discovered the marvel that is Pinterest. (Follow me!) I am such a visual person, this was a GENIUS idea for people like me!
- I am a huge Harry Potter fan – or a “Potterhead”. Yes, I am sad it’s over and no I do not want to talk about it. I am such a big a fan, my cute husband even got me my very own vanity license plate – so if you see a ocean blue mini van cruising around Salt Lake with the license plate “MUGLMOM” honk and say Hi.
- I love to travel and have become addicted to cruises. We have taken a cruise every year since 2007. My dream cruise would be the Mediterranean.
- I listen to 80’s music everyday. It makes me smile and if I break into a little Roger Rabbit while I am cleaning all the better.
- I love to cook. I went to culinary school for 2 years before I settled down and got married. They only course I didn’t finish was my baking classes, so I am not a very good baker. Luckily my husband makes a mean chocolate chip cookie so the baking apron was handed to him.
- I don’t really take myself too seriously. Life is too short to stress about minor details. I guess I am a hopeless optimist and just look for the best in everyone and everything I encounter. Hopefully this will keep me young and happy and maybe get me into Heaven.
That’s about it. Thanks again for letting me stay and play this month. It’s gonna be fun!
Tya Smith
