Today on our blog, we welcome Kerry Engel. We love Kerry’s artistic style of scrapbooking!
Hello everyone, my name is Kerry Engel. I am a scrapbooker, amateur photographer, wanna be art journaler (it’s a word – I looked it up) and an on-line learning junkie. I built my first scrapbook back in 1988 with photo corners, a black pen, a Hutchings and Patrick Scrapbook and probably rubber cement. I googled Hutchings and Patrick and they are now listed as vintage on Etsy. Gotta say, that kind of hurts.
I also need to confess that I was editor of my high school year book, so I’ve been addicted to memory keeping for a very long time.
I first heard about ‘modern’ scrapbooking back in 1993 as we drove through Utah. I remember getting all excited listening to the lady on the radio talk about acid free papers and books. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a Creative Memories booth at the Edmonton Home Show in 1997 that I found my “people”.
I’m sure you can all imagine my excitement the day Treasured Memories had a spotlight on the Global TV Morning show. There was a store!!! It took all I could do to not call in sick and drive to south Edmonton. It’s been a favorite scrapbooking haunt ever since.
I have 24-12×12 albums, 5 digital scrapbooks and over 25 smaller albums snuggled on bookshelves.
My style has evolved over the years. The days of trying to document all 300 photos of my baby’s bath time has morphed into a more artistic endeavor. I’ve gone from fitting 12 pictures on one page to, egad, only having one photo on the layout. I’ve moved from chronologically archiving our lives to using photos and mixed media techniques to tell a story or to just make me happy. This was the first page I ever made back in 1997.
I had someone once tell me they could always pick out my layouts because of my style. That makes me giggle because I think my style is sort of a “stir-fry,” a combination of all the things I’ve learned and observed over the years.
My two girlfriends, Angela and Cynthia, tell me that every time they talk to me I start the conversation with “I’m taking this new class and it’s great…” I started taking on-line classes about 7 years ago. I work full time so being able to take a class in the evening and on the weekends at my own pace works perfectly for me.
Through these on-line classes I’ve been exposed to so many great women. They have taught me so much about design. Their lessons are the ingredients in my style “stir-fry.”
Storytelling and documenting the everyday changed how I approach my memory keeping. I love to incorporate the goofy and fun things. I’ve been using the Collect App for the past year and a half to motivate me to capture the little things in life. I’ve also been known to snag my daughter’s phone photos.
The grid is my go-to layout when I need to ‘get-it-done’. I still use the two-page grids when I can’t bare to leave a photo out and every picture is needed to tell my story.
I’ve been enjoying adding “embellishment clusters” – I love it when I get it right and layering flowers is a great way to use up my stash!
A doodling class I took seven years ago began my love of lettering. I’ve started painting my own words and fussy cutting them out. Combining the letters with hand-stitching adds dimension and texture to my layouts.
Lately I’ve been obsessed with gelato and watercolor dripping, making flowers with a spatula and acrylic paints and using molding gel (I love the 3D effects). I’m also completely addicted to my Tombow Markers and pencil crayons. I do a lot of art journalling and lettering.
I scrap because I love to watch my girls curl up on the couch and roam through our albums. I scrap because it’s a creative outlet for me. I scrap because I love to tell stories with photos. That’s me! Thanks for letting me share my story.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful pages with us, Kerry! We are inspired!
Comments
Loved seeing the style evolution! I scrap for the exact same reasons 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Kerry!!!
Fantastic post! LOVED reading all about your evolution of your style! <3
Thank you for sharing your story.
I can’t believe how many similarities we have, right down to the editor of my high school yearbooks! I still have them and they are over 50 years old. Where did the time go?
The only difference between our scrapbooking lives is the number of albums I have. Being retired I have more time to devote to my hobby/passion.
I love watching my daughters looking through my albums and giggling about the memories we share.
And there is one more generation to look at my books.
My Granddaughters look at them and will continue to do so after I have gone to greener (or bluer, or pinker or ? – I love all colours) pastures.
I hope you are still enjoying your craft when you get old and grey (or white or whatever colour you choose)
Good luck and have fun….
Thanks for sharing your amazing talents! Always nice to hear about how others got “started” in their journey of scrapbooking.
Your story sounds very familiar! Beautiful work since the beginning! How your scrappin style has changes over the years tells it’s own creative story. Craft on!
Awesome story! Love seeing the progression of your journey! I don’t “scrap’ per se but keep memories in mini books that I make geared toward each individual who touches my life daily or even just once or twice! They all matter and I have many books telling my life story. TFS!
I loved reading your blog post today Kerry! I have a great group of women who I scrapbook with and I feel like they are ‘my people’ but I call them my scrappy friends!!! I really have never been able to determine my style. I am like you and once I learn a new technique, its a new obsession until something else comes along. And, there is ALWAYS something new to try! Thank you again for your inspirational story. Happy scrappin!!
Great read! Thanks for sharing 😀
I have a few scrapbook pages just like your first one!I like your writing style too. I enjoy the Journaling side of scrapbooking best. I recently started exploring GelatoES and Inktense Block watercolors in my journals.
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