Cathie Allan is the proud mother of four adult children and a very happy grandmother of three beautiful grandchildren. Together with her husband and best friend, Brian, she lives in a small town called Stony Plain, just outside of Edmonton, Alberta.
Approximately 40 years ago, Cathie’s father opened a teacher supply store in Edmonton, Alberta, called Western Educational Activities. Soon after Cathie began working in this family-owned business, she introduced the art of rubber-stamping and scrapbooking. It did not take long for the hobby to take off, and in short order, the stamping and scrapbooking side of the store grew to equal the size of the teacher supplies!
Classes taught by Cathie at the store filled up on a regular basis. They were so popular with beginner stampers that a monthly and sometime weekly beginner and intermediate class were continually run to accommodate those entering this great hobby. At the closing of the family operated store (due to the death of her father) Cathie was teaching approximately 180 different classes.
Since 1995, many of Cathie’s projects and techniques have been published in a large variety of magazines. Cathie has been a featured instructor on numerous stamping cruises, has traveled and taught internationally. She also teaches across Canada by request of stores in the industry and at “The Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnivals” sponsored by “Creative Scrapbooker Magazine”. You may also find her in Clearsnap’s (a manufacturing company known worldwide for their ColorBox line of ink pads and artist quality stamp toys) booth at wholesale conventions, demoing her unique techniques and ideas. “Clearsnap” has also used her projects as the focal point of many advertising campaigns.
In 2008, Cathie became a regular featured writer in the quarterly publication Creative Scrapbooker. Each issue contains one of hundreds of Cathie’s amazing creations taught in an easy-to-follow manner. The popularity of the column was phenomenal, and so grew Cathie’s involvement in Creative Scrapbookers Basics. In Volumes 2 and 3 of this 5-volume series, Cathie was brought on board as a contributing editor. The projects she developed for these two books were designed to instil confidence in the readers, allowing them to add stamping to their layouts. The projects range from an introductory level of stamping to a ‘not so introductory’ level; however, all of the projects are geared for success and fun. She currently writes two articles for this wonderful magazine. “It’s All About Rubber” is an article where the projects are stepped out in wonderful detail along with photographs. It’s like taking a class through a book. The second article, “Cathie’s Choice” is meant to inspire you with projects and products that are all accomplished with her “rubber stamps and toys”. Here she “lets her creative soul” go crazy and in reality by following her “It’s All About Rubber” articles you will be able to decipher what she has done.
Cathie’s love of the art continues. Her work can be seen regularly in another well-established stamping magazine called Scrap & Stamp Arts. Here, Cathie is a regular member of the editorial team as an advisory board member and regular contributor. Cathie has been writing for “Scrap & Stamp Arts” since August of 2001 where they published her work on the cover, the first of very many times her work has been featured there.
The knowledge that Cathie Allan has gained during her 30 years of stamping experience helped her develop a “must have” stamping tool, for all stampers at any skill level. Her Cathie Allan, “Position-it” allows the stamper to not only perfectly align any type of rubber stamp but also allows you to stamp the same stamp “in exactly” the same place as many times as you need to. This tool kicks down the “rubber stamping door” and opens the way for so many wonderful new techniques that could not be achieved before. By following Cathie’s articles, her blog and her Youtube videos, you too will see the possibilities this fabulous “non-slip” tool brings to the rubber stamping table.
She says, “Rubber stamping is more than a job, it is a passion for me. I present my techniques and projects as cards, scrapbook pages and paper projects for I believe these art forms to be one. The focus of my classes is to not only create beautiful projects but to teach skills, techniques, and an understanding of why we choose to use the mediums we use in each and every project. I simply love creating and just want to share!”
