Saturday’s Studio Tour {Featuring Leena Loh}

We are back this week with another peek into the studio space of one of our creative team members.  This week we get to learn more about Leena Loh and find out how she uses her space to get crafty.

Whether you have a dedicated room, a closet, or a dining room table; the goal of any creative space is organization. If you can’t locate your supplies quickly then you will spend more time looking for the perfect paper or embellishment item then you will spend on “creating.”  We hope that you enjoy this week’s tour and have fun learning more about Leena!

1. My scrapbook style would be more eclectic. My pages tend to have lots of white space, with emphasis on the pictures and stories I want to showcase.

2. I get my inspiration when I travel, for work and leisure. I love taking pictures on the street in the countries that I traveled to, especially building structures, billboard advertisements on buildings and subways. My favorite countries with colorful cultures would be Japan, Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong.

3. My current favorite products for scrapbook would be the new Pink Paislee’s Cork Buttons and I also love canvas fabric and felt, which I bought loads of them during my shopping trip to Tokyo last year.

4. If there is one wish, I would like to quit my job now and do volunteer work in impoverished places like Cambodia, India and Mongolia where thousands of children are illiterate because they do not receive education due to lack of school facilities. It would be great to help build schools so the children would have the opportunities to get some basic education.

5. My favorite movie of all time would be The Wedding Singer, which I’ve watched again and again and I’m still loving it!

6. My guilty pleasure? That would be ice cream, ice cream and ice cream! Can’t live without it!

7. My favorite memory would be when I first met my husband in London, our favorite city in the world. We just hit it off within a day we met and we spent everyday throughout our stay, walking in the streets of London, having coffee on the sidewalk cafes, watching theatrical plays and of course sharing lots of long conversation.

8. My one fear that I really dread is if something happened to me during my traveling stints, I would never be able make it home safely and see my family again.

9. My first job was waitressing in my Grandpa’s coffee shop.

10. I love music which is soothing to my ear such as pure acoustic bossa.

11. My typical day for me on the weekdays would start at around 7.30am, getting ready for work, seeing my boy off to school and my hubby and I would drive off to work. He would then drop me off at my office around 9am and the first half morning would be spent checking and replying tons of work-related emails! I would maybe sneak in to check my personal emails, pop by my favorite scrapbook forums and blogs as my morning ‘refreshments’. If I don’t travel, the second half of the day would be spent in meetings, trainings and making lots of plans for our responsible countries. My day at work usually ends at 7pm, hubby would pick me up and we get home around 8pm. Dinner would follow and I would spend some quiet time with my son, watch a little TV, helping him with his schoolwork and when he has finally gone to bed, I would chat up with the hubby on our day and maybe do a little scrapping, crafting or reading. If I’m up to it, I would stay up to around 2-3am. Weekends will be for family outings, meeting with friends and also catching up with crafting usually during the night. If I travel for work, I would definitely come back home for the weekend, it’s a must!

12. My signature piece of clothing would be tights and an over sized shirt. I feel comfortable moving around in them especially when I’m on photography assignments or shopping trips.

My scrap space:
I live in Singapore, a small island country with a population of just abut 4.5million people, with land size of an hour’s drive from the East to the West of the island. So, land and space is definitely very scarce and 80% of the people here live in apartments (a house would cost millions of dollars!). I am one of the lucky person to have my very own scrap corner in my apartment. It’s a small space but I definitely appreciate the fact that I could spend my crafting time in a proper space.

This is my one and only scrap table located in one of our rooms, where I work all the time. I made my scrap area an open concept so as to utilize the minimum space I have and where I can see and grab my stuff within arm’s length.

I displayed my favorite embellishments and the ones that I use all the time on a curtain rod, which has been improvised by my hubby! I love the fact that I just have to look up from where I work on the table and I just grabbed whatever I see.

This pedestal which supports my scrap table top are one of my favorite storage space which is also within reach, where I kept most of my paints and mists in containers.

My sewing machine is located on the right side of my scrap table which I can reach out easily whenever I want to sew on my scrap pages or any other projects.

This shelf is where I kept the rest of my embellishments and papers, just behind my scrap table. I just need to swivel my chair around without having to stand up and I’m able to grab whatever I want on this shelf! *laugh* I’m a lazy girl and as long as I don’t have to walk more then a few steps from my table to get my stuff, it work perfectly well for me.

My scrap table and shelf are from IKEA, along with the other containers like the cookie jars for my ribbons and buttons, the curtain rod, the cork board, the paper carton boxes and also the rattan baskets. I love everything from Ikea, they cheap and also versatile.

And lastly, I store more carton boxes, my Sizzix machine and craft magazines on the built-in shelf which used to be for my books, and they have been shifted to the other side of the wall.

If you would like to learn more about Leena please feel free to visit her blog HERE

Saturday’s Studio Tour {Featuring Jana Eubank}

This year we thought it would be fun to take a peek into the studio spaces of our creative team members.  With a team as big as ours we will be able to take away lots of ideas on how to organize our supplies, and decorate our craft studio spaces.  We will be featuring 2 artists each month as part of our new Studio Tour segment!  But that is not all….we will also learn more about each artist as we have fun reading their very own “fast facts.”

Our creative artists are the best in the business (yes we are a bit biased…) and we hope you enjoy getting to know them better just as much as we have!  This month we kick off this new feature by showcasing Jana Eubank’s space!

the facts:

Q: What is your scrapbook style?

A: My scrapbook style is layered and eclectic. I gravitate towards textured, dimensional elements and assymetrical design.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration?

A: My photos and memories are the main source of inspiration for me, but when I need that extra creative push I feel most inspired by interior design. I love looking at the combination of colors, textures, patterns and shapes in a well-designed room and trying to transfer those ideas onto my pages.

Q: What is your favorite scrapbook product?

A: My very favorite products are the Pink Paislee Expressions alphabets. A page just doesn’t feel complete to me without a bold, dimensional title.

Q:  What is your one wish?

A: Right now, my one wish would be to be able to take the entire family to Hawaii. Doesn’t that sound great right now? We could all use several days lounging on a beach soaking up the sun, sights, tastes, and smells of a tropical island, right?!!!

Q: What is your favorite movie?

A: Elf. I know it’s a Christmas movie, but I can’t help but laugh at something in every scene. It makes me smile every time!

Q: Guilty Pleasure?

A: Chocolate, comfort food, and scrapbooking. It’s my creative outlet and my time for *ME*.

Q: Favorite Memory?

A: My most favorite memories are from the days just after we’ve brought a new baby home from the hospital. Even though it can be chaotic adjusting to a new one waking up in the middle of the night, it’s such a sweet, happy, euphoric time. I loved watching my older kids dote on the new baby. There’s just something sacred and special about having a brand new little spirit in your home.

Q: One Fear?

A: I think that my one fear is not being physically able to help my children in a dangerous situation. My worst nightmares are about floods, fires, etc. where I am unable to reach them and help them.

Q: First Job?

A: Copy Counter Attendant at my father’s Copy & Print Shop

Q: Favorite Music?

A: Anything with an acoustic sound : Bluegrass, Folk, Country, Soft Rock, etc.

Q: A Typical Day?

I wake up at about 7:30 to get the kids ready for school and out the door. Next I head up to my scraproom with my breakfast to read emails and catch up on blogs and my favorite message boards. If I don’t have to be anywhere that day, I’ll stay in my jammies for awhile and scrap while my youngest daughter colors, cuts up paper, and plays next to me. It’s a good thing we are both homebodies! After lunch, I’ll get ready and work on household things. In the afternoon the kids come home from school. I’ll help them with homework, coordinate playdates and start wondering what we should do for dinner. Once the kids go to bed, it’s back to scrapping for me. My husband doesn’t get home from his job until 11:00 p.m. at night, so working in my studio is how I pass the time. If I’m on a creative roll, I’ll stay up until 1 or 2 a.m. getting my “thoughts” down on paper.

Q: What is your signature piece of clothing?

A: Polar Fleece Jackets. I have several favorites and always have one on.

about jana’s space:

When we built our home a year and a half ago, I was able to claim one of the bedrooms on the plan as my future scrap room. The bedroom on the plan was small, but had an adjoining walk-in closet and bathroom. We decided to open up the wall to the bathroom to make one main area (L-shaped) and an adjoining storage area where the closet was supposed to be.

The main area is where my computer and desk are. I work here most of the time. We placed floor to ceiling cabinets whereever we could and added a bank of drawers behind my desk to contain punches, tools, and embellishments stored by color.

The closet became my storage area. There is another desk in this area that has floor-to-ceiling cabinets with roll out shelves and a large magnet board. This is where I store paper, scrapbook kits, and my alphabets. My favorite organizers are the Iris 12 X 12 snap close cases. I use them for everything! I sort my alphabets in them by color families. I use them to store scrapbooking kits with all the coordinating bits and pieces. And I also use them to store collections by manufacturer.

Across from my desk where the bathroom was supposed to be, we added another counter/desk area with a sink. This is where I do anything messy . . . stamping, paints, glitter, etc.

without a doubt this is my favorite room in the house!

I think I am in love with Jana’s space.  It is like something out of my own head.  Even the colors are perfect! To learn more about Jana please visit her blog HERE.