Stephenie Hamen

Hi.  My name is Stephenie and I am a crafter.  There are no two ways about that.  I love paper – I always have.  Even as a kid, the bag of saved wrapping paper and ribbons at my grandma’s house in the closet called my name to make something, anything from its contents. 
Today, I use scrapbook paper, pictures, cardstock, and more to create layouts and mini-books, cards and gift tags.  I use silk flowers to create décor for my home.  I use beads, wire, findings, and so much more to create wearable art.  My life, my home, and even my desk, are filled with little bits of creativity.  Little bits of something inspiring to me and little bits that I have created fill the corners.
I also have to say, I am a tool junkie.  Yes.  I am a collector.  I collect punches like there is no tomorrow.  I have a very nice collection of acrylic stamps as well.  The difference, however, is that I actually use my collections.  I create with them.  I do have one favorite, however, that I am never without.  My classic No. 8, in MOMA, iconic, world’s best scissors – these:

These are in every room of my house, in most larger bags I carry, in my car, and just about anywhere you can imagine.  My motto – you can never have too many pairs of scissors!
So, now, about my crafty obsessions…
I love to create floral arrangements.  I don’t do this as often as I should.  This is a craft that you really have to have room for or people to gift your creations to.  I love to make them, but I tend to over-do and then run out of space for them in my house!  I truly enjoy taking the time to craft them…

This one was a lot of fun because I decided to stick to a monochromatic scheme in, of course, orange. 

 Putting this one together was fairly easy to do.  I put the foam into the container and began adding stems, after cutting them down using the stem cutter.

Jewelry making is something that I did for a few years and then burnt out on it.  I think I tried to do too much of it at once.  Sometimes you really can get too much of a good thing.  I am easing back into it because I truly enjoy it as a totally different medium to create in. 

There are some great ways to combine my love for scrapping and jewelry together that I am starting to explore more. With this project, I used a lot of different tools to make it come together. 

The big one being some scrapbooking tools to make the charms that I added in.  I love that I was able to add some photos of my boys to my bracelet.  It truly makes it all mine that way.

My true passion, however, is and will always be scrapbooking.  There is something about taking photos that I have always loved.  Capturing everyday moments and saving them has always been in my blood, even as a child.  When I found my first set of scrapbook supplies at the store, I knew that I would never be able to walk away from this creative outlet.  It is in my blood!  I love to try new things, put different items, papers, and embellishments together.  I like to mess with cropping my photos and changing them to black and white.  I am definitely a multi-photo scrapper – I just can’t cut pictures out of the layout to focus on just one.  Doing that is a very rare thing for me.  Normally, my layouts have at least 6 pictures and are all 12x12 two page spreads.  I do love mini-books as a medium, but for my family scrapbooks for the years, I am a die-hard 12x12 junkie!
I can be simple…

I love to take pictures of the most mundane things – like Saturdays at the Farmers Market.  I used some super cute Cosmo Cricket papers and ribbons on this layout, along with some American Crafts Thickers, to create this simple layout.  To create the banner, I used a Heidi Grace stamp on cardstock and the stamp press.  Then, using the fingertip rotary cutter, I followed the curve and mounted it on the Cosmo Cricket paper.  I did a similar treatment on the second page, using the seal of approval squeeze punch and another Heidi Grace stamp.

While simple and clean is fun for me, I also love to “junk-up” my layouts as well!  We took our boys to a restaurant in town for the first time.  The place, Ella’s Kosher Deli, is a Madison landmark.  Outside is a classic carousel and inside it is like walking into the heart of a circus.  Things fill the ceiling – flying, gliding, swooping, and moving all over.  Trains run along the edge, while puppets dance, ferris wheels spin, and mini puppet theaters are at work.  I felt that the layout had to match the fun and excitement of the deli itself… so, I grabbed my favorite border punch – You Bracket, You Bought It – and got to work. 

I inked and distressed to match the classic nature of the décor inside.  I layered My Mind’s Eye rub-ons, punchouts, and papers to add in a lot of fun depth.  I added in some bling here and there, along with some Prima flowers and buttons.  I truly thought the result was a lot of fun.
So…  That’s me and my craftiness in a nutshell!  Now, off to craft some more goodies!

Stephenie Hamen is a scrapbooker, crafter and one of those creative types. She is the Design and Consumer Education Manager for Fiskars Americas in Madison, WI. She is one of the founding Lead Fiskateers (Fiskateer #003) and also is a teacher for www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com. Stephenie has been published and travels the country teaching and talking scrapbooking. It is her passion and her life, as well as her job. To contact Stephenie, please email her directly at shamen@fiskars.com.  She has a blog about her crafty adventures as well, at www.cropgirl.wordpress.com .

By Stephenie Hamen