Featured Friday - Lisa

Happy Friday!! I stayed up all night packing for a 3-day craft crop I'm heading off to. My sister, my cousin, and my aunt will all be joining me and I'm ready to get inky and fabulous! Can't wait to show you all what I create!

Today brings around that special time of the month. No... not THAT time of the month. It's the time when I get to showcase a super talented designer whom I admire in a segment I call Featured Friday! 

This week's featuree is:

Lisa from A Mermaid's Crafts!

I was first introduced to Lisa's incredible work by surfing around in some online gallery or another. I remember clicking through to her site and scrolling about for what seemed like hours admiring the texture and brilliance of her designs. She could shabby the chic out of any card around, better than anyone in the blogosphere. 

Lisa's a writer (as evidence by her awesome writing style on her blog) who calls Indiana home. She's been blogging for a little over four years and has served on many design teams, most recently for Scrapy Land craft store and Die-versions. 

But why tell you about her myself when she'll give you the down-low on her own?

Here's 7 things you should know about Lisa:

1. How did you get your crafty start?

 I've always loved to craft but didn't seriously pursue it until about fifteen years ago when I became hooked on the craft shows HGTV used to show. I first saw Tim Holtz on The Carol Duval Show and fell in love with his crafty style. I tried several different mediums, my favorite being polymer clay. Then I discovered die-cutting and my focus completely changed. Now I mainly make cards, mixed media projects and home decor items.

2. What is your favorite "style" of crafting?

 My style is always changing, but my current favorite style is shabby chic. I love distressed edges, torn paper, crackle paste, shabby stitching, lots of flowers and ribbon. I so admire people who can do CAS because I just can't. I have to have layers...big open areas on a card make me break into a sweat. I have an almost compulsive need to keep adding embellishments!!

3. If you could be any color, which would it be and why? 

Ooh, what a fun question!! Pink is my favorite color, but I would have to choose blue...it's the color of the ocean and I am obsessed with the ocean (must be the mermaid in me!!). Blue is the color of the sky and a blue sky is so beautiful. Blue is also calming and cool and relaxing.

4. How do you handle mistakes in your work?

 Mistakes drive me crazy. I am a Type A with a borderline obsessive/compulsive personality, so I hate when I make mistakes, and sadly, it's often!! I try to cover the mistakes with flowers or embellishments if possible. But if it's bad enough, I'll salvage what I can from the card and start over. I was making so many mistakes when I tried to sew on my cards...the thread kept breaking and there would be holes in the paper with no thread in them and I couldn't cover them. I ruined so much paper. It got to the point that I was afraid to try with good paper so I just quit sewing. Then my Mom suggested that I try a more expensive thread. My gosh, it made all the difference.

5. What are your favorite challenges to participate in? 

I used to be addicted to entering challenges and I would scroll through all of the listings on Paper Playful to see what challenges my card would fit into. But I don't have the time to craft that I used to so I don't get the chance to enter many challenges anymore. Definitely the Scrappy Land Blog Challenge, since I'm on the DT :) I do try to enter the Tim Holtz 12 Tags Challenge when I can - I've been lucky to win twice and prize of Tim goodies is awesome. I always try to enter the Simon Says Monday and Wednesday Challenge when I can...I've yet to win but I'm ever hopeful!! But now that I have time limitations, the only challenges that I enter regularly are the ones that my bloggy friends host.

6. What is your least favorite crafting supply? 

 Hum, that's a tough one. I don't know that I have any supplies that I don't like. I wouldn't say it's my least favorite, but I have a ton of twine and never seem to use it on projects. I have so many different colors but the only color I ever use is the natural hemp twine. I don't know why.

7. What is your best advice for new crafty bloggers? 

My best advice to new crafters is to be open to trying new things. Don't get tied down to one style...try different things, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. You never know what you can do until you try. I was very reluctant to try coloring and once I did, I was glad. As far as blogging, if you want people to visit your blog, make sure you visit theirs. Leave comments. Ask questions if you have them - crafters are so amazing and most would love to help. Enter challenges and participate in blog hops. The more exposure you can get, the better. It takes a commitment but it's so worth it.

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There are so many things I identified with in Lisa's answers, such as the mistakes thing-a-ma-jig. I'm pretty convinced that is why I like distressed things so much, because if you make a mistake you can just slap some kind of medium over it and call it design. :) 

I had such a tough time picking a card of Lisa's to CASE because there are sooooo many good ones in her gallery but eventually, I landed on this one:

The Original

I loved the different textures, the gorgeous distressed framed sentiment, and the giant amazing crinkle bow. I could go on and on, but we have more cards to get to!

Lisa's CASE

Holy goodness and all that is right with the world. I thought nothing could get much better than the original, but CLEARLY I was wrong! The springy feeling, the colors, and the blue bow just put this card over the top for me. If you want full details about this card, go check out Lisa's blog!

My CASE:

OK. Ok... I have to say that I clearly have some work to do in my shabby and chic capabilities. I actually really love this in person, but next to Lisa's it seems... well... shabby. haha I die cut the frame and double embossed it with white powder. Also, I TRIED to figure out how to do that gorgeous bow. I googled and struggled and wiggled but I couldn't get it. So here's my shout out to Lisa to post a bow-tying tutorial on her blog! 

I had an amazing time making this card and now definitely feel more like exploring shabby chic. 

I'm going to link up my card to:

Frilly and Funkie -  Springtime Diecuts

Mixed Media Card Challenge - Spring

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - April Showers/Spring Flowers
Monika's Birthday Linky Party (happy birthday month, friend! I'm happy to help you celebrate!)

Thank you, my friends for stopping by! Make sure to go give Lisa some bloggy love and make her feel extra special today!