August Guest Designer Spotlight

This month's Guest Designer is the amazingly talented and uber sweet Simonne Clay (semsee). 

I had a chance to chat with Simone more than I normally get to chat with some of our guests, and I have to say she is the bubbliest, sweetest person ever!!  We got to ask Simone a few questions, and here are her answers.  Be sure to scroll down to see some of her stunning work.

1. When did you get started in stamping?

I started dabbling in cross-stitch when my brother was expecting his first child almost 14 years ago, but apart from that I'd never crafted before.  For no reason at all, in December 2008 I decided to make my mum a birthday card and so took to the web to gather a few ideas.  I stumbled across a card maker's blog, got very excited, decided to order a few supplies including some stamps, and as they say the rest is history, LOL!  So I've been stamping for about 20 months now!

2. All Stylists have a go to accessory or tool... what's yours?

Hmmm, that's a toughie!  I love all my tools, but I think the two that I just couldn't be without are my SU paper snips and my paper trimmer.  One of my all-time fave techniques is paper piecing, and my paper snips are just the BEST scissors I've ever used for this!  And being the frugal crafter that I am (I keep every single piece of scrap paper and card ... even the smallest bits - well, you can punch out a tiny flower or leaf from them, right?), I use my paper trimmer to cut out the middles from all the card I use for matting and layering!!  Yes it's time consuming, but I can usually get away with using just one piece of coloured card for each card I make - better for my wallet and much better for the environment!

3. Where do you find inspiration?

Definitely from other crafters.  I buy the occasional craft magazine, but you can't beat surfing the web to visit old and new friends' blogs for inspiration.  I'm a bit of a paper addict, and if I see some new paper that someone has used I just have to hunt it down and have it!  Same with any new crafty supply really.  I also LOVE following sketches and taking inspiration from what others have done with them. 

4. What drew you to PMS?

I was first introduced to PMS whilst browsing for word art stamps!  I adore the unique style and wonderful mix of stamps that make up PMS.  From the instantly recognizable Beautiful Day Fairies and Moody Girls, to the amazing stamp sets, and of course the fabulous sentiment stamps!  There's something for everyone at PMS, with stamps that your can while away the time colouring, to those stamps that don't need colouring but can be used with a variety of wonderful techniques.  It may be a bit 'boring' to say this, but the stamps are fabulous quality deep-etched red rubber, an absolute joy to stamp, and really inexpensive!!!!  And of course there's the amazing Katie Cotton and the rest of the fabby PMS team - need I say more? LOL!

5. What is your favorite color palette?

I adore all colors really, but the crafty color palette that really draws me in time and time again is green and blue.  Don't know why, but I just love the look of them together, sometimes with a pop of brown!  I also absolutely adore the color orange.  I can't wear orange myself, but really love the color (...our bathroom and lounge both have rusty orange accessories!).   Ooo, and purple is just so scrumptious too!

  

6. When you aren't stamping, what do you like to do?

Easy answer - spend time with my wonderful hubby and our amazing 9 year old daughter!  I also LOVE reading books (can't go one day without reading a chapter or two!), listening to all types of music and playing the piano!

  

7. Tell us something, not stamping related, about you... 

I have been playing the piano for 31 years, since starting lessons when I was 5 years old.  I took this passion right through to University, graduating with an honors degree in music in 1996, and am now over-the-moon to be teaching our daughter to play.  At one point I was going to go down the concert pianist route, but knew deep-down that type of solitary and intense life was not really suited to my personality!  Favourite composers?  Bach, Beethoven, Clementi, Bartok, Debussy, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn...I could go on and on and on, hee hee!

I love Simonne's coloring and she seems to use "chocolate" about as much as I do (no wonder I just love her! lol). I hope you've enjoyed Simonne's PMS goodies as much as I have, make sure you pop on over to her blog SemSee's Sparkly Scribblings to see some more amazing eye candy and leave her some love while you are there ;)