Judges' Notes

Laurie's work is classy, elegant, and a little 'flea market'. It's like this great mash up of classic beauty and fantastic antiquities. I call it 'fancy poetry on paper' because it can be glamorous, pretty, and girly, but also sensitive and emotional and dramatic.

User name: lauriemartcohn

Blog: http://lauriemartcohn.blogspot.com

Location: Fairview, Oregon

When not cropping, I am a rabid, I mean avid, baseball fan. My 13-year-old son is one heck of a pitcher, and I LOVE to cheer his little league team on to victory!

I teach Theatre Arts/English at a high school near Portland, and I teach scrapbook classes at three Portland area scrapbook stores. When I retire, it is my dream to teach for manufacturers at scrapbook events across the country.

It is such an honor to be chosen as a Team Leader on the 2010 Craft Warehouse Design Team. I look forward to meeting Team Members and continuing my fellow scrappers on the Craft Warehouse Community Forum!

• How long have you been scrapbooking?

  Since 1994

• How would you define your "style"?

  I have been scrapping since 1995, and my scrapbooking style is like fashion. From go-go boots and mini skirts to power suits and pumps, my fashion and scrapbooking styles change with the times. When I first started this wonderful craft, I used white pages, stickers and die cuts. In the late 90s, I was all about paper piecing. In early 2000, I used my own handwriting and I became shabby-chic. Now I love layering embellishments, exploring different textures and using 7 Gypsies and Teresa Collins products.

• What is your favorite technique?

  Right now, I am designing hanging albums, printer tray projects and 6" x 12" albums to teach. As a result, I designed my first set of transparencies! Now I wonder if I can design paper to go with them!!

• If you were stranded on a remote island and magically had a small handful of scrapbook supplies with you (sounds like paradise, right?!), what would products would you not be able to live without?

  If I were stranded on a remote island I would take Rob Lowe for inspiration (!) along with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel camera with continuous shooting mode, Adobe Photoshop, my Making Memories Paper Trimmer and Tim Holtz scissors.

What do you like most about your craft?

The emotional impact of a creating a gift scrapbook for friends or family members makes this craft deeply meaningful for me. And, on the lighter side, I adore shopping for supplies! In the spirit of good fun, my two friends and I travel all over the Northwest to shop at scrapbook stores.We call ourselves The Snippets, and we cheerfully rank all stores with 1-5 snips for curb appeal, inspiration, product, and customer service.

• Is there a particular technique or idea you would like to share with our web readers?

  Recently, I took some graduate education classes and learned to make books and boxes. I have adapted these book arts techniques into scrapbook projects. I am interested in designing "albums" that hang or are a part of a printer's tray.

• Do you have Favorite scrapbook manufactures, if so, who are they?

  I love 7 Gypsies and Teresa Collins products.

• Tell us about your scrapbooking process. Do you start with the photos, or the story, etc?

  Photos inspire me.

• Do you work chronologically or in an organized fashion?

  I am all about creating everyday albums. I do like to make one per year.

• Name 3 personal quirks:

  I love LM Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables. I have been to Prince Edward Island twice and I have attended Symposiums on her works. I own many of her books and nearly all of the Anne and Avonlea videos.

  I am a part of the Maud Hart Lovelace Society in Mankato, Minnesota. She wrote the Betsy-Tacy series of girls books, and I admire her so much. I have been to Mankato twice to attend Conventions and just to sightsee.

  I love having tea, either making an afternoon tea for friends, or taking tea on one of the few tea houses around Portland.

• Name 3 adjectives that describe your personality:

  Creative, friendly, enthusiastic.

• What's the average amount of time spent scrapbooking or crafting during a given week?

  When on the Design Team or designing a class project, at least 15 hours a week. When we are on a break, about 5 hours a week.

• Visually describe your craft workspace: what's your organization (or lack thereof!) techniques?

  I scrapbook in a part of our guest room. My desk overlooks Fairview Lake. How I want to organize and how I do organize are 2 different things! I really love those fabulous cubes CW sells. If I had a Fairy Godmother I would ask for 35 of them!!!! Instead of those,I use Sterilite 3 drawer sets.They are OK, but they don't really fit the Dania shelves I use because, well, that's what we had left over from our library. I also have (ordered from CW) 12 x 12 paper trays. I definitely sort those papers by color.

  I want to try to organize everything by color. So, right now, my ribbons are sorted by color in jars and those cute plastic paint cans CW sells. My brads are in Cropper Hopper 3 x 3 drawers by color: warm, cool, metallic and multi-colored. The rest remains to be sorted.

  I LOVE, LOVE LOVE my hanging rack Clip It Up (from CW, of course). I have divided those hanging items into letters, words, quotes.

  I have three of those HUGE sterilite drawers stacked on top of one another. One is for albums, one is for larger tools like my light board and the third is only for Design Team supplies. Right now, sadly, it is empty.

• If you have to choose a title for your life story, what would it be?

  Ordinary Miracle, only to remind myself to be grateful for life's simple joys.