This time we bring you an interview with Karen Leahy a.k.a. Scrapdolly.  Karen has had a number of works published in various magazines and she’s spared us some time to answer a few questions for our readers.

How did you get started?
I guess, like many scrappers, I came to scrapping through card making. I had always been a ‘crafty’ person, painting, knitting, embroidery, folk art etc. and one day I saw a glimpse of scrapping on QVC. I went to America on holiday and bought my first scrapping supplies but didn’t dare use them for a few months. I had no clue how to start. Then, through the Disney site, I found UK Scrappers and I was off!

How would you describe your style?
My style is very clean and simple and I like pages to look quite balanced. I like colour coordination, symmetry and balance and my pages tend to reflect that. I have moved far more towards hand journaling though.

What are your influences?
I think I am most influenced by colour – it matters a great deal to me when making layouts and mini books.

Who do you admire most in the crafting industry?
Gosh, that’s really hard. There are so many people I admire for so many reasons. I admire Heather Pearson enormously as she is so skilled right across the scrapping genre, from traditional paper scrapping to digital scrapping and gorgeous hybrid work. She is also very grounded and so supportive to everyone. I admire Jake Walker whose work is always so vibrant and full of energy and I love the work of Dawn Evans, Maria Horton and Fiona Beckham. I admire Mary Anne Walters, not only as a scrapper, but as someone who has contributed so much in so many ways to the scrapping industry in the UK.

Are any of your family crafty?
My Dad was a great woodwork crafter and my Mom was a knitter extraordinaire. My husband Nigel is very crafty and artistic. He’s even made digital scrapbook pages LOL

What’s the one piece of crafting equipment you couldn’t live without?
I couldn’t scrap without my computer. I print my own photos, I frequently hybrid scrap, I digi scrap, I print journaling and titles. In case that doesn’t count as crafting equipment the other thing I couldn’t cope without would be my clear stamps and inks.

What is your favourite colour scheme to work with?
It does vary from time to time, but at the moment I am loving blues and greens with lemon accents.

What was your biggest creative disaster?
Making a really nice mini book with loads and loads of pages. It was a class called Daily Essentials. The book was beautiful and it was the first time I used the Bind It All. I ruined the book. The cover wouldn’t go in as I had been stupid enough to add the embellishments first. I ripped it trying to get the embellishments off. Then I didn’t line the finished pages up properly and finally I crushed the wire badly. Total unmitigated disaster from start to finish.

What are you proudest of? What was your proudest moment?
I was so proud to have been chosen as one of the winners of The Best of British Scrapbooking 2006. I also remember the real sense of pride when I had my first ever page published. I was proud last year to have run an on line class on my blog and have loads of people sign up for it. It was just a bit of fun, but made so much better by having other people play along with it.

What is your favourite crafting technique?
I love stamping using acrylic stamps and I also love creating embossed chipboard letters to look like enamel.

What is the last craft item you bought?
My most recent purchase were some lush new Technique Tuesday stamps

Which craft item did you buy but is still unused?
Um – can I take the fifth amendment on that!!! It could amount to quite an admission. I am prepared, however, to own up to the Notch and Die tool being unused!

What is your crafting space like?
I am lucky to have a lovely scrap room and share it with my hubby, so we can pursue our hobbies together. I designed what I wanted and he fitted it out. For example he shelved one cupboard, bought for the purpose, to fit art bins perfectly on different shelves and he made the most gorgeous prima shelves ever. It also has beautiful views which do inspire me. Its perfect …,. Or at least it was. It is a fact of life that whatever space you have is enough only for a short while. I’m afraid I have overfilled it now. There are lots of pictures on my blog of my scrapping space.

Do you have a favourite inspirational Blog/website?
I love Pencil Lines as to me, scrapping from a sketch is so relaxing. It is not something I do other than for specific challenges and it takes so much of the thought out of it. I also enjoy the challenges on UKS. I only ever digi scrap them as it is my way of chilling out in front of the telly.

Thanks again to Karen for sparing us the time to answer our questions.

Tags | acrylic, Best of British Scrapbooking, Bind-It-All, chipboard, digital scrapping, embroidery, folk art, inks, Interview, Karen Leahy, knitting, mini books, Painting, QVC, ScrapDolly, stamps, UK Scrappers