Welcoming our Guest Designer Charissa Miller

Hi Everyone! I am Charissa Miller. I live in Arizona with my husband of 5 years and our two little princesses, who are 3 and 1. I stay at home and homeschool the girls, which is such a joy. I try to squeeze in some crafting time every day during naps – I currently even have the girls napping at the same time, which is nothing short of amazing. In my non-crafting downtime, I enjoy watching lots of sports, baking up delicious treats to give to someone else to enjoy, or browsing the web for inspiration. I currently design for Kiwi Lane Designs and am a member of the Craft Warehouse Project Life Design Team and Practical Scrappers.

About my Studio: We recently moved out of the Pacitic Northwest to the sunny, and hot!, Arizona desert and in that move we are currently staying in my parents’ house. As such my studio is a shared space with my mom, my husband, and my older daughter all having work areas in the room. My area centers around this corner desk with the custom built shelf my dad built and my Expedit shelf from Ikea. I also have two awesomely teal carts from Ikea that hold a lot of my mixed media supplies, stamping supplies, and stamps. Most of my on desk storage is in the form of bowls and containers from Anthropologie. I am addicted to the colors and they come in such perfect sizes for holding smaller and bigger embellishments. I’m so hooked that my Mother’s Day gift from my husband and kids included several more bowls to add to my collection! Blog: www.akihasmommascraps.com



1. How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start? I’ve always had an obsession with paper products. Remember Lisa Frank? Yeah, I was absolutely hooked on pens, paper, glues, etc as a little girl. I really started scrapbooking in 2003 when my mom started selling scrapbook supplies and I became her number one customer! It was hard to keep up with scrapbooking consistently through graduate school, so it really was an on again off again hobby until my oldest was born in 2009 when I started scrapbooking on a very regular basis.

2. How would you describe your scrapbooking style? My scrapbooking style is layered for sure. I love tucking just “one more thing” into a pile of paper, photos, and mixed media elements. That said sometimes an ideas comes to me or I see something that simple inspires me in a more graphic or clean way. I like not holding myself to just one single style for all of my pages.

3. What scrapbookers have influenced you most? After my littlest was born in 2012, I found myself browsing online crafting videos a lot during her early months. I discovered Shimelle Laine, Paige Evans, Allison Waken, and many others through online galleries, design teams, and videos. Every single one has helped me grow as a scrapper and develop my own unique style.

4. What is your favorite thing about kit clubs? Kit clubs challenge me to work with product that I may not be immediately drawn to if I saw it in a store. I have discovered many new products that I would never have thought to try – enamel dots for one – from kit clubs. I also really enjoy seeing how others mix products together. It often challenges my own perceived notions about what does or does not go together.

5. If you departed on a long family vacation this summer, what are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you would bring with you (besides your camera and photos!)? Definitely a pile of white cardstock and patterned paper, my Vintage Photo Distress Ink, my tiny attacher, my Silhouette Cameo, and a stack of enamel dots or similar small sticky dots. Those are items you find on just about everything I make, so I’d be well set.

6. How would you describe the Citrus Twist June kit and what do you enjoy most about the kit? The July kit is vintage summer all wrapped up in paper and twine. I loved working with the mix of soft and bright colors and the variety of patterns. Thank you so much for having me this month. I had a fantastic time working with this wonderful kit!

Make sure to give Charissa a big Citrus Twist welcome and also every comment will be entered to win one of Charissa favorite things!!