Introducing Our Guest Designer ~ Malika Kelly

 My name is Malika Kelly. I am a mother to three beautiful kids, Noah 9, Ashton 7, and Piper 4 and wife to a hard working husband, Andy. We live in central Illinois, but I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Before having kids, I was teaching elementary school. I have since decided to stay home for my family. I have always been the crafty type, even as a young child. I started scrapbooking about 13 years ago, just after we got married. I love documenting my children's lives with pictures, stories and the funny things they say. I am also a big fan of Project Life.

Guest Design Q&A
1. How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start? I have been scrapbooking since 2001! Wow, that's about 13 years ago! I got married and moved to the US from Canada in the year of 2000 and started with scrapbooking our wedding pictures. There was an amazing local scrapbook store in a nearby town. We didn't have a lot of money but just a couple pieces of patterned paper and a few stickers made me a very happy person! My style has changed a lot since then…

2. How would you describe your scrapbooking style? My style is whimsical yet eclectic. I love to layer, starting with ink splatters and stamps on my base, and then building layers of patterned papers and tags. I almost always stitch on my layouts (either with my machine or by hand). Finally, I add clusters of embellishments, such as bits of wood veneer, sequins, enamel dots. I like to keep a lot of white space and limit the number of pictures I use on a layout… three seems like a lot to me. Layouts, mini albums, Project Life are some of my favorite projects right now.

3. What scrapbookers have influenced you most? Oh there are so many scrapbookers' styles that I love. Marcy Penners' white space and carefree style pleases me every time. I love the little details that Gluestick girl, Lisa Truesdell adds to her layouts. The hand stitching on Sasha Farina's layouts is beautiful. And lately, I have found that I am drawn to Liz Tamahana's minimalistic style.

4. What is your favorite thing about kit clubs? Kit clubs are great because the picking is done for me! I welcome the challenge of working with supplies from a bunch of different manufacturers. So many scrapbooking companies make supplies that compliment each other without even knowing it. For me it is fun to mix and match bits and pieces from different lines rather than sticking to one line that obviously coordinates.

5. If you were about to leave on your dream vacation, what are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you would bring with you (besides your camera and photos!)? 1. tiny attacher 2. some washi tape 3. a couple pieces of patterned paper 4. black journaling pen 5. a mini album of some sort to hold it all together

6. How would you describe the Citrus Twist October's kit and what do you enjoy most about the it? The October kit was a lot of fun to work with. There's a lot of blues - navy and teals, which could make it somewhat masculine... but it is complimented with pinks and yellow and some floral patterns, making it very versatile. The polka dot patterned papers give this kit a whimsical fell that I absolutely love. There are a very generous amount of embellishments, including my favorite these days - - sequins! The exclusive stamp sets are beautiful! And wow, what a clear imagine they stamp! I just love this kit!

Top 5 favorite items in the shop right now: 1. Studio Calico Cork Arrow/Chevrons 2. Basic Grey Label Sticker Pack 3. TCW Days of the Week 3x4 Stencil 4. Black 03 Precision Pen 5. Studio Calico Punctuation Wood Veneers.

Now it's your turn to welcome our guest in the comments below and each commenter gets a chance to win one of Malika's favorite things!!

Check back later today to see her scrap space :)