Design Team

Design Team Questionnaire—Deb Watkins

What are your favorite products?
They don’t call me the “Tool Lady” for nothin’! Ribbon, flowers, paper, embellishments, stamps, inks, Stickles (I’m a “closet” Stickle-r – I rarely Stickle in public)

Who are your favorite manufacturers?
Bo Bunny, Fancy Pants, Webster’s Pages, Rusty Pickle, Ranger, Marvy Uchida, Technique Tuesday, Little Yellow Bicycle

How would you describe your style?
Ecletctic - anything from very conservative to really "out there." I'm mainly a "Cricut Girl," "Ribbon Girl," and "Bling Girl."

What are your favorite colors and combinations?
I am big on colors and am always trying to come up with new combinations, both in scrapbooking as well as in my style of decorating, dress and makeup. I prefer bright colors, but also love some of the autumn combinations as well. If hard pressed to pick some combos, some of my faves would be:
A) Hot pink, black, white with some paler pinks mixed in
B) Red (muted rusty shade) with sage/olive greens, and golds. My kitchen is done in these colors, and it is my favorite room in my house. Wish I could scan the wallpaper to make scrapbook paper
C) Basic pastels pinks and blues
D) Bright bolds: fuchsia/teal/lime with some muted browns
E) Corals/brown/gold/olive
F) Fuchsia, olive and sapphire blue
Okay, I like them all. What can I say? I’m also a “color girl.”

What type of projects do you usually make?
Scrapbook pages, and mini-books; however, I am beginning to branch out and use my imagination to make new and one-of-a-kind items

What’s your favorite scrapbooking tool?
I can't pick just one: my Cricut Expression, Paper Trimming Buddy, ATG gun, Tonic scissors, sanding sticks, brayer, Xyron 150, 2.5 and 900, craft knife, tweezers (I use my tweezers all the time), and rolling rub-on tool!

Where do you look for inspiration?
EVERYWHERE! Not just scrapbook magazines and scraplifting, but I observe decor, clothing combinations and fabric patterns and incorporate those into my scrapbooking. I always have a small camera or my cell phone with me to snap pictures of color combos and patterns I like. The key is to be open to inspiration wherever you are. It's out there in everything you do and everywhere you go.

What advice do you have for beginning scrapbookers?
Be careful about purchasing a lot of stuff in the beginning, especially pad paper. I went all out, and I now have a lot of stuff I don't use that I am trying to get rid of. Attend crops, get the advice of seasoned scrapbookers, why they prefer the products they use. Most of us are open to helping "newbies" and letting you use our products so that you don't make some of the same mistakes we did. Don't be intimidated by experienced scrapbookers; rather, learn from them and let them guide you. Remember this – we were all "newbies" at one time too.