My business is small and relatively new so I am having so much fun learning about the “handmade” marketplace, exploring and researching ways to make my albums better, and finding wonderful blogs like this one where crafters and artists can grow and share! Thanks for checking out my blog and my shop.
Traci Penrod
Random Facts About You?I love ice-cream, but only with nuts.
I love organizing my supplies almost as much as creating my albums.
I am a mother of 2 fabulous boys, ages 17 and 21.
I lost my mom when I was a teenager so sharing stories through pictures and preserving memories is a passion of mine.
What got you started crafting?
I used to scrapbook as a teenager. I loved taping dinner napkins and even my boyfriend's chewing gum wrappers onto old construction-paper style albums. In fact, it was fun to look back at one of those old scrapbooks recently and find that I had taped ticket stubs from all of the movies I had seen one year onto a page, with the name of the movie written along side -- "Gremlins", "Officer and a Gentleman", "Weird Science"...and many others. I had to smile at how old that made me feel! My scrapbooks and mini albums have come a long way since then...but my passion for documenting the precious moments in our lives has never changed.
What is your source of inspiration?
Photos! Seeing those little snippets of time, preserved forever, and wanting to know or tell the story behind each one.
What have you made recently?
I recently made a different type of album to store greeting cards in. Each page is a monthly pocket and the adjacent page has a list of that months birthdays for friends or family. So in January, you turn to that pocket and pull out a card that has been saved there for a special person that has a birthday that month. This album can be seen on my blog.
This album was inspired by an actual paper line by Anna Griffin. I wanted the paper and embellishments to be the focus, instead of photos this time. By creating an album that would be used often, I knew the beautiful paper would be seen over and over again.
Where do you sell your crafts presently?
I have a website/blog where I accept custom orders -- www.artsyalbums.com, and I also sell pre made scrapbooks and mini albums on Etsy (www.artsyalbums.etsy.com) and arts and crafts shows. I really enjoy doing both -- creating photo keepsakes for gifts, graduation, weddings, and new babies, etc. is very rewarding. My Etsy shop is fun too, because I create and sell kits for other crafters to make their own albums, or buy one already done.
Why are handmade crafts important to you?
I think there is something so special about creating or owning something that was made with care by a person, rather than a machine. Paintings, crocheted scarves, beaded jewelry -- someone taking their creativity and own hands to put thought into each piece. Whenever I know something was handmade, I wonder about the person who made it and what inspired them -- in turn, this sparks my own creativity.
Find Me
Locationonline at www.artsyalbums.com
Email Address
Traci Penrod
Personal Website
http://www.artsyalbums.com
Store Website
http://www.artsyalbums.etsy.com
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http://facebook.com/artsyalbums
