Have Your Way With Paper

HYWWP Design Team Member MemberSince: 7/26/06

Wendi will walk us through her scrappy process here! She will share her work and the inspiration behind her creativity.

I really like how Krissy did her commentary... from back then to now. So I think I will do that as well... I need to take some pictures tho.
This should be nauseating LOL!!!

Paper Princess- Fairest of them all MemberSince: August 19, 2006

LOL...can't wait!

HYWWP Design Team Member MemberSince: 7/26/06

It will be fun to see the progression! Can't wait to see these layouts!

HYWWP Design Team Member MemberSince: 7/26/06

Hey Wendi

LOL!!!! ok doing it now..... totally spaced uploading them!
The pictures are taken but I havent taken them off the camera!

I have to admit... this was a great reason and So FUN to go thru all my books i have done so far (16 12x12 albums) and while i was looking thru them, it was almost as if I could turn the page and see the next "phase" I was in and when. I narrowed it down quite a bit
I started out with my very first album (I hope you are sitting down...

) and I will (gulp) show you my very first page I ever did at a CM party

then I pretty much stayed in the CM style (triangles and mats and stickers) for a couple years.... making my pages more detailed but still simple and always having a white background.

This is a couple years later from Brodys baby album

Here things start to look a little different... getting more primary color happy and using less CM techniques and more paper piecing (which I LOVEDUH)

and my pages getting busier and busier

...

THen at my very first crop, I was introduced to the Sizzix machine ( I heard angels singing) I was already a paper piecing nut... so I fell madly in love with and bought my sizzix machine. About this time, I found DIY message board which the girls starting dubbing me Sizzix

... probably because I used it on EVERYTHING I did LOL!!! I was also very into and set to using my primary colors :)

Not long after, I was intro'd to HYWWP (

again Marlene) and man,
my styles all flew from there. There was SO much inspiration and great work in the gallery, i couldnt try all the wonderful things I was learning fast enough!!!... To my surprise, a while after I joined, I was asked to the DT from the prev owner and manager. I had no idea what they saw in my work but was very honored. This was my first DT page... yeah

On the DT, I learned how fun Patterned paper is and how to use it... and not just for backgrounds... another of my first DT pages :)

THen came the time that I bought the cricut... another paper piecers heavenly dart LOL

I have learned SO much in the time I have been here at this board... the techniques, the new tools and how to use them.... how to appreciate and sniff patterned paper... the inspiration is amazing and i hold all you ladies up for what you have taught me... and what my pages will be to my family in many generations to come.... YOUR work is where my inspiration comes from, and that is the honest truth. Thank you!!!

Did I do that right?? LOL!!!!

HYWWP Design Team Member MemberSince: 29 Oct 2007

Oh wow, Wendi! I know that took alot of time to go thru your older albums and get the nerve up to show us your firsts:)
Isn't it funny how when we first start out we think,
"Oh, that turned out really cute!"
And some time later we look back and think, "Oh....did I do that?"

Thanks for sharing!

That is really true Trisha!
I remember thinking with some of those first pages... "I like that!" and while I still "like-ish" them (some of them anyway, others practice my gag reflex LOL) ... Its sooooooo hard not to redo the pages to do them with my "now" knowledge. Its crazy how we grow in a hobby so much in such a little time.

i think we all start that way and we all get a new toy and use it on EVERY THING! you have def grown as a scrapper and we are all better for it! so thank you miss wendi for your great inspiration adn thank you so much for sharing your beginner stuff and the progression to your new stuff.

HYWWP Design Team Member MemberSince: July 14, 2005 10,000 posts

Oh, my! It's a whole lot like you went into MY albums! Except for your later ones, we did a lot of things the same! What a trip!!!

Paper Princess- Fairest of them all MemberSince: August 19, 2006

WOW, what a stroll!! Thanks so much for doing this for us, how fun, and how you've GROWNUH!!

whoot whoot

2nd place chatty contest winner! MemberSince: April 30, 2007

That was AWESOME! Isn't it fun to see where you have come from and where you are - who knows what wonders are in store for you in the future!

Paper Princess- Fairest of them all MemberSince: March 18, 2005

I remember that first DT layout...how funny!! I looked at it, and said yep
I remember that one...then realized how many years I've been here...wow!

Thanks for sharing Wendi!!!

HYWWP Design Team Member MemberSince: 7/26/06

Love it, Wendi!
That was so fun to look through and read!
Thanks for sharing!!

That was fun! I followed much the same path. Good to see we are not alone.

UPDATED 12/9/09 !!!

Very similar to mine......I loved seeing the new baby shots. I love looking back!

Paper Empress- A legacy in the making! MemberSince: 11/30/07

Thank you so much Wendi, for taking the time to go through your scrap books to find the first layout's you did. Gosh, I have not looked through my books since I started scrapping. It's so nice to see where you were when you first started and where you are now. I thought you did a great job on all those first layouts.