Eight Quick Questions with Sharmaine Kruijver

Last year at the Escape to Create Retreat, I met the incredibly talented Sharmaine Kruijver.

This lady is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to scrapbooking in my opinion! On top of that, she’s funny, smart and can dance up a storm!

I threw my standard eight awesome questions at Sharmaine to get a bit of insight to her super creative mind …

Where do you live?
Hobart, Tasmania.

How long have you been scrapbooking and how did you start?
In 2005, a friend helped me create my first page. It took some time, and trepidation, but I finally took off the training wheels, learnt to ride for myself and have been freewheeling it ever since.

What are your five favourite things to use on a layout?
Layers, thread, typewriter journaling strips, flair and paint (be it mist, watercolour or something else!)

Do you have a favourite technique?
To just let it flow. I usually have no plan and am almost always pleasantly surprised by where I end up.

Who (or what) are you inspired by?
The story, almost always. If I can get a little of my heart on the page then I’ve done a good job!

What is your scrapbooking kryptonite (aka your biggest challenge)?
Time. I’ve said it before and I will say it again:

Creativity is a muscle and when I haven’t used it in a while I struggle.

What makes you happy?
Right now, it’s the simple things. Sunshine, coffee, time with family. Life is super busy for us so these things make me happy happy happy!

Where and when  do you scrap?
On my days off, you’ll usually find me at my scrap table, located in a walk through section between our lounge room and kitchen/dining.

Tell us what DTs you are on and other scrappy achievements!
I am super honoured to currently be part of the design teams for the kit company Cocoa Daisy, Australian distributor X-Press It, the challenge blog One Little Word and online magazine Jot. Along with these amazing achievements I have also been able to teach at the 2013 Escape 2 Create retreat, help out at the Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart Scrapbook Expos (in 2013 and 2014) and last year I traveled to CHA in Los Angeles.

Here are a few (more!) of Sharmaine’s fave layouts:

Thanks Sharmaine for sharing the love. As always, you can see more of Sharmaine’s work on her blog.

Thanks for stopping by. — Natalie