Welcome Doreen Vasquez ...

Our very first guest designer for 2014.

Hi, my name is Doreen!

Happy New Year to you!

I’m very excited to be a Guest Designer here at ARTastic!

I just discovered this blog in October of last year (2013) and so far it has been inspiring!

A little bit about me:

I reside in Southern CA and have lived her pratically all my life.

My husband and I bought a house just down the street from our high school!  Speaking of my husband, I have been married to the most handsome, caring, fabulous man (EVER), and the love of my life, David, since July 16, 2001.

I am the mother of 2 beautiful human babies: Joseph (18) and Madison (11) and 3 super adorable fur babies: Spotty (dog), Ivanna (dog) and Panini (cat). Actually, I am Panini’s “Grammy” as Panini belongs to my daughter…and believe me, she will not let me forget it! 

I started dabbling in scrapbooking 14 years ago, however, it turned into a serious hobby for me in 2005 when I discovered a scrapbook website that opened my eyes to new, fun techniques and allowed me to interact with other scrappers. Before then I knew nobody who scrapbooked! Can you imagine?!  About 4 years ago the hobby turned into an obsession when I discovered blogs, contests, and scrapbooking kit clubs!  I don't scrap chronologically, as I would rather scrap whatever subject I am "feeling" at the moment.  Luckily I have a variety of subjects to scrap!

I would categorize my style as clean and simple with a few twists thrown in!  For the most part I like to stick to my general style, but I do get bored with it at times and that’s when I try to add new techniques or products.  My latest obsessions are: washi tape, misting, and my hexagon punch, size=XL thank you very much! Hahaha!  My signature? I like outlining, or doodling as some call it,  each layer of items on my layouts to help them stand out. I don’t consider a page complete if there isn’t at least some kind of outlining on it!  I have even tried to let a page go without it and it caused me great anxiety! No joke!!

I will never be caught up since as much as I like to scrap I also love to take pictures!

For every new layout I create there's probably a dozen new pictures I have just taken!

But for me it’s not about being caught up, it’s about capturing as many memories for my family as I can and enjoying the process while doing it!

Thanks for having me!

If you get a chance, please come visit me over at my blog, "A Day In Doreena's Life": http://madijoes.blogspot.com/.

oh and a little about the layout I have done for January ARTastic ...

I love the inspiration piece so much; so unique and beautiful! The moment I saw it I knew 2 things: 1) I would use a black BG for my layout and 2) I would scrap a "selfie"; having been inspired by the fact that a woman's face was the main focal point of the picture.  The only thing that stumped me was how to incorporate the triangle/diamond shapes? Then I realized, in my selfie I am wearing an argyle sweater. How perfect is that! So using a stencil (you remember those, right?) I traced and cut out diamond and triangle shapes from PP that matched the colors of my sweater. I then glued each shape down in a complimentary pattern... and of course I outlined everything! ;0)  I think the picture I scrapped was completely meant for this challenge!

Here are some more layouts I have done recently ...

Thank you Doreen for being part of the team this month - so lovely to have you join us.

You still have time to upload your own take on this challenge.  We'd love to see what you can do with diamonds or triangles.