Moxie Fabber of the Week: Lea Lawson

Three cheers for this week's Moxie Fabber of the Week, Lea Lawson! Let's give her a moxie warm welcome and get to know her better, shall we?

What is your full name? What is your screen name? Do you have a blog or an on-line gallery?

Lea Lawson
ltllea23
Cupcakes and Sunshine

Describe yourself in three short, fun sentences.

It may take me a bit to open up, but I am fiercely loyal and forever a friend after my trust is earned. I am a photographer by profession, a card maker the rest of the time, and I love the amount of creativity that encompasses my life. I love coats, boots & scarves, and have a fabulous winter wardrobe…but I hate the cold, go figure.

How long have you been paper crafting? How did you get involved in paper crafting? What is your favorite aspect of paper crafting?

I have been paper crafting in some form my whole life, but was formally introduced almost 13 years ago when I graduated from high school. My aunt Amy gave me a scrapbooking kit, and I scrapbooked my entire summer as it happened. I have been hooked on paper crafting ever since.

My favorite aspect of paper crafting is the product, and what you can create out of it. From childhood I have had a love of pretty stationery papers and stickers, and I used to create paper crafted items from those when I was young. Now I have all these amazing papers, stamps, embellishments, ribbons…{the list could go on} to create from, and I can just get lost in all of it for hours on end.

What do you like most about the Moxie Fab World? What is your favorite feature and why?

I LOVE Tuesday Trigger! The most amazing inspiration photos are always picked for it, and I just love the challenge of creating something inspired by it! I really loved the Winter White Tuesday Trigger from a few weeks back. For one…the cake in the inspiration photo was the most moxie fab cake I have ever seen. It made me want to get married again (to the same guy!!) just to have that cake! And second, it really brought out the creative side in the crafters who participated in the challenge…I loved seeing what everyone came up with!

We are all moxie fab in our own way. Name one thing that makes you moxie fab.

I think the fact that I am a professional photographer, and can bring that aspect to my blog and galleries makes me pretty moxie fab. I always get complimented on my images, along with my projects!

How would you describe your style? Provide an image of a paper crafted project that illustrates that style best.

I chuckled a little when I read this question, because I think I have multiple personalities when it comes to my style. I love clean & simple, I love classic & elegant, I love shabby chic & romantic, and I love whimsical & fun….I do all of it! Some more than others, but I enjoy dabbling in all different styles of card making. So, I can’t pick just one style, but here is a card that I made that I feel showcases what you will normally see when you head over to my blog!

Who is your favorite manufacturer and why? What is your favorite all-time collection and why? Have you created a paper crafted project using this collection? If so, feel free to attach it.

My favorite manufacturer is Glitz Design, and not just because I am on their design team. I love Glitz Design because while they are always coming out with new amazing collections that get better every single time…they also always have a consistency. You know that along with some amazing papers, you are also going to get fabulous cardstock stickers, clear stamps, and matching embellishments. As of right now, my favorite collection is called “Love Nest”…but I think that might change with their latest release of product! Here are two cards I created with Love Nest that I just adore:

Name three non-paper crafting blogs/websites that you find to be inspiring. Include a statement that describes why you keep returning to each site for inspiration.

Being a professional photographer, I am so inspired by photographers and their images, and people who make product for photographers. I am sorry that I can only provide images for one of the links, but I promise that the other links are worth seeing. As a paper crafter, look at their images and see how much you can be inspired by them! The themes, the colors, and the artistry of them…it is just amazing.

Hailey King Photography: I went to photography school with Hailey, and I find her perspective when taking photographs so inspiring. She is an amazing photographer, and captures pieces of her life so artistically and beautifully--and she does the same for her clients. But Hailey isn’t just an amazing photographer, she is an amazing person…and I am inspired just as much by her words and her thoughts, and I am happy that I can consider her my friend.

Jasmine Star Photography: This woman is an amazing wedding photographer. I aspire to be just like her someday, with my own style of course. Her success in weddings is what I work towards every day in my corner of the country. She does an amazing blend of portrait, photojournalism and macro/detail shooting for all of her weddings. She creates beautiful vignettes, but most of all….you can tell that she just loves her couples and wants to create the most beautiful images for them. You really have to love weddings to photograph them well, and I feel that really shows in her images.

Florabella Collections: She makes beautiful actions and textures for photographers, and she takes pretty amazing photographs herself! If you are a scrapbooker that dabbles in amateur photography…I think you will love her product as well. So, be sure to check it out!

Paper Crafts magazine has produced a great number of special issues over the years. Which has been the most inspiring to you and why? 

I love one of the latest special issues, Color Inspiration for Card Makers, SO much! And it’s not just because I have cards in the issue…I am a lover of colors. There isn’t a color that I don’t love to use in some form, and I just found this entire issue so inspiring. I flip through it pretty much daily, and can’t wait to try out the colors that I didn’t get a chance to when submitting for it. I really hope that there will be another Color Inspiration issue in the future, because it is a really fabulous special issue.

Do you consider yourself to be a card maker or a scrapbooker? If you are a card maker, why do you prefer it over scrapbooking? If you are a scrapbooker, why do you prefer it over card making? If you do both, what do you like about card making that is different from scrapbooking and/or vice versa?

I started out as a scrapbooker, but I now consider myself a card maker. I don’t scrapbook much any longer since attending photography school, and I don’t know if it is because I have different ideas about images and such now. Occasionally I get the urge to want to scrapbook, so maybe I will start it again at some point. But, I am seriously addicted to card making, and I don’t foresee that ever changing. I like the smaller canvas to create on, and I love the fact that these little pieces of creativity can grace the pages of a magazine, and at the same time put a smile on the receiver’s face.

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Wasn't that a fun interview, friends? Not only am I a super fan of Lea's work, but I just love that she's a very well-published designer and yet you see her everywhere in the blogosphere playing in the various challenges and commenting on everyone's blogs. It seems like every time I go to comment on someone's blog, Lea's already been there. I love her sense of community, her inspiring contribution to paper crafting in general, and the positive influence she has on us all. Go Lea!

Friends, join me in leaving Lea some moxie fab love today!

Moxie Fabbers rock,

~Cath

PS Speaking of playing in challenges, We've got FOUR--count 'em-- FOUR fun challenges going on in the Moxie Fab World as we speak. Click on the links for the Get Daring with Decorative Tape Challenge which is taken directly from the January/February PC 101 column; the Stamping with Markers Challenge, the Stamping with Shimmer Sprays Challenge, and the Paper Piecing Challenge all of which celebrate our latest and greatest special issue, Stamp It! Techniques.  I can't wait to see your approaches to any and all!