Cookin up Creations -- Scrapbooking Blog: Introducing the New Design Team for the Winter Term 2011

I know I've made the announcement already, but I wanted to take a moment and formally introduce each of the Design Team members to you! Along with their pictures, you'll read their bios, and see a layout that they created specifically for this announcement.....a "Betcha Didn't Know" type thing. Please take a moment and re-welcome your incoming Design Team and be on the lookout for the first DT reveals of their term tomorrow.

First off, we have:

Cassy Suszek

Hello, fellow chefs! I am completely thrilled to be a part of this Zesty Cookin' Up Creations Design Team! I am 38 years old and live in Michigan with my husband Wayne and two teenage children - 14 and 11. My children keep me very busy at sports but in my spare time, I love to scrapbook. I have two dogs, a black lab and a chihuahua and one princess kitty. I am an elementary/middle school teacher of 14 years and one of my passions is reading children's literature. I also collect cookbooks and am a closet Food Network fan. I love to pull ideas out of my recipe box and scrapbook mainly 12" x 12" layouts. But my all time favorite thing to cook up is an altered item where I like to sweeten up my projects by sprinkling on and infusing in my own style. I began to scrapbook after watching a PBS show about 14 years ago and decided that it would make a great Christmas present for my Mother-in-law. I haven't stopped since. I can't wait to brew up some special things to inspire the amazing ladies here!

Blog - http://happyscrappin-altereddiva.blogspot.com/

Jo Luty

Hi! My name is Jo and I am happily scraping away in Southern California! I live here with my husband of 20 years, my 3 active teenagers and 2 even more active dogs! I love to take pictures and almost always have a camera of some sort with me. Growing up, there were no scrapbooks of me so when I was in middle school I decided that I needed to start recording my adventures. After my youngest child was born many years later, I was exposed to "safe" scrapbooking and a new obsession began. I feel privileged to be a stay at home mom which has allowed me to help my children through their school years, support my husband in his career, work in my garden and have the opportunity to participate in my love of scrapbooking. I look forward to cooking up some great creations with this wonderful group of designers.

Blog - http://joluty.blogspot.com/

Tamara Reed

Hi~ My name is Tamara Reed. I LOVE scrapbooking and would love to quit my job just to scrap 24/7. Heaven knows I have enough supplies to hoard myself up in my room for years. LOL I have been scrapbooking since I was ten, back in the days before acid free even existed. I have been married for 32-1/2 years to a wonderful husband who used to tease me about my scrap supply addiction. Surprise, he now works in the scrapbooking industry and helps me to feed it even more. We have two grown married children, Taralee married to Ryan and Tyler married to Jenn. We have two darling grandchildren (Taralee's kids) Brennan who is almost 7 and Kalli who is 5. I work full time as a Dental Office Manager and have had the same boss for 31-1/2 years who is very good to me. We live in a suberb of Salt Lake City, UT and love to escape to the mountains every weekend and enjoy our cabin in the great outdoors, which has it's own little scrap closet for me to get my fix. I am excited to be a guest designer and hope I can help in just a small way to keep your scrap mojo going.

Blog - http://scrappinsmiles-myblog.blogspot.com/

Barb Prendergast

Hi, everyone! This is my first Design Team spot and I am thrilled to be a part of this talented team! I live in central Illinois with Mike, my husband of 26 years. I have four children, three children-in-laws and six grandchildren, who are the stars of most of my layouts. I started scrapbooking five years ago when my husband gave me my first digital camera and I had these beautiful photos from a recent trip; at about the same time I noticed the scrapbooking aisle at Walmart and decided “well, that would be fun”. I love making cards and other projects as well as page layouts. I’m a former newspaper journalist/editor and public relations director. Currently I substitute teach in area schools. Scrapbooking is a natural outlet for me to express my thoughts, feelings and creativity. I look forward to sharing that with you through the Cookin’ Up Design Team!

Blog - http://supermamascraps.blogspot.com

Jenny Rickard

Hello everyone!!! I'm Jenny and am really excited to have been asked to be a part of this team! I've been married to Mark for 13 years now and am mostly a SAHM to three little guys...Harrison will turn 8 next month, Nevan just turned 6, and Pierson will be 4 in April. I say I'm "mostly" a SAHM because I just recently started teaching group fitness classes at the Y. I got my certification to teach TurboKick in May and am hoping for my own class soon. But for now, I'm happy to be a sub. I do have 2 BodySculpting classes that I teach...at least I'm guaranteed two workouts a week! LOL! I'm also active with my local photography club. If there's one in your area, I highly suggest checking it out! I can't tell you the knowledge I've gained AND I now have a friend who will let me borrow equipment!!

I got hooked on Scrapbooking almost 8 years ago after attending a Creative Memories party. I should've known I'd love it since I always LOVED paper growing up! My mom used to tell me she was gonna send me to the paper factory to live! Some things never change!! I quickly strayed from the CM style to find more advanced techniques and different varieties of products. I don't know how to classify my "style"...Right now I love Kraft CS and distressed everything! But if the pictures don't call for that, I can go with cleaner, simpler lines. If I find an interesting technique, I'll try it at least once! I love sketches and a good challenge!