Introducing our May 2021 guest scrapbooker

Posted by Linda Gransby on

I'm Karen, and ever since I can remember I have always enjoyed photography having a small 110 camera age 10 and receiving my first totally manual SLR camera for my 18th Birthday.  With this camera I did my City & Guild qualifications in black and white darkroom photography.

Over the years the cameras have changed, now I have a lightweight digital SLR camera and like us all my mobile phone is always with me for the unplanned snapshots. Right from the start all the photos I had printed I stuck or slipped into albums and wrote a little caption by each one.

I have always been a stamper, making cards using many techniques, changing with the times.  Being a paper crafter means I had trimmers, punches and various other tools already.

Combine the Photography and Papercraft together and I was a Scrapbooker in the making. In 2003 while at a stamping craft event looking for something to help me cut circles for my cardmaking I discovered a few scrapbooking stalls but thought nothing of it…then in 2004 a friend invited me to a workshop at her house and there I made my first scrapbooking layout and I’ve been scrapbooking ever since.

karen cottey

Over the years I’ve gained confidence and for at least the last five years and pre–Lockdown I’ve been running workshops plus an annual non residential weekend which I run with a great Scrapbooking friend of mine. I love Scrapbooking it has been my “Switch Off” especially during lockdown when the house is full of Adults.

A little bit more about me…

I live with my Husband and two daughters in the large village of Bishops Cleeve between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. Being in the Cotswolds it’s a lovely part of the Country with lots of beautiful countryside to go walking in.

We are a crazy family enjoying time together including camping in the summer, cycling and sports. Whatever we are doing a camera of some sort is there to capture the moment…from holidays to fun and games, flowers in the garden and the beautiful landscape around me…to TRYS scored at rugby and fooling around together in the house.

I hope you enjoy my layouts from Linda’s sketches this is the first time my scrapbooking has been featured anywhere apart from at my workshops. I am delighted to have be chosen. Thank you.

I do have a Facebook page KRazy Crafts @MemoriesWithKRazyCrafts if you wish to see a little bit more about me….it’s not much…still a work in progress…but getting there.

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