About

Windy and Miles LealI am a Professional Certified Paper Collector & Curator (this is just a fancy name for hoarder!)  I live in Austin, TX and am a wife to Mario, and mom to Miles.  I started scrapbooking with my Mom years ago when I was getting married.  Mom and I made layouts to display at my wedding reception  – I still love to look at them.    I have a friend, Tisha, that introduced me to Close To My Heart (CTMH).  I went to a party and tried the awesome products and this started my love of all things scrapbooking and card-making.  When Tisha left CTMH, I felt like a junkie that had lost her “dealer” and I knew I had to become a consultant myself so I could get my fix…and here we are.  Now, I’m not a CTMH snob – I have stuff from my local scrapbook stores (LSS) as well as Stampin’ Up that I love too.

I am sort of impatient when it comes to creating.  I don’t feel like my scrapbook pages have to be a Monet or Picasso!  Scrapbooking, to me, is more about the story and pictures you are showcasing.  I try not do over-do it with the embellishments because that takes away the attention from the important stuff.  I also sometimes do what I call “backwards scrapbooking” where I use my how-to books and just make a bunch of layouts and then add photos later.  This helps too when I feel like my “mojo” is wavering…I just pick a paper pack and make layouts out of my Close to My Heart How-To books.  I keep these layouts in my work-in-progress album so they are always ready to go.  I usually already have perfect photos for them and if not, I just take some.

In addition to being a wife and Mom, I work full-time for the school district.  I need ideas that are quick and easy but still look good.  I like to just trust my instincts and not think too much – yes, sometimes something ends up looking like crap but because it is only paper, I just recycle it and start over.  Scrapbooking is not an exact science – we can just go with the flow.   Papercrafting is my form of therapy – and yes, sometimes I spend more on scrapping stuff than I would have spent with a psychiatrist but it sure is more fun!!

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