Design Team Spotlight
Welcome to our Design Team Spotlight series! Where we feature one of our incredible DT members, giving you a chance to learn more about them, their creativity, and what inspires them. Let’s dive in!
About Kate
Location: Aberdeen, North East of Scotland.
A Little About Me: Hi, I’m Kate, and I’m delighted to be part of the Elizabeth Craft Designs Cute & Whimsical DT this year.
I live with my husband. We have grown-up children and a lovable Labradoodle dog! I worked in the local Maternity Hospital as a Midwife until 2020, when I took early retirement after over 39 years of service. That is a lot of babies!
I have always crafted in some way or another and have done so from an early age. My mum did a lot of sewing and knitting, and my dad was a very talented watercolor painter, so there was always lots of encouragement to do something creative.
I particularly love paper crafting, and my first experience of crafting as a grownup was when someone showed me how to stamp and heat emboss an image. I was hooked! I love stamping and coloring the images with my watercolors, pencils, alcohol markers, and inks. However, I also love the versatility that die-cutting offers. I can color my own papers and then die cut from them, or I can die cut the shapes and then color them with my paints or alcohol markers to get some shading and dimension into them.
I feel that my style is quite distinctive, as I love using strong colors in my crafting. In the short time that I have been part of ECD, I have learned so much from the rest of the team. The DT members who craft with the floral dies make them look so realistic; I enjoy trying their techniques. As for the team who work with the journals and planner dies….Their creations absolutely blow me away, and, again, I am enjoying learning new skills from them.
My Favorite Project
Project Title: Beautiful Bees
Why It’s My Favorite: I recently made this card for my husband for Valentine’s Day. We have been together for many years, and he’s always so supportive of my crafting, even when everything is covered in glitter. It’s only fair that I make him a nice card every year.
This one was made using the Bee die set. I played around with the arms and legs to get some different positions, as this adds a bit of ’movement’ to the characters. I also like to play around with the position of the black pupils in the eyes as this can also help to change the expression and add some fun to these little bees. Don’t forget to add the all-important white dot to bring the eyes to life! To make the bees stand out, I decided to add a mat of a bold shade of pink. This was matted onto a layer of black to accentuate the pink and also tie in with the black on the bees. Don’t be afraid to mix and match die sets! The word BEE is cut from a journal alphabet set, and the word MINE a is stamped and embossed with white, then trimmed to size.
Craft Tip or Must-Have Tool
My Favorite Crafting Tool or Tip: When you get a new set of dies, cut them all out in a neutral color first and play around with them before gluing anything together. Sometimes, the order that they are glued in is very important! You will also find different positions and postures for any of the animal dies, etc. Also, look carefully at all the shapes and see if they can be used in an alternative way …you may be surprised!
A Peek Into My Craft Space
About My Craft Space: When my daughter moved out to pursue her teaching career, I took over her bedroom and turned it into my own little crafty corner. At least when it’s messy, I can shut the door on it! I am very lucky to have one of those large craft cupboards to store my stash. As you can see from the picture, it’s all labeled so I know where everything is. I have my pens and pencils close to hand as this is what I use the most. But don’t worry, my trusty cutting machine is also within close range.
Where to Find Me
Thanks for looking! I would love you to follow me on my crafty adventures this year with ECD. I share all my crafty makes on Instagram.
Follow My Crafting Journey:
https://www.instagram.com/kateganson
You can also find me on Pinterest…just look for Kate Ganson
Stay tuned for more amazing spotlights on our talented Design Team members. Don’t forget to follow Kate and show them some love in the comments below!
