Artist Spotlight and GIVEAWAY: Captured Moments

 I can thank my husband for introducing me to Captured Moments of Rotterdam New York and feeding my addiction to scrapbooking. Several years ago he gave me a gift certificate to one of their "Crops" and before then- I had no clue what a crop was.

For you new scrapbookers a crop is an organized gathering for scrapbookers to meet and play with their papers and tools. It's the best way to learn new techniques and grow as a crafter!

The crops at Captured Moments are second to none- home cooked meals, generous gifts, amazing advice- I can go on and on because I'm a big fan of the store and the sisters who run it Tiffany Reutter and Tara Burtt.

-Ladies, I can go on and on about your awesome work but I guess I should ask some questions too!LOL Your store just celebrated 6 years but I know you have been "scrapbooking" before there was even the official term-- tell us about your background.

Answer: Tiffany: I was a stay at home mother of three before Tara and I decided to open a business together. A scrapbooking store is what we decided on but we toyed with a number of possibilities. I had started scrapbooks for my girls before it was an officially named hobby and I realized that a scrapbook store in our area was desperately needed. Tara was a new Mom and was just getting into scrapbooking her daughter, so our decision was easy. tara and I have both dabbled in creating and selling unique gift items so taking on a small business together was exciting.

-You are always so generous with your knowledge and your products. One great note- people can come in and crop anytime they want. Talk about your business philosophy.

Tara: Our vision for Captured Moments right from the start was to be a “House of Inspiration” for anyone interested in scrapbooking as well as other paper crafting projects. Even though our business philosophy has not changed over these last 6 years, our knowledge of the craft has, and we try to relay the latest trends and techniques to our customers as fast as we are learning them. We want to keep everyone excited about their hobby, challenge them to do things that they think they can’t and really, there are no rules in this area! Scrapbooking is extremely social. We have so much to share and so many to share it with. It brings so much more personality to our business and true friendships are created among us. It is the best job.

-If you could only use one technique/product on a page what would it be and how would you use it?

Tiffany: Ok, this is an easy question and maybe too easy so I will answer it in two parts. Unless you are excluding ink, ink would be my one product/technique! If I only had paper to work with and I could grab one other thing from my supplies, it would be ink. Applying ink to the cut edges of paper, (and to stickers as well) adds dimension. It pops the edges out and gives very flat paper depth. I can’t live without ink on any of my projects! If ink is a “given” then my one technique would be layering. I love to layer paper and I love to use prints that most people can’t see being used together. I try to encourage people to be bold and grab paper that isn’t a perfect match and show them how awesome it can look together.

-Ha ha! I thought that would be a hard one to answer! How can people learn more about your products, services and store?

Tara: Captured Moments just launched a new state-of-the-art website,which was designed specifically to bring Captured Moments, the store, with it’s personal look and feel to the world wide web. The site is full of information and inspiration. Capturedmomentsstore.com links you directly to our blog where you will find, tutorials, scrapbook page layout ideas and all kinds of useful information on scrapbooking and paper crafting. You can also shop our on-line boutique. The website offers information about all our classes, clubs and events and complete details about the monthly scrapbook kit club we host, called the Kit Terrific Klub.

Thank you Tara and Tiffany for all your inspiration you've given to these crafty ladies!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Tara and Tiffany have put together a Kit Terrific Klub kit along with some Captured Moments'items for one lucky winner! Honestly- this is the time I was a reader and not author of this blog!! You are so lucky!

Rules:

*Drop us a comment on this blog post. Tell us what you love most about this blog post.
* For a second entry be a follower of our blog and leave a second comment telling us you are follower. Just press follow- to the right of this blog! It just takes 2 seconds to do it but it makes us oh so excited!

* Contest ends 12/8/10 at noon.
* One person will be randomly selected!

* Winner will be announced 12/9/10.

ENTER NOW!!!!