November Guest Designer: Karen Bearse

We bid our October guest designer, Belinda Spencer, ado and welcome our November guest designer, Karen Bearse.

My name is Karen Bearse & I have been crafty my whole life. Knitting, quilting, cross stitch, painting... I dabbled in all kinds of things including scrap booking. In the last 12 years scrapping has become my passion, favorite pastime and job. The last 4 years I have moved into art journal, mixed media and canvas work. My husband & 3 feisty children are very supportive which makes it easier as I now teach in 2 stores in the D. C./ Baltimore area. ScrapbooksPlus in Chantilly,VA & The Queens Ink in Savage, MD.

The best thing is, recording my family's life is a guilt free hobby. My kids love looking through our histories with all the stories & photos that includes. They are well trained and even my teenage boys walk in the door & the first thing they do is hand me ephemera from where ever they were, give me a few quotes & email me their phone pics. Gotta love that!My style is eclectic & changes with my mood. I lean toward grungy, inky, and I am a technique junkie. I love, love learning & teaching technique. It can be hard having so many ideas that don't want to really leave my head!! I don't know about you but my brain is on overtime and my hands can't keep up. My favorites are tags, 12x12 layouts, art journal pages & canvas-although I will try just about anything. I love working with metal, gelatos, pan pastel, beeswax, stamps and stamps, did I mention stamps?! I have a serious stamp addiction and was so happy to find the amazing range of stamp styles with Stampotique! I am thrilled to be their November guest designer. For more inspiration my blog is karenbearse.blogspot.com. Look for Scrapowl. My photo was taken by Susie Bentz. I scramble to email this as the wind & rain of Hurricane Sandy hit our area. Good luck to all of you who are in her path-may you & your family stay safe & dry.