Guest Designer - Melissa Shultz

Hello! Today I am sharing some wonderful Gone Fishing cards from my talented guest designer, Melissa Shultz! Melissa's beautiful and vibrant cards caught my eye in her STV gallery, months ago. She has such a great eye for color and design, and always a positive word for her fellow stampers.

This first card of Melissa's is so cool. Totally like a mounted fish. She used some of the free woodgrain digital paper from StampTV and really designed a great masculine card. The woodgrain is just perfect on this card.

I love the way Melissa water colored the trees on this card. And what a fabulous layout. The pattern paper from the Spring Mix StampTv kit work so beautifully with the trees.

What a fantastic scene she created on this card! I love the way she has the dock anchored on the grassy bank. She also used the sign, from Happy Camper, as a frame for the sentiment. What a great idea!

I asked Melissa a few questions to get to know her better...

How long have you been stamping and how did you get started?

Well I actually had a lot of stamps when I was a kid, the small round ones with their own ink base. I loved playing with them and I still have a bunch of them. But I started stamping again as an adult over 10 years ago. I was watching Carol Duvall and liked a project on her show. I went online to find out where I could get the stamp she used and found out there was a local stamp store a few miles from my house. I went to the store and my jaw dropped when I saw wall to wall stamps. I had no idea there were so many in existence. Then a co-worker introduced me to Stampin' Up! and I became a demo. Through one of my upline I found SplitCoast Stampers and that is when I really got serious about stamping and started to improve. And here I am today. I still love this hobby and don't ever see me stopping.


What are your favorite kinds of projects/techniques?

I like making things I can use. Like decorated frames, containers for my desk at work, and of course cards. My favorite technique is sewing on cards. It adds so much to the project.



How do you overcome loss of mojo?

I start browsing online sites and blogs. If I still haven't found my mojo, I stop stamping for a while and play some video games. That is my second favorite hobby. It's like a vacation from stamping. Usually a few hours or sometimes days of exercising my mind with video games gives me the mojo I need to get back into stamping.



Which tools do you reach for first?

Either a stamp set or pattern paper. That is usually my starting point. Unless I just bought some new fun tool or embellishment. Then I start with that.


What or who inspires you in your crafting?

There are so many that have and continue to inspire me. The people that take the time to leave comments for me give me the encouragement to continue to stamp my best. And all of the talented people who share photos of their projects that help me to get inspired.
And to mention a few people by name I would have to say:
Melanie Muechinger has inspired me to try to look at different ways to use my supplies other than what they were intended for.
Theresa Momber: Inspires me to continue to try to do better with shading and blending with my Copic markers.
LuvLee inspires me to try to use my favorite colors even if they aren't conventional for what I am creating. :o)
And lastly, but most important is God's creation. I will sometimes notice things in nature as I am driving home from work, or outside for whatever reason that inspires me to go home and make something.

What do you "know now that you wish you knew then" about stamping?

I bought a lot of stamps in the past because I thought they were cute or cool, but then never had an opportunity to use them. I am a lot more picky about the stamps I purchase. I have to have a least a few ideas in my head before purchasing them. I wish I would have done that from the beginning.



Thank you, Melissa, for all your wonderful Gone Fishing projects and for the chance to get to know you better! Please be sure to stop by Melissa's blog for another Gone Fishing project. There is a ton of Gina K inspiration to be found there!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!