Coffee Loving Papercrafters

Hello! We’re up to our sixth installment of our new feature…Design Team Q&A. We are interviewing the team throughout the summer so that you get to know them a little more personally. Today, it’s Kerry Urbatch’s turn! She blogs every Sunday on her feature “Sunday Sip and Share”. On each weekly post, Kerry shares a card and introduces you to a fun coordinating Sketch Challenge and she encourages you to play along. In case you’ve missed it, we’ve interviewed Kathy Schweinfurth, Dana Warren, Laurel Seabrook, Dana Gong, and Erin Thiem. You can click on their names if you missed out on their interviews.

Tell us a little more about yourself!
Hello coffee, tea, hot chocolate loving friends!   My name is Kerry and I live in Manassas, Virginia with my teacup Schnauzer Mason and my Leopard Gecko Spotty.  This year will mark my 20^th year of teaching elementary school! I love teaching the little ones and am excited to see sparks of learning and inquiry fly! I love coffee, tea, and hot chocolate but my favorites are a good STRONG cup of coffee with a splash of cream, Matcha tea and my homemade Kombucha (Need a SCOBE?) I love to experiment and taste new things so you might just see me sharing a new tasty recipe!

I grew up as a Navy child (I have three sisters) and have lived all across the USA (primarily on the East coast). My father’s last duty station was in Crystal City and when he retired and got a government job in DC, we just stayed put. I ran off to college in Iowa but returned to VA after that to begin my teaching career. I can’t say that VA is where my heart is but it is where I keep my stamps…and THAT is a LOT to pack up. In a few years when I retire, I hope to move somewhere cool with a huge out building to call my crafty haven. Two years ago, my parents completely retired, bought a house in Georgia, and high tailed it out of the traffic.  They enjoy gallivanting around the world and come back up to VA for doctor’s appointments. I miss having them just down the road from me so I keep myself busy by stamping the weekends away.

When did you join the CLC Design Team?
Hmmm… I really can’t remember. I recall Amy contacting me after one of our fabulous hops to invite me to join the team and I’ve been here ever since. I enjoy creating fun cards and projects within this theme and if she’ll have me, I’ll be here until the grounds have no flavor.

What is your favorite coffee/tea or cocoa card that you’ve designed?
There are several cards that are favorites so I’ll just describe what makes me swoon…See if you can figure out which ones I’m describing! I love creating fun and unique backgrounds with mixed media and I often incorporate sewing or unusual elements in my card creations. I have an additive style so I layer, layer, layer.

Here is one of my faves:

What is your favorite color/color combo?
I don’t really have a favorite color combo but I notice I use pink/yellow as well as aqua/yellow quite a bit so maybe that means they’re my favorites.

We would love a peek into your crafty space, tell us a bit about it!
Oh really? NOT until the cows come home! It is a total disaster! I am so embarrassed to even show a peek. Soo…I’ll just show you a tight shot of my front and center view and photos of how I take my photos. Deal?

Just a little space to work but everything is within reach!

I’m so high tech with my photo set-up!  I just set up my “scene”, aim the light (Ott Lite bulb) and take a picture with my phone (I have an Iphone 6S).  I do like shadows, so you’ll often see shadows in the background or on the floor of the image.  Notice the cups?  I have a love affair with gorgeous handthrown pottery if you don’t already know!

Here are a few before editing/after editing shots (I use two apps to edit:  Tadaa for lighting and effects and Picmonkey for the watermark):

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

So are you wondering what that orange/yellow concoction is?  It’s absolutely delish!  It’s actually fresh Turmeric tea with a bit of ground cloves on the top.  I added some coconut cream to the mix for good measure.  Want to make some?  All I did was sliced a few pieces of fresh Turmeric-like carrots, put them in some water, heated it up in the microwave then blended it all together in my Vitamix with a few squirts of coconut cream.  I used a tea strainer to filter the tea and added this liquid sunshine to a mason jar filled with ice, then topped it with a sprinkle of ground Cloves.  SOOO Yummy!   Let me give you fair warning…My Vitamix and my shirt are now a lovely shade of neon yellow… Be careful when you’re using turmeric, it stains.  😉

What are your ‘go-to’ crafty tools?
Again, I am not quite sure. I tend to be a non-planner and just sit down and play. Whatever is in arms reach is fair game. I do love to watercolor, and machine stitch so I guess I could say my watercolor pencils and my sewing machine!

Kerry maintains several blogs from stamping to baking to photography and even Mason’s Diary. But the most up to date blogs are her stamping and crafting blogs. You can access them all by heading to Bugbites.

I’ve been enjoying these features and learn so much about the Design Team.  Thanks Kerry for the recipe and for the info on Tadaa, I’m always on the lookout for photo editing apps!