Crew Interview – Carolyn Hasenfratz

Where do you reside? City, State, Country
I am from Brentwood, Missouri, USA.

Describe your design style…
Very eclectic. There are strong strains of Mid-Century Modern, Vintage, Grunge, Tribal, Minimalism and Surrealism.

Who or what do you give credit to inspiring your creativity?
It was probably inborn in me but I was encouraged a lot by my Mom who was excellent at domestic arts like home decor, sewing and baking. She helped me develop craftsmanship and hand skills by letting me try to make my versions of everything she was making plus whatever I was interested in trying. My Dad is a real do-it-yourself guy and he also let me try all his tools and home improvement materials. He’s really into reusing and recycling whatever he can get his hands on so he also taught me creative re-use of materials. I can come up with designs from scratch but my best work usually involves something re-purposed or recycled. Sometimes I make my projects look like they are fully or partly made with distressed materials even when the materials are new.

What inspires you most today?
I’ve been fond of memory crafts ever since I knew what they were, but I just got married three weeks ago and I expect my new married life will make me even more involved with memory crafts because I’ll have someone to preserve memories for and more people to make memories with. My family of origin was dying out and I lived alone for 14 years. My new family is very large and active so I’ll be enjoying more of all the crafts that go with family gatherings and holidays such as decorations, greeting cards, gift wrap, place settings, holiday baking and things like that. I’m very involved with my planner because it helps me adjust to my new life. As we furnish a house together, decorate it and make room for my supply stash, I’m sure I’ll be even more interested in projects that have to do with home decor and organizing.

What is your favorite Canvas Corp Brand Product? and why? Just one please!!!
If I had to pick only one product it would be the binder rings, because I use them to make binders to store my “used” art journal and planner pages plus my scrapbooks. It’s important to me to make custom books with pages I can insert and remove multiple times and the binder rings make that possible and easy.

We asked Carolyn to choose her favorite project she has created using CCB Products.

Why is it your favorite project?
1st pic – nautical flags
Mostly it’s my favorite because it was one of many wedding projects that were all related to each other by colors and design elements. It’s very satisfying to work on projects in a series because the synergy between all the projects makes for more realized designs. Also since it was for my wedding it was going to be a joy to work on no matter what!
2nd pic – letterboxing log book with hand carved stamps
I have a lot of Canvas Corp papers in my stash that fit well with travel themes. Letterboxing is a hobby that suits me really well because it combines rubber stamp carving, book arts, hiking and travel. I made a logbook with Canvas Corp papers as a sample for a two part class that I taught. It was very satisfying to use my knowledge to bring this fun hobby to new people.
3rd picture – Road Trip Journal Two Page Spread
This may be the most satisfying two-page spread I have done because I combined photos, found materials and trip memorabilia and used computer printouts on transparencies and commercial craft products to tie it all together – such as the metal brads and the rubber stamp and decorative paper by 7gypsies. It’s satisfying when all the different media work in harmony to create a unified composition.

Do you teach and if so tell us a bit about what you teach, where you go and some of your favorite places?
I teach at Schnarr’s Hardware, JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts and Perennial. At the hardware store I emphasize projects that use items sold in a hardware store in unexpected ways. Perennial is a creative re-use studio so I focus on projects made from re-purposed materials. At JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts I teach hand sewing, jewelry, paper crafts and some general crafts. I make my own lesson plans for Schnarr’s Hardware and Perennial, and at JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts I mostly follow their lesson plans but there are some opportunities to teach my own lesson plans too. I like the blend because I get to stretch myself by trying things I would not usually do, and also the more I’m forced to come up with original ideas the more new ideas come to me. The combination really helps my creative development. Best of all, I get to see the joy the students have when they see what they can do. It’s very fulfilling to see their confidence and love of crafts grow. They teach me things also by letting me know about a new approach I never thought of or by giving me guidance on how to teach better with their feedback.

I am the happiest doing…
… projects that allow me to integrate all the various interests I have in addition to crafting – graphic design, outdoor activities, nature study, history, collecting, travel, gardening, writing, recycling and more.

My favorite place to be creative…
… is when my husband Tom is in the room. I especially like to work in the family room where I have a new desk next to his to facilitate work on my planner so we can make plans together and bounce ideas off each other. The sewing machine that used to be my Mom’s is also in the family room. Growing up I used to love being in the family room working on my projects while my Mom was sewing and my Dad and brother were also working on their projects such as model building. Since it’s the same sewing machine the sound is also very comforting.

Tell us one cool detail about your studio or craft space…
This is a photo from last Christmas showing my then-fiance Tom and my new basement craft area on the right. He had just assembled this for me as a surprise. I haven’t moved all the way in yet because I’ve only lived in this house for three weeks now so I don’t have good photos yet of what it looks like now.

Tell us one thing fun about you we might not know…
I live with two rescued European Starlings – Attila and Pooky. Although they are a very common bird in the wild most people have never encountered a tame starling so they are a great conversation starter. For example, most people don’t know that they can mimic dozens of human words and phrases and even make up their own gramatically correct sentences (sometimes) because they can often emulate speech patterns as well as sounds. In other words are interesting for a creative person to own because they seem to demonstrate some creative ability.

Share with us anything about your creative life that you feel would inspire others…
Some would say this is a vice and not a good or inspiring trait, but I have always been a collector of objects and ideas. My work would not be the same if I was not like a sponge absorbing all the influences around me. Some objects that seem mundane or not of high value give me tremendous inspiration. I look for ideas literally everywhere and while it can be overwhelming it’s also an exciting and satisfying way to live when I can integrate it all together to make something new.

The recent wedding photo you can at the top of this interview, represents me pretty well because it’s a happy day of course but it’s extra special because I expressed my creativity to the limit of my ability and made things as personal as possible. For example I made my jewelry and bouquet from a combination of new and recycled materials. I made the veil from new fabric and the crown part was from my Mom’s veil.The dress is new and made by a friend and I picked the patters from my favorite clothing design decade (the 1970s) and chose the fabric. I’m posing with one of my favorite flowers that we used to grow in the backyard when I was young – zinnias. My favorite color lime green is in the bouquet. It would be difficult to make this photo more “me”!

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