Crew Interview – Irit Shalom

It’s time for another post in our Canvas Corp Crew Interviews. We are extremely privileged to be able to work with a group of over a 100 of amazing designers from around the world. They have all come together to create, share ideas, support each other, let us know what we can do better and remind us of what we are doing well.  Our Crew members contribute projects to our blog, design with our products on their blogs, create models for our trade shows, packaging and other fun little projects.  We love to hear what they have to say, to be inspired by their work and to learn new things everyday.

Today, we get to know Irit Shalom, who is our returning after a year’s break Crew member for 2018.

Where do you reside?
I am from Rehovot, Israel. Small town with one of the best science centers in our country. 20 miles from Tel- Aviv and 30 from Jerusalem, it’s a nice place in between.

Describe your design style…
Actually, I can’t even describe my crafty style as I always said that I don’t have any. I change styles (and projects) according to products that I have on my craft table. It can be dark, industrial, grungy and Steampunk; then it can move to shabby and vintage; next it can become clean and simple and so on. It really depends on my mood, products, design teams, challenges etc. The only style that is totally out of my range is the cute one.

Who or what do you give credit to inspiring your creativity?
I stated my creative journey of the current lifetime when my kids left home to the army service or college. I was a creative kid, but then the family of 4 kids, husband in police service and full time job as a Dentist didn’t leave me any crafty time. So about 9 years ago, when the nest became relatively empty, I went to a couple of craft classes. From then, I just moved to paper crafting, some polymer clay crafting, some jewelry work and now I am mostly a stamper and a Mixed Media addict. I still scrapbook! Yes, I do. With four adorable grand kids and lovely family, you can still scrap in the most classic way. I get my inspiration from my family (for scrapping); from books and movies for my Mixed Media art and from products when it comes to my different DT jobs.

What inspires you today?
My main inspiration comes from the nature and people around us. We travel a lot. We already visited more than 60 different countries around the world with nature and population so colorful and inspiring. From Cuba to Albania to China- you get this post communist kind of Inspiration; from India, Vietnam or Sri Lanka you get this oriental inspiration of colors, tastes and smells. Then you move to Europe and you get this “old world” kind of inspiration. And so on. With each and every travel, I got more and more photos and more crafty projects to share.

What is your favorite Canvas Corp Brand Product? and why? Just one please!!!
Glimmer Mist! One and only. All colors! This was the very first mist I met in my crafty life and I have a pretty large collection of them.It’s just the best ” add on” on splashes and colors to each and every crafty project.

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

Why is it your favorite project?
This is the latest project I made with CCB products. And it’s so much me. Mixed Media canvas. All possible mediums and all possible Tattered Angels mists, glazes and paints. And it was made as a tribute to one and only John Lennon. Can you even imagine the world without his music? I can’t.

Do you teach and if so tell us a bit about what you teach, where you go and some of your favorite places?
I don’t teach. Anyway, my crafty life is my hobby only. I was retired last year from dentistry as I was tired after more than 35 years of doing it. But then I don’t want to work anymore. I feel great to be able to live without any paid job and to enjoy my crafting as a life style and hobby only.

I am the happiest doing…
Anything for my family. Even if it means not crafting, but babysitting my grandkids. Or to delay a new travel trip because a new grand kid was born or one of the daughters moved to a new house. I am happiest to see them all happy.

My favorite place to be creative…
Is my messy craft room. This is a shelter room (it’s obligatory to have a safe room in every Israeli home), so it’s almost imposssible to hang anything on the walls. And it’s very small and doesn’t look like other craft rooms I see, but it’s my happy place and I can close the door and to be there as much as I want. No music. No TV. Nothing. Just me and my crafty journey. And yes, the PC is in the room, but without sound. I need silence to be creative. And I never eat or drink inside this room. Crafting is crafting is crafting. I have time and place for other things.

Tell us one cool detail about your studio or craft space…
I can’t add a photo of my craft room as there is nothing pretty about it. Ikea things and a lot of mess. I need to destash it a bit to take photos of the space. But I have perfect memory (still) and I know where everything is and never look for a product for longer than 2 minutes.

Tell us one thing fun about you we might not know…
Two facts that might be funny or not, but interesting. English is my third language. I was born in former USSR and came to Israel as a young teen. So Russian is my mother tongue and I read, write and speak it fluently. Hebrew is my main language and the language of my family. English is a kind of “needed for Dental faculty” and moved into my crafty world. My blog is in English and my FB page too.
Another fun fact: my other hobby and addiction are ball and folk dancing. Both my husband and I have been dancing for like 20 years at least, one dance session a week and sometimes more. And I am a pretty good dancer for my age too.

Share with us anything about your creative life that you feel would inspire others…
I think that anyone should dare. When I first began with crafting, I was sure I am just a hobbist and nothing more. Then I tried my first design team and Bingo! I was picked and from then it was just growing and growing and during last 8 years, I was and still am on like 50 manufacturers design teams. The same was with print publications. From not even trying to 180 last year in 18 different magazines. So DARE! You never know what the editors or owners are looking for. Make it happen!

Don’t be afraid to learn new things. It’s never too late. You can teach yourself video editing (I did) or folk dancing (teachers did). Everything is possible if you believe in yourself. Like I believe that next year I will speak Italian as I decided that this is my next adventure.

You can see Irit’s projects on her blog, Instagram, Facebook page and of course here, our blog.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!

Sign up to Receive Inspiring Content, Exclusive Offers and More!

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.