Crew Interview – Monica Longard

Where do you reside? City, State, Country
I live in Canada in the far north! I live in High Level, AB, a small community at the top of the province that is only a few hours away from the North West Territories border.

Describe your design style…
I guess my design style would be called Vintage or Steampunk because those are two of my favourite genres, though I really like designing in lots of different ways. I do mixed media, scrapbook layouts, altered art, card making, art journaling and painting. I kinda do it all.

Who or what do you give credit to inspiring your creativity?
I started my crafty adventures when I was invited to a local scrapbook fundraising event held in my small community back in 2012. I just fell in love with everything crafty and it has been a whirlwind ever since. I thought I would just end up doing scrapbook pages about my store, but I have learned so much along the way and found so many other ways to craft that I just love, like mixed media and altered art. And I do it all! I get most of my creative ideas from the products I used – the colours or designs of the products/papers tend to direct me in my crafty journey. I also find I am inspired by all the crafty people I have met since I started.

What inspires you today?
My biggest inspiration today comes from my family – especially my grand children. The youngest ones are currently 2 and 3 and are just so darn cute they make doing any projects with them as the focus so easy. And my nieces are turning into beautiful young women who are incredibly photogenic so doing layouts of them is a dream.

What is your favorite Canvas Corp Brand Product? and why? Just one please!!!
My favourite Canvas Corp Brand Product are the 7gypsies Mixed Media pads. I find them so versatile and I can use them in practically anything I want to make, from layouts to mixed media projects, cards or altered art items. And believe me – I have!

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

Why is it your favorite project?
This is my favourite project because it was made for a friend who needed some cheering up for her birthday and I think it is a perfect example of my style and what I like to create.

Do you teach and if so tell us a bit about what you teach, where you go and some of your favorite places?
I do teach – I have taught card classes, altered art classes, and technique classes. I normally teach at the scrapbook events I host, but I have also traveled to other small communities close to where I live to teach small classes. One of my favourite things about teaching is that even when you show everyone in the class the same technique, because everyone has different tastes and choose different colours and such all the projects turn out unique and different. And seeing how happy everyone is with their projects and realizing that they can create really gives me the warm fuzzies!

I am the happiest doing…
I love making crafty things for other people. I participate in a LOT of scrapbooking swaps and have crafty friends all over the world. I love making things for them, as well as for my family and friends. Spreading my craftiness brings me great joy.

My favorite place to be creative…
With my crafty friends – I love travelling to scrapbook crops, or hosting them myself. This way I get to be creative and hang out with all my crafty soul sisters and have tons of laughs while we create.

Tell us one cool detail about your studio or craft space…
My husband built me this craft room in my basement after I outgrew the first space I had. And me made it so that I could have all my crafty friends over to create with me. I can have up to half a dozen friends over to create with me any time I want!!

Tell us one thing fun about you we might not know…
I participated in a triathlon this summer as part of a team with my husband and a friend. We came in second!

Share with us anything about your creative life that you feel would inspire others…
I am willing to try anything when it comes to crafting. Even things like drawing that I know I am not that good at! I am never scared to just jump in – you will never know what you like or what you can do if you don’t try.
Being part of this design team has been a fabulous experience this far and has helped me grow and learn so much on my crafty journey. I hope to continue to grow and learn and meet more crafty people.