Please tell us about yourself, where you live, kids, husband, home, pets, career, etc.

Hi, My name is Joyce Groom, known as Joyce here at POTH. I am married to Bill, the most wonderful man in the world. I met Bill online when I was living in Ohio. We chatted for 9 months before deciding to meet in real life and so I drove 10 hours to meet him in May 1998. We hit it off right from the beginning and on August 31st 1998, I moved to North Carolina to be with him. We had a beautiful church wedding August 12, 2000. It was the perfect wedding, better than I ever dreamed it could be. The following year we bought our own house and moved into it in June 2001. It is in the country, "In the Boonies" as some of my scrapping friends say (right Holly??), but it is peaceful and pretty quiet and we love it here.

I have a daughter, Jessica. She lives in Ohio and is 23 years old. I have gotten her into scrapping and I often send her supplies and when she comes to visit, she raids my scraproom to see if there is anything she HAS to have.

I have a short haired black Pomeranian dog named Dexter. I have had him since April 14th 2003 and he is my 'baby' even though he is about 5 years old. He loves to be held like an infant and sung to. I never wanted a dog, especially not a dog in my house, but when I saw him (he was my brother's dog) he tugged at my heart and the next day he was in my car for the 10 hours drive to our house here in NC. I never thought I could love a dog like I love Dexter, guess old age has softened me some. **wink**

I have my own cleaning business and have had the business for 2 years. I work alone and I love the freedom I have working for myself and not having to punch a clock. The work is hard but the pay is great.

I am also an Independent Top Line Creations (TLC) consultant #403682. TLC is a company that makes scrapbook kits and other papers items to add to your scrapbook pages. You can find my site at  http://www.topline-creations.com/Joyce/ .  This is a new venture for me and I am just learning the ropes of how this all works. I love the scrapbooking products they offer and I have been buying my own personal stash of their products. I am even hosting a product spotlight to the paper design team with TLC products in mid July, so be on the look out. My upline, Jo'Ell (known as "bean" here at POTH), is also hosting a product spotlight with TLC products. Look for her items to be coming out in mid June. If you would like any further information about our products or becoming a consultant, feel free to contact either of us. We would be pleased to help you in any way we can.

How would you describe your scrapping style?

My scrapping style is pretty simple with a twist and neat and tidy. I like to try a lot of different techniques and I love embellishments. I don't do the collage type of layouts. I think that might be because I don't have photos that fit that type of layouts. I tend to focus on good clean overall layout design creating clean crisp lines for my layouts. I like things balanced and for the most part, uncluttered.

What colors are used most often?

I use a lot of colors. I try to vary with my colors but I have noticed that I will draw from whatever colors are the most prominent in the photos I am scrapping. I just think having them coordinate adds to my pages, makes the photos "pop" so to speak. I flip back and forth with solid backgrounds and prints. It all depends on my mood at that moment. Sometimes I like to shake things up and get bold, guess that would be my wild side coming out. Sometimes I like the end result, sometimes I don't.

What are your favorite scrapping subjects?

I scrap anything and everything. If it was worth my effort to take the photo, then the photo is worthy to be scrapped and put in one of my albums. I have scrapped my daughter, my house, my dog, my family, my extended family, Christmas, and most holidays…you name it, and I will scrap it (sooner or later).

How long have you been scrapping? What got you started?

I started scrapping in Feb 2001. After Bill and I got married, I was able to quit working and enjoy the life of leisure. But that leisure life soon turned into boredom. So I needed a hobby to take up some of the free time I seemed to have way too much of. I saw a scrapbook my SIL had done and I liked what I saw so that was what started my addiction, I mean Hobby. **smile**

What was the first page you scrapped?

My first pages were 8.5x11 and were pages of my mom and her retirement party. I was making her a scrapbook for her birthday which was in June. I believe I got about 18 pages done before I was introduced to the scrapbooking online community. I met a lady while planning our weddings on a wedding message board and she had also just started scrapping about the same time I did. She pointed me to the yahoo scrapping 'clubs' and that was when I really got into scrapping. Before long I saw the need for some income because I was wanting so many new scrapping supplies that we didn't have the extra money for. So, I started my own cleaning business. I had to have money to supply my addiction. **big grin**

Where do you look for inspiration?

I look anywhere and everywhere for inspiration. If I come up blank from just looking at the photos, then I will look through magazines and at layouts all over the net. POTH is a wonderful place to get inspiration. Sometimes I will see a piece of paper and I already know what photos will be going on that paper. Or perhaps I spy a sheet of stickers that was just made for another set of photos I have. Sometimes I forget I have the items for a layout and end up buying new material for the same photos.

What are your favorite topics to scrap?

I love to scrap a lot of different topics. I want to be able to look through my albums and see all kinds of people, places and things that were a part of my life. Like I said before, if it is worthy of taking the time to take the photos, then it's worthy to be scrapped and put in my albums.

Do you do events or moments? Special photos? Or all photos?

I scrap all my photos unless they didn't turn out.

Chronological order or random scrapping?

I am a random scrapper. I wanted to be a chronological scrapper but when an idea hit me for a set of photos, I would scrap them while the idea was still fresh in my mind. I also scrap so many different subjects or events and time lines that I decided to make themed albums instead of chronological ones. Once the themed album pages are done, then I put them in order. For instance, I have an album just of my daughter's professional and school photos. It starts at K and goes thru to 2003. She has her photos done for me every year so I can continue to have a photo of her yearly. Once I get her baby portraits scrapped, they will also go in that album according to her age. There is not one other person in that album. I also have a 'House" album. And it is chronological. Its not all up to date but, as with most albums, it is, and probably always will be, a "work in process" album. This album is in a 3 ring binder so it's easy to put the layouts in order even though they are not scrapped in order.

Are you doing a BOM? If so what have you entered?

No, I am not doing a book of Me. The closest I came was when I did a layout about myself for an "about me" swap in one of my yahoo groups. I think I had to make 12 layouts of myself to send to other people. They were 8.5x11 pages but once I got everyone's pages, I made them into 12x12 since that is the size I prefer.

Flat or lumpy?

I don't mind having lumpy pages as long as they aren't "Mountains of lumps". I will use fibers, eyelets, brads, charms, wire, beads and some other things but I prefer not to use sea glass and the large glass page pebbles that could be used as a magnifying glass. Those are what I call "Mountains of Lumps". They are just too thick and/or sharp for my pages.

Are you a fast scrapper or a slow scrapper?

I am a slow scrapper.

Do you like sketches? Templates? Or rather no frame at all?

I have used them all and I like using them. It is a great way to get inspiration for layouts. Templates are great for using a lot of photos on one page.

White backgrounds, colored, or patterned?

I don't normally use white backgrounds. I love having photos matted on white, but I like colors and prints on my layouts.

Late night scrapping? Or daytime?

I am an anytime scrapper. Well I shouldn't say anytime because I'm not a morning person. I could stay up all night long and scrap but something about the sunrise that makes me want to sleep. I believe the earliest I have ever scrapped was when I went to Scrap Camp last fall and I was in my seat and scrapping at 8AM. I did that just so I could earn my early scrapper badge. I just had to reach my goal to become a Queen Scrapper!

12X12, 8 1/2 X 11, or other?

I like 12x12 scrapbooks the best. I have made one 6x6 album and I doubt I will ever make another one. I use 12x12 3D ring binders and post bound albums.

Latest project:

I recently completed a swap in one of my groups so I will share that as my special tutorial. The inspiration came from Dee's Designs. For the swap, I decided to make the page kit in real 3D. I used my sizzix machine and dies to make the pumpkins and leaves. Punches to make the squares and mini pumpkins. Chalk, buttons and hemp were used to decorate the pumpkins. I tore some of the cardstocks and left others with clean straight cuts. I also used green paper silk to help embellish the page and sent it along in the kit as the 'surprise' item. I haven't gotten my page together yet with photos nor is it even glued down. I took this photo so I could give the receivers of the kit an idea how to use it.

Favorite Layouts: