We are excited to have Karola returning to our team for another year! Karola is from Poland. Please help me welcome her back!

A little about Karola:

My name is Karola Witczak. I am an absolutely addicted scrapbooking, mommy to Rose, wife to Martin, friend of our furry friends – Miki (the cat), Chili (the dog) and Julian (the bunny). We live in the  west part of Poland/Europe. I’m a little crazy woman, who is dedicated to my scrapbooking passion almost every day, for 7 years now. I am constantly trying to develop my passion – in different ways and stepping on different paths – from digital scrapbooking 6 years ago, to an intensive exploration of the intricacies of traditional scrapbooking, constantly learning and teaching others as a scrapbooking instructor. Currently, I am working as a freelance designer for a large group of scrapbooking companies, shops, projects, challenge blogs, sometimes I lead the workshops and sometimes I design products for scrapbooking – all of these activities gives me lots of joy and satisfaction. I am coffee and books lover, I’m a geek about thrillers and crime stores in the books and films. I’m also a rock girl, but I love jazz and bossanova too. I love live music, musicals, and I am dependent on buying jeans and sneakers.

I am so honored and unbelievably happy being a Pink Paislee DT member for the third year! It’s a huge pleasure to work with these fantastic products and such lovely and talented people! I hope this year I will be able to inspire you and encourage to create.

How did you get started in paper crafting?

7 1/2 years ago when I was pregnant, I was looking for inspiration for a “pregnancy memory book” on the Internet and I found a lots of inspiration! I was totally shocked to see lots of amazing handmade mini albums, layouts and cards! Unfortunately, then in Poland we did not have ANY scrapbooking supplies or any shops, so I started with cardstock and some recycled materials and… I loved to create my cards and albums. I was so happy, but a little frustrated with less professional tools and beautiful products, so I started digital scrapbooking for over a year until the time when I was able to save a lot of money to buy paper scrapbooking supplies from the USA. The beginning was hard, but very creative, I think.

What inspires you to create?

Actually it is difficult to define. I combine my fascination with color, material and form with keeping special memories about my daughter, because she is the main character of my projects. During the last year, I started scrapping more about myself, then I was inspired by my own thoughts, emotions and observations on what surrounding me. In terms of scrapbooking product – I like to say that when I have a piece of paper, I can create everything and this is true. From all of scrapbooking products, the paper, its pattern and color combo inspires me the most.

Do you prefer layouts, altered projects, cards…or all of the above?

I love to create every kind of form. Each of them gives me  different types of learning, training, inspiration and emotions. Layouts are a quick form about my memories and emotions. I love to arrange in a 12 x 12″ space. Mini albums are the highest level – love to put my stories on a few pages of a mini, especially because I can add a lot of pictures, which I can arrange creatively on my layouts. Altered objects are always a challenge for me (in a good way!), it’s a pure pleasure giving new life and a new look to things! And cards… I absolutely LOVE making cards, usually I try to make a new, interesting shape. I love square or rectangle cards, but these unusual shapes are my favorite. What else? Sometimes I like making ATC’s, art journal pages, mixed media experiments… there’s so much to discover in a paper crafting!

How would you describe your style?

Hard question! Always love hearing what people say about my work and they usually describe my style as romantic, soft, delicate, feminine, shabby chic and eclectic. I love the shabby chic style, but with something modern. Love layers, texture  and dimensions, muted and soft colors, and even if I have to do projects with dark or juicy colors, usually I add a few tricks to make the whole project lighter. My best friend says that even if I use black paper, I can turn it into a pale and soft design. However, I’m trying to learn new things and techniques. I like to experiment.

A fun fact about you?

I don’t know whether this is funny, but recently was reminded about time when I was 12 or 13 years old, together with my classmate we had a craft business. We created crocheted handbags and wallets and sold them to school friends. It was a very good business and this was my start in crafting. Unfortunately, my friend fell in love with one from the New Kids On The Block and she left me in our business, then I didn’t have fun continuing this. I started writing haiku poems and limericks. And after that trauma, I went back to crocheting 7 years ago when my daughter was born, and I’ve done a few hats and scarves for her.

Any other hobbies?

Yes!  I am totally addicted to reading. I read 3 – 4 books per a month. This is related to my another passion – criminology. When I was studying political science at the University, I started reading a lot about criminal policy and later I read a lot of political and medical crime thrillers.  Now I’m in love with Scandinavian crime stories. One of my resolutions for 2012 is back to sewing clothes. This was my huge passion over the years, as I have a degree in dressmaking and designing clothes. I wish I’d love to sew clothes again, as for now I sew only paper on my scrapbooking projects, LOL!

What is your favorite Pink Paislee product?

I love all of the Pink Paislee products! Very difficult to pick a favorite, but I think that the Parisian Anthology and Mistables collections are my favorites. The reason is easy: no one had invented such great products to color in different ways. From the last release, I love the Nantucket and Vintage Vogue papers (these colors!), and I always love alphabets – of any kind – wooden, Mistables, cushies or glittered Expressions alphas.

Here are some beautiful examples of Karola’s recent work with Pink Paislee:

Thank you, Karola! Please visit her blog at: www.karolakraftuje.blogspot.com.

Danielle