Hi, my name is Melanie and I am a new member of the Hip Kit Club design team. Since my first kit has not arrived yet I thought I would tell you a little bit about myself. I studied law in Munich, Germany, met my husband at the Oktoberfest, moved with him to London, UK, for six years, studied for a PhD, trained to be a mediator, gave birth to my older daughter in London and the little one in Munich, recently adopted two Ragdoll cat brothers and I LOVE crafting. Throw anything craft related at me and I will try it: cardmaking, crochet, home décor, mini albums, embroidery, painting, sketching, sewing and of course scrapbooking.

Even though I had been dabbling in photo books and memory keeping since I was a child, I only discovered scrapbooking on our wonderful honeymoon to the New England states in 2004. We enjoyed that trip so much that we went on to travel to the East coast every other year for quite some time. I will never forget how we struggled to manage the NYC subway system during a particularly muggy late spring day with a six month old baby girl who just loved to look at all the traffic and high rise buildings from her stroller. After all, she is a Londoner. At eleven years now she would rather we live on a farm with horses and plenty of other animals though.

Scrapbooking for me is a bit like therapy and to wind down after a long day. You will find me sitting at my craft table in our common attic room almost every evening. That room contains our workspaces, the girl’s craft table and a nook for my two craft tables (one is for my sewing machine and any crafting friend who wants to join me) and the masses of craft supplies I have collected over the years. Sometimes, when inspiration eludes me I will just sort some pretty paper according to colour or sort through my die cuts, it is just so soothing and usually will lead to me creating something new.

When it comes to my scrapbooking style I can definitely say that I love white space and clusters. Texture is also very important to me and I will often try to manipulate paper to use it in a non-flat way. Also, I could easily scrapbook with little to no paper, it is the little things that I like: folded pieces, stitching, die cuts, enamel dots, fussy cut elements, anything sprinkle-y really. My favourite colour combinations at the moment are pink, orange, yellow or blue-tones mixed with pink and yellow, anything in the violet or purple range, on the other hand, is usually quite the challenge for me.

I leave you with this beautiful and important sentiment – enjoy every moment – and look forward to start working with the stunning Hip Kits, meeting you on the message board and hopefully inspiring you to create (everyday).

Melanie xx