Welcome to Glitter & Ink Studio! I guess I'm just a girl born with glitter in her veins! I started this blog to share my scrapbook and stamping creations, to challenge you to get creative, and to inspire as well as get inspiration. When I tell people I scrapbook, I have often been asked why I do it, or how I have time. Yes, I am a mother of two little girls that keep my busy. I have been a full time college student, a full time teacher, and much more on top of my responsibilities as a mother, but I have always found time to create something fabulous. Here is my scrap story:

I have been scrapbooking since I was in the seventh grade. Yeah, we had no cool scrapbooking stuff back then. I started with a sunflower print cling photo album and cut outs from Seventeen magazine.  I used pictures, advertisement pieces, GLITTER, and whatever I could fit under those plastic sheets. The industry evolved and so did my scrap style. I soon started buying patterned paper, stamps, and die cuts from scrapbook stores. My high school albums were slightly more sophisticated, but construction paper and tiny punches were the highlights. Scrapbooking has exploded since I began, and there are tons of amazing products out there that make it fun and easy to record your memories!

Why do I scrapbook? Believe me, after looking at my room full of supplies, I have asked myself the same question. Will my daughter want all of these scrapbooks one day? Can I justify how much money I spend on my hobby? It wasn't until someone close to me tragically passed away until I saw the true value in all of my hard work in my scrapbooks. This amazing woman was one who I went to high school with, and one who also shared my love of scrapbooking. She was in the pages of my now "lame" looking scrapbooks. The notes she wrote me and pictures she colored are sloppily glued to 12x12 cardstock in my albums. At one point, I actually thought I was silly for holding on to all of those things. The night I received the call that she had passed, my scrapbooks were the first thing that I turned to. I was in a state of shock. I slowly flipped through the pages of our cheerleading camp photos, and utterly ridiculous quotes we wrote, and I cried. It was my healing process and what I needed to be close to her. When my mother passed away only a few months after, I did the same thing. This time however, it was not only looking at my scrapbooks that was part of my healing process, but actually scrapbooking photos of her and my daughter that still help me to this day. My daughter was 2 when her nana passed, but with my scrapbooks, she is able to relive and remember someone who was so special in her life for years to come.

On a brighter note, scrapbooking and crafting has led me to meeting some fabulous women and given me a great artistic outlet. Through this blog I hope to share that with other people who share the love of paper crafting of all kinds!

Why start a blog now? Well, I recently signed up to be a demonstrator for Stampin' Up. I did this because I love the products, and the Sale-A-Bration deal was just too sweet to pass up (check it out here: http://www.stampinup.com/home/sale-a-bration2013) ! But I also hope to create a fun business out of something I love, and meet great people while doing it. I urge you to check out what Stampin' Up has to offer here: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/glitterandinkstudio/jointhefun. Please contact me via my website or erincarpas@yahoo.com with questions, if you want to host a workshop, or to join the fun!