Guest Scrapper 002: Lisa Fritzler

Welcome back to another Guest Scrapper post. This is a weekly series that puts the spotlight on one craft scrapbooker or crafter that is crazy talented! This week we have Lisa Fritzler!

You might know Lisa better as MaggieMylow on YouTube.  She has several process videos as well as some haul videos and kit reveals.  She does a wonderful job coordinating all of her elements into absolutely beautiful pages. She is one of my favorite scrapbookers to watch and I know that you will enjoy her as well! 

Let's hear from Lisa herself

A Bit About Me

Hi everyone.  My name is Lisa Fritzler.  Most of you may know me as MaggieMylow on YouTube.  I know I totally confused people with the MaggieMylow thing, but I was really nervous when I first started posting videos on YouTube and wanted to keep my identity anonymous.  I guess the secrets out and everyone knows now….LOL.   I am 36 years old and a mother of 2 wonderful kids. I have been with my husband for 8 years now and I can say that I’ve finally met my soul mate.  He is my rock for all of the turbulent times I’ve been through and I thank him every day for it.  

What Inspired You to Start Scrapbooking?

At first, I just started scrapbooking to put some pictures into an album with pretty stickers and pretty paper.  There really wasn't any "meat and potatoes" to my layouts.  I can't remember the day I started scrapbooking, but I can remember the day it meant more to me recording memories and journaling about them.  It was the day after Father's Day in 2004.  My dad died very suddenly from heart problems.  He was only 53 years old.  As you can imagine it was an extremely difficult time to get past.  You always assume your dad will be a very old man before he passes on and when they are taken from us before their time it’s hard for your brain to get past it.  He was a very quiet man and as such I didn’t really know too much about him.  After this event, I looked at pictures differently.  Before I would scrapbook and I was completely okay if there wasn't any journaling on the page, in fact, I preferred it.  But now, a page doesn't feel right unless there is some sort of fact or story, or a few small sentences to put on the page. 

Recently, I have had my own health problems, which included Pre-Cervical Cancer.  And I think when something as serious as Cancer comes into your life, you start to sit back and think about what you will leave your children.  My kids are now 16 and 14 and will soon be leaving the nest, and I wonder if my kids really know me.  Do they know what my favorite color is?  Do they know why I hate zucchini?  (I hate it so much, I probably spelt it wrong.)  What was my childhood like?  Why do I hate snakes?  What was it like to for me leave home for the first time?  So I guess here is where I've evolved as a scrapbooker again.  I'm starting to look past the photos and look farther into the story that needs to be told.

Describe Your Scrapbook Process

 I have a variation of ways that I scrapbook.  I generally go with, "what speaks to me" sort of style, whether it is photos, paper or an embellishment.  Most of the time it's a picture that grabs my attention.  After I decide what my one item that "spoke" to me was, I branch off of that.  I generally start with 1-2 more papers that go with the item that I chose.  (I don't try to get too matchy-matchy with photos.  My thought is that there are a lot of other colors going on in the photos that I don't have to worry too much about making sure that I have the right color of yellow to match my son's shirt, for example.)  I then will go to my embellishments and pick some that will go with my papers. 

As for the process of how I come up with the layout concept, most of the time I start with the photo on the page and see where I like it to sit.  I then will start making some paper layers under the photo.   If the photo is starting to feel like it is getting a little bottom heavy, I will start adding a cluster to the top of the page.  Or vice versa, if it’s starting to feel top heavy, I will add a cluster to the bottom of the page.  This will then make me start to look at the page and see if it’s unbalanced.  If I add something to one side of the page, I will try to add something to the other side to balance it off.  This can be anything such as color, a doily, brads, etc.

I don’t normally start with a sketch or even an idea, most of the time I just start putting stuff down and just run with it.  I know some people probably just gasped for air when I said I don’t start off with a plan, but I have been scrapbooking for a long time and I really know my style.  It took me a while but I think I’ve finally figured it out.  So because I know my style, I know what I’m looking for my page to look like in the end.  It’s made it far less stressful for me.  Instead of spending so much time figuring out what sketch to use or look through galleries, I just start making the page.  I will still use a sketch, look at galleries or watch videos.  I will use these if I’m stuck in a creative rut and it helps get the creative juices going again.  Or sometimes someone will have an amazing technique that I just have to try. 

What is Your Favorite Technique?

My favorite technique….hmm….that’s a tough one.  I don’t know if it’s a technique, but I love layering.  I love how you can get a small pop of color with a small amount of paper, or just a peek of an embellishment.  It’s almost like your teasing the viewer with just hints of it. 

I guess I’m not really scared to cut into a piece of paper.  I used to be.  It horrified me.  To cut into a beautiful piece of paper felt like I was committing some sort of sin against the scrapbooking gods….lol.  But now, I look at paper as a consumable item.  It doesn’t cost a lot and it can be found almost anywhere.  There are so many manufacturers and some of the papers from the different manufacturers are so close in color or in pattern that they can be intermingled together to stretch your stash out even more.   But I love how I can use a little bit of pattern paper and it gives such an impact on the page.  I look at paper as the frosted cake and the embellishments are the sprinkles. 

When Do You Scrapbook?

Most of my time scrapbooking is on the weekends in between doing household chores.  I do occasionally scrapbook on weekday evenings, but this is what I call my "prep" time.  I've been doing a 15 minute a day rule for a while now and it's really helped me prep and get things ready for me to make a layout.  What is the 15 minute rule, you ask?  I take 15 minutes every day to prep products, sort through pictures, write down idea, print out pictures, etc.  This way when I am ready to sit down and scrapbook I have everything ready and I can just focus on that.  It’s a small amount of time that I know I can fit into my busy week that won’t leaving me feeling guilty because it took me away from my family or guilty that I didn’t do anything “crafty.”  I've found this way to be way more rewarding and I accomplish so much more.   If I do find myself with an abundance of time during the weekday, I will sneak downstairs and get a layout done.  It doesn’t happen very often, but when I do it’s a bonus.

What is Your Goal as a Scrapbooker?

I guess I would have to say that I have small goals and big goals.  As for my small goals, I would love to be caught up on all of my albums that I have on the go, but I know that this is a Pipe Dream and I will just enjoy the process of making the pages.  However, a more realistic goal of mine would be to make an album about myself.  As I mentioned earlier, I would hate for my children to grow up not knowing all of the important and maybe not so important facts about me.  I would love for them to pick up the album one day and think that it is the most treasured item that I left behind after I’m gone. 

As for a big goal, I would love to be on a design team one day.  I just love what these guys and gals do and I find them so inspiring and I would love to do that for someone else one day.  I find I scrapbook better with the ideas they give and techniques they try.  I wish I could say I’m in the same caliber as these ladies are.  I’m not there yet but I hope to be one day. 

I would just like to say a big “Thank You” to Amanda for asking me to do this blog post.  I loved the opportunity and it was a lot of fun to get my thoughts out.  (You know this is going to go on a scrapbook page.)  LOL.

Isn't Lisa so much fun! I totally love her 15 minute idea! I hope you have enjoyed this post and I know that you are getting ready to head over to YouTube and check her out! Thank you Lisa for taking the time to share such valuable information with us! You are awesome, keep doing what you're doing and I KNOW you are going to end up on that design team!