Amber LaBau of Stolen Moments Designs

 I really love interviewing and spotlighting our wonderful designers here at ScrapMatters.  Today is a special treat because our featured designer for the second half of October is none other than Amber LaBau of Stolen Moments Designs. I will have to admit to just a bit of bias here since I have been on Amber’s creative team for about a year and a half. I just love Amber and am crazy about her designs so I am excited to share what I learned about her when I interviewed her.

If you are familiar with our featured designers here at ScrapMatters, you know that Amber will have some goodies for you, so be sure to read the whole interview or you will miss out!

It is always fun to get to know people and I always like to start with that. When I asked her to tell me a bit about herself, Amber gave me a great first answer that I thinks shows off her wonderful dry wit and fun loving nature so well.  “So, I’m Amber (obviously)..  ”  Well that was a great start to the interview, so now that I established that I am indeed interviewing Amber, here is a bit more about her!

I love to hear about families and I asked Amber to share a bit with me. ”I’m 28 years old, married to a man who’s made me laugh every day for the last 8 years.  We have two incredibly adorable boys who I wouldn’t trade for anything!  #1 will be turning 5 in January, although he looks like he’s 7 or 8. #2 just turned 7 months old, although he looks closer to 11 or 12 months.”  Amber did this beautiful layout of her family after she had her second son this spring.

Here are the boys in September and you can see what Amber means when she says how old she thinks the boys actually look. Amber used her kit Bits and Bots for this layout. What a couple of cuties she has there!

I have decided that Amber never sleeps with all that she does so wanted to know a bit more about her other ‘career’.  I had know idea ScrapMatters had a resident actress!  “I have a BFA in theatre stage management, but spent more time in undergrad acting than stage managing.  Since then I’ve worked off and on in arts administration, with a brief stint as a SAHM for 3 years while my husband was in grad school.  We’ve moved back to our college town in northern Utah and are so happy to be back!  We both work together at the College of the Arts at the University here in town, so it’s nice to be able to spend time together pretty much all of the time – it’s a good thing I like him!”  How many of us could say that about our husbands!

I love this layout Amber did of her last college acting role.  Now I know why she made the kit she used here, Opening Night.

I really did not know much of how Amber got started in designing.  I was surprised to hear she started designing just a few months after she learned how to scrap. “I started designing in 2008 shortly after I discovered digital scrapbooking.  I’ve always loved making beautiful things on the computer. I even considered graphic design as a career very briefly in high school.  After I stopped working when DS#1 was born, scrapping was a great creative outlet for me.  As I cruised the freebie sites I decided I could probably make a kit of my own, so using my baby’s nursery set as inspiration, the rest is history!”

“I’ve grown SO much over the years since then, and while I cringe because of the lack of skills or design technique when I look back at that first kit, I’m still quite proud of it, and what it stood for at the time for me.  After 4 years of designing, I feel like I’ve just barely found “my” style in the past 6 or 7 months, and it’s been a great journey getting here.  Who knows, in another 4 years I might be doing something completely different!  But that’s the beauty of this industry.  It is always evolving and changing and I still have SO much to learn, it’s always a challenge! ”

I have only been a member at ScrapMatters for 2 years and really wanted to hear when Amber joined the design team here.  “As far as designing at ScrapMatters, that’s a story in and of itself, lol. I was first accepted as a designer back in January of 2009, but there were some issues so I never actually opened my store.  The store I ended up at instead closed that summer, and I vied for a spot at SM again, but there weren’t any openings for me.  Finally, in August of 2009 I snagged a guest spot. I can still remember getting that email. I had been up with my baby in the middle of the night and decided to quickly check my email (a sign of an addiction to come, perhaps?) and saw the invite from Andrea. I was SO elated, I think I even woke my hubby up to tell him about it. He was less than enthused.   From there I was invited on as a full-time designer, and I’ve been exclusive here since September of 2009.  Over the years there have been a few offers here and there from other stores, but ScrapMatters is always the only place I’ve really considered home.  Switching my role to owner in July of this year has definitely changed my outlook on things, and I’m even more committed than ever to making ScrapMatters an inspiring site for designers and scrappers alike.”

I asked Amber to share some layouts that others have done with her kits. Here are a few that she chose.

Just Breathe by tanyariley using Seaside by KimB and Stolen Moments.  When Amber asked if anyone had a suggestion for a kit, I asked for an eclectic, vintagey beach kit to scrap pictures from our family’s Oregon coast vacation this summer.

Two by Alahnasmommy using Blackbird. Super rich colors!

Let’s Bowl by jenevang using It’s Cosmic.  I loved the retro colors of this fun kit.

Well it is time for something special from Amber. While she is the featured designer, you can get this wonderful kit free with a $10 purchase in the store. You will love the soft colors and beautiful patterns in this kit.

Amber also has a very generous coupon for you to use in her store until the end of the month.

Coupon: smdFeature35 = 35% off your Stolen Moments order!
Expires: Oct. 31, 2012
Not valid on collabs, bundles or custom services.

If you are not familiar with all the goodies in her shop be sure you stop by to explore. Here are some links that will make it easy to find Stolen Moments.

Stolen Moments Shop        Blog             Facebook              Twitter

I hope that you have enjoyed getting to know Amber a bit better, I know I have!

Debby