Meet Our Design Team




COORDINATORS


Melanie Richards

My name is Melanie Richards. While my mother was teaching me how to cook and clean, my grandmothers were teaching me to knit, crochet, and sew at a very young age. I learned to love the needle arts, especially sewing and quilting, which I have been doing for more than 65 years. Along the way, I have learned many different forms of not only sewing but also crafting.

I was raised in a military family and married a military man so I have enjoyed living in different places around the globe. In my youth, traveling meant that I attended numerous schools and several colleges, finally graduating with a BS in Economics and Finance and an MBA in Legal Administration.

In 2006, my late husband, Bob, and I retired to the Phoenix, Arizona Metro area from Olathe, KS. My new neighbor, Suzanne Reynolds, dragged me away from my Bernina sewing machines, kicking and screaming, and introduced me to a Cricut and her paper crafting hobby. Since that time, I have immersed myself in making cards. I now give cards for all types of occasions (and no occasions) and will donate a bundle as I can. Sometimes my cards undergo close scrutiny by my handsome cat, Sluggo, who is my constant companion.

I have fun trying new techniques and fun folds but especially enjoy card challenges and have served on several Design Teams in addition to serving as an Administrator of three challenges. After relocating from the Phoenix Metro area to Eastern Tennessee in 2022, my stash is completely unpacked (but not completely well-organized) and I am eager to continue making cards. My favorite pastimes are reading and traveling, but I especially enjoy the fellowship of friends with whom I can share the joy of creating. (If you live in Tennessee near the Chattanooga - Cleveland area, I would enjoy hearing from you.)

I am hoping you will become a regular contributor to our challenge!



Suzanne Reynolds

HI! My name is Suzanne Reynolds, originally from Buffalo, NY, married with three grown children, and five grandchildren, and reside with my husband in the Phoenix Metro area.  I was a part of the workforce for many years in accounting and technology, a workaholic, and worried about how my time would be filled after my retirement in 2012.  

Paper crafting was not new to me but blogging was...  click here for My History Scrapbook and see some of my old scrapbook pages from 30 years ago and note the changes and advancements of paper crafting and tools available.

It didn’t take me long after leaving the workplace to take out my stash of old cardstock, design papers, stamps, and embellishments to create my Christmas cards. My daughter got me hooked on creating cards for challenges and I liked developing clever ways to utilize materials and trying both old and new techniques. Of course, I had to get updated supplies… this was easy because my daughter was a CTMH consultant and I think I kept her in business.  

In 2015 the owner of the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge asked me if I wanted to join as a DT member. I was hesitant at first but she encouraged me and I was off and running. Liked it so much that I joined AHSC and Heart2Heart as well. What a fun time I had combining the themes, colors, and sketches all in one card. 

I wanted others to have fun in combining challenges... so Double Trouble was born in May of 2018.  Things 1 and 2 started the ball rolling and a short time later four DT "Sneetches" were added and are still putting up with the shenanigans at Double Trouble.  The clipart and the humor for this challenge were perfect for combining challenges and I particularly enjoy creating the clipart based on our challenge as much as creating cards.    

But wait, let's not stop there... In Jan of 2024, we acquired the management of Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge (now known as Try a Sketch on Tuesday) with Melanie Richards as co-owner.  So retirement has been confirmed and I have transitioned from a work-aholic to a craft-aholic and looking forward to managing both challenges as well as continuing to promote other challenges.   


DESIGN TEAM MEMBERS 


Alidalis Acevedo

Hola! I am Dalis, I started card making about 28 years ago when my sister introduced me to stamping. After card making, I transitioned to scrapbooking when my second nephew was born. 

From paper crafting, I moved to digital scrapbooking and am now back to basics with my card-making and drawing. I love sketching, and painting, and creating anything creative is my jam. 

I have been on design teams for international and domestic companies. I am currently on a couple of digital scrapbook teams and one domestic stamp creator. I love playing and finding new ways to use products. Being messy is part of the fun, in my humble opinion. I am loud and opinionated and so is my art.



Alyson Mayo

My name is Alyson Mayo and I live in Barrie, Ontario.

I am an avid card maker and I love clean and simple all the way to extreme fun folds. I send a lot of my cards to others but I also gift many card sets to friends and to patients at hospitals that I visit. Several cards are donated to various local organizations as well.

Design Team work has always been enjoyable for me - I am currently on ten challenge teams. They keep me on my toes as I am always searching for new techniques to try.

Looking forward to continuing with Try a Sketch on Tuesday!



Dena John 

My stamping began in 1995 and I have loved every aspect of the craft. It is marvelous meeting fellow stampers through blogs and videos, and there is always something new to learn! 

I am a retired high school teacher and have three grown sons and four grandchildren. I have a vegetable garden, love to cook, travel, and belong to three book clubs, and am a P.E.O. sister.



Donna Scholz

My name is Donna Scholz (pronounced ‘schōltz’) retired as a cyber security program manager in 2015 and moved back to Boise, ID.   Since I have been  "spreading my creative wings" designing and making handmade cards, and enjoying helping my three granddaughters become people that are fun to be around. 

I've been stamping using primarily Stampin' Up! products since 2000. I love to read science fiction, go hunting for geocaches, and travel the world on cruises. I love to make cards to celebrate life’s milestones, and to scrapbook to re-live the cruises my husband and I take around the world (20 so far). 

I also LOVE to learn new things... be it cardmaking techniques, or new software programs to design cards! I joined TSOT in 2016 and Double Trouble in 2018 as a Design Team member, and love seeing the creativity of all the wonderful crafters who play along with each new challenge!  



Laurie Unger

I'm a collector of rubber stamps and clear stamps and well, just about any stamp will do!

I have been married to my husband, Bob, for over 35 years and we love the outdoors. Our children, Boone and Chloe, are Alaskan Malamutes with huge hearts, plenty of personality, and attitude!




Melissa Grant 

Hello! My name is Melissa and I live in sunny North Florida with my wonderful husband, Jim. We have a little hobby farm where we enjoy the outdoors and a few farm critters. 

I started making cards in 2014 when a friend of mine invited me to a card club meeting and I got hooked immediately! I continue to make cards and papercrafts to send to people or give as gifts. 

I love watching YouTube videos and Instagram Reels from other card makers to learn new techniques and styles. 




Polly Libby 

Hi there! My name is Polly and I live in North Carolina. I have been a paper crafter for many years. I love making cards and continue to donate cards to various organizations throughout the United States. 

I also love scrapbooking, mostly about everyday life and my two poodle-mix pups. 

Fun fact: I'm almost always be-bopping to my favorite music while crafting the hours away! When I'm not crafting, I enjoy reading a good book, watching a Netflix series, or sitting outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny weather!


Sara Hoogendoorn

Stamping is my creative outlet and I've been doing it since 1995. I love to create cards because they're small works of art that don't take very long to make and leave me feeling accomplished each time I finish one. Sharing them with friends and family makes me (and I hope them) happy! 

I've been married to my wonderful hubby for 33 years. We have three grown children - two daughters, a son, and a daughter-in-law, the cutest grandson, two granddogs, and our old, sweet dachshund.



Sue Nagata

Hi! My name is Sue. I started out as a scrapbooker and Creative Memories consultant. I found myself taking fewer and fewer photos but still wanted to play with paper and glue.

So, I started making cards and haven't stopped. LOL! I still scrapbook and currently am trying to sort through more than 7,800 photos taken on a 17-day vacation to France and Belgium. 

I enjoy participating in challenges because they often nudge me to try new things - new techniques, new products, new approaches. I'm very happy to be here as part of the design team.



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