Hey there.

I’m Kristina Contes. Otherwise known as Kristi, kc, etc. I am on the verge of 29 and finding myself in a very contemplative stage of life. Luckily I have art to make some sense of it all!

I am married to an excessively talented chef we call Jonathan and we own a rather progressive restaurant called Mosaic out on the island. We have a three yearr old daughter with four legs and no hair, Miss Chloe Rose (she’s an American Hairless Terrier) and have been married for four blissful/exhausting/exciting/frustrating years.

I consider myself an artist in the broadest sense of the word. i believe art can take many forms, including (but not limited to) paint, jewelry, film, handwriting, photography, interiors, clouds in the sky, clothing, hair, voice, graffiti, instruments, words, screenprinting, textures, colors…you get my drift. It is my personal belief that scrapbooking encompasses most forms of art. My scrapbooks are my diaries and journals. They tell an intimate, detailed, raw story of the life I lead. They are also a showcase for the hundreds of photographs I take, typically of everyday objects and visual delights. But it doesn’t stop there. They are my playground; for trying new ideas, experimenting, letting off steam, free therapy, a place to use that business card i saved, etc. They can be crisp and linear or messy and emotional as the mood strikes. Basically, anything goes in my pages and that’s the way i like it. Layers, textures, see through bits, letterpressed bits, fabric, paint and whatever else inspires me will find their way into my work.

And that’s where Portrait Bug comes in. I am so stoked on the idea of working in the environment we are creating. This store is brilliant, and long overdue. I am super excited to meet the artists in the area and develop a new community of people that are looking to have fun, get it out, get it down and make stuff.

If you’d like to learn more about me and my love of run on sentences (I also worship ellipses) visit my blog at soundsofscience.

Hello! My name is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and I am thrilled that a scrapbooking store is opening in Manhattan! Even better, it’s just five stops away from my apartment on the 1 train, although I have been eyeing the bus shelter outside the store. I live between Broadway and 8^th Avenue, and I’m thinking that when I’m carrying my crop bag, a scenic ride up Broadway on the M104 might be in order!

For me, every page starts either with a story to tell or a technique I want to try out. That pretty much sums up my divided scrap personality.

On the one hand, I journal a lot. While it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, everyone’s thousand words are different. I believe that the heart of scrapbooking is expressing yours. I kept a daily diary for years and years, but stopped when I started scrapbooking. In many ways, my scrapbooks are simply very artistic journal entries.

On the other hand, I am wildly passionate about playing with my supplies. I consider myself something of a mad scientist when it comes to scrapbooking. I’m always trying to push my supplies and see what happens if a little of this mixes with a little of that. The result is that my pages are full of paint and plaster and metal and fabric and anything else that I can get my hands on. I love to cross-pollinate, pulling supplies and techniques from other crafting disciplines into scrapbooking. For example, the background and title of this page are needle felted:

As for my style, I call it “cultural anthropology with a hand made look.” I’ve already talked about the first half of that description. As for the second, a scrapbook is something made by you, not by a machine. I think it’s vital that you put yourself on the page. I don’t want my pages to look “perfect” and sterile and made by a machine. I want them to be colorful, textured, hand made, and imperfect. Just like me! So, I ink and tear and paint and doodle and sew and have a really good time!

I’m sure you’ll get to know me through my pages, but in brief: I also quilt and make jewelry. And I’m bi-scraptual – meaning I do traditional paper scrapping as well as digital. I’ve lived in Manhattan for the past nine years (5 years on the Upper East Side and now Midtown West). I’m the Artistic Director of The Milk Can Theatre Company, a company dedicated to the development of new plays, and I am happily married to John, who is my college sweetheart.

I hope you’ll check out my reviews, tutorials, and craft-related ramblings on my blog, Balzer Designs!

hello.

my name is Meredith Taylor. i’m 25. happily married to my best friend and the best boyfriend in the whole world. we have two children of the canine persuasion – Crystal who is the best therapy dog ever and always knows how to make me feel better, and Roxy who is a monster (but we love her).

i’ve been scrapbooking since grade school in one form or another. i love going back through all of my cheap albums with random photos, notes i passed in school, cards from little boyfriends, and other random bits and pieces. i’m a journal hoarder too. it was only about 2 1/2 years ago that i discovered scrapbooking for the madness and awesomeness that it is today. it all started when i went home to visit my parents, and my room had been converted into my mom’s very cool and very packed scrap room. she had TONS of papers, stickers, ribbons and fibers, stamps and inks…. a HUGE stash. and i was hooked.

since then i’ve been scrapping and crafting constantly. my style is really eclectic… i love trying everything that i see to experiment with how it fits into my own aesthetic and my other work. i really love bright colors (except when i love a more subdued color palette), graphic art, typography, and amateur photography. i don’t consider myself an artist. at least not yet. i do believe that we are all capable of making beautiful art regardless of our label. i believe that there is art in everyday (shameless blog plug)… from the starbucks fix, to the late-night train ride home after work – it’s all in your perspective.

PortraitBug is an amazing opportunity for me and i’m so excited to be part of Kim’s vision. when i moved to Jersey City i knew there were absolutely no scrapbooking stores in Manhattan and knew that had to change. thankfully on a rather stressful day i stumbled upon Kim’s listing online and a great friendship and business relationship was born. i’m 100% committed to making PortraitBug the ultimate scrap boutique and community for all you Big Apple scrappers! we are working hard to make sure that the product we carry is amazing and high quality, that our design team is outstanding (and let me telly you i’m totally stoked on our team!!), and that the community we build is strong, supportive, and FUN! i can’t wait to start sharing all of the things we have planned for our first year.

ok, shhh… meredith. enough about me. all of the PB visitors will be full up on me as we travel down this road together. i bet everyone is excited to hear about our other designers right? starting tomorrow we’ll be posting all of their bios AND on thursday we’ll have some fun news straight from CHA. don’t forget to subscribe to our blog so you are the first to know as news is posted, and if you have any questions don’t be afraid to email me at meredith@portraitbug.com.