A Visit with Kaiser at Summer CHA

Whenever I go to CHA, one of my favorite stops is at the KaiserCraft booth. They have some of the best make and take projects and you get to use a variety of their products while making them. Their large booth is adorned with many beautiful layouts and project examples from their talented design team to showoff their newest lines. I also like to stop there to say hello to my friends from "Down Under" as Kaiser is an Australian company. They are some of the nicest people with the cutest accents!

The first time I met Kaiser was almost two years ago and I was instantly impressed with their beautiful papers, versatile embellishments, clever MDF pieces, and lower price points. This year, along with their six new paper lines and the introduction of Kaiser's new quarterly publication, the KaiserCraft Magazine, they are also trying their hand at digital scrapbooking. I thought I loved them before...now it's just a little bit more!

One of my favorite Kaiser people is Melissa Kennedy. She is one of their "In House" design team members who possesses a lot of creativity and positive energy. She graciously answered a few questions for me about her Kaiser experience and other scrappy matters.

What exactly is your position at Kaiser?

I am part of a fantastic group of ten In-House Design Team members. There are a couple in product development, six actual graphic designers, and two of us in house (myself and a friend) who get paid to scrap all day - this is true! We get to suggest, then test out the new products and have to come up with layouts and albums each time a new range is released for display, shows and advertising purposes. In addition to getting to play and scrap with all of the goodies, I'm currently the Creative Director, which means I have an advisory role to the other designers to work with them on ideas and changes to their paper designs. As if that wasn't enough, I have been very fortunate to get to do a little traveling for my job too. I love doing make and takes/workshops as I get to meet so many wonderful people in the industry, many who have become friends. Last year after the Chicago show I went to Indiana and ran a couple of workshops with local stores. This was fantastic to get to meet some of the locals too and see a little more of the country. This year is a little out of the ordinary; Anaheim CHA in January, Australasian Expo held in Brisbane, CHA Orlando, The International Scrapbooking Convention in South Africa (I'm very excited about this opportunity!), then on a cruise to far Northern Queensland in November. It is amazing how far cut and pasting can take you but I totally love it!

How long have you been with the company and how did it all start?

Four years, although my role has changed a lot in that time. I initially was asked to join by my Brother in Law (owner of Kaisercraft - Stephen Kaiser) to see if we could get a scrapbook line up and running. He knew I was a scrap nut and was totally addicted, so asked if I was interested in joining the company. It certainly was a challenge at first as we had nothing to work with but wood. So this is where the Beyond the Page ideas began. Initially I did do the paper designs and embellishments myself, but I know where my strengths lie. I may be able to put ideas onto paper but onto a computer is another story. Thankfully we now have an awesome bunch of graphic designers who do the actual pictures.

Kaiser Mini Album by Michelle McClung

Supplies: Papers, Album, Flowers, Bling, Pearls: Kaisercraft, Glitter: Ranger, Rub-On: Sweet Water, Pen: American Crafts.

Design Notes: This was a really fun, simple, little book to make. It will be sitting on my shelf as a reminder of my trip to CHA Orlando.

Did you create this mini-album that we did as a make and take?

I did design the actual MDF mini album, but not the papers themselves. They were done by one of the graphic designers, Clare Miller. The paper embellishments for this project were ones that I had made up from a selection of elements in the paper designs and customized for the CHA show. There are a few little things you can do, I have discovered with experience, to make a class/workshop/ make and take so much easier and faster as we did around 350 little albums over the recent CHA show.

How exactly do you get from imagination to an actual book?

The mini album, as with many of the other Beyond the Page ideas (wooden MDF products), do initially come from little sketches that I scribble down and then give to one of the graphic designers to decipher. They need to be drawn up accurately and laid out correctly to get the most out of the sheets of mdf. This allows us to keep the prices as economical as we can. This little mini album is actually one of the smaller albums in a set of three that you can purchase. I always say that you could never have too many mini albums, but when you have as many as I do, I thought it would be lovely to have a little stand to put them on. You will also notice they are mixed shapes. When designing this I had in the back of my mind how you can mix and match the albums so that you have one of each shape; circle, scallop and bracket. Also if you bought the pack and did this it would mean that you could actually make four albums as little gifts. More for your money is a great thing!

Any parting words for us?

Kaisercraft is a wonderful company to work for and their name is spreading throughout the world. I urge you to go to your LSS and find a product and try it out for yourself. We are just venturing into the American market but I feel we offer something a little unique and different. We love to hear what the customer wants, so feel free to email us with any suggestions you may have.

Personally I just would like to encourage anyone out there to follow their dreams. Five years ago, I would never have thought I would be doing what I am. Though it can be crazy hectic at times, it is also challenging and fun. From never having a thing prior published to being chosen as one of the 10 winners of a Scrapbook Memories Masters competition, teaching around the world, designing and scrapping for charity. I honesty believe if you can dream it, you can do it. If there's something you're truly passionate about and want to do, if you get an opportunity - grab it with both hands! Don't doubt yourself and don't compare yourself to others as we are all unique and do things differently. LIFE: To be Enjoyed! Live it, experience it, laugh about it, learn from it and then... SCRAP it!

Check out the Kaisercraft Scrapbooking Blog for more inspiration!