Design Team Member: Ardyth Percy-Robb

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Ardyth Percy-Robb from MASKerade

Currently...

• designing for CASology, The Card Concept, CAS-ual Fridays, Festive Friday, Muse, One Layer Simplicity (wow, I'm busy!)
• at home with my growing kids (15 and 11), but was previously an accountant and VP Communications for a life insurance company.
• a piano accompanist for 2 children's choirs, School Council Chair at my daughter's school, Treasurer of our school's nutrition program and Treasurer for our in-school child care.

Do you have any favourite products?

I'm really liking my dies right now - inlaying them not only creates a wow! factor, it gives me the satisfaction of putting a complicated puzzle together. Most of the time.

I love wooden and clear stamps. Not so much the unmounted rubber ones. I buy wood blocks to glue them on.

Stickles - seriously - all that sparkle and no glitter in my eyelashes for the rest of the day!

How did you get into card making?

It started at a Stampin' Up party early in 2006, so SU! was my first love. I still use them most for ink and paper - love the matchy-matchy system of their alliteratively named colours. I stalked Splitcoaststampers and various blogs for years before starting MASKerade in January 2012. Now there are so many great companies offering so many fun products, it would be impossible to choose one - I have stuff from just about every one!

Why do you like CAS design?

Two projects stand out in my mind from my working career - one was ringing the bell on the NYSE on the day we listed in the US (hopefully the only time I'll ever be on CNN!). The other was launching a new visual identity for our company. I absolutely loved spending so much time with the designers (they were so cool!) and that's where I first heard the words that I have come to love so much: "white space". This experience was probably the biggest influence on my design style now.  I love clean, graphic design, often using just shapes, colours and text to get my message across. Having said that, I love almost all kinds of well-executed design. I really admire cardmakers who are able to go from CAS to Shabby-chic, to super-elegant and back again. 

Advice for fellow crafters who are trying to find their own style?

There's no short cut. They say it takes 2 years to become as good as you want to be at anything new. You just have to keep trying and making and throwing out and trying again. Don't get discouraged, look everywhere for inspiration and, when you find something you like, force yourself to really analyze what you like about it.  Don't be afraid to copy someone else's ideas (giving proper credit of course) and then take it to the next step to make it your own.