Meet The Team

 Mindy Backes

I'm full time athletic trainer working between a clinic and local high school, a part time aerobics instructor, and Stampin' Up demonstrator.  So I stamp at all hours of the day and night when I get a free minute...whenever THAT is!  I've always loved to be creative and can remember always having paper and crayons as a kid.  I can barely draw a stick figure so when I found stamping through scrapbooking just after high school graduation I was hooked!  Fast forward to after grad school and a lady I worked with invited me to her SU Christmas Card party and I was hooked again!  I was a very good customer for years until 2009 when my then fiancé and now hubby encouraged me to sign up!  I love taking a bunch of nothing or a bunch of bits and pieces and turning them into something fabulous!  When I'm not stamping I like to work out and hang out with my hubby and 6 pound toy fox terrier.

Cindy Beach

Hi from sunny North Carolina! This is where my family ended up after traveling the globe with my husband during his military career. We have four grown children, a lovely daughter in law, and a VERY spunky beagle named Josie. 

I love teaching and it's been a part of my life for a long time as a profession and now as a crafter. I've enjoyed many crafts over the years and was an avid scrapbooker before my discovery of card-making and Stampin' Up! I became a demonstrator without ever having attended a workshop. Creating with paper brings me much satisfaction and has led to many new friendships. I look forward to sharing with you!

Jason Casper
Contributor

I am 34 years old and have been blessed to be married for 12 of those 34 years! I have the most wonderful wife a guy could ever hope for and 3 beautiful and wonderful children.

I am a sign language interpreter by profession and I absolutely love being able to bridge the communication gap for deaf students in the classroom!

I have been crafty all my life and have been specifically paper crafting for about 20 years. (I only wish I had known of Stampin' Up clear back when I started!)

I have been a demonstrator for just over 3 years. I was never a Stampin' Up customer before I became a demonstrator. A group of ladies in my neighborhood had their demonstrator retire and asked if I would sign up to be their demonstrator. I jumped in without hesitation and have loved every minute of it.

My creative style tends to mostly be clean and simple with just the right amount of layers and embellishments. I don't like flat cards but I don't like cluttered and busy cards either.

I'm excited to be part of the Fab Friday Challenge Team!

Amanda Mertz

My name is Amanda Mertz and I live in Glen Allen, Virginia with my husband and two boys ages 6 and 4.  My guys support my stamping hobby/business/addiction/obsession and will even tell me my cards are "nice" when prompted!  I started stamping in 2005 and became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in 2009.  I enjoy teaching a monthly stamping class to a great group of local ladies.  I spend as much of my free time as I can in my stamp room but when I'm not stamping away you can find me volunteering at school and church, reading, walking, blogging and watching ice hockey (Go Flyers!).  I'm really excited to be on the Fab Friday team and look forward seeing all the wonderful inspiration.

Brenda Myers

My name is Brenda Myers and I am 40 years old and live in Iowa with my family.  I have been married for 10 years and have a 9 year old daughter.  I am a full-time Accountant, so that means I have less time to stamp than I would like!!  I have loved crafting for most of my life.  I got the scrapping bug in 2003 when my daughter was born.  The 12 x 12 pages kind of intimidated me, I didn't know where to start.  So, by 2006 when I hadn't gotten much scrapped I decided to become a Stampin' Up! demo thinking cards would get me started and I could work my way up to 12 x 12.  Of course, I still haven't gotten much scrapping done but there is plenty of time!!  Ha!!  It's a good thing there is My Digital Studio!!!

Amy O'Neill

I live in McKinney, Texas (a great small town just north of Dallas), and I have three children.  I was a CPA before kids, and I have been blessed to be able to stay at home with them as they grow.  I've been married to a wonderful man, who is supportive of my paper crafting addiction, for 17 years.  I have loved paper crafting since I was a child.  I made scrapbooks while in high school, and got serious about it when I had my first child.  I never thought I was very creative until I found stamping eleven years ago, and then I found a new love and passion, which gets stronger every year.  I am really excited about being a part of the Fab Friday team.  I know I'll be inspired by what each participant makes.

Marla Reed

I am a happily married former teacher turned stay-at-home-mom to my two wonderful kids. I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator who began stamping almost four years ago. I also work part-time in an elementary school as a coordinator for a program for at-risk kids. I love stamping and card making and sharing my hobby with others.

Pam Steckman

I am a 3rd grade teacher in Tampa Palms, Florida, living in Tampa for over 8 years now (I originally hail from Michigan).  I am single but do have a furry son named Arnie Ray (my 3 year old Cocker Spaniel).  I have been papercrafting since I was 18 (which is many more years than you might think) and have always enjoyed the stress relief it has given me.  I love being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and meeting new people who love the same things as me.  Besides paper, I love traveling, hiking, sports, the beach and working out!

Janine Tinklenberg

I was born, sometime after the Ice Age, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, attended Western Michigan University and got a BA in Art in 1984. I married my husband, Dan, in 1983 while we were still in college. We moved to Bloomington, Illinois for 1 1/2 years for Dan's first teaching job, but we were so homesick for Michigan that we managed to find a teaching job in Michigan in 1987 and moved to Canton, outside of Detroit, finally buying a house in Redford, where we've lived since 1990.

      In due course, we had 3 kids, two girls and a boy. I quit my job as a programmer for an auto parts manufacturer in 1994 after I had our oldest and was a SAHM for the most part for 16 years. I went back to school to get certified in medical transcription and graduated in 2010 and have been working as a medical transcriptionist since then. I also play the organ at our Episcopal church.

I started stamping in 1996 and just fell in love with the whole hobby! I started scrapbooking in 1998, but only really got going on that in the year 2000. I have been a Stampin' Up!™ demonstrator since March 2003. I served as one of the orignal Dirty Dozen design team at Splitcoaststampers from July 2004 to March 2005. I have also designed for Scrappy Chic in Livonia, Michigan, Flourishes LLC, Kitchen Sink Stamps, Starving Artistamps, Stamp La Jolla, and done guest designer spots for Verve Stamps and Hanna Stamps, but I retired from designing for other companies to concentrate solely on Stampin Up! at the end of 2008. I have demonstrated at demo events held by demonstrators Ronda Wade and Sharon Armstrong, as well as at the Stampin' Up convention in 2011. 

Wendy Weixler

I have been interested in all things crafty since my days with mudpies and paint-by-number sets when I was a little girl.  I have dabbled in many areas … amongst them making beaded jewelry, sewing and decorating cakes … but my passion has been parked with paper crafting for the past 10 years.  I started out as an avid scrapbooker, but I have expanded my creative universe to include card making and 3D/altered projects.  I have been married to my college sweetheart, Ron, for over 27 years.  We have three awesome kids - Devan, Garrett and Amelia - and enjoy the outdoors, spending time with family and taking vacations!!  I am thrilled to join Mindy and friends on this challenge blog … can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!