Meet Ms. December

Monika Franziska is Bombshell's Ms. December. Her coloring and design skills, coupled with her love of motorcycles, are evident in all of her work.

Here's her little interview so that you can get to know Ms. December a bit better!

1. Brief info about yourself, including your name, where you live, your family (if you want), etc.
Hi everyone. I'm Monika Franziska (just Monika on the Bombshell board). I currently live outside of Memphis, TN and have lived all over the US. I'm a proud soccer mom of two incredible kids. I have a beautiful eight year old little girl that I promise you has turned into my real live Barbie doll since we discovered Justice. She loves to go shopping at Justice and this mom tends to have "sucker" written all over her forehead. My son is ten and just as smart and handsome as can be. He has a kind heart and makes for an amazing big brother. He's growing up by leaps and bounds. Not sure how much longer I can take this... where did my babies go? And their dad (a.k.a. my husband) is sometimes just another kid in the house. He is a great husband and father, but never lost that kid-at-heart. If we ever get to meet IRL, ask me about how I met my hubby. I'll drop one clue, he was ten and I was eight.

2. How long have you been stamping and/or crafting?
For as long as I can remember, I've had this thing for paper, markers, paints, and whatnot. Even as a little girl in Germany (where I was born), I'd go to my friend's house with a bag full of art supplies. Nothing's changed in the last 30 plus years. I started seriously scrapbooking in 1999. I can't recall when I purchased my first stamp, probably in the 80's, but I got serious about stamping in the last 5 years. Love it....love it... love it.

3. What are your favorite Bombshell sets and why?
Now that's easy... I ride a Harley and the motorcycle stamps are what drew me to Bombshell Stamps in the first place. I've got three sets of Bombshell motorcycle stamps, but I have to say the Vintage Motorcycle set has been my most loved thus far. Then there's the Bombshell Angel set. Add her wardrobe of cutting files and I'm in crafty heaven. So if I'm not dressing my real life Barbie doll, I can still dress up my Bombshell Angel pin up. LOL

4. What kind of projects do you like to do?
My interests are far and wide. I love to make cards, scrapbook, 3D projects, and just about anything else I can conjure up. I enjoy my e-cutters. I started out on a Wishblade and was making cutting files with Inkscape. I've since upgraded to a KNK Zing and use Make The Cut software. Though now and then, I still go into Inkscape for a familiar platform in which to do vector editing. The e-cutter has opened up a completely new world for card making, scrapbooking, and crafting in general. If I get an idea in my head, I can often design something on my PC and cut it rather than having to chase down an obscure product in stores.

5. What are your favorite coloring mediums?
My latest love is Copics. Yum. Those are fabulous. Prisma colored pencils are a classic and I used them for quite some time to get the same kind of blended effect that you can get with Copics... Ok, not the same, but you know what I mean. It's great subtle shading. For watercolor, I really got into watercolor crayons. Not a lot of people get into those, but I really like how they have a bit of opacity to them.

6. Describe your crafting "style".
My style will vary from clean and simple to grungy and distressed. It all just depends on what the project calls for and what I feel like working with that day.

7. Describe your crafting process. Do you start with a stamp set? A sketch? A technique you want to use?
All of the above. I'll get inspiration from a variety of things. I'll let that one item serve as a springboard to create the rest. If I'm in a rut, I'll pull up a sketch and color challenge and make myself pull something together. Does wonders for the creative juices. With scrapbooking, motivation is a bit easier. It's all about the memories and the pictures. Thus I let the pictures or event be the jumping off point for the rest of the page.

8. Do you have any other hobbies?
When I'm not busy being a Mom or working, I like to hit the road. I ride a Harley Davidson Road King. My hubby has an Ultra Classic. We're a riding family and it's not unusual for us to go out for a ride and dinner as a family. We do practice safe riding. I also enjoy sewing, needlework, and scrapbooking. Last but not least, a bit of amateur photography.

9. Free for all including little facts, etc. about you.
Some things I've already alluded to. I'm a first generation immigrant to the US from Germany. My parents decided to move to the states when I was eight. I basically grew up in the US. I wanted to be sure the US is the place for me to spend the rest of my life, so in my 20's I went back to Germany for several months at a time to live, work, and study. It was a hard choice, but I ended up coming back to the country I knew best. In 1999, I took my oath of citizenship in Oklahoma City in the Federal Courthouse right across from the Murrah bombing site.

So by now, I've managed to tell you more about me than you'd probably glean at the standard cocktail party. Hey... we're missing the cocktails! If one of these days I decide to retire and don't have kids to chauffeur, I'd love to load up my motorcycle and pull behind trailer with some crafting supplies (and a few clothes) to tour the US and visit my fellow crafters. Wouldn't that be awesome?

-Yes! Yes it would!

Now that you've learned more about Monika, here are some of her favorite Bombshell cards!

Click HERE to check out Monika's Blog and HERE to check out her Bombshell Gallery!