Please welcome Lorie Ames! She is a such a sweet and giving lady! I am so happy to feature her this week! She has a wonderful website that you HAVE to check out! Here is a bit about Lorie in her own words.

I am the extremely blessed mom to three boys ages 20, 16, and 10. I am married to a wonderful man who indulges me in my passion for making cards and I SO love that about him! :o) Those two things are enough to keep me busy but you see I have another passion...stamping! I have MANY favorite stamp companies to include PaperTrey Ink, Stamping Bella, Hanna Stamps, Stampin' Up!, and of course lots of others. While not a design team member anywhere I have found that my satisfaction in crafting has been from the pleasure that people get from receiving one of my cards or projects. I love to see their face light up! It makes me feel all warm and gooey inside!

Another passion of mine is my faith. I love to study more about Jesus in Bible studies, at church, and through my friends. This fall my husband and I will be travelling to Israel for 2 weeks to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and his disciples. I am so excited and nervous at the same time!

On a personal note...I would love it if you all would visit the following two links.

World Vision is Christian relief, development, and advocacy dedicated to working with families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. I would be happy to answer any questions that you have about World Vision!

Site of Senses. SOS is a company that my dad runs that makes specialized equipment developed by Table Innovations for children with special needs. This equipment can help improve the quality of the severely sight impaired, blind or multiple handicapped child by providing adaptive equipment to assist in learning and development.

I also asked Lorie a few questions I thought would be fun to hear answers to.

How did you get started with crafts?

I went to a friends SU! party then had my own party, then signed up to be a demo, then...well...you get the idea!

How much time per day do you spend on your crafts? Is it enough? :)

I get a couple of hours a day usually. Depending on what I have to do and how much I've procrastinated it is usually enough.

What is your favorite craft item to use or project to make?

I love my Bella's, glitter, my COPICS, ribbon, and designer paper. Designer paper makes a card so easy to do!

Where do you get your inspiration (for your stamp creating or card making)?

All over the place. Sometimes it is the person for whom I'm stamping...sometimes it is the paper...sometimes it is the layout...and sometimes it is the stamp. Geeze...I'm no help am I?

Do you have any advice for fellow crafters out there? Words of wisdom, perhaps? :)

I just made a Bella card with the sentiment "Follow Your Bliss". I really think we should do that. If you are crafting and one day you think to yourself "why am I doing this?" stop crafting (I've read blog posts where they have done that...permanently). If you love to make cards...make cards. If scrapbooking is your thing...scrapbook. Never do something just because you feel like you have too. Learn to say no. Both in your crafting life and your personal life. You will be happier and so will the people around you.

I picked out a ton of pictures to show you! Lorie told me that the first one is one of her favorites! And what a lovely card it is! Enjoy browsing the cards I picked and know that there are many more where these came from!

I hope you have enjoyed meeting Lorie and Featured Crafter Friday. If you would like to be featured, please send me an email! I would be more than happy to include you! See you next Friday for another wonderful crafter!