Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop

Welcome to your next stop in the Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Vanessa Menhorn.

While we’re all feeling moxie sad over Cath’s departure, I’m so grateful for this opportunity to honor her as a blogger extraordinaire, former colleague, and a dear friend.

I was lucky enough to work with Cath for seven amazing years. Megan, Brandy, and I all joined Paper Crafts within 6 months of each other. Cath was fairly new herself, so it was an incredible time to begin this adventure together.
 

Cath, Brandy, me and Megan at Disneyland in 2009.

This was also my first time working on an all-female team (until Lone Design Man arrived). I’m not going to lie…it took me awhile to get used to all the different personalities (and hormones attached to each of those personalities!). But like anything in life, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And all our parts made up a wonderfully creative, quirky group dedicated to putting out the best craft magazine month after month and year after year.

Paper Crafts Team, 2011

Cath joined Paper Crafts as the creative editor. Even back in the early days, she was passionate about trends and putting the freshest, coolest projects in the magazine. That enthusiasm led her to "spearhead" (inside joke!) the Moxie Fabs column and soon after the Moxie Fab World blog. 

As one who used to manage the Paper Crafts Connection blog, I know all too well how much time she has poured into the MFW blog. Late nights, early mornings, vacations (what are those?) have all been sacrificed to bring you daily content that would inspire you to not only think but create outside of your comfort zone.

It was in our concepting meetings where Cath would announce what trends had caught her eye. One meeting she announced she wanted to go with the neon trend for the Nov/Dec 2012 Moxie Fabs column. NEON?! I love Christmastime, but I just couldn't see how this particular trend was going to translate to moxie fab holiday projects. But Cath knew it would be totally unexpected and therefore more likely to get people to say, "Wait...that's kinda cool. Maybe I'll try that neon trend with my holiday cards."

Good teachers always bring out the best in all of us. They present the lesson, set forth a challenge, but it's up to each of us to decide how much we'll take away from the experience. Cath summed up MFW here: "It's a place where everyone is welcome, no matter your skill level, your style, and it matters not one whit whether you consider yourself to be trendy. It’s just that, trends inspire, and truth be told, that kind of inspiration is absolutely everywhere."

Inspiration could always be found on Cath's porch!

So even though Cath is moving on, inspiration will always be out there. Trends will beget trends and creativity will surely follow. I just know that “something truly original, amazingly inspirational, or uber cool” will forever describe the person who coined the phrase!

Merci Card by P. Kelly Smith

Merci, cher ami!
PK

 

Your next stop along the Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop will  be Therese Calvird.