10 Questions with Renee Coffey

1. What made you start designing paper?
   This may sound silly, but I had a dream about starting to design scrapbook product. I talked to my husband about my dream the next day and decided to just start and see what happened! This was right when I first started scrapbooking, right when my daughter was born!
2. Do you save/store your printed creations? How?
   I have everything I have ever created saved - I have files on CDs and hard-drives, and also have samples of all product that was manufactured. I keep a lot of my designs in a little portfolio.
3. How many papers do you think you've designed in your career?
   Too many to count! A few hundred or more, at least. Of course, not all of these went to production.
4. Your favorite release of your career?
   That is a hard question! I think it may be my latest collection, Cutie Pie with Sonburn Designs. I usually love girly stuff!
5. What does a typical day look like for you?
   Get up in the morning, get the kids ready for school, and check email. Sit down for a few hours on the computer to play around with designs/work on whatever projects I have. Have lunch with my son (he only goes to school a 1/2 day) and then back to work. I am usually at my desk for a good part of the day. I do take time to hang out with my kids- take them to the pool for a bit in the summer, to the parks, etc. I don't like to lose focus on what is important to me!
6. Do you design on a regular basis, or as requested?
   I am usually always working on something. Design work has been different for each company that I have worked for, there hasn't been a set standard. This just depends on what is needed at the time.
7. Do you find yourself scrapbooking more with your own papers over other companies?
   Well, I definitely have more of my own papers around my office and I use my products plenty, but I like to mix it up- I have a ton of favorite companies that I consistently use. Lately, though, I haven't been doing much scrapbooking! eek!
8. Have you designed paper to match a particular theme/outfit of your kids? Maybe even because you couldn't find what you were looking for?
   I have definitely been inspired by kids clothes, but I've never designed anything to match something my kids have.
9. What are you up to now? Tell us about your newest release.
   I just had two new collections released at CHA by Sonburn Designs. Cutie Pie is a girly line that can be used for girls of all ages, and Cool Dude is a boy line that is for cool boys and guys.
10. What can we expect from you this next year?
    I have a lot of things planned, but none that I can talk about yet :-) But there will be new collections coming!