This week’s Worldwide Wednesday takes us all the way back to Australia to visit with a very talented scrapbooking and mixed media aritst named Peg Hewitt.

As is tradition with these posts now, here is a face photo of Peg so that you can see who is answering the questions.

So, now that you’ve been introduced, and the biscuits have been handed around, lets get to the questions and answers.

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Please can you provide a brief introduction to yourself, where in the world you are and let everyone know what you currently do in the arts/crafts industry.

I am Peg Hewitt, I live in a country town on the Northern Tablelands, NSW, Australia. I am a scrapbooker who dabbles in mixed media art. I have been published in scrapbooking magazines and ezines in Australia, USA, and once in Scrap365.

Last year I wrote monthly articles for Australian Scrapbooking Memories.

Right now I am creating for the soon-to-start Gauche Alchemy challenge blog since the shop is on hiatus.

I also design kits with project instructions for an Aussie scrap shop.

When did you begin working in the creative industry and what was the seminal or defining moment that put you on that path?

Since childhood I have cut and pasted my photos in books and journalled. I began contemporary scrapbooking in 2001 after seeing a Creative Memories demo at a craft show. It seemed the perfect way to display my pics with the stories and stop my mother from groaning at how many albums of the kids she had to look through when she came to visit every 6 months.

It took me 3 more years to discover the ‘contraband’ world of online scrapbooking which allowed inks and paints, and in my transition phase I did a lot of digi-scrapping. This page is from 2004.

Is what you do now what you imagined you would be doing when you first started out?

Mostly, it’s still just a hobby to me, although my craft has grown into a much artier thing than I ever would have imagined.

Recognition is nice and being on Design Teams is great fun but at heart I create for me, and my family.

Thinking back through the years, what memorable responses have you had to your work?

The squeals and giggles of the kids are what I remember. They still love to pull out the old albums and read the stories about their childish quirks.

That said, I was enormously excited to be given a spot on the Tattered Angels team for 2011, like a dag I danced around the house for a week!

What has been most important to you as an artist or crafter – a mentor, support, knowledge, advice, information, funding, family, friends … etc?

The support of my husband.

He provides money for stash without ever a question, he has enabled me to have a dedicated craft space, and it is he who fields the kids so that I can have time out. He is simply awesome and I love him heaps!

How have you changed during your career and do you see room for more changes in the coming years?

Once upon a time it was all about paper and ink, now I get excited about all art supplies. I have desires to explore encaustic, watercolours, and painting with acrylics and I see a time where I will have child-free hours to do this.

My creativity is expanding past the need to use photos and I am being drawn towards a more fine art focus, slowly, starting with art journalling.

What work do you most enjoying doing?

I quite like designing projects for kits. I have been doing this for several years for an Aussie shop and I find the challenge of using limited supplies pushes me out of my comfort zone and into discovery.

I also love a product challenge, when I am given something I have never played with before, it’s exciting to explore new techniques.

Who/What inspires you the most?

I am inspired by textures and colours. I volunteer at the local community art gallery and get great pleasure out of browsing around what other people are doing. It is artists who grow and play with their own style who impress me the most.

How would you describe a creative life? Fun, challenging, rewarding … etc?

Hard work. Because it is enjoyable and doesn’t pay well I have trouble justifying the time. I want to see it as employment but I see it as a hobby and so I never make enough time to fully explore what I need to when inspiration strikes.

It is a difficult thing to fit around all my other commitments but at the same time it keeps me even-tempered and relaxed so I see it as imperative for a happy life.

What would be your dream project?

Editing a scrapbook magazine

What wouldn’t you do without?

Family, they eat my time but they are the reason I create.

What are you working on at the moment?

Keeping up to date. I have 8 pages that need to be photographed and subbed, I also have a couple of commissioned projects to do, and there are 4000 photos waiting to be sorted and edited from the last 2 months. And right now it is school holidays!

What future project(s) are you most looking forward to?

I want to make some mini albums and art journals. Bookbinding is another thing I’d like to have a go at.

I have re-purposed old books before and love the results.

What are you doing when you’re not creating? What hobbies (creative or non-creative) do you have?

I am raising 4 kids, I volunteer at the gallery and at school 2 days a week, I run a home business for my hubby and in amongst all that I read and sometimes try to get to my knitting.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I’m an open book, if people ask I answer, so the only real surprises are things like my unconventional childhood which you will find in my scrapbooks.

I scrap for myself and I scrap it all!

Do you have any tips or inspiring words for others?

If you want to be a ‘famous’ crafter don’t get too attached to your art. When you’re finished let go of it.

I keep digital copies of everything I do so that if something gets ruined or lost in the post I have a reminder. But seriously, that’s all it is. I don’t re-create and I don’t get upset, I move on to whatever’s next, it’s much less emotionally draining this way. It took me many years to learn this.

Where else can we find you? (Blog, website, twitter, facebook etc)

• Blog – http://pegsplaytime.blogspot.com.au/
• Resume – http://pegsplaytime.blogspot.com.au/p/resume.html
• FB – https://www.facebook.com/peg.hewitt
• IG – http://instagram.com/peghewitt

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So there we have it. Another trip and friendly chat complete.

It’s been fascinating to see that the reasons behind scrapbooking are very much the same wherever you are in the world. Memories really are the most precious thing that we can give to the next generation aren’t they?

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this insight into another crafters life and work.

If you have any comments or questions about this post then please feel free to use the comments section below.

Many thanks for reading.

Where will we end up next time?

J :)