Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Maryanne!

Today we welcome Maryanne Gross of Zingala's Workshop as our Guest Designer. Maryanne was chosen by the DT as the winner of the 'On The Runway' challenge. Let's find out more about Maryanne and take a look at her fantastic project.

My artistic life began with fiber and fabric. I did needlepoint and quilting, knitting and crochet. The quilting turned into making wearable art jackets and vests. I also taught wearable art techniques. While I was doing all of that, my daughter was doing a lot of paper art. I loved what she did but I was so busy with fabric that I resisted getting involved in another “thing to do”! But, since I was adding beaded detail to some of my jackets I soon started doing beaded jewelry. So, I had added another “thing”. Gradually I stopped teaching and making jackets but the jewelry continued and I added wire and metal to the beads.

Then around 2010 I created a little Christmas cottage out of paper for a challenge that our local paper arts store was having. That did it! I was hooked. I still thought my daughter’s little cottage looked better than mine but the die was cast and I kept on going. My favorite thing is mixed media which is good because my stash of fabric, lace, ribbons and buttons among, other things is still enormous! Now I find that a lot of my time is spent doing mixed media and paper art. I especially love dimensional projects. Tags are another of my favorite things to do.

I’m so honored to have the opportunity to be the Guest Designer for Frilly and Funkie this time around. I had a great time creating my little pop up card. I hope you enjoy it!

I was very excited about this theme on Frilly and Funkie! I grew up 30 miles from Atlantic City , New Jersey and our summers were spent with long days on the beach! As a child it was a glorious way to spend the summer. I decided to make a pop-up card for my project. Last year when I saw the Artistic Outpost stamp set “Boardwalk” I had to have it. It features Atlantic City in its golden years. From the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s Atlantic City was the place to be and be seen. I chose to feature that time in my pop-up. With the Steel Pier in the background and a bathing beauty with her parasol, a child playing in the sand and beach balls flying through the air, it was an idyllic time to be at the beach! I created striped awnings for the folded panels and put Atlantic City beach tokens on them. For a detailed description of how I put this together please visit my blog.

I'm sure you will agree that Maryanne's pop up card is amazing and will have given you even more inspiration for the current challenge, 'Vintage Seaside'. If you too would like the opportunity to join us as a Guest Designer all you need to do is join in, so what are you waiting for!