We {heart} Gentlemen Crafters!

Justin will be teaching his first class at The Ink Pad on Friday, November 6th

We'd like to introduce you to our newest instructor and Gentleman Crafter, Justin Krieger.

Although creative and crafty as a kid "I made replicas of car dashboards out of foam core and greeting cards too", the Queens NY native got seriously into the world of crafting after a 20+ year career in finance and I.T. management. "I'm a techie...but a creative techie!"

"In 2011 I started watching the craft show "Spotted Canary" on PBS. They were showing how to make a really cool waterfall card and that night I went out and bought all the materials to do it myself.  In August of that year, I met my friend Sandy who was a Stampin' Up demo artist. A month later I became an Independent Demonstrator myself and I've been hooked ever since!"

As he got more into stamping and card making, Justin stretched his creative wings and began using products from other stamp companies such as Hero Arts and signed on as a design team member for a number of well known blogs.

This past June, he created his own weekly design challenge blog, StampInkPaper.com

We thought you might like to see a photo of what  Justin's calls his "Creative Galley", otherwise known as a very cool craft room!:

Where Justin works and stores over 1,200 clear and cling stamps!

Justin's favorite products and tools include, his Sizzix Big Shot for die cutting,  as well as his trusty heat gun for embossing. "Embossing is my favorite thing to do!", he says.

When asked why he loves to craft, Justin says "It's therapeutic...I can focus on what I'm doing and forget the stresses of the day for awhile."

To that end, Justin has been dedicated to making at least one card per day for the last 4+ years!  His beautiful work and daily musings can be seen on his blog: JKCardsOnline.

Here are just a few samples of his amazing card making skills!:

You can also find Justin teaching at Scrap-A-Latte in West Babylon, NY.  For sure, you'll be seeing a lot of him here at The Ink Pad, so join us for one of his classes and be inspired by this charming and talented Gentleman Crafter!