
Before & After Kiwi Lane
When did you begin Scrapbooking?
I had never heard of scrapbooking until I was pregnant with my 8th child and 42 years old. We had been living in Kentucky for almost 5 years and one day a couple of ladies brought their scrapbooks to church. I was fascinated! About a year later we moved back to Utah, and I was soon invited to join a group of ladies that scrapbooked together every month at church. I went to my first ‘crop’ and have been hooked ever since.
What got you hooked?
I loved being with a group of ladies and friends working on something with my hands that my family would enjoy and that would preserve my family’s history in pictures. It was fun! I had never considered myself very creative, but I could do this!
How did you feel about your very first Scrapbooking Layout?
After my first ‘crop’, which I only attended because I didn’t have any supplies, I was determined to make my first layout. I went home, found a picture of my little boy, and started cutting and gluing. I was so proud of that first layout! The sense of satisfaction and accomplishment I felt that day has kept me scrapbooking ever since, 20 years later.

Tell me a little about your “Before Kiwi” Scrapbooking style:
I started with 8 ½ x 11” layouts and bought a Creative Memories album. I have several of those filled with layouts. When 12×12” scrapbooking paper came out, I started using that. At first, I used mostly cardstock, but loved the patterned papers and always tried to add a piece here and there. I wanted to learn how to combine patterned papers together because I loved that look, and that’s mostly what I do today, with some cardstock thrown in here and there. I got caught up in embellishments and started collecting them. But with a large family, that became too expensive. That’s one of the reasons we began to create templates to use instead of the expensive embellishments. I still have embellishments from years ago! Paper companies that I loved included: My Mind’s Eye, Echo Park, Carta Bella, Authentique, Chatterbox, Cosmo Cricket, Rusty Pickle, October Afternoon, Sassafrass Lass, Crate Paper, BoBunny, Basic Grey….too many to list. I love paper!!
Before Kiwi Lane
Here are photographs of a few of my Layouts before we created Kiwi Lane.





How would of having the Designer Templates when you first started made scrapbooking easier for you?
I am very visual, so it was really hard for me to figure out what my layout was going to look like in my head. I couldn’t scrapbook that way. Some turned to sketching and some, like me, would sit and stare at my paper for hours…afraid to cut it in case the layout didn’t work and I lost that paper. I had several layouts that were half-done laying around. I was frustrated. Creating designer templates was the solution for me. Using templates, I could design and see the layout before I cut my paper, and I loved it! I started scrapbooking again and was able to get lots and lots of layouts added to my albums – – and I had fun doing it!
Because of Kiwi Lane
Here are photographs of a few of my Favorite Kiwi Lane Scrapbooking Layouts.









I hope that you enjoyed reading and seeing a little bit about my Scrapbooking Style and how it’s changed over the years and for the better because of our Play To Create System.


Want to see Shiloh’s – Before & After Kiwi Lane layouts?
Click here to read her full Before & After Story

Want to see Susan’s – Before & After Kiwi Lane layouts?
Click here to read Susan’s full Before & After

Do you want to experience your own transformation of what your scrapbooking layouts can become before and after? We invite you to watch this demo to discover how the Kiwi way of scrapbooking can help make your scrapbooking experience blissfully simple and delightful.