Meet Deena Rutter
Posted by Cindy on Monday, April 4th, 2011
Deena is well known in the scrapbook world and now you can find your designs on fabric. She created "Love birds" and "Penny lane" with My Minds Eye and now "Happier" is Deena's first independent fabric line.
We are so glad to have Deena part of our Design team. Here is Deena in her own words....
Since I was a young girl, I have always needed a
creative outlet to
express myself. Whether it is through painting, playing the piano and
guitar, decorating my home, or graphic designing, artistic expression
brings me much fulfillment. I have been designing for the craft
industry since 1999. Much of my inspiration comes from nature, music,
and architecture.
I first began designing in the craft industry
by taking some chances. Setting up an appointment with a creative
director of a large craft company and showing her some doodles led to
stickers and and paper pads. With no formal design training, I learned
as I went along. I wanted the chance to design diecuts for the same
company. This meant working my way through Adobe Illustrator as I went
along. I began to love using my computer as a means to produce my
design work as well. Another opportunity came to design scrapbook
paper. This was exciting enough for me that I began working with Adobe
Photoshop, once again learning something new with each project. I was
challenged to bring what I had imagined onto my computer screen. My
doodles began to turn into actual surface prints worthy of the digital
scrapbook consumer, as well as the scrapbook store shelves.
One of the many perks of designing with the well-known scrapbook
company, My Minds Eye, has been their affiliation with Riley Blake
Fabrics. This gave me a foot in to the fabric industry, that can be very
hard to come by. It has been such a privilege and a treat to work with
the people of Riley Blake.
I come from a long line of quilters and seamstresses. My
grandmother, mother, and all three of my sisters sew countless quilts and receiving blankets each
year. I am happy to be making my contribution to the fabric world with
my own fabric designs. Fabric is such a versatile medium with the
possibilities seeming endless.
Since I am completely right-brained, it is only fitting that I would
find my compliment on the other side of the spectrum. I married a
Biochemistry professor. We have three great boys and one sweet little
girl. We hope our different talents will help our children be more
well-rounded than we seem to be.
I currently live on an amazing little circle in Salt Lake City,
Utah. When I am not designing, I love being out with the kids. Some of
my other interests include exercising outdoors, playing the piano and
guitar, and I love all sorts of music genres. I have some sort of
affinity to the singer songwriters of the 70s...maybe because it is the
decade of my birth. Music is a big part of my inspiration. A big perk
to my job includes getting to listen to my own musical selections while
I design.
I have always hoped my designs will inspire a creativity in
others. I believe we all have a creative spark within us, waiting to be
displayed. Sometimes we design fabric, sometimes we sew a quilt that
we share with someone, sometimes we need to be creative in our
friendships or child rearing. If we all share our unique creativity
with one another, what a great inspiring world we would live in.
Here is our free quilt pattern for "Happier", available for download.
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