It’s always so amazing to see the work of women who put their heart and soul into their businesses, hobbies, and creative endeavors. The things that catch my eye when looking for my ambassadors – women who work hard, are willing to put themselves out there for what they love and believe in, support other women, and are just, well, all around amazing! Every one of the women on the team are all of these and more, and I’m excited to share a bit about brand ambassador Jen Ritchie today!
I love seeing what Jen’s been up to with her husband and little one, Arlo. I know how both tough and exciting it is to be a new mom working to juggle so many things. And psst! She gives you a peek at the behind the scenes for commercial photo shoots she’s already got her little one doing. How exciting and fun!
Jen is originally from Canada but lives in Hong Kong with her Aussie husband and mongrel pup. They just welcomed their first child, Arlo, at the end of January. Jen is adjusting to life as a “nap-time working mom” working as co-owner of Mei Li Paperie, a webshop carrying wonderful scrapbooking & paper crafting goodies, as well as building her own business as a graphic and web designer.
Before Arlo, Jen loved documenting life and her many adventures her addiction to travel brought through photography and scrapbooking. She is an obsessive photo taker and has way more stories than she will ever have time to scrapbook. She is also is an avid crafter and DIY’er of all sorts… from cross stitch to building her own furniture. Her and her husband always have a home improvement project on the go. All things she is slowly working on reintroducing into her new life as a mom. You can follow her and her adventures on Instagram.
How long have you been a scrapbooker, crafter and business owner?
I grew up in a very crafty DIY household and so crafting and DIY come naturally to me. I have loved photography all my life and always dabbled in it as a hobby so it paired perfectly when I started getting into scrapbooking 10years ago. It wasn’t until 5 years ago where the idea of starting a business came about.
What made you decide to pursue this creative career path?
I live in Hong Kong which is relatively new to the crafting and DIY scene. I found living here made it really hard and expensive to get crafting and scrapbooking supplies and so Meilipaperie.com was born. My goal is to help get pretty paper and crafting supplies to people, who like me, are living in areas that make is hard or expensive to get supplies. Its no fun being really inspired to create and then having nothing to create with!
How has your scrapbooking and crafting evolved over the years?
I have been a kidless documenter for so many years which has been so fun documenting trips and all the food and crazy stories i have from traveling and life overseas… but I have always been looking forward to that time in my life when I have loads of cute photos and funny stories to document about my kids. With the arrival of my son this year I am now swimming in adorable photos and stories to document… but super lacking in time! I hope eventually we get the fine art of napping sorted out so I can have some creative time once again!
What kind of camera(s) do you own and what role do they play in your life?
With both my husband and I being hobby photographers there are no shortages of nice cameras in our house. Although, we both have our own, I always steal my husband’s Canon 5D Mark II. However when I’m out and about carrying the baby around and all his gear I depend a lot on my Iphone 6S. The DSLR is a fixture on our coffee table in hopes of capturing my son’s first crawl or first steps! I also have 2 vintage cameras, a 1940 Ansco and a 1940 Kodak Vigilant six-20 which I have just found a local place here that sells and develops film for them so I am keen to start playing with them again.
My photos are the most important things to me, I feel lost if I don’t have my phone close by to catch something happening. Photos are how I tell my story and how I express who I am. My style has always been to use huge photos in my projects so that the photo is the main focus of the story I am telling. So its important to me for my photos to tell the story mostly on their own before I add the “embellishments.”
What do you love most about your bluebird chic strap?
My camera strap is the Budding Beauty Scarf Strap. Everything from my house decor to my wardrobe is grey with pops of color and the budding beauty camera strap is exactly that. Its many colors add versatility to matching whatever grey I’m wearing that day. In the Hong Kong tropical heat and humidity normal camera straps often chafe and are hot and sticky on your neck. The lightness of the fabric of my bluebird chic strap prevents the strap from being too heavy and keeps me cool.
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This week only save 20% on Jen’s ambassador pick! Offer ends 9/18/16.
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Thanks for sharing with us today Jen and thanks for supporting the bluebird chic brand!
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