Scrap Girls Digital Scrapbooking Team -
Pat Barnes

Welcoming Committee

Pat Barnes learned about digital scrapbooking in 2005, but hadn’t managed to really get anything done until she found Scrap Girls. She had started doing some simple paper scrapbooks as a teenager but had not kept up with the albums. As many have, she managed to collect quite a bit of paper scrapping materials in the recent past that she never did anything with. Pat joined Scrap Girls early in 2007. She feels that Scrap Girls has made her feel welcome and been a very encouraging community.

Pat has been married to her wonderful husband Mike for 35 years. They have two grown kids, Heather, 31; and Brandon, 26, and four grandchildren, Zoe, 13; Caelum, 8; Ruby, 4; and Olivia, 3. Even though they don’t live close, she loves scrapping what pictures she can get of them.

Pat started college right out of high school, majoring in fine arts. After two years, she realized it probably would be difficult to make a living as a fine artist, so she attended a commercial art school. Pat worked part-time in the art department of a local television station until the kids came along. Working part-time at a craft store as the kids grew gave her a lot of satisfaction. She taught decorative painting, crochet, knitting, and tatting.

Pat went back to college at the age of 38 to earn a bachelor's degree in computer graphics. She went to work as a graphic artist at a sign shop during her last year of college. There, she used a dedicated sign program very similar to Adobe Illustrator. After almost 16 years in that position, she was "let go" in the first part of 2007. It was okay because she was planning on quitting soon since her husband was retiring from the Army Corps of Engineers in the summer of 2007. Pat is finding retirement wonderful!

Pat and Mike each got new computers the first part of 2007 so she doesn’t have to share time with anybody. She’s very thankful to have a more-than-adequate computer to run her graphics programs and sufficient storage to hold lots of photos.

Outside of digital scrapbooking, Pat is involved in the bell choir and choir at her church, plays the harp and hammered dulcimer, she and her husband are members of a bagpipe band as tenor drummers, and she is really trying to concentrate on exercise to improve her general health. Bicycling is the mode of choice when the weather permits. Volunteering at a therapeutic riding academy which uses horseback riding as therapy for handicapped children and adults is very rewarding for Pat and good exercise too.

User Name: PBarnes
Pat's Digital Scrapbook Layout Gallery