Hi I’m Jeannette Gauthier. I have been married to a wonderful man since 1970. We had three boys and have 3 grandchildren. I am originally from Ontario Canada and we moved here (Chicoutimi Québec) in 1980. We now live in the house that belonged to Roch’s parents. It’s small but it is home.
I have been dabbling in crafts for many years. I always had to make something to present a money gift. I couldn’t just put it in an envelope. I always made the kids’ birthday cakes. (Hockey rink, baseball mitt. You know, something meaningful) However, I never considered my self creative. We got our first computer in 1988 and I found a program for making greeting cards. So.. I made some greeting cards, but only for special occasions. I did not send birthday cards to everyone.
When our eldest son, Jason turned 30, I wanted something special. I had by then discovered my passion for the computer and was working as a help desk for computer support. I was the principal support for Microsoft Office. I loved learning applications and client service coach to the employees of the company I worked for. So I searched for an application to make our son a “This is your life” book. I can’t remember the name of the application but I could put pictures in frames by just clicking and inserting. I did the same for Kevin for his 30th.
However, by the time our third son, Damien was 30, I had seen a traditionnel Scrapbook. I had never seen one. It was at that moment I wanted to try my hand at traditional Scrapbooking. You can tell by my pages that I did not have much of a creative mind, but I self taught myself Photoshop! Wow! what an eye opener! I discovered I could change things up. I had a picture of Damien dressed in his baseball duds standing in front of the living room window. Well! I removed the window and added a baseball diamond.
Then, I heard about Scrapbooking classes. So little by little I got more experienced, learning about Cardmaking and Scrapbooking. Needless to say, I fell in love.
When the boutique where I was taking my classes closed, I was heartbroken. We live in a small city and her’s was the only boutique. I had heard about Stampin’ Up! and though never saw or been to a demo, I investigated and joined with the hope to learn enough to teach others the wonderful world of paper crafting. I joined when they had a Big Shot promo. Oh my gosh. This was a real eye opener. Dies that matched the stamps. I didn’t have to worry any more for color coordinations. Creative help everywhere!
Well the rest is pretty much history. Since 2011, I have been learning and teaching others what I have learned. There is always something to learn and I love learning and using my coaching experience to teach others. It has all come together and I have I believe found my true calling.