Meet Tina-Marie Ledbetter,
author of our newest release "The Sweetest Seasons" and the newest addition to our Combined Artist Design Team. Tina has been designing for many years and has published four previous books, as well as many projects for craft magazines. She has a fun, friendly style that's sure to appeal to all levels of painters. Be sure to check out this great new book!

Here is Tina's story in her own words:
I have lived in Southern California my whole life. I went to the Fashion Institute of Design in Los Angeles, with every intention of becoming a fashion designer, but I found myself quickly going in another direction. I had taken a couple of advertising design classes for my major and loved doing logo and package design. When I finished school I got a job as a production artist at a small design studio. I worked there for a couple of years doing production art and little bits of package and logo design for small companies. It was fun!
I got married and then pregnant. I wanted to be a full time Mom, so I left the design studio. I had 3 children and was very busy with them. My mother painted ceramic houses and would sell them at Christmas time.She was switching from Delta's old hard plastic jars to Delta's new soft plastic bottles. She gave me all her old jars, which were my first acrylic paints. I must have had 20 colors to start. I'm not one for landscape or flower paintings and I didn't like painting ceramic houses. I used the paints to paint characters of my kids on their wooden toy boxes, red wagons, tables and chairs, etc. When my friends and neighbors saw the things I painted they wanted their kids furniture painted with characters of their kids. From there, through word of mouth, I got requests to do whole families, including Grandma and Grandpa, dogs & cats. This was real fun for me. But with 3 kids in 3 1/2 years it was too hard to find the time. When my youngest turned 5 and went to school, I started to think seriously about my artwork. If I could find a way to stay home and do something I love, and make money at it! Well, that would be perfect for me!
While flipping through a Craft magazine I noticed a note from the editor, "designers wanted". I designed a Thanksgiving Pin and submitted it to Country Marketplace for possible publication. They loved it and asked if I could do another with Mr. & Mrs. Claus. I did and I haven't stopped designing since.! My motto on everything I do is "Share a Smile". I keep that in mind when I create. Since that first pin publication I have had the greatest pleasure, designing well over 3 dozen magazine articles for many different publications. I have also done 4 decorative painting books with Sharon & Gayle Publications, my own line of scrapbooking stickers, borders and papers with Sandylion, cross-stitch kits for a baby line with Dimensions. Some new loves are fabric designing and creating rubber stamps. I'm having such a ball creating wood projects again, too. I'm so thrilled that Miller Woodcrafts signed me on as a contributor to their Combined Artist team and has given me the opportunity to create my own book, "The Sweetest Seasons". Enjoy!

Tina