Hi, I’m Betty Jo Martin. I’ve been drawing since I was able to hold a pencil in my chubby little hand. I began painting in oils in my twenties. Being one of the proverbial starving artists, when I wasn’t at my easel, I worked in office administration to support my passion.

In my thirties I contracted a disease known as Environmental Illness (EI) with severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). Rendered a differently-abled person by the illness, I was forced to give up work outside the home and my beloved oils. Landscape and nature photography soon became my new creative outlet. With photography I was once again painting, but with a camera rather than a brush, light and color became my medium.

While searching for a card sentiment online I stumbled onto a scrap/card site in January of 2005. This was my first awareness of scrapbooking of any kind. I tried my hand at paper scrapping and found I wasn’t very crafty with paper, scissors, and glue dots. Fortunately for me, the site was exploring digital scrapbooking, so I gave that a go. With my first layout I was totally hooked. It was a real “Ah-Ha!” moment for me! I had discovered a creative venue where I could combine my artistic abilities, photography, and my growing love of technology in both computers and cameras; all from my environmentally safe home-office! I entered a contest on the site, won, and had one of my first layouts published in their predominantly paper scrapping magazine. I updated to PSCS2 and Illustrator, bought my first digital SLR, and began designing digital scrapbook products, often incorporating my own photos into the elements.

I am thrilled to now be a part of the Aimee Asher Elite design team! ♥