My name is Connie Westenberg, and my creative career began 16 years ago after my first child was born. Over a period of 6 years, I learned a great many creative hobby techniques while teaching various creative hobby courses for others at my home. About 10 years ago, I also began demonstrating techniques for various companies such as Jonco and the American company Plaid. I was discovered at the H.I.A. fair in Maastricht, at which point a long-held dream of mine came true: writing books for hobbyists. I was given the opportunity by the publishing firm of Tirion to write no fewer than 5 hobby books, and I also began a cooperative relationship with various Dutch hobby magazines, including Hobbyblad, Hobby Handig and Kreaplus. I was also given the opportunity to work together with magazines from outside the Netherlands. Over 8 years ago, for example, I was asked by the Belgian publishing firm of E.P.N. International to provide creative pieces for their magazine, Decoreren. After an initial successful year, it became clear that the many creative pieces in the magazine would be better off in a separate format, and I accepted the challenge of producing a new quarterly hobby magazine of my own for E.P.N. This was the beginning of a major expansion of my hobby magazine activities. I am now the editor of various national as well as international magazines published in four different countries, including: Mijn Creatieve Hobby, Hobby Decoration, Basteln und Decorieren, Kreaplus and Creatief met Kaarten. I use my scarce remaining ‘free time’ to think up and design creative products for a variety of distributors and producers, including “Peel-Off’s the original”. Several times a year, I am also quite happy to demonstrate Peel-Off’s at international fairs such as Paperworld in Frankfurt, De Smac in Paris and Stitches in England.
