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Last 7 Days

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• New St. John's priest welcomes Muslims, Sikhs at installation

• Pacific's new president is meeting community, learning area

• Friends hold 'high tea' at home of Lockeford founder

• Regional Roundup

• Public Meetings

February 9th, 2010

• Middle College High School rated one of the best — and a bargain, to boot

• Lodi decathlon boasts top team in county

• Man who sparked counterfeit case pleads guilty

• Local businessman will visit Haiti to look for family

• Man who claimed to be Yosemite Sam pleads guilty to meth charge

• David Harmer seeks Republican congressional nod

• Lack of evidence in case against suspect in 'drug deal' stabbing

• Regional Roundup

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Regional Roundup

February 2nd, 2010

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Correction

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Jumpers across California

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

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Graphic designer Alison Wong shares the art of creativity

Alison Wong is a stay-at-home working mother who uses her creative skills to design scrapbook pages, rubber stamps and even paper products you may very well have in your pantry.

She and her husband, a Lodi native, have lived in Lodi for 13 years and have a toddler daughter. Until 2006, Wong owned the Memories for the Making scrapbooking store on Lockeford Street, and she still frequents the store.

Fresh from a week-long creative conference on the East Coast, she shared a bit about her flair and how she makes it all work.

I understand you design artwork from your home. Tell me more about this.

I design and license my artwork to several manufacturers in different industries: Creative Imaginations for scrapbooking, Hampton Arts for rubber stamps and Creative Converting for paper products (paper plates, napkins, party goods).

I also work with two other designers completely remotely, through the computer. We send our art files back and forth via the Internet, making changes and revisions as we go. I recently started working with a licensing agent who will hopefully expand our work into things like fabric, bedding and toys.

Have you always been creative?

I always knew I wanted to make a living drawing or being creative. In high school, I was fortunate to have a wonderful art teacher who was an excellent mentor. He steered me to California State University, Chico's graphic design program.

Did you have to go to school to learn to draw and design things?

Today is so much different than when I was in college. We took classes in fine art, drawing, etc. Today you need to learn electronic design and software programs to create your artwork, (so) I had to learn most of those through work experience. Last year I was fortunate to have a design student as an intern from University of the Pacific who taught me as much as I taught her!

What would you tell someone who says they aren't creative or can't draw?

These days it really doesn't matter if you aren't creative or can't draw. You can learn so much through computer graphics programs, that anyone with an imagination can be creative.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I get my inspiration everywhere! It can be from signs and graphics at Target, to ads and magazines, to the menu at Panera Bread. We find several Web sites also very inspirational. Our favorite is www.etsy.com.

What is your favorite personal design?

Of my own work, my favorite is the artwork that we wind up selling to several industries. Ideally we do a collection for the scrapbook industry, then modify the art and sell it to the other manufacturers I work for as well.

Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.