Saturday, April 26, 2014

Date Night at the Lakebay Marina

Recently I had a post on here featuring a scrapbook page with photos of me dancing last summer with my daughters at our local Lakebay Marina. The Marina is full of character and characters, and last night I called in grammaD for babysitting duty and headed over there with hubby in tow.
It was a beautiful night outside and many of the patrons inside were lined up at the windows overlooking the inlet to capture with cell phone cameras the setting sun reflecting gorgeous oranges and peaches onto the fluffy clouds above.
After introducing ourselves to a gal I see at Rainier's art class often, we went searching for the wine and beer. Trillium Winery out of Home was out front serving some of their grape juice and the owner was kind enough to sample me with a Chardonnay. We ended up sharing a bottle of Silverdales Silver City Porter as we visited with our neighbors and met another couple there with their adorable baby Kariss. Isn't that a beautiful name? It means Love in Welsh!
One of the highlights of the evening was meeting Dayna, who was there premiering her latest film, Cold Light Day. It's a lovely movie featuring her choreography; two young men frolic down the pier on an average February morning. I thought the film's title was a perfect reflection of the way Washington weather plays with you- it can be a really nice day even though we don't actually see the sun, it shines brightly through our cloud cover regardless.
A perfect date night away and when we got home the kids were both sleeping soundly. Can't ask for much more than that!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Another Holiday Scrapped to Completion




One of my dilemmas in scrapbooking has got to be the creative limbo of not being able to move forward until a section of life has been scrapped in its entirety.
Now trust me, its not something that holds me back, as Im perfectly content to scrap any photo for any reason at any time. Easter pics at Christmas time? Birthday photos of my youth mixed in with ski vacations! Sometimes it can even be a good challenge to use seasonal papers for something other than the season they were printed for. A lot of striking color combinations within that mix up.
Still, there are all those stacks of photos that want glory in 12x12 form. Dress me up! they seem to scream. Yes, my photos talk to me, dont yours?
I went on a tear around my craft room the last week, tidying up albums, rearranging loose pages into their chronologically held place amongst bursting d-rings -and the dreaded post holders!
Id love to finish up my Christmas section, but first I whizzed back in time on my broomstick again to Halloween of last year.

This was such a fun part of 2013. I went with my mom to some terrific friends Monster Mash, and my costume was entirely inappropriate.  Score one for mom on the loose lol. My friend Stephanie dressed up as Babe the blue ox and covered her face with blue eyeshadow. Now that's commitment to a costume lol! of course, my mom with a big bling Bindhi was pretty off the chart too.

Then Rainier, dressed as Fancy Nancy, went trick or treating with her dad (Momar Ghadafi). I was in the car dressed as one of his "bodyguards"- google that one-, watching over sleeping baby sister. We got out and met up with them down the! block just in time for a picture of them ringing the bell. You can see that process here:

Following the tricking we went to another friends party and of course more picture taking ensued. My favorite series is this of my youngest playing with a bag of candy as her dad watches on mildly. Good thing they dont yet know what poisen lurks within heheh.
My pages all have a very cohesive look because I made one kit and worked out of it for all the layouts. A cut apart sheet like this one by DieCutsWithAView takes all the guesswork out of titles and color scheming. Just arrange a few pieces here and there, add photos and a few other themed embellies like brad and ribbon, and youll be saying sayonara to another set of photos in no time.
Thanks for taking a look at what Ive been working on this week- still trying to incorporate washi tape on every project, but somehow I feel like I'm failing miserably. Perhaps this is because I made a sh*t ton of stuff outside of my normal output, mostly a lot of cards at the beginning of the month, and not much of that got washi-fied. Ah well, that's why it's called a challenge!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Toilet Paper Vertical Mini Album





I made this darling little min album for my Aunt Jody, who very kindly sent me some beautiful clothes last week. They fit perfectly and made me feel so glamourous- a description Ive always thought fit her in the three decades Ive known her :-)
Jody has this soft spoken, demureness but she is quick with her quips too! Her hair is always blown to perfection and my Uncle must have known early on what a knock out he'd have for a life partner!
I filled the album with pics I gleaned off facebook of my cousins and their families. I know it will be an egg-stra special reminder of my love and appreciation for the thoughtfulness of her gifts to me.
Happy Easter to Friends and Family who found their way here today- "He is risen! Alleluia" :-D

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Dancing Days Are Here Again

Hand cut fries at the marina-
hand cut grass on my page!


Last summer my mom and I took the girls down the street to our local Marina for some bluegrass music and of course some dancing.
My mom was always dancing and singing around the house- well, anywhere, really- and that's one of the traits I've tried to exhibit myself! Sometimes my older daughter will say, mom, that's weird! And that's okay. I'm glad they see me being a little crazy and cutting loose now and again.
This layout came together really quickly. I really just layered up a handful of scraps from the page I had completed last and stuck my photo strip on top. The  picnic table die cut is fun- I actually like its super sized ratio to the photos. And my custom grass on the cooler has a little bling to it :-)
The theme of this page as I made it was "travel." All summer long I had hoped to go down for dancing and we just kept not getting around to it. Its only about 5 miles away, and we have to drive by it to actually go to town, so there wasn't any really good excuse not to have got there.
Check out Rellys challenge as she fills in over at Shimelle.com  Then go see my gal Lisa's incredible custom map layout!

Friday, April 11, 2014

Made Today

Sprinkles of mist behind a vellum sticker,
topped with an acetate balloon.
Well, technically, this fun birthday card (left) was made just before retiring to bed last night, but these two below were really made this morning just before I dashed the kids into the car and headed to Gig Harbor to enjoy the sunshine. My girlfriend Jen met us at Java and Clay and took the kids on a short stroller ride while I met with the owners to discuss the possibility of selling my handmade greeting cards in their shop. The meeting went well! Randy and Kelly both commented on the uniqueness of my samples... hoping of course that they weren't using that word "unique" as my DF and her hubby do... as in, wow, this dish you've made out of lettuce and eggs is unique! lol
There is limited space in their store though, so I'm looking for a smaller card rack than the behemoth double, 80 card spaces rack I brought in for show and tell, and found one online for only $25. So that's promising! No matter what their decision is, I'm proud of taking the risk to put my cards in their lap and ask, "what do you think?"
My favorite part of the meeting was when I invited Randy to open the card in his hand and see the fancy inside. Their young artist son was at the table as well, and when shown the card, he smiled. Then Kelly looked and smiled. Then Randy smiled and they all leaned in for a family hug while gazing at my card. Sigh! That is the exact kind of feeling one can hope to generate with a little labor of love :-)

Well, after walking up the street to replace some cards and oogle my future CraftWithAnna designated space at the Copy Mail It store, Rainie decided we needed to lunch at my favorite Tokyo Teriyaki. As we piled back into our jumbo Joovy stroller, Miss Kim came out with our diaper bag- whew! Yeah, cause it included our keys to the car parked about a mile away! So I quickly pulled this card out of my supply and didn't mind at all giving it to her. She saved me so many steps, and truly is an egg-stra special hostess. I've been going there for over ten years now and I feel like she's my Japanese mama!
Graphic 45 - Reads, You Are the Best
One of my favorite cards created lately!
I said I didn't mind giving her the card; well I have had so much generosity shown to me lately that my thank you list is miles long. Unfortunately I've been hoarding my cards for selling. Resolved: create or send off cards to loved ones this weekend! Preferably writing outside in the delightfully hot sun we're anticipating!
Fingers crossed that more store front opportunities are on the horizon!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Scrapbooking "Off the Grid"






I love it when I see a magazine feature or advertisement or card in a shop that inspires me, don't you? Picked up some "vintage" scrapbooking magazines from a friend last week and yesterday afternoon a layout featuring a grid of 16 squares with rounded corners caught my eye. Funny, this layout was actually a lift of another scrapper's layout! So I guess its a pretty good design in terms of its adaptability.
On my desk's to do list this last week has been some photos taken last December, over at my wine-loving friend Becca's. Every year she bakes, like, a hundred cookies and her family decorates them all in one night. This is like a dream event for me! But how could I go and leave my little ones both at home... we don't exactly promote sugar ingestion in our home, but this is the kind of traditional holiday gathering that I grew up with.
Rainier and I met my mom over at Becca's and ended up bringing our own cookie dough along for the fun. Delicious, healthy, and easy to make, these cookies even appeal to regular cookie eaters :-0 Just take a banana, mix it with some nut butter, oatmeal, a dash of vanilla and I think that's it! You can add cocoa for extra yum. There may be more to it, I haven't made them since December so I'm a bit mucky on the particulars.
Sprinkles of raisins, currants, and almond slivers had my toddler in decorating heaven along with the other kids there that night. Including some very large kids home from college, haha! I was feeling very MOM like, with my glass of wine, overlooking all the festivities... but you know as soon as a seat opened up, it was ON for me to get my sprinkle on! I felt kind of bad because we wouldn't be eating them, but we thought of a great way to pass on the goodness; send them for fellowship after church the next day :-)
Matting my photos really helped them to stand out against a very busy background. Adding some cooking themed stickers for embellishment made the layout a lot less serious and I was able to pass on the few not used for Rainier to use on her own project. You'll be able to see this entire layout, with a cool use of a negative die cut, in the next issue of DieCutCrazy.
Can't wait that long for some die cutting inspiration? Check out the April edition, now available on your Apple device and as a PDF as well! And, you can see another grid style scrapbook layout opposite this page:

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Charisma Cardz Meets Die Cut Crazy Blog Hop
















Welcome to the Charisma Cardz Meets Die Cut Crazy Special Challenge & Blog Hop. The incredible design team at UK's Charisma Cardz have this week teamed up with my peers at Die Cut Crazy to bring you some wonderful inspiration from the world of Die Cutting, as well as a fab packed April Edition which is available for download on all IOS Apple Devices via the Newstand & in PDF format from the website. We've been hard at work creating beautiful Easter and Spring projects to inspire your own crafting with your die cuts.

This week at Charisma they have an ‘ANYTHING GOES’ Challenge where you can join in by linking or emailing Charisma with your cards/designs- and of course as always there are some fabulous prizes to be won! The  winners will be announced next week on the blog, AND featured in next months issue of Die Cut Crazy. Fame awaits you!
As well as this we have a spring influenced blog hop, showcasing all the designers. You should have a look around! For each comment you leave at each stop we’ll be drawing some random winners for prizes. This could be YOU...
If you just joined our hop, be sure and go back to the 
Charisma Cardz Challenge Blog to start from the beginning! But first, my little Spring Fling Mini-Album!
















Ah, Spring...there's just nothing like the feeling of the earth stretching towards the sun all around you, is there? There's also nothing like the feeling in your legs and back after a full day of gardening, which, lets face it, usually is just weed pulling with a nicer name!

You may have guessed, I'd much rather be creating with paper die cuts next to a window than sowing seeds out in the sun! What's a crafty girl to do? In a few months I'll drag a used bassinet outside and soak up the sun. This table is just the right height and has a bit of wind protection around the top edge, making it perfect for outdoor crafting! 
As the days get longer and the rain falls less often in our state, we approach the most beautiful weather of the year. You can see that trend reflected in many online mood boards and in our favorite YouTube crafters too.


In the spirit of following my own passions while honoring the traditions of another, I chose to create a custom seed collector for the master gardener in my life, my mom!















I found the idea for this fun mini-album on the Score-Pal blog. It was really easy to put together and even easier to customize. What really makes this mini ideal for seed collectors are the tabs that slide in and out of the pages- ideal places for envelopes holding a bounty of beauty waiting to burst from the ground!

The base of my pages is the "B" side -or maybe it's the "A" side, I can never figure out how that works- of a beautiful soft pink, DearLizzy's Neapolitan: Delightful Bouquet 12x12 sheet.
 As the name suggests, a delightful bouquet is indeed on the reverse and helped me to pull and mix in colors for my project, like Heidi Swapp's Primrose Color Shine Mist.
Here's a fun idea I recently shared here on my blog: next time you have a few extra holes punched out, cover them with some Liquid Glass or another clear-drying hard glue. Let them dry overnight, and you'll wake up to your own custom enamel dots!Sprinkle amongst ink splatters and enjoy the bling!

Me & My Big Ideas die cut notecards, some generic small manilla envelopes, layered with Graphic 45's Secret Garden die cut tags and pockets made every page pop with a little bit of unique, and then I tied on an orange ombre ribbon to close it all up.
No, I may not have a green thumb; instead, I possess have a tombow mono-ink splattered thumb that can tie a mean bow tie! Let's see your next die cut covered mini; just tag it on instagram or Twitter with #DCCMini, and you may see your creation in next month's issue!



 Thanks for stopping by the Charisma Cardz Meets Die Cut Crazy Magazine Blog Hop & Challenge! I hope seeing my project leads you to create your own Spring/Easter piece.  Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by, I love to read those comments!
 Next up in the hop is Eemeli. Enjoy!

In case you just joined the hop at my site, here are the other bloggers to hop about for inspiration:
You are Here -->--->Anna Bradshaw - craftwithanna.blogspot.com
Going on to Eemeli's site--> –> www.eemelike.blogspot.com
Stacey – www. lasatas.blogspot.co.uk/
Emma Pountney – http://tinyurl.com/m42q998
Dianne Grayson's work will be featured on Die Cut Crazy's home site! Get your copy of April's issue on your IPad. You will see MANY ways to use your die cutting equipment to produce incredible works of art. I've been inspired again and again by my peers manipulation of die cuts. Some styles are whimsical, like fairies, cartoon like stamping and paper piecing, or animals. Lacy borders and doilies seem to be another beautifully textured inclusion. "Add feathers, and voila it's Fans-chy!" As my daughter Rainie would say :-*. I love making a few little deluxe paper animals with my cricut and a lent Pooh Bear cartridge- thanks DF!
Don't forget, instagram #DCCmini to show off your die cut mini album!


April Product of the Month Challenge

'Nuff said!

BUT of course I wont leave off at that! I love washi tape! Its so versatile and fun to include on every project. Ranging in different widths now, from the somewhat standard 1/2 inch, to the mini quarter inch, eighth of an inch and even larger sizes up to two inches and larger! All for delightfully incorporated fun!
Follow along this month as I mix washi into as many creations as possible. Leave me a comment and tell me what you love it for, on, and over!
Come back tomorrow for an uber-exciting, European influenced blog hop... yes, there will be PRIZES involved :-)

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

It's Official!

A dream I honestly did not see coming to fruition has somewhat magically presented itself, and my handmade cards are now being sold in Gig Harbor's Copy and Mail It store! I know, right?
Today the girls and I set up over 30 cards in a lovely rack provided by the store owners. I didn't realize before working away on creating all those cards that the rack is really for cards that are horizontally oriented, but oh well.
Seemed like a great reason to make MORE cards this week!
All my cards are reasonably priced between 1.49 and I think 4.99 at the most right now. As I get more into the groove the prices may reflect the value I feel they are worth. As in, more "stuff," more $$ heheh  I even put a little card in the back of each protective sleeve advertising my blog here as well as the fact that I teach at Michael's three days a week.
This new adventure is so thrilling and with the advent of tourist season coming, I see more creations in my craft room's future! Thanks to all of my friends and family and even just casually met people who have encouraged me along the way. Every ooh and ahh has got me to this point :-) Cheers!  (picture me with a 1,000 mega-watt smile)