More Quick layout inspiration

Last night while waiting for my favorite show, Survivor, to load between commercials on the computer, I ran into my craft room and grabbed two sheets of paper, based on a layout I had admired earlier in the day, at left in this picture, featured in Northridge Media's, Create: Quick and Easy Scrapbooking. Its a little magazine with big ideas for capturing memories in a flash. All very do-able ideas I might add!
So last night all I had selected was that burgundy flourished background and the green and cream music notes piece, the reverse of which has a delicate grid with scalloped border going round the edge. Grabbed this pic of my mom and I at one of our favorite hang out spots, the Wine Studio in Gig Harbor. I thought it was a good match for the two papers because we love music and singing together and the only thing better than drinking wine for us is a little Karaoke! Aside from that, there was a lot of wood in the photo background and I like how the faint striping in the background mimics the racks of wine shelved in this place.
To mimic my example's kraft border, I simply cut along the grid lines of the green and cream print, then turned over the cut out piece, and curled the edges up for added visual interest and texture. You can just see a little of the background color along the edges and this looks extra shadowy in real life. There is something about the shabby look of those curled edges that I don't ususally include in my layouts... but when I do, I always think, why don't I do this more often?!
Another look I love is sewing on paper, but despite moving my sewing machine to sit directly in front of me while crafting, it continues to collect dust instead of improve the look of my paper piecings. My latest excuse is that it's too hard to plug in... funny though, I can plug anything else in down below that location, no matter how much I need to move or crawl, so yeah, that's not a great reason!
My aunt recently garage sale-d a bunch of kid's stickers, including a set that looks like it came in a Carnation packet or something. I decided they would be a better addition to my stash, and used them right away by adding the little sentiment stickers directly on the photo- in part to hold it in place, because it was bedtime for me!

So this morning Rainie helped me select and lay out flowers and brads to finish off this gorgeous layout. My October product of the month challenge has been "flowers," but along with that I think the challenge for me has been "hot glue gun!" Not a tool I'm used to reaching for, but damn it does make adhering easy! It's all those strings at the end that don't make me so happy. It seems like they keep appearing no matter how vigilant I try to be about getting them off!I love the smiles my mom and I are sharing in this photo. She is my number one go-to hang out person; she has a different way of looking at and reacting to situations, we have a lot of fun and can find a reason to laugh about all of life's ups and downs. Part of the inspiration to add the flowers came from that quote by Emerson, "Earth laughs in flowers." Getting to preserve the memory of that fun night out with my own daughter completes my circle of happiness!

I love that in our house it is not uncommon for the three of us girls to be in the craft room at 7:30 in the morning making things together- while Rainie and I worked at getting everything in just the right place, Sunday was busy placing her own stickers on a little mini book she had crafted (by book, I mean a piece of paper, folded over)! After that it was on to painting, acrylics for Rainier and water for Sunday. We can't find our water colors, so just water works for us lol.

Thanks for stopping by to read today and keep watching for the next Card Magic: Part Three, which will have contest info and a whole lot of fun contained within :-) Catch up with Parts One and Two on my YouTube channel- subscribe and don't miss a thing! There is a purple button link to all my social media accounts at the top right of this post.

Ten Minute Layout Inspiration

A lot of times I will turn to a scrapbooking magazine for inspiration. Sometimes it is the color combination, or use of tools I have like the scalloped border punch featured in this Creating Keepsakes issue. Their last-page, 10-minute Layout article is always good for a quick and easy spark of creativity.

Of course sometimes even the best intentions fly out of my brain when I select my products or photo, and tonight was no exception! I had put those three project life cards with the photo and the pink die cuts, along with an old package of brightly colored of rub-ons, a few random blings and pearls and a tiny pink felt flower. 

All of those items were contained in a medium sized product package I had laying around. I am in the habit of collecting these clear plastic bags, which can be a bit bothersome at times, but they are great to have on hand.  So it wasn't just lying around, it was with a bunch of other clear bags in a nice stack under some other nice neat stacks of scrapbook-cardmaking type things :-)

Creating kits like these out of like-colored bits and pieces out on my desk make it easy to whip up a simple layout. Ironically, my last post was titled Ships Ahoy, and that evening I ended up scrapbooking a page whose title will likely be Ships Ahoy~ or maybe it should read, Sisters Ahoy? Rainier and Sunday are sitting in the stearn of a little dingy at Gig Harbor's Historical Museum. They were so into acting like they were steering a ship and all of us were enthralled watching them tug at the long lines and swing the sails around.

 There is already a small title on the bottom left, so I may just leave it as. I rarely use a white paper background but adore the look. The simple borders along the top and bottom ground the scattered cards and random flowers, and it all looks delicate and pretty.

It was really easy to find the borders I wanted to use in the colors and designs etc, as a result of another item which I have trouble letting go of, which is the manufactures' strip at the bottom of papers. I have a nice BAG to store them in though, it is a large 12x12 clear, and I have it folded in half. One side has the barcode strips and I can see them all alongside almost all of my borders stickers. There are a lot of Queen and Co. edgers and felt borders too mixed in there too.
 There is another place where I store border stickers that are still on their 12x12 sticker sheet though, so it's not the best system ever. It does work well for me and my personal creative process, I mustn't let my creative flow get interrupted. When I want to MAKE, I need to be able to grab my supplies quickly, adhere and cut, embellish, etc in anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The faster I can see what there is to use, the better!
So what is one of the best organizer things you've installed in your life? There is a new video coming out next week in my Card Magic series... Part Three will also feature a sneak peak at my Super Subbie YouTube contest!!! I have almost got 50 subscribers as well as some of my favorite designers following me on Instagram so I think a contest is in order.
Oh and not to brag or anything but I get additional 40% off at Michaels extra employee discount, whaaat? Look for some repurposing Halloween stuff posts coming up this winter, as well as more pocket page / project life style scrapbooking tips. Thanks for reading,
~Anna

Ships Ahoy

Is there anytime that passes slower than that of awaiting vacation?


And then, suddenly, it rushes towards you, and there is the flurry of what to brings and worry of will I needs and then


as the vacation swiftly disappears you try to grasp all that you can of that gloriously alive feeling to bring home in your soul


to sustain you


until

Hahaha so now you have a little spontaneous poetry from your crafty friend Anna. Used to be a little teen angsty and found some solace in putting down dark lyrical prose that only I would read. Used to have a wall built up within me that seemed to prevent journaling in a heartfelt manner or sharing my musings with any reader, but I seem to have gotten right over that now, lol.


Well, as the poem above mentions, I'm all set for a whirlwind of waiting to die down into my two most longly anticipated events, the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Bellevue, Wa November 7-8th, and then, FINALLY my dream vacation scrapbooking cruise yahoo! Both with my bestie what could be better?!


Turns out, the closer those events get, the more I've thought about how much fun it would be to take some other loved ones along on those events, but logistically it just won't happen. It would be great to find Additional vacations with my mom, grandma, and Ray and that may be a good basis for the word mantra I'll use for next year. (This year's was USE).


In the meantime, I'll daydream about walking through crowds of scrapbookers all "getting" the crazy impulse to aquire more embellishments! papers! stickers! dies! (I don't even have a manual die cutting machine and yet have had to literally make my hand drop. the. die.) Oh and did I mention WASHI TAPE! whew, and that's just in the first booth!


There have been a few changes to the convention over the years and it is always interesting to walk away at the end pondering the many little lessons and creative observations available in a weekend of learning. I'm taking my favorite teacher, Shelby Dredge's class on Friday afternoon. She's teaching on the cruise in February so it'll be fun to see her before then.


Ah, the cruise. Many cold afternoons with rain pouring down have I imagined myself lazily stirring my 2nd cocktail on the catamaran off the coast of I don't know which country while the sun beats down and my DF snaps a pic for me to instantly scrap upon our return to ship #instamaticEnvy #selphieEnvy


Okay, back to reality. I have a contest coming up in conjunction with the convention, so stay tuned for the last video in my Card Magic series. If you're not subscribing on You Tube, you can. And if you read all the way down this post by some alternate, non-blog-following path, I invite you to hit that button NOW.


The card above was created with die cuts by Storyteller's Collection. Many conventions ago I was a member of their club and the supply accumulated during the course of my subscription has lasted through many many many many projects.

RETRO Sketch 136



RetroSketch #136

Was literally "messing" around in the craft room today with the intention of creating a Heidi Swapp- style mini album... but I got sidetracked by Retro Sketch #136 first!
Popped onto my blog this morning to see how the video thumbnail for Card Magic Part Two appears, and saw that I'll have to remove or move the DieCutCrazy contributor logo. What a bummer. I enjoyed writing for them so much! Meeting the monthly deadlines and interacting with the other contributors challenged me so positively and I've been a bit floaty feeling about crafting ever since I learned we're no longer publishing. The good news is, now you can get all the past issues for FREE and that,  dear reader, is a whole lot of inspiration for your perusal.
This week I seemed to have shaken off a bit of that stupor and got Part Two of my Card Magic series uploaded, as well as some of my recent fall themed cards into the Pickers' Northwest Antique store down on the waterfront of Gig Harbor. The owner Ken was sharing that he too was a bit distracted the last couple of weeks and that made me feel a little better lol.  He also shared that our store is in the running as one of Western Washington's best Antique Stores! That would be an awesome bit of publicity for me too so I encourage all my followers to vote here.
Anyway, under that blog badge was another for RetroSketches. If you've never followed the link, you should! Hey, click around with all the links on my page and get inspired by what's out there. I love that RetroSketches has a challenge gallery to submit too. With TwoPeasInABucket going to the wayside,  and Shimelle not hosting as many Sketch to Scrapbook page layout shares, I have been feeling the need to share in a global way :-)
That explains why this is my third straight day of posting as well as why I've been blowing up my social media sites lol. You can click on any of the purple links at the top right of this post to see what I've been sharing in other locations.
Speaking of other locations, it's Wednesday night and that means my favorite show of all time, Survivor is on! I love seeing how the relationships formed in the first days of the show stretch out over the season. That and the exotic locations I dream of seeing myself!
Thanks for stopping by and come back soon~ maybe I'll get that mini album up tomorrow. Maybe I should make it before promising anything hahaha~
Anna

My latest video: Card Magic Part 2!

How'd you like that cliffhanger of an ending in my last video, Card Magic Part One?! I knew you'd be looking for this next installment in that three part series :-)

Learn to add some pizazz to your letters and then step up your embellishing game with some tricks on stretching layered stickers and adhering hard to stick items.

Thanks for watching!

Picture day

I love to scraplift. I'll admit to a nearly insatiable urge to scrapbook, but I don't always have the inner oomph to come up with my own designs. There is no way I'll let a little scrappers-block get in the way of my using my spare time effectively!
 Whenever I get a new craft magazine, the pages are immediately dog-eared for future inspiration. Sometimes I don't even finish the mag before I've found something that must be interpreted, and other times the articles have to be put aside as life interrupts my creative day dreaming.
Last week I pulled out the Spring 2013 issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond, Everyone's favorite magazine! It is certainly one of the sources that I find most inspiring, every article features large pictures of beautiful layouts as well as listing all of the materials used. Sidenote: this is the biggest reason I find I'm not entering my work for magazine submission; I create with often times out dated materials and scraps of leftovers, and rarely keep track of what I 've used and who it's made by.
The cover photo for this issue kept me up at night! No, not really, but I was constantly looking at it and thinking how very much I wanted my own version to appear. Part of the reason was that I had the same day of the week stickers by Simple Stories. I've been working really hard all year to let go of my need to "save" stickers, and it has been really fulfilling to throw used sticker sheets away as I make make make to my heart's content. Well, near enough to my heart's content to be considered Enough!

My daughter Rainie usually goes to Preschool on Monday and Wednesday, but the day of this Picture Day photo was a Thursday. With all those days of the week you can understand why I was excited to use those stickers- and for any non-sticker using folks out there, the fact that I could use 3+ stickers is by no means the end-all get out of town reason to jump for joy, but for a sticker hoarder, this is big stuff! The same sticker sheet also contains that beautifully scripted October sticker, and the little 2 tag up at the top.

Choosing scraps for my banners was probably the most time consuming part of building this layout, and after all was said and done, I probably could have fit one more banner in down at the bottom. It seems like there is a little blank space there. However, I'm really pleased with how the colors blend together. I was able to fill in some gaps with a few journaling cards as well, all in the good name of Using!

 "Use" has been my word of the year for 2014... not sure if I've shared that here on my blog or not but it's been great motivation for not holding onto embellishments, waiting for the perfect place, page, or card to use them on. Have you latched onto an idea or concept like mine? I'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and a link to your blog if you have one so we can come see what you're making :-)

Thanks for stopping by! Go ahead and subscribe if you're not already so you can get notification of all my musings. Speaking of subscribe, if you're not getting my YouTube offerings lined up in your watch Queue, you might miss Part Two of my Card Magic series- don't let that happen as it comes out live tomorrow... there is still time so click on the purple button at the top right to go straight to my channel.

The littlest entrepreneur

WA State Cinderella Preliminary Pageant Bound! 

I've been nearly bursting with pride this last week as Rainier put her energy and efforts into not just creating a dazzling variety of sticker laden cards, but took them another step and sold nearly everyone of those darling handcrafted gems.
Last month she and Sunday  competed in the Miss Puget Sound Pajama Pageant (find a highlight video in my YouTube channels listings). My normally shy girl loved the experience so much that before it had even started, she was asking to do another...hmmm my wallet can't really support that habit!
She thoughtfully proposed selling her own handmade cards "just like ma" and has hardly been able to meet the demand, whipping up 2-5 cards a day. I guess I am most excited that she was able to achieve a goal like this at such a young age, as well as learn that valuable lesson of hard work=dream can come true. Not all of us have the opportunity to grow up with that kind of monetary confidence gained!
She did in fact meet her goal and will be participating in the Washington State Cinderella Pageant Preliminaries October 12th. I'm taking the camcorder along and hope to capture and publish another video for those unable to attend. Maybe some family will be able to learn more about pageants as well from those... I did a lot of searching online myself, trying to get a gist of what we could all expect from the events.
I guess I have been a little surprised by the adult reactions related to hearing that I'm "putting" my kids in pageants. It's kind of like direct-marketing myths; someone who knows someone had a bad experience/remember what happened to Benet?/those are just popularity contest and promote self loathing. Those are pretty standard responses, and there were a few more vehement responses as well. To me, over the head of my 3 year old.  After she's asked with all the confidence she can muster if they'd like to buy a card...
Honestly? I don't want any of those experiences in our lives. It's all too easy to fall into the societal commercial imagery of what girls "need," I.e. clothes, makeup, and a husband! In our house we emphasize confidence, how beautiful a winning attitude often is, and above all, enjoying the experience whether or not we win (or a man is there to watch us).
To me it's just like ballet or football in that there is hard work/practice, uniforms, and photos of the recital/tournament/ stage debut of course. Hopefully I'm Mom enough to guide my little blossoms with enough love that they will navigate the winds of adversity with grace and the desire to do their best and give God the rest :^) Who knows, with all the scrapping I'll need to do as they grow, I may need to call on Rainie's entrepreneurial talents to raise a little money for moms paper and sticker collection -er, supply!

Global Prepping with Martha

World Card Making Day is Saturday October 4th, folks, and I'll be at the Gig Harbor Michael's celebrating with our Martha Stewart punches! It's never too early to start making Christmas cards, and for the Demo Discount price of just $12.50 you can take home three beautiful handmade cards- with matching envelopes, created with the Martha's Envelope Score Board! Stop by to pick up a kit or just visit,

 -Anna