An Unexpected Punch of Fun

I absolutely love this card I made yesterday! It has layers of My Mind's Eye papers, a Jenni Bowlin argyle transparency, and Lawn Fawn stickers, a combination that pops with color and all the fun of the holiday season.

At the Creating Keepsakes Convention earlier this month, I learned a fabulous technique for creating Shaker Cards. Mike from Queen & Co. taught us to use washi tape to close our cards... WASHI! One of my all time favorites!

I brought home a lot of sequins from the convention, a product I sought out after I realized I have almost depleted my meager supply of 10 or so sequins I've been hoarding as they fall off our daughter's clothes and from Christmas decoration clean up in years gone by. Yes, I am too cheap to spend a dollar to get a bazillion sequins and prefer the distressed-by-my-concrete-floor versions... NOT.

Beloved washi, meet newly acquired mega-stash of sequins. Sequins, meet Transparency overlay that I never know what to do with. Washi, meet transparency... now that we're all acquainted, put it all together and look what happens!

Well, if you're me, what happens is that all that fun creates a bit of a mess and the inside of your card suffers. But, if you're me you go looking for a way to cover up you fingerprinting mishaps, and participate in a challenge at the same time~

Jen Schow is a somewhat new YouTube process video-er who has done what I haven't figured out yet; gained over 500 subscribers in the short time she's been 'Tubing! What an accomplishment. Jen and I sort of know each other online as members of the Nicole Jones 911 Facebook group, which a lot of fun. And to celebrate her gratefulness at all the subbie support she's getting, she is offering up an American Crafts prize pack for punched project share submitters!

Here is how I used my favorite Close To My Heart Scalloped circle punch: as a peek a boo to the back side of the background to my shaker card front. I fussy cut a snowflake and layered that inside with a pop dot, and ran another strip of washi tape down the side. If I were a forward thinker, I'd have ran the tape down the side before punching, but I just cut a fringe along the edge and folded the tape over the scallops and no one (okay, non card makers anyway) would know the difference anyway.

Thanks for stopping by and let me see what you're making!

Celebrate With Me!

Sparkle A Little Brighter Darling

  54 Subscribers on YouTube!

14 Blog Followers! 

125 Instagram Followers!

2 Gig Harbor stores selling my cards!

Wow, this is my 200th Blog Post, and NO, I'm not throwing these figures out for no reason- they are a little proof that YOU REALLY LIKE ME! lol, for the last year I've been working on increasing the amount of posting that I've done, hoping to attract more interested viewers, and it looks like it has paid off :-)

My initial goals were to have 50 YouTubers, and 10 Blog followers... so hooray for all of you who surpassed my expectations. Granted, I set them relatively low, but you know I love challenges, so perhaps by this time next year I will have DOUBLED that goal. ..

I'm especially hoping to have my cards distributed in a few more places; combining my love of crafting with bi-monthly shop visiting always brings more smiles to my craft room.

Speaking of smiles in the craft room, this week I'm throwing sequins on EVERYTHING it seems, so that will be my November product challenge item. I got so many beautifully colored and shaped sequins at the Creating Keepsakes Convention last weekend, and they are fun and flashy so what's not to love? I'm also taking a harder look in my bling box and am determined to use up some of those barely there bling backers, so watch as I apply liberal doses of all manner of bling to get us through the end of 2014.

Ok, now to celebrate with me, this weekend I've got another Bling-tastic giveaway, so go ahead and comment below to enter and perhaps I'll draw your name on Monday. Let me know of some cute handmade goods or artsy little shop that could use a little CraftWithAnna carding!

Thanks as always for your support and ideas, enjoy your weekend, and Happy crafting!



Sunday applies washi tape to the edge of a plastic bag full of sequins,
 and a foam adhesive keeps things sliding around in there.

Who is the Queen of Bling?

Contest Results! HUGE thanks to Queen & Co for providing those incredibly fun prizes, and to everyone who took the time to play the last couple of weeks. I have some exciting shares coming in my next post, so thank you again and come back!

PartyLite Tealight Box Mini Album Share

I must be on a mini album streak; I've made one each week! Okay, it's only been two weeks, and I have no plans for another on the near horizon, but STILL.

And on top of that, I seem to be on a little YouTubing spree here as well! So yes, for the third time in the last three weeks, I have another video for you too!

Remember, all your comments, subscribing hits, and blog followings will get you a contest entry, so if you're loving your friend, tell her about it before Saturday's end of day as well. Your friend could say something like, "I'm commenting for my friend ____" and then you could both win!

Another great comment would be to suggest a product for me to focus on using this month. Each month I've been working on my stash by using a certain product on each project I'm creating. Not every thing has got every challenge product but it has been a lot of fun at attempting to push my creative boundaries.

So how do you push yourself out of your normal 12x12 box of usual additions? I'd love to hear about it (and you'll be getting those additional contest entries).

Good luck and thanks for reading!

Embossing how (not) to

Second Christmas Card for the Year Made!

I had no idea what a good value I was getting almost ten years ago when I picked up my beloved heat gun at a garage sale for only $20. In fact I couldn't figure out why my friend was so excited for me! Little did I know how much I would come to rely on the consistent perfect heat setting temperature it would bring to my life...

Well, now I have been reminded not to take anything for granted! My honey was thoughtful enough to purchase me a new one. From the tool store. Like, it's for a man! lol Oh, and it really is manly- it's gun shaped!

Over Heated Snow

I gave it a try the other night and was surprised to find it has two settings. Turns out the low is too low, leaving the embossing powder crystals in a semi melted state. The high setting has a tendency to burn the paper! And no, there is no happy middle ground on this.

On top of this displeasing state of non embossing success, I noticed that there were some strange vapors coming from the motor area of the gun when I started it back up again. With two young kids who love to get up close and learn all the crafty details of how the tools work, I just can't use it around them.

So, while I keep looking, I will amuse myself with the creation of some non embossed Christmas fun, like the rock and roll stamping I did with these holiday lights by the Stamps of Life. A simple drawn string and some bling, and it's ready to go :-)

Halloween Scrapbooking Magic

So many things to talk about in this post:
*I printed my pictures before leaving for work of course, so as soon as I could get the chance, I could scrap my Halloween pictures in a super fast fashion!
*I had a kit of papers already prepared, consisting of the gifted Witch Hazel and Farm Girl collections and some Creative Imaginations papers I bought while visiting Long Beach, WA in August. I have cut a lot of the patterned pieces but still had a few cardstocks in warm peach and yellow gold. *Rainie is dressed as a kitty in velour and Sunday wore the monkey suit. It has been worn four years now! Pretty good value cause I think my mom got it dirt cheap at Old Navy. It is sooo cute...
*The embellishment clusters include paper strip layers, fussy cut icons, phrase stickers and die cuts. I used the manufacture's strip as a title.
*See the striped block on the right? That was inspired by a layout created by Embellish It!'s Sheby Dredge. Basically I took a screen shot of her last email and then used that image to build my foundation. Scraplifting, or using sketches is a way to get your creative juices flowing, and then where you go from there is up to your imagination!
*Learned that one of my favorite companies, Queen & Co., is going to be donating some goodies for my giveaway! So that's pretty awesome. Enter by commenting on any YouTube video of mine. Subscribe and or follow this blog and you'll get another entry in the contest!
*The winner of my contest will be drawn at the conclusion of the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Bellevue, WA- CKC Seattle. There is still time to sign up to volunteer I think, so if you don't have much money, this is an option to consider. All the knowledge but you just pay for parking!*You can find out where I got that mask and more contest details in this video

November Contest Details

First off, YAHOO! The 2014 Creating Keepsakes Convention is next weekend and man, and I ever ready for it! Every year my bestie and I head up to Bellevue for a day (or three) of laughter, learning, more laughter, make and takes, more laughs, and a little chocolate fuel to keep us going as we enjoy every moment immersed in the land o'scrap.
In honor of this occasion for fun and to celebrate my nearing 50 subscribers on YouTube (go subscribe now!) there is a contest going right now through the conclusion of CKC on Saturday November the 8th, at which time I will draw a winner for an exciting prize pack featuring embellishments from one of my favorite companies: Queen and Co! Double Yahoo!
So how to enter?
As mentioned before, subscribe to my You Tube channel, follow this blog, and or leave a comment on any of my videos, and you will get your name on an entry ticket for each of those. Oh and my gratitude for following along on my craftwithanna-Dventures!


Did you catch all three episodes in my Halloween Card making series? Watch my savings add up in my last haul and project share video? Just click the purple YouTube button to the right and you'll end up on my CraftWithAnna channel where all those and more are listed. Select a playlist and you won't even have to push play for the next video that pops up... yes, you can loop me for learning lol


I'd love to hear what you think my product of the month challenge ought to be for the month of November...Thanks again for playing along and GOOD LUCK!