May 2015 Card Share for EmbellishKits.com!

It took me a few days to get my video made- instead of my usual craft submersion this weekend I instead participated in the creation of some terrific Mother's Day memories - go figure! I laughed to myself throughout the day because usually I take this day off from any caretaking activities, child related or otherwise. For some reason though I kept washing dishes and comforting the kids- so maybe I'm maturing in my motherly way lol.
My brother came over in the morning and helped us set up a playset one of Ray's clients gifted us last fall. I somehow managed to convince him that the best place for them to play would be directly across from my craft room window... so yes, I will need to spend even more time in there, "supervising!" Later in the day my mom and her husband came over and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon, complete with BBQ and a long distance chat with my step-sister in Germany. I couldn't help but show off my seedlings- but did not mention the crop of aphids I discovered hiding in all my kale. YECH!
But back to the showing off- you're here, you know I love to do it so here it is without further ado:

We certainly hope you are enjoying these kit preview and share videos! Show your support with a big thumbs up and tell a friend what they're missing- inspiration, ideas, and non-intentional impersonations of Rachel Ray by yours truly :-)
Thanks again for following!

May CARDMAKING Kit from EmbellishKits.com Conclusion

   When Shelby emailed me that this month's subscriptions from EmbellishKits.com were on the way, and that the May Card Kit would include a more masculine themed collection, I immediately thought of many holidays and birthdays coming up that offer themselves to a more subtle and classic design. The 6x6 paper patterns from the Jack and Jill collection and chipboard and sticker accents, twines and buttons all come together in layers that were easy to create but look absolutely stunning, making this an admirably texturized collection of 8 cards.

My Hero wears a Mulit-Function Tool

Starting with the full color example and directions for card number one, "My Hero,"  we used some foam adhesive to lift up the sticker sentiment and slipped a button behind it. Another layer of dimension is achieved with that black twine wrapped around the long rectangle. Rounded corners contrast with the column effect and mimic the frame around our sentiment.

Lovely Layers

 I'll admit, I fell victim to the same habit many of us do, I looked at that sticker and thought, Nope, not gonna use it, don't feel it, don't have boys etc. Then, as I followed this month's well-written instructions, my mind wandered to a different interpretation, and I thought of What makes a Hero to me? What came to mind were examples like, a dad teaching his kids how to survive in the forest. Or when a schoolmate stays close enough for a phone call for decades. Even a grown up taking a look a their life and deciding to act more mature or doing a bit of self exploration. Needless to say, the card now sits in my craft room while I debate which boy stole my heart enough to get a postal salute!

Based on Card Design Number Two

 Now, anyone who's taken a class or placed a custom order for cards from me will be able to tell you, I'm not very good at sticking to an example when I'm in the creative zone. One of the things I really appreciate about the card kits from EmbellishKits.com is that the directions and pictures let me get creative comfortably. Knowing which pieces I can set aside or use with each of the cards ahead of time lets me sift through the left over pieces, and get inspiration from the basic design. Here, instead of a vertical card and stacked banner (pennant) shapes, I turned the design and used a cut out phrases from the six by six papers instead of the stickers and chipboard. Instead of a father's day card, I've got myself a great card to give my brother the car junky next month!

There was just enough room at the left hand side to slip on that red chipboard BOY. With the blue and white twine I stuck to the star theme but used the red and white stickers, with a tiny blue chipboard circle layered over a bit of that blue airplane paper and an inked strip with a postal mark on it. Whenever you can cover more than one paper with an embellishment, it will help it to look as if it's pulling the card together; part of the overall design,  instead of that there's just another thing on the card.
I put a lot of my handmade greeting cards out for sale in Gig Harbor's Copy Mail It, and the card rack there has a majority of spaces for horizontal cards, so I tend to convert many designs to one that is stretched across the card front. Taking an idea and transforming it into a design that works for you is one of my favorite concepts to teach. In card #3, I used that thick brilliant red pre-scored cardstock and the Light Blue Kaleidoscope Paper, adhered to the center of the page. I didn't worry about the top cut too much, just width. Instead of the Orange paper, I used a row of those element symbols. That pattern, the airplane print, and the billiard motif had my mustache loving heart a flutter! A little bit steam punk but not in a nerdy way is what I kept think, as well as the songs from Oh Brother Where Art Thou and the Grapes of Wrath.

Card Number Three

Can you see the little red arrow I left attached to another sentiment strip from a sheet in the 6x6 paper pad? And another detail to keep in mind the next time you're working with border strips is how I centered the element boxes, leaving the same open width on the left and right edges. But enough about me, I thought this card would be great encouragement for a soon to be graduate or even just an average student  or friend currently struggling. As an inside sentiment, that Dream Big sticker finds a place to inspire the recipient. But what did I do with that gorgeous scripted wood veneer "today?"


Closer to the original! Card Number Four

Why, move it onto my next card, of course! I loved the idea of the contrasting pattern topped tag and since our local Gig Harbor High School's school colors are grey, dark blue, and white, I figured this would be a great graduation card to put in the store too. It doesn't hurt that our local Narrows airport just opened up their field for visitors to watch the aircraft up close and personal; perhaps some of our locals will be more inclined to day dreaming?

The alphabets included this month allow us to really customize these cards and I used the number stickers to put the graduating year on there. The rich colors, busy but subtle patterns, and the layers on layers give this card a lot of substance with very little effort on the maker's part and only a few scraps of paper. I think it's the wood veneer and the bold silky blue ribbon that give this card that pop of quality.
You can't tell by the size of this photo, but our next card is a whopping 9.25 inches long- and comes with a custom envelope to prove it! Hey, it's not the size of the card but the amount of paper you can get on it, and I actually saved this card for last so I could put my cut offs to good use. The tones of blue and white and talking about cut offs reminds me of the quilt my mom made out of all the legs we'd cut off our jeans each summer (does anybody even do this anymore?) That quilt darn near killed her sewing matching because we hadn't thought about all the rivets... hmmm, may have to go back and add a few blings to simulate that effect!

Let the flag fly!
Based on Card Design Number Five

The full color picture shows a few different patterns and stickers being used. Again, not feeling the brothers theme, I pictured a couple enclosing their love within this card that speaks of the pride a parent fells for their child when big things are on the horizon. If I'd thought to grab a close up you'd see that I layered chipboard and sticker sentiments over that large square chipboard sentiment sign. The compass points are layered too; I brought that red in to go with the bright crimson twine included in this month's card kit. Thought this would be perfect for a parent with a son graduating from the military or getting shipped out after school, too.

Card Number Six,
 perfect for an "Amazing Dad"

 Did you have a chance to see last week's card making tutorial? Together we layered a border sticker and a few patterned paper strips with chipboard and stickers to create one of the coolest Father's Day cards my hands have crafted. Working within a collection, there is not a lot you can go wrong with in selecting different patterns, but Shelby has a knack for creating designs that are easy to simulate and look amazing no matter how you interpret them.
As I mentioned in the video, if you wanted to turn this card on it's side and read vertically, it would be a snap; just cut your pieces to the correct height and cut the excess off the sides! The twine tied around the banner and layered under the chipboard ruler, as well as the dimensional adhesive behind the DAD pennants are two of my favorite features on this card. Plus, I'm a total sucker for all things wood grain!

Cad Number Seven

Because I had already used the compass and The Sky is the Limit stickers on other cards, I needed to mix up the design a little for card number 7, but I did still include many of the same elements. I have the blue airplane paper, the red chipboard airplane with the blue Adventure sticker, and that beautiful blue ribbon threaded out on either side. For some extra movement and texture I did two stickers at the top, the camera on the right is lower to the card front than the chipboard timepiece tag tied with baker's twine you see to the left. I like the way the two stickers, being the same color, almost appear to combine into a flag waving in the wind.


Bonus Card: Boy Defined

The designs and color photos in each of the kits from Embellish It also come with another bonus: you can use them again and again with patterns and embellishments of our choosing! Look at one of my bonus cards, which uses hardly any paper btw, and you will see many of the same placements as our example shows, such as the large, circled sentiment in the top right and a bold, main piece in the bottom left corner of the card. I even used a 1/3-2/3s ratio with the patterned paper strip to the right and the white cardstock background of my card front. You can learn terrific ideas on how to achieve that designer look on either of our cruises taking you around the Caribbean April of 2016.
The last card with instructions in this set got the horizontal flip again, and then I had some fun choosing stickers that would fit my Thought Up theme of a birthday card for a "One of A Kind," Awesome boy. Look, I got 7 stickers on there, as well as an additional chipboard element!
Working each month on trying to use every bit of these kits is almost the opposite of what I would normally tend to do with a new collection kit in my craft space. Isn't it like, a rule that you have to savor all the pretty things as you work with a kit, using only the pieces you're instructed to and saving the assorted left overs for just the right card front/ layout? And isn't it more likely that instead of being used, those pieces will float in a bag (if they're lucky) around from place to space, not getting used up at all.
Nu-uh; in my sanctuary, I've been attempting the practically impossible- I've been using up sticker sheets, discarding their empty frames on cling with a fling to the paper bin. That 12x12 piece of chipboard elements with only three pieces still in their places? Onto a card front they go- layered, stacked, and adhered with abandoned, or even (gap)  given to the children for artsing with- anything to move those products through my stash. After all, there are more cool patterns and motifs coming!

Bonus Card: Ta-Dou!

When I was working with the stickers, I kept admiring that baseball player and his quote about not letting fear get in your. This background design of a pattern on top, a pattern on the bottom, and a band of a another pattern or texture through the middle is one I turn to again and again, and as I mentioned before, I love me some wood grains. I chose the blue and grey with white striped scrap, and then an off-cut of the chevron which looked like directional arrows to me. I chose a few athletic traits from the element pattern, and then realized I could use them to spell out, "Ta-Dou!" That's sporty, right?!

my precious leftovers @AnnaBradshw

Bonus Card: Soar..

Thanks for joining me in another CraftWithAnna.com card share, using the May 2015 card kit from Shelby Dredge of embellishonline.com and EmbellishKits.com.

and the inside.

Although I used nearly every single piece of chipboard and sticker not part of an alphabet from this collection, the smaller prints on the six by six papers means even with tiny bits and pieces, I've got lots of leftover papers and embellishments still to play with from this month's kit, so be sure to follow me on instagram to see those finished creations turn up amongst pictures of my girls enjoying the spring sunshine here in beautiful Washington state. <3Anna

P.S. Feeling the need for some creative retail therapy? Go ahead and shop for a subscription that fits your papering needs, it would make a perfect Mother's Day gift to yourself or a loved one :-)

Sons of Scrap-archy

You may have read before that I am a big fan of late night scrappin... well, if you've read enough of my blog to know that, you probably know that I'm a fan of anytime scrapbooking lol.
Earlier this summer I found that one of our tv trays works perfectly for creativity in the living room. On the one hand, I am forced to gather a limited amount of supplies to work with. This challenge can help me to focus and also flexes my brain to come up with alternate ideas. My craft room is 30 feet away, too so it's not like I can't go and find the item I think will make a layout perfect!
On the other hand, I get to spend some quality time with Ray after the girls are asleep. By "quality" I am referring to the type of interaction couples nationwide experience nightly- zoning out in front of the boob tube! We hardly watch any tv in our house, so binging on some Netflix can really be a treat. One of our favorite shows is the Sons of Anarchy. We also enjoy House of Cards and the Orange is the New Black- or, the Orange and Black as my hunny refers to it.
Well yesterday I was griping to a friend that I've been doing altogether to much house cleaning and that it is really interfering with my creating! It was no surprise to me that such a build up of not making had me in the mood to really crank out some craft last night, and I was able to create three layouts in their entirety. Go me!
Often times the lack of supplies on hand will have me making most of a layout or card, and then finishing it up the next day or sometime later in the week. Last night I managed to get pen to paper on all three pages as well, and tucked them into my brand spankin' new red canvas fall album. A much better feeling than the one I had the previous day, when the only crafting I managed was putting a completed page into the same album. Not working on the page, just putting it away... lame!
So, often times I'm asked how I'm able to whip out the pages so fast? A lot of times it is because I'm working out of a pre-assembled kit I've made. Have you ever seen  a collection of items on your desk and thought, gee that's pretty! Well, when I do that, often times I will enclose said collection of goodies in a sheet protector. I keep between ten and twenty of these on hand to grab and put with photos at a whim. By adding a few more embellishments, or sometimes just an additional piece of background paper, I can sometimes stretch these one-page kits into three or more layouts, like I was able to do last night.
For September, my challenge product of the month is going to be using my stash of pre-made kits. A lot of them have photos in them that I want to include in albums already moved out of viewing, and seeing what I wanted to scrap with last year is like having my own Throwback Thursday any day of the week!
If you'd like some tips on how to create your own scrapbook kit, check out this movie I made last year. Grab a pen and paper, jot down some notes, and then go shop your stash (or favorite scrappy outlet) and then go to town! Or, go to town, shop, and then stay up late making something awesome :-) The choice is yours, of course.
Thanks for choosing to spend some time on my blog today, and if you've got a good show for me to watch I'd sure like to hear of it... the Sons had their final soap opera style dramatic conclusion last night and Survivor is merely on the horizon of my viewing schedule!
Hmmm... anyone else extremely disappointed that "Jax" is no longer being considered for the role of Christian Grey...? He does bad boy gooood! I'm not saying he's a great actor, but I believe it when he gets into a heap of trouble episode after episode all while wearing his custom baggy leathers :-D

Die Cut Crazy Birthday Blog Hop!

 Welcome back! I'm glad you stopped by today, because there is a super fun birthday themed Blog Hop going on amongst my Co-Contributor's at DieCutCrazy.com. This month, Eric from the PaperWizard has donated a lovely piece of blog candy, so be sure to comment on everyone's blog for a chance to win that! If you can follow us on facebook and hit the Like button on my post from yesterday, you can win a little something from ME as well :-D We're all so excited for the launch of our new website too! I hope you enjoy my little birthday card, it's full of die cuts and should somewhat easy to duplicate in your craft space of choice :-)

Ah, birthdays... who doesn't love a good excuse for a party, huh? Well, I've been surprised over the years, how many people actually don't enjoy them, but I wasn't raised that way. Having a daughter born on New Year's Eve meant my mom sacrificed a lot of year end partying in order to make my birthday special each year. Even as I've gotten older and said things like, "Oh mom, do what you want this year, I'm grown enough to be happy with a special meal with my family." She just laughs and says she'll be on call lol. Without fail, she always mentions that it must be time for my half birthday, as well! What a mom :-D

For this card, I used die cuts from the Basic Grey RSVP ephemera pack. Using preselected, coordinated die cuts makes it so easy to create a card with lots of layers and depth; just select a few pieces that seem to fit together, glue them with some multi-dimensional adhesives, and voila! You've created an intriguingly beautiful card for your bestie, man, mom, or whoever's birthday might catch you off guard in the future. I was so excited for this hop, because it seems you can never have too many birthday cards on hand, am I right?

I have been wanting to use that flowered frame for awhile, and this project was the perfect occasion. There was a smaller frame within it that I wanted to have a little more lift too, so I managed to cut my very tiny foam squares even tinier to fit in that thin underspace. It can be kind of annoying when a corner of your foam adhesive peaks out from under your layers, but no worries, I usually just add some more layers on top! 

The bottom right corner where this happy little accident occurred was just the right spot to add some flowers. I chose one of shimmery fabric, and one made from mulberry paper,  the little brad holds it all together and eliminated the need to find yet another type of adhesive to hold it all together. Ever since I started selling my cards, the idea of my card not falling apart after I've made it is a lot more appealing.

Now, after adding the acetate flowers die cut under the frames, and the Party banner on top, my card was looking oh so festive, but I wanted it to be somewhat summery, so I thought about some stamp sentiments I could make work for me. A package of K & Co. die cuts with fancy borders has been very handy to have around, it came with four or five different shapes, and was very inexpensive at Michael's.  Ever made a stamping mask before? Simply stamp your sentiment or image onto a scratch piece of paper. I like to grab a post-it note, and there are lot's of new products out there made for this type of fun too. Another way to use the one word from this stamp would have been to just color in the word "garden" with a marker and stamp it that way onto that K & Co. die cut.

After stamping your image, carefully cut out the part of the stamp you want to show on your project. Line it up in the desired location, stamp over, and looky-here, you have a perfect stamped phrase without any mess.

It's nice to continue the theme of your card on the inside as well, so I stamped some CloseToMyHeart flowers off the page and a simple birthday sentiment to finish this birthday card.  Another advantage to the post it notes? They are thin and come in a variety of colors, so if you aren't the best stamper (like me) and you make a boo-boo,* you can just cut out the post it note version and cover your mistake right up, while adding another bit of visual interest!

*If you don't remember to mask the "nd" in "and" to make an "A," you can also work a little piece of cover up paper into your design and the recipient will never know the difference!

I love the way the plastic die cut adds some shine to my card. It was even shinier after I realized I'd left the protective plastic cover on it! Yeah, I noticed that after I'd glued all my layers down, tried to lift part of it back up, and tore the plastic. So I just took a deep breath, carefully lifted it apart, got the plastic off, and made a mental note not to do that again!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about how I spruced up my die cuts to make this lovely card, full of dimension. Now, hop on over to our new site, www.DieCutCrazy.com and comment on each blog for a chance to win that amazing layout from the Paper Wizard. Follow DieCutCrazy on facebook for even more inspiration, and tune back in to see my latest round of cards going out in the shops next week!

Enjoy...
xoxoAnna

Mason Jar Madam

Inspired by Friendships

The world has gone mad for Mason Jars the last couple of years and its easy to understand why. In this fast paced and ever advancing technological age, we appreciate the simple symbols of captured space that we've grown up with.

Click on my Pinterest link to the right and then click on the search field. You'll see countless and duplicable ways to use those versatile wonders.

• Home Décor - seashells and sand, die cut paper flowers or butterflies, wine corks
• Dry Storage - detergent, beans, pasta, soup mixes, cereal
• Wet Storage - tea brewer, portable drinking glass, food preservation

With so many ideas, how can you incorporate the Mason Jar image itself into your next project? Think of the practical and whimsical applications and search your supplies for matches. With a little masking, my jars below were easily filled with stamped hearts! Leave a comment below with some of your ideas.

Filled with Fun - and LOVE!

This weekend I was fortunate enough to get four opportunities to create. Saturday after work I headed to Michael's to shop for and prep July's class samples. Oh darn, a reason to shop! Did you see last week's video from a shopping trip I took this April? So many sale items are available, but I had a good list to work off and got right to work with a custom home décor piece and TIm Holz mixed media clock.
Later in the day I enjoyed a beautiful view of Lake Nahwatzel, in Shelton. A good friend hosted me overnight in her grandparent's cabin. She always lets me bring plenty to craft with and oohs and ahs when prompted :-)  Early Sunday morning I was up working on these cards and sent a quick pic home to check in with Ray. It's awesome to have a respite from mom-ming.
Included in my overnight kit was a package of watercolor and my acrylic block. I also brought and stamped with Momento black ink for the first time. It may have been my photo-type paper, but I didn't find the ink to be as steadfast as I expected it. I love how the watercolor added such vibrant pops of color, but also subtly highlighted the jar lids on the first card.
 While stamping with the paint was possible, its not advisable if you want a crisp image. A while back I watch Kristina Warner and Jennifer McGuire stamp a text image and then paint over the top of it, and that's what I did on the "Save the Date" lable. This is a technique I'll be repeating!
After a quick dip in the lake and an even shorter search for my glasses that flew off my face when I jumped in without thinking last year, I was in the car jamming back to Gig Harbor for an afternoon class with an eager student named Laura. Together we explored the intuitive Cricut Expression. I was so proud of the card she created, I'm thinking of adding a "student gallery" tab up above! This would be a place I could show off what my fabulous students are producing under my guidance.
So where are your mason jars hiding? Think how cute a handful of fresh cut flowers out on the patio would be, inside the sturdy glass container. Thanks for checking in and don't forget to comment on how you're gettin' crafty!

Fathers Day Gift-Cards

Traditional gifts for dad this year in the form of a shirt from me and another shirt with tie from Rainier :-) in the form of handcrafted paper cards, of course! I saw this idea while surfing the web (working) last Saturday. We made them Sunday morning and I think that helped them look so crisp and fresh.
My card is on the left and used a six by six My Minds Eye sheet as the shirt base. Its a subtle dark grey pinstripe which paired beautifully with these dark greybuttons from an Sei album kit. There was no + sign in the glitter thickers, but a couple snips later it is barely noticeably pieced together.
Rainier has been using scissors since a very young age and I'm so proud to see her advanced skills in how closely she followed the outline of the tie on her card. I drew a line around the outside, which she cut around, then she cut closer to the line again, and finally, cut the line off. On the inside of the card (which she makes first for some reason, and I always leave for the end), she stamped DAD and drew her sister's name as well as her own, and some other...sentiments.
Dad loved his card and we love dad!

Six by Six Series: Episode Two

I'm back today sharing some more from my Six by Six series, all about how to use those awesome miniature versions of our favorite paper collections.

A simple square torn right from the pad makes a great background- as long as your photo is smaller than 4x6... but this idea can be easily interpreted and used for a piece of paper that is about 8x8 inches.

 I have a lot of these because I'm a paper hoarder and often times will cut the back out of my scrapbook pages. What I mean is, that when I'm only using a sheet as the very background layer and the middle will be covered, I just cut that part out. I generally cut in about two or three inches all the way around from my 12 inch sized patterns, leaving me with about a 9x9 or 8x8 square to use on another project.

I'm bad! I even do it for really small pieces of paper. There is something about a beautiful print that gets to my paper cutting heart :-) So what then do I do with those tiny scraps of paper? Well, I've been known on (only) one occasion to go through them all and donate them, but I love to incorporate them somehow.

What I've been doing a lot lately is using them in little border clusters.  A couple strips of paper from the same 6x6 paper pad can help to balance the page, and of course the colors go effortlessly together.

See how I layered a couple pieces behind the top of the green photo mat, as well as under the title block?Check out the bottom left and top right hand corners of this page. This is a fun and funky way to bring some color to the corners of your pages and help the eye travel around.

For more funk, add in a sheet with similar colors from an entirely different collection. You can't tell, but this soft pink on cream is actually from Christmas collection!

If you are having trouble matching cream and white colors together, a simple swipe of ink on the edges will make it easier for the colors to blend together. The ink works really well at distracting the eye from "clashing" colors. Try it on an outfit soon!

I'm off to the library to upload a new video, creating a special card for the grad in your life with items from around the house. So come back and check it out!

I hope you're enjoying this series- I'd love to get your feedback through a comment! & Happy Crafting!

Six by Six Series: Episode One

In this series, I've been exploring different ways to make use of those cute little six by six inch paper pads of patterned paper available from most designers. These miniature replicas of the full sized sheets are perfect for using on your scrapbook pages, as well as on your cards; their smaller sized prints can even help you include somewhat bolder patterns with ease. Another bonus? If you fall in love with a new release but can't justify the purchase price, you can still get the designs you love and not break the bank- or appear to be walking through the door with yet another ream of paper!

Bonus number three? A lot of the collection pads are coming out double sided. Yes, twice as much fun in one small price! Look at how easy it was to just tear out two of the same pattern (green snowflake) from my Jillibean Soup Winter Tortellin & Spinach Soup 6x6 mini pad. This brand actually gives you three sheets of each double sided design, so I had no problem using two sheets for my background. I did have a problem tearing the paper out, but no worries, I just cut it across with my paper trimmer and used my kraft background to create a lovely border. A little inked distressing on the edges, along with a few coordinating stickers from the same company, and my Mommy & Me layout was almost done.

Do you have a problem cutting into a 12x12 sheet of paper... I'm not sure why it is so hard for me but I really struggle with it. With the smaller designs, I don't have that problem at all! See the row of houses that anchors my page? Yes, it was cut from a pint sized sheet as well. Perfectly coordinated embellishment base for my word cluster down there! A few more little houses up at the top help to create that visual triangle, along with the repeated cirlces stickers and typewriter motif.

I'm really pleased with how this page turned out. It was super simple to create, with the die cut circle as a photo mat to break up the very linear design of photo and sticker placement. So many people comment that Sunday is like a little mini-me, and what better way to visually tell that story than with some little mini prints! So how will you use your little darlings? Leave a comment below and come back by my blog to see the rest of my Six by Six series. Happy crafting friends!

Six by Six Series- Episode IV: Smile

Remember when the Stars Wars series renewed itself by starting its saga all over again with prequels, leaving you wondering how will this all lead up to what I already know?! Well this series won't be filled with laser guns and jet planes, but there will be a love story and maybe even some hairy animals!

I've got about four six by six paper pads that I've been experimenting with including on my scrapbook pages and card fronts. I'm seeing other designers incorporating these miniature patterned  papers in their projects too, and hope you'll share with me in the fun of training our brains to reach for them too.

6x6 patterned papers, and 8x8 for that matter, come in a down-sized version, making them ideal for including in cardmaking, but I find that really helps to makes them more neutral when adding them to a background in scrapbooking, too. Their size is perfect for creating a quick grid of four sheets to equal 12 inches all around. If, like me, you tear a page a bit in your haste to rip it from the binding, just think of that whoops as a reminder that these papers would like a scrap piece or background underneath them. Trim off -or maybe enhance - the torn edge and you'll end up with a crisp little border frame on your page.

When selecting my prints for this layout, I looked for four busy designs with background colors going from light to dark. The little miniature cut-apart sheet provided me with some coordinated title pieces, and I used a couple of circle punches on the starbursts print for some simple confetti-like sprinkles. My Minds Eye papers are generally cream based designs, and for the journaling space I needed a really neutral piece, preferably with lines to write on. I remember using the full size version of one of the papers in a layout I made last year, and turned it over to find the same grid which would be perfect. You can see the full-size version layout here:

Have you ever experienced the rhapsody of pre-breakfast scrappin'? I spent Wednesday night at my moms house and she had that lovely 8.5"x11" enlargement of Grandma and little sister waiting to show me. Isn't this a beautiful print? It was taken last Friday while visiting with our cousin Paulette from Arizona- Hi Cousin!!!  I love that simply looking at the photo leads to a grin on my face.
While the girls ate breakfast and did a little crafting of their own, I whipped this together in less than 20 minutes. Now that's a habit that could use reinforcing! 
Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Check back throughout the week as I share the prequel pages in my six by six series, and if you happen to be at the craft store, investigate those handy pads of miniature designer papers!

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!

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:

Wait! Don't throw that away?

I admit, I have a problem throwing away little bits of pretty paper. So I'm not surprised that I was inspired to create my own version of enamel dots with this tiny punched circle from a cricut cut tag I used.

It doesn't look like much, but you wouldn't believe how proud I am of this little shiny dot and it's friends!


They were really easy to make, I just  added a blob of Close To My Heart's Liquid Glass to the top and let it dry overnight on a shred of wax paper. I wanted to be sure it was really dry before I touched it because sometimes I get over eager and ruin things!


This isn't a project I would necessarily recommend, as it was a tad tricky getting the paper to come off the glue tip without spreading sticky all over the place, but it was fun, and now I know how to make a very coordinated little blingie for any layout that "needs" it. And since you bothered stopping by today, now you do too!

Be Still My Heart!

Well in the first year or two of having my blog, I would have thought nothing of a week or two between posts, but now that I'm in the habit of sharing my life with THE WORLD, I actually felt bad for not having put anything up on here since Valentine's! Sorry, world, I know how interested and disappointed you must have been!
All joking aside, I've been terribly busy and had to (gasp) put my crafting on the back table this last month as I pursued the direct selling business sides of my life. On top of that, I was finally able to replace my phone's cracked screen- if you saw it you thought it was horrible and unsafe and remarkable that it would still work. When you replace your phone and all of the pictures were saved on the phone, guess where they stay?! Great lesson in downloading though :-)
I did create quite a few scrapbook pages in the last couple of weeks and I was really inspired to try some new things with my "letter stickers and paper" product challenge. Surprisingly inspired, actually. I had forgotten how easy it can be to simply build on top of a plain background for instance, or how a subtle texture like embossed polka dots can take that plain background to a whole new level of fun!
and my dear little Letter stickers, how I love thee! I love to mix and match your fonts, I love to create letters that I'm lacking out of letters that I won't use i.e. a 'g' turns into an 's' with a simple snip of the scissors, I love to use as many of you as I can to build extremely long titles. My pages were sometimes on the receiving end of no less than five different brands, types, and colors of tiny alphas! So that's something I'll be continuing to play with. Side note: my fixation with filled in letters seems to be waning slightly. But only slightly.

To start of my March on a bright and positive note, guess who is learning to craft by osmosis?! Little Sunday has demonstrated both stamping, with a scrap paper beneath her project for surface protection, as well as sponging edges, glue sticking, sticker application, and tape runner use. All in the last week, and completely unprovoked by me. YESSS! Another successful conversion hahah!

I love the sound of crying to craft in the morning...

So now, on to my March product of the month to work with (drumroll, please)


Stamps!


Check out the new issue of Die Cut Crazy, and may be the creative forces be with you!

L O V E

Love is in the air, and lately I've been thinking of, well, things I love! Specifically, "things" I feel like I need. Things, that aren't really things at all; like my family, cuddles and snuggles, creative time and space, good nutritious food, healthy communication... all the important stuff that gets me through life in as effervescent state as is possible. But "the greatest of these... is Love."

It's all I really need.
 

Everyone knows that Valentine's is the perfect occasion for getting a loved one a little something, like chocolate, or perhaps a beautiful card, maybe dinner out at a fancy restaurant, or my dream: A DIAMOND :-o
However, there are a few people out there who look at this special day more as a marketing gimmick than as an opportunity to make it magical. Those kind of people believe in spoiling everyday, not waiting for holiday occasions, and I'm lucky enough to live with a guy like that.

My sweetie has always been great at making dreams come true. He is usually willing to pick me up a box of chocolate - it fuels my creativity- when he's at the store. He loves to spend an hour or more gazing into my eyes as we dine on an exquisitely prepared entrée while dining out. However! He is completely against the purchase of diamonds because of the hardship their extraction places on miners in impoverished countries. What a Bummer for me!

Enter... my new favorite website to wish list on! The considerate folks at BrilliantEarth.com offer Beyond Conflict Free diamonds, meaning, not only are they considered conflict free, mined ethically and with respect for people, but for the environment as well! According to their website, they even track their diamonds from the source to the store, ensuring they arrive without being entangled in the corruptive practices that can profit from these valuable stones. Brilliant Earth even goes so far as to incorporate recycled and reclaimed gold, silver, and platinum. Wow, I think that's an awesome way to create beauty out of what someone else can't use anymore.

Hmmm... maybe I'll just casually place honey's name on their mailing list...

Here's how I created my Valentine's layout:

 I find it easiest to mix and match patterns and colors when I'm using papers that are all from the same collection. I'm in LOVE with the SEI Alpine wood grain patterns and color tones, so I knew that a few of these tones and wooden textures would form the neutral base of my page. I had this idea of highlighting the "O" and using a heart shape instead. I found a cute double heart on the cut apart sheet, which gave me some more ideas about the colors and embellishment choices to come.

  I also envisioned polaroid style frames around my new Posterboard alphabet stamps by Close To My Heart. Stamped in Chocolate ink on this cream and red grid two or three times to get that dark solid outline, and then shifted the stamp slightly without re-inking to achieve the shadow effect. Then I used my square punch to create identical openings in three brown, kraft flocked rectangles.

I ended up with a lot of these little strips of paper and thought it would be cute to staple them all together and do ... something with them! My staples didn't quite work the way I envisioned, though, and I'd love for you to comment with a use for my little whatever it could be.

To highlight my heart shape even more I framed it in red gingham, and backed it with a square of red. There was a line border pattern going around the red square, and only one line of the box shows... and that is just fine to me! I fussy cut with my exact-o knife around the outside of the heart shape and popped up the outside border with two sizes of dimensional adhesive; thin at the top and bottom, and thicker pop-dots on the sides. I thought it would look more dimensional that it did, so maybe if you try this yourself, either leave off the thin top and bottom dots, or double up the side pops.

Once my polaroid style frames were adhered atop stamped-letter-topped grids, I considered how I would dress them up. Some of my ideas included tying twine around the edge or bottoms, or adding enamel dots or brads, but in the end I added some red chipboard arrows on top of a sticker that I cut into three edge pieces and stuck to the left of each letter. From what was left in the middle of the sticker, I punched two hearts and placed them at the bottom right of my heart's polaroid.

For contrast to all the warm colors, I added some silver Mr. Huey's ink to the background, and then layered silver ribbon, dots, and hearts stickers to each of  my framed groupings. A double dose of hand cut hearts and a peach woodgrain in between put the focus on "L O V E," and left me a little room for my handwritten title add on, "it's all I need."

It's true. Despite all the things I want (chocolate, more washi tape, and yes, Diamonds) and feel I need; time with friends, being surrounded by family, having a creative escape daily, it all boils down to the fact that without Love, I'd be lost.


Check out the upcoming March edition of Die Cut Crazy to see even more fun ways to use the heart shape, Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy a Happy Valentine's!

I love you, Law!