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

Let It Rain!

Do you have a theme song? I mean, is there a song that has been playing throughout your life that seems to come on the radio at just the right time, the lyrics of which echo parts of your life experiences? You know, the one that no matter what, you will be singing out loud the words too... ya, you know you're thinking of it right now!

Sometime within the last year I was on Shimelle.com and either read a post or watched a video of her talking about visiting the David Bowie exhibit at her local museum. Apparently he had saved so much of his early scribbling and assorted paraphernalia over his (50 year?) career that it needs exhibition status. Shimelle challenged us to scrapbook based on a song, or an artist that we really felt a connection with.

First song to come to mind? Prince and the Revolution's, Purple Rain.

 Yup, I'm a tried and true fan of THE Prince. Raised to want to fling my panties on stage even before I knew why anyone would be interested in doing something like that! Side note- I often wondered which day of the week pair I'd have thrown...

So, did I want to scrapbook about "maybe I'm just like my mother?" or "maybe I'm just like my father?" "Why do doves cry?" NO! I wanted to fit this song to the fun pictures I'd taken of my family picking plums over at my moms house last summer.

Purple rain, get it? lol, 'cause if you've ever had plum trees, or just fruit trees for that matter, you know that the ground is apt to get messy once the blossoms turn into those natural fruit gems.

I gathered many different shades of purple, my favorite color naturally, and then I envisioned lots of frilly looking cream colored paper reminiscent of those popular flouncy blouses men wore in the eighties. Honestly, what was up with the pirate look?! And even more honestly, were any of the men in your life wearing blouses? lol I only had eyes for Prince. I mean, when he showed up at the concert I saw two years ago wearing a caftan (of all the headwear he could have chosen!) with what I'm guessing was a cape- now that is a real man, folks!

The page on the left hand side was actually a pre-made deal, complete with torn paper layers, paper pieced multi-colored border, and sewing. I wanted to mimic that look on the right hand side and it turned out I had just enough shades of paper to work with. I love the way they look side by side, and although I added it after these photos were taken, I also added some stitching with my sewing machine to the bottom of the right hand side page as well. Ended up moving my sewing machine into an even more prominent location in my craft area, so we'll see if that helps me to use it as much as I desire too.

My best friend had met me for some scrapbooking and catching up at Michael's Saturday, and brought me like, the entire October Afternoon Witch Hazel line, including two sticker sheets! What a pal, huh? I wanted to try and incorporate something from that mass of goodness, and found the music notes border sticker to fit my theme perfectly. Not sure what the song actually is, but who cares right? I also made a witch into a garden fairy by adding a crown sticker over her pointy hat :-) I used some of the tab stickers for a four-photo flip up so I could include even more photos, and added a lot of my friend's washi tape in layers around the layout too.

When I think of Prince, I also think of Diamonds and Pearls- as embellishments! but, while neither of those items was seeming to be the right accessory, I did include the quote, "More Precious Than Pearls"- perfect for describing the bounty that God provides us each harvest, as well as the joy of feel watching my beautiful daughters, spending time with my family and enjoying the same activities I grew up doing. Certainly a precious enough idea to capture.

One last thought on scrapbooking: what about scrapping those terribly unflattering photos... my thought is, include them anyway lol! These pictures of Ray certainly don't capture him at his most handsome-est, but they are funny and I love how much Sunday looks like him in the photos we took. I used that little witch sticker to write out, "Is this Organic?" and then wrote in, "Was that from Safeway?!" The plum he's eating is freshly picked from the tree, but the quotes are a little inside joke that goes back to my step dad trying to pass non-organic food off on us by saying, it came from Safeway!

So what's your theme song, friend? Leave a comment below, and come back this Friday, August 15th, for a birthday blog hop sponsored by DieCutCrazy! Eric from the Paper Wizard will be giving away an uber-fun layout kit to one lucky hopper! 

Anatomy of a Late Night Scrap Sesh

Late at night when the kids are in bed, I like to have Ray select a few photos for some "Scrapbook Starts." That's my little nickname for these pages I start and don't usually complete right away. You'll notice these examples are pretty basic... they'll be spruced up sometime today, but here's a peek into my late night creative process!

I generally start with the photo itself. Thinking of a basic title, or the story I want the photo to tell helps me get into the mood to gather my supplies. The chosen photo or story may also influence the colors or theme of papers I'm shopping my stash for. It really helps to take the photo to the paper stored in our craft room; you can pretty easily tell what "goes" (and doesn't ) by holding the photo up to a few selections. There can be surprise pairings of patterns that emerge as my creative engines begin to turn over!

Next, I reach for add-ons like stickers or die cuts that I may have thought of while looking at the photo or searching for a background. The way I have my embellishments stored makes this a really easy thought to page process. Check out this tour of my craft room for a glimpse at one of the ways I've had my space organized. I look for either matching colors, a theme that fits, a phrase to use as a title, or maybe just something shiny that needs to be used.

I recently overhauled my die cut storage system, and along with my August Product of the Month Challenge and wanting to use more of my old stuff up this year, I'm hereby announcing that my product of the month will be... Die Cuts! On August 15th my fellow contributors to DieCutCrazy and I will be hosting another Blog Hop, so watch for that! Last night I got into my circa 2009 Storytellers collections and chose this "Delightful" set that went well with the photos and papers I'd chosen. The great thing about their die cuts is that they already look layered and embellished, so sprucing them up is not actually needed, but very easy to do. See how I layered photo corners over those already on the background patterned paper above? And in the layout below, I simply added paper flowers, and used my exact-o knife to cut out a small part of the design to layer on top for added dimension. There were more than enough pieces to spread across two pages that will go side by side in my album, so I put the extras into a new kit, made from papers I'd thought of using but didn't. I  mean, why put them away when I can use them for another late night crop session?! 

So sometimes, on simple pages like those two, I can add a few finishing touches that bring them nearly to "enter the album" stage. Touches like the brads in the centers of the flowers, or the hand drawn blackberry vines with custom blended ink splatter berries. Touches like the eyelets on those punched circles, or inking the edges to make the white core disappear.

On the page to the right, I chose a package of Glitz Design's cardstock stickers to embellish my layout. You can see the page is still lacking- nothing is holding the banner together, there is no title or journaling, and frankly, it's hard to tell what the story behind my holding a large gun with a gleeful smile is. And guess what, it's totally okay that the page is incomplete! I fully intend to go back in and put those finishing touches on sometime today or later this week.

In the meantime, I may think of a much better title (although, "Annie Get Your Gun" will be hard tobeat), I may change the angle of the story I want to tell, or add variegated yarn instead of black twine as I intended... the choices are all still there, but I can make them in the my actual craft room,during daylight hours easier than late in front of the tv, on a card table set up by the sofa at night. On the other hand, I sometimes find that I'm really okay with how it looks and I just add a quick dash of fiber and journaling to get it in the album pronto. These simple pages add a different visual element to albums that can almost become monotonous in all their embellishments and details. As long as those pictures are getting printed and/or our stories are being told, there's no "wrong" way to scrapbook!

So theres a peek into my late night creative process... now you know why I'm posting photos of my work to facebook at 12:23 am! Let me know, how do you maximize your creative energy? Do you have a little routine that makes it easier to craft in a jiffy? Leave a comment below, mark your calendar for August 15th's DieCutCrazy blog hop, and as always, thanks for reading!

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/

Natalie – http://ngcards.blogspot.co.uk

Charisma – www.charismacardz.blogspot.com
Carlyann – www.sweetncrafty.blogspot.com

Emma Pountney – http://tinyurl.com/m42q998

Sarah  – www.sarahshandmadecardsx.blogspot.co.uk

Mandy – www.mandysparkles.blogspot.com

Marie – www.cardmakingmazza.blogspot.co.uk

Jo  - www.determinedcrafter.blogspot.co.uk

Vee- www.bearykrafti.blogspot.com

Susan – www.mixamatoasties.blogspot.co.uk

Lorraine – www.travellingcolours.com

Emma – www.emgoescardmaking.blogspot.co.uk

Tina – www.tinamarie997.blogspot.co.uk

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!

DieCutCrazy Valentine Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Valentine Blog Hop. I and the other designers have made some wonderful Valentine projects to inspire your own  crafting with your die cuts. If you just joined our hop, be sure and go back to the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Blog to learn how you can enter to win a prize from Die Cut Crazy Magazine when following the hop from designer to designer.  

 I have two projects to share with you, first, a scrapbooking process video using a square punch to dress up a background:

This is a two page layout- the half you can't see is where I used my punch (of course)!

 Next, I'm sharing with you a Memorial Scrapbook page! 

What A Guy 12x12 Scrapbook Layout

Now, scrapping about a departed friend may not be the typical way to lovey dovey up your albums, but I was inspired around 6:00 in the morning on Thursday to create this for my best friend and her daughter, who I know continue to love and think of this amazing guy all the time. I hit facebook and pulled off some pictures from his sister's album, and then I found some really nice comments and rememberances that seemed to sum up some of my own memories about him.

You can see that I also used a few heart punches and die cut letters as well.

Here's a fun tip: when you're pulling your die cut letters off a big sheet, pull Towards yourself. That way if the paper tears (as it always seems to do) the tears will be on the back of the letter instead of across the front.

Another fun tip: go around the outside of your letters with a coordinating marker. In this case I used a black marker around the edge of the black letters. It's a very subtle way to get rid of those chits left behind without using your scissors :-)

I wanted to show you how I went about printing on my 3x4 die-cuts by Me & My Big Ideas. First, I added the photos and phrases to a word processing document. Once printed, all I had to do was adhere my die cuts over those printed areas with some repositionable glue. I used Herma dots. Put the printed-on paper back in your machine with the die cuts stuck down, push print again, and Voila! Custom die cuts!

Sometimes I get a bit lazy when it comes to technology, so in some places I just punched out the space I desired and glued down the cut journaling strips or pictures with my trusty square punch you saw me using in the video.

My last little tip today is also a bit of a lazy admission: I love the look of sewed paper, but I don't want to get my machine out. So what do I do? Well sometimes I use some rub-ons, but usually I can draw some very nice dash lines and I get a terrific effect! You can see below here how I just set my Tim Holz ruler down on the page, and with a red Creative Memories pen, I drew dash lines. I usually turn or angle the ruler a couple times to make it look like I ran it through the "machine" a couple times. Most times, people looking at an embellishment like this won't be able to tell its not actually thread!

Thanks for stopping by the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Valentine's Blog Hop. I hope my projects inspire you to create your own lovey- dovey Valentine project.  Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

I'm hoping you will  give me some ideas about what product I should feature in every project this month!

Next up in the hop is  Allie. Go see the amazing project she has prepared for you to enjoy!

 If you just joined the hop, here is a list of designers so you don't miss any. Remember, if you leave a comment on each blog, you will be entered to win a six month subscription to Die Cut Crazy! Good luck :-)

Debbie http://www.scrapmequickdesigns.com/

 Anna http://craftwithanna.blogspot.com

 Allie http://mycardparty.com

 Nancy www.scrapperatheart.com

Melissa www.cardtreasures.wordpress.com

Carlyann  www.sweetncrafty.blogspot.com

Die Cut Crazy Magazine  http://diecutcrazymag.com/

Advertisement Repurposed

I love a chance to use a bit of advertising in my projects, and once I realized the Lumber Liquidators flyer had all these choice samples of woodgrain in them (drool), I quickly started adding large cuts to my stash box.

My coworker will receive this on her birthday, along with another repurposed item I worked up for the February 2014 Valentine's themed issue of Die Cut Crazy. Be sure to check that out, I'm really proud of how it turned out!

You can see that I've made a little garden out of die cut Close To My Heart flowers, with enamel bling centers, and a cute butterfly flying about, trailing a few pearls. For some extra dimension I added my theme product of the month, baker's twine. Then I stamped the Celebrate phrase onto some scraps cut into banners. Pretty much anything outdoorsy, I put banners on!

 Anyway, these office cards get passed around for everyone to sign, and my card has a lot of delicate layers of embellishment on it. Imagine my horror at thinking of all the blings and flowers flinging off as the card slides in and out of an oh-so-secretive envelope. So, instead of walking it around personally to ensure no damage ensues, I sealed the top of the card with a bit of packaging cellophane.

Around the outside edge of the card I ran four pieces of double-sided Scrappy Tape. It has a peel off backing, so once I had that off, I could lay the packaging plastic right on top, and then trim off the excess. This worked beautifully and it felt awesome to hand it off for circulation care-free.

Tomorrow I'll be uploading a new movie (yeah!) and then on Saturday morning you can blog hop with the DieCutCrazy contributors as we share fun Valentine's tutorials.

My projects will feature some different ways to incorporate punched shapes in your backgrounds, so find a couple of your favorite dies or punches or cut files or whatever, and lets craft together!

Christmas Cards Continued

I've been concentrating so much lately on getting organized around the house that I haven't taken much time to write about it, what a bummer. But, as usual, in between my chores I have still found ways to release some creative energy, so here is another fun way I figured to use my Christmas cards received this year; enter the hole punch.

This relic of our school days still comes in useful and makes it really easy to slip just about anything into a binder, provided it can span the width of two of the binder rings. Otherwise things get a bit wobbly, which bothers me, but may not bother you?

I put all these cards in between the couple of Christmas pages I've created and I love the way they break up the monotony of my regular 12x12 album pages. For some extra visual and textural interest I added this large chipboard piece and glued on all the postage that was on the mailing envelopes. I just couldn't let all those pretty little pictures go in the garbage :-)

I accomplished two things with this dash of inspiration: 1) I got that stack of Christmas cards received off my craft desk. Who put them there anyway!? Oh yeah, me, whoops! Anyway they are cleared and there is more room for crafting yeah! and 2)Now we have the names and addresses of those thoughtful clients and family members who spent the time and postage to let us know they were thinking of us over the holidays. Every year it seems like I hear of more and more people doing away with card sending. Even Ray has made the comment a few times, but of course I still make him take my homemade cards around to all his clients heehee.

I even included an extra Christmas letter card Rainier helped me make for my Close To My Heart friends. I think this is a really neat way to include a little summary of what I thought it was important to share with people I don't see very often but think of while crafting regularly. Since I didn't do any journaling yet on my Christmas layout, I now am feeling completely guilt free about what I consider to be "unfinished business."

Last bit of this post, and then I'm going to spend some time on a new process video I'm hoping to release in conjunction with this Saturday's Valentine Die Cut Crazy Blog Hop... I've got a couple other blogs started up and put some new posts on there tonight as well. So if you're interested in what I have to say about the latest in our families lifestyle/food choices, or what I'm up to with my PartyLite business, just click on my blogger profile and you'll see them listed under my name.

Thanks for stopping by!