Nightmarish Night Class

  I fear there's something in the air...

 I experienced my most out of control class EVER last night... and yet it still ended up a success!  There were some students who needed no coaching whatsoever (until they did), and some who would have liked me to paint their Nightmare Before Christmas inspired scenes for them!

You know, one of the most boggling aspects of this get together was that the most talented artists had the most trouble with accepting praise for their talent... what reminder that when we let self doubt and negativity cloud our minds, we actually become unaware of our gifts, or unable to acknowledge the reality of how gifted we truly are.

I hope that on this first day of October, you are finding some joy in the color changes, falling leaves, and from the knowledge that you are magnificently formed by the most talented artist of all <3

My Library Peeps

 The Friends of the Key Center Library sponsored another #CraftWithAnna class on Monday and it was SO much fun! The theme was Faux Batiking, and the idea I had was that we would use bleach on fabric with wooden block stamps to create some unique impressions.

The images were decidedly not distinct, except in their originality! There was hardly any way to predict what would happen. Depending on the fabric, the amount of bleach and water ratio'd, the quality of the stamp and or the image of it, they all created something! I made sure to caution each participant that the most important thing to remember was that the goal was to experiment, and have fun, not to expect perfection, and to enjoy the process.

Judging by the feedback, I'd say those goals were achieved!

 

Seeking Sun and Fun at Silverbow

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Fall Photo Fun

Another nod of wonder to embracing some technological shortcuts-  like having a blank scrapbook page photograph to superimpose my fall photos on to!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Open Roads

Ventured over the pass last weekend to scout out some possible over winter residents. Our destination: somewhere around Cle Elum. I'd only found out the weekend before that all the hotels in the area were booked, so we knew we'd be camping, but where was to be determined.
Growing up, our family often pulled into a more hospitable campground than Mother Nature usually provides... not at all in terms of scenery, but definitely a campground is preferred when small children are about. Nevertheless we took our chances camping off the state land and were pleasantly satisfied with the conditions, site, and view at our camp.
The rushing roar of the river drowned out any noise and provided a blank backdrop for Rainier's guitar and song singing to fill the air. She strummed that thing over rocks, down to the river's edge, from atop a creosote-soaked bridge... I was impressed! "Sixteen Tons" amongst the boulders walking back from a hike was epic.
Soon enough we'll find out if Moe or Stoney, above will be rooming here for the winter. Their friend Rio is a perfect match for our pony Chippy, though, and regardless it'll be fun having them. High Country Outfitters runs trail rides, group overnights, and girl's camp all summer and leases a portion of their well-trained herd mules and horses out to riders from fall to spring. The owners, Stacy and Brian invited us up to peruse their wares so to speak.
It would have been really hard to choose but I had fallen for Stoney before we left after seeing him online, and Moe and Ray bonded- you can guess how that went. We're lucky to be able to afford this opportunity and I'm looking forward to getting more comfortable than I've ever been, riding and just being around the horses in general. Rainie and I have been riding Chippy a bit but I'm learning to recognize my weaknesses.

 

Turkey Talk

Some people clean out their closets, set weight loss goals, maybe even get themselves a new planner to stay organized with at the beginning of the year. I'm one of those people (minus the weight loss, I'd just like to regain some muscles), but another of my tasks this first week into 2016 is to get my Christmas photos printed and housed.
As I've mentioned in previous blog postings, my Winter series of albums don't seem to ever get "finished." After pondering the pertinent questions of, does that matter?, why don't they? and oh, I forgot I was going to scrapbook that moment- how can I still fit it in? I've come to some conclusions:

No, to me it doesn't matter too much that my Christmas album from 2014 is just as incomplete as last year's. I'm always tucking photos away to go to crops- and then I print photos on the way to the event and buy papers to use with them there. And I know myself well enough to know THAT's not likely to change! But it's inevitable that I will always have gaps in my chronologically housed pages. I enjoy revisiting empty page protectors that sometimes have a few photos tucked inside- they are like treasures; scrap worthy time justifiably waiting to be used.
Why don't my albums get finished? Because Life Happens. New photos are taken. I'm also starting to wonder if the January, CHA spring and summer themed releases aren't moving me out of holiday move at more a rapid pace than my shopping habits of yesteryear did. I'm grateful to have the amount of time and space to dedicate to preserving the highlights of our life together. I love seeing all those smiling faces every time I go looking for where to put in another page that has finally seen it's way to completion.
Now, the fitting into previously deemed "completed" albums all those additional printed memories can be a bit more painful. Take this year's fall- 2016 run of albums... there are now five of them. FIVE, PEOPLE! Thank goodness for pocket pages, where I can slip in the photos I've printed, theatre tickets, embellishments, etc and keep them in the album they'll hopefully stay in until I can stick them all together on pretty cardstock. I say hopefully stay, because as my album clean ups have been showing me, I drastically underestimate the amount of space my photo documenting will take up.



Looking good - it runs in the family
Original "done" pic of album pages

 

 Case in point- this year I plotted out two albums to fill with this time span of Thanksgiving through New Years. Yesterday, as I sorted pics into pockets and included all those holiday papers and embellishments I keep finding I've purchased- strange... I have no recollection of doing so- I realized I really needed an in-between album to lead me from the last weeks of November, maybe even into the first weeks of activity filled December, and another for all those fun family pictures taken during the week of Christmas, and then another album just for Christmas Eve and Day themselves! Oh, and then another album for the papers I had to have and the pictures from our trip to Long Beach over New Years. WHEW!
But then, to relieve some of the stress of sorting without creation, create I did. I started with a layout inspired by the EmbellishKits.com January scrapbooking kit. I'm hoping to have a video up with that process, but that's another post's content. Having quite a few Thanksgiving pictures, I figured I'd finish up those layouts and that would help me transition fully into the documentation of all things Holiday related. Took my photos and collaged them as you see above.
Except, then I realized that my story would fit into my album better if my pocket pages were located before my two page spread, not after. So I changed that all around and then figured I'd slip the rest of my photos into place, making a total of 4 layouts completed. I really like the kid-colored Native American who looks like she's walking from our house to my mom's, where we took all our food to celebrate with due to her having surgery earlier in the week. And when I rearranged all the photos from my "done" pocket page photo above, it was really easy because I didn't have to cut  and past or anything like that.

Custom colored embellishments go here ^
Thanksgiving at our house pics on this page

Flip the page to go to my moms house
Redone and just as easy to put together

Spoiler Alert! Next video's layout above!

 Now, I've got plenty of yard chores to do and that video I mentioned to edit and upload, but a crop of golden embellishments awaits me- this evening my happy, scrappy friends and I are getting together to indulge in a bit of cut and paste (with a side of chocolate). I've already submitted three orders to Walgreen's, so I'll be right back in the now where can I fit these photos boat by night's end.
And for that, as well as the readership of people just like YOU, I'm very thankful.

Queen of the Crop Contest Details & A New Video Too

The last few years, at the close of the Creating Keepsakes Convention, I've drawn the winning name for a prize from one of my favorite vendors, Queen & Co.! This year is no different, and there are quite a few ways to win.
You can subscribe to this blog. Doing so will get you emailed versions of all my blog posts- so you never miss a chance to CraftWithAnna!
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel, which is just a purple icon click away- look for that on the right hand side of this page with other social media icons.  Instagram follower yet? That will get you an entry too!
You can also comment on any of my recent videos, including the one that hit YouTube TODAY- the November scrapbooking layouts from EmbellishKits.com. 


Or, you can comment on this blog post. I loved hearing from a follower at the convention this year!

With so many ways to win, I bet you're wondering what the prize is... well all I will say is, it's going to be some bangin' bling bling baby (the contest name is Queen of Bling)!

Hallo, It's Fall!

Yep, it's time... 

Yesterday marked the beginning of fall for our house. I know it technically started towards the end of September, but since the bread winner of our home spends the majority of his work week outside, under a horse, we tend to hold to our summer-time vibe and indoor/outdoor decorations right up until the beginning of October. Which is now. Hence, the welcome of  Fall to our home!

I haven't had taken time to disperse my collection of PartyLite pumpkins throughout the house, because I've been busy keeping the card racks in Gig Harbor full of my "CraftWithAnna: Handmade from the Heart" line of greeting cards! So, now that October is here, I can use up my existing Halloween stash in anticipation of the discounted purchase-ables that will soon fill the aisles of my favorite craft supply stores. Favorite, as in All. :-)

Jeff Probst, torch snuffer extraordinaire

Do you have a favorite thing about this season? Some of my favorites include boots and sweaters, the crackle of leaves underfoot, the splendor of the changing tree-scape, and the smell, sound, and warmth of burning in our home's wood stove. I love that the boldest nightlight in the sky can be called a Harvest Moon. I love that the clouds release the rain our state is known for, and the resulting replenishment of our aquifers- drinking well water helps me remember what a privilege water rights are. I love the return of CBS's Survivor and it's host Jeff Probst- and his dimples- to our Wednesday nights. And our mantle. What, you don't have a J.P. bobble head doll?! For shame!
Yes, friends, I'm sorry, but I have to admit: I love it that there are more days where it's best to just sit inside and be cozy! There are so many beautiful summer days that I'm not fully participating in because my heart longs to be creating in a venue that does not include wind! Time in the garden is enjoyable but in such a different way- and takes so much longer to produce well, produce. Dirt is certainly not a first choice medium of mine; I'd much rather play with paper than seedlings!
All not-really-joking aside, this year's garden will be marked in our scrapbooks as the first one where I really did enjoy the thrill of growing. From planning my beds, weeding early and often, selecting seeds, transplanting seedlings... I even read books (okay, I started one book) about the subject! The beautiful thing about gardening is that it actually is very rewarding. As I remarked to my father, an avid gardener of tomatoes, peppers, peaches and super sized corn, "When you've grown something start to finish, it almost becomes a part of you." With food, that really does go full circle lol. Depending on where you get your fertilizer, it can go in an even fuller size circle hahaha.

I was pleasantly surprised to have found the evening's routing of sprinkler rotations soothing. Getting up early in the morning to turn the timer on for the soaker hose allowed me to walk softly with bare feet in the morning's dew on the warm lawn. I gazed adoringly over my squash blossom's bold bursts of golden yellow and exclaimed with joy as my tomato "babies" arrived. There were moments when I needed a few minutes to myself and found the respite of garden tending to be just what I needed to reset my attitude and return to my family with renewed cheer and gratitude at what I can do for them. Seeing how my plants thrived under my care became a very bold way to interpret my influence in our family as well.
Despite the interference of our flock of chickens repeatedly unearthing any area that had plants growing in it, I successfully harvested a handful of tiny sugar pumpkins that just may become a pie at month's end. Not wanting the memorable fresh taste of just picked lettuce to wither away from boxed salad replenishment, I even started a new set of garden boxes with seed towards the beginning of August. It will be interesting to see what else grows to maturity before the cold weather sets in. I'm even toying with the idea of creating a green house environment for next years season.

One of these cards is not like the others...

Of course, those thoughts of gardening and it's joys are easily forgotten in the ongoing make and take atmosphere of my creative mind. (Lol, I make a lot of cards and then take them to Gig Harbor.) After the frivolity of Halloween's costuming dressing up my card fronts, I'll be on to the sweet sentiments of family gatherings and thankful thoughts of Thankgiving before releasing my Winter/Holiday greetings into the community. I signed up for the Vaughn Civic Center's Winter Warm up in November and have only, oh, 150 + cards to create and keep in stock up before then. I'm no squirrel, but yes, it IS a little nuts to take on an endeavor like that... ah well, I've always enjoyed these self imposed challenges, and  there's no better weather to be creating in than the crisp autumn days between then and now! As this wood veneer card proclaims, "Live Life", right? (Live Life Right. Live. Life, Right? you get the picture...) Happy Friday, friends <3

 

Pre-Funk Friday Family Flashback

 Earlier this week, my younger cousin Daniel left a very sweet message for our family on my facebook timeline... did that message inspire this 8.5x11" layout? Not entirely, but it did prompt me to ponder what a treasure this sometimes misunderstood young man is to our family. In my head I responded with similar praise for him. I came up with flowery sentiments that expressed how much I value his healthy way of interacting with others, how the lifestyle he has may not be what I have in my life, and yet in many ways parallels the choices we make in our natural approach to existing.

You know, to be an original takes guts. It also takes a positive attitude about oneself, lacking in grandiose illusions. It takes research. It takes initiative. It takes follow through. Sure, there are small ways each of us can rebel against "the man" and what society tells us we must have for success, but to live a life that recognizes rebellion as a stance for ones own life, well that to me is no a rally cry for anarchy lol. I guess I'm trying to say that thoughtful living is a trait I've learned is worth admiring.

Alas, I wasn't running to post my thoughts and with the usual living we do around here, the flowery sentiments slipped away... I was still able to post a quick and reciprocal "thank you for being part of my family," yet, this feeling of strengthened kinship lingered. And then it happened: this tiny photographed picture of little Danny and our cousin David out front of grandma's house surfaced from amongst the paper piles in our craft room. Well where the heck did that come from?! Serendipity!

I'm still working out of the kit featured in my August YouTube videos, EmbellishKits.com's Alternative 17 scrapbooking kit. It features the Legacy collection from Simple Stories. I also have the 6x6 paper pad from that line, so I cut out some of those smaller patterns and added them to a piece of that creamy textured Bazill cardstock to build this old-school-sized layout for our family's album.

 

 I love how the vintage tones compliment the '90's vibe of the boys all dressed up for school. I love that I can see my grandma's neighbors yard looking vibrant in it's hey day. I love that I knew the picture was at grandma's house right away! I love how the boys are posed; the special relationship they shared at the time and how it reminds me in an instant of seeing them with my brother, who is their same age, grouped together in matching outfit as infants.

I love that although the paths of the lives my cousins and I have taken have led us in different geographical directions, led us to alternative career followings, have introduced new ideas about eating healthy to our aunts and uncles, and yet still intersect in this same photographed location: grandma's front yard, the doorway to our Happy Place.

Thank you for making this a Family Flashback Friday, folks <3 Love you, Daniel!

 

Basking in the Sun

 Ahh fall, I know you're not long gone, but I sure do miss you! I miss the crispness in the air, the warmth of the afternoon sun in the windows, and I still have a lot of fall embellishments from 2013 to use...
but wait, this is Washington's warmest winter on record! And the air is still crisp and the warm days have kept on coming! Oh yeah, and I STILL have a lot of fall stuff in my stash lol.

When I saw Rainier getting a sun tan on the living room floor, it reminded me so much of a few pictures of myself at just about her age, doing the same thing on the deck of what would become a sunroom on the house I grew up in. In my mind's eye I can still feel my puffy purple coat cushioning my back as my big poodle mix Daisy sniffed about me.

Rainie loves to get her Vitamin D au 'natural, and we look forward to playing with the sun as it falls through our living rooms picture window. Have you ever had a scoop of sunshine poured over your head? Or drank a warm cup of sunlight tea? Those are just a couple of the cute ways she's taught me to enjoy God's radiant light. That love is echoed with the border strip punched with hearts running down the page. I'm a fan of Jen Gallagher who usually includeds a tied piece of twine on her borders somewhere. I'm an even bigger fan of lifting cute ideas like that so with all those bordering bits I figured this was as good a layout as any to attempt that look. (Success!)

I had to reflect some of the sunlight's sparkle on my page and there were a few items in my stash that I've been holding out on using due to their high glitter content, like those bright green thickers.  Long titles can be tricky, so I tried to use complimentaryy colors there, as well as the natural cork thickers to balance all that glittery goodness.  I was also mindful of stacking my phrases so that all the letters fit into a block shape of sorts. You know I love to use my trash, so look up at the top of my title and see how I used my paper's manufacture's strip as part of that design.

Part of the reason embellishments like that large subway-art typography piece doesn't usually work for me is that I feel like the words all have to be relevant to my family or the pictures I'm working with. Don't know why I hadn't thought to do it before, but I simply used some sticker phrases to cover up words that didn't fit my layout and voila! I had the perfect glitter backed piece to include on this page.

There is a little hidden journaling card as well. There isn't really anything on there that needs to be hidden; no super sentimental gushings or words I'd rather not have read by the average lookyLou, but with so much text already on the page, I felt it best to tuck my handwriting away. I've had that little envelope on my desk since last spring anyway so it was time to find it a home!

Do you remember sun filled days from your youth? Does it seem like you were a lot younger even just a few months ago? Go digging in your supplies for some sun themed embellishments and brighten up a winter day with sparkly memories. Or, find a picture that is the epitomy of a good time for you and touch it up with a photo flare! There's an app for that- I like to play with Android's LightEffects.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you get inspired to punch a border, tie a twine, or stack some fonting! Hey, if it's crafty, its good, right? And if it brightens your day, that's the best kind of crafty there is :-D

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

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.

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

Let It Fly!



There is a crispness to the morning air that lets us know fall is on the way in and summer's on the way ...out. Waaahhh! Gosh we certainly enjoyed a beautifully sunny summer though here in the Pacific Northwest. There were only like five days of rain? That's all I remember anyway lol.








There is a lovely banner which reads Family hanging in my craft room that I see everytime I enter the room. It was pretty easy to make, and I've always wanted to make another, so decided the change in season was the perfect occasion. Love the way it turned out! I used a sample pack of Close to My Heart papers for the backgrounds and for the strips of paper that were transformed into 'yo-yo's- the fanned circles behind each letter. One way to almost guarantee your project will have a cohesive look is to use papers by the same designer or company. The colors will all be very similar and the paper will share the same weight as well.

The girls accompanied me on the way to drop off these banners and stock up my card rack at Gig Harbor's CopyIt..MailIt on Judson Street. Once we were done we had a little time to explore the waterfront while we waited for dad to take us out to dinner at the Peru restaurant by Fred Meyers. The dock at Jerisch now has life jackets available for every size person and the kids enthusiastically donned water safety gear. Ray asked later, why did they have those on? And I responded, because they could! Truth be told neither of them can swim and on top of that there is a big sign on the dock explaining that most people who drown don't intend to get wet... so yeah, get those life preservers on if you can!

  

While my cricut does make mass producing a breeze, I made the most of my time and cut all the triangle banner shapes for another, even cooler banner at the same time, and used up the rest of that sample pack of papers. Yea! Another something that I don't have to put away :-)

Living in Washington my whole life, I'm a big Hawks fan, and ever since their Super Bowl win last year, it seems like the whole states got Blue Fever. What better way to show off some spirit than with a cute banner!? On this one there are sparkling green letters and sequins in grey and green too. The banners were still looking a little plain so out came the decorative edge scissors in scallop shape, and added silver glitter paper strips to the top.

 

Gotta make one of these for my Pops in Jersey!



(H)our Attention Captured

I didn't know it when I started this layout, but for once, I appear to be scrapbooking chronologically! These pictures are from a trip our family took to Anacortes, WA this last November. The girls and I had a few hours to find some fun at the nearby Burlington Children's Museum (while their dad had his remaining wisdom teeth extracted).

I based my layout on Shimelle's sketch number thirty three for 2013. Her sketch puts the focus on the photo and allows for more journaling... I didn't include any journaling, but its possible I may in the future.

Behind this photo I layered a beautiful transparency from Jo-Ann's. A I recall, it came with three others in a package from the dollar bin. You can see how I used another of those transparencies in my Rainie Wears Glasses?! process video.

My personal scrapbooking challenge for this year is to focus on a different type of embellishment each month, and this month my product to use is Baker's Twine. A simple addition but I always like the look on other designer pages. So far, so good on incorporating a bit on each layout for this month.. of course, it's only a week in and so far I have made I think three. So three for three yippee for me!

One of my other goals is to use all those things I've had for years and not found a way to use them. So out from the dusty Cropper Hopper of never used vellum came this full 12x12 sheet of white netting. I layered the entire piece over another oldie but goodie: a  page from one of those big DCWV stacks of printed cardstock, circa 2009 :-)

 To secure my baker's twine I cut and covered the ends with a tiny piece of washi tape,  and then a glue dot in each corner of my photo mat worked to hold it against that net. For good measure I added a line of TomBow mono liquid adhesive after I got everything situated. I think it ended up a little crooked, but oh well.

Here's a look at the coordinating page on the left, using a lot of the same colors and another sheet from the DCWV Rustic glossy/glitter stack. Another, smaller piece of white netting in the bottom right corner for grounding and continuity... Kept it simple but I did sneak a small piece of baker's twine on this Amy Tangerine tag. I added some washi tape with music notes on it because at any children's museum, there are usually lots of instruments for kids to try out! I don't remember if we saw any at this one, but that's a minor detail that we can gloss over :-D

And here's the two page layout that comes before these pages. With just a little guidance from me, Rainier built this page featuring cute pictures of her and Ray posing for me in the backyard of the hotel we stayed at, the Shipwreck Inn. Great view of a harbor if you're ever looking to visit the Fidalgo Bay area. My favorite piece is that vellum envelope; inside is a handwritten note from dad to daughter saying how much he enjoys traveling with her. Awww!

Thanks for stopping by!

My Cute Cowgirl

 The girls and I had so much fun exploring the fairgrounds this year at the Western Washington State Fair.

 Formerly known as the Puyallup Fair, there seemed to be a childhood memory waiting to be re-lived for me around every corner! I was ecstatic sharing all the goodness with Rainier and Sunday. After all, they don't know what corn dogs and BBQ corn on the cob, and earthquake burgers, elephant ears, curly fries, and caramel apples and SCONES taste like, so they weren't disappointed not to be offered any. And there was no way I could share or withhold such goodness, so I was able to resist somehow as well :-) It's a good thing I never saw a pickle barrel, though, that might have snagged me.

We got to see a lot of our favorite animals, including, a Camel! By the time I was ready to leave, we were all pretty pooped (how could we have only been there for three hours?!), but I managed to get one more photo shoot in, and my cute little cowgirl hopped up on the hay bale before she realized what the reason was for. She never has been into smiling on command! Or photographic eye contact either. Hence, I got none of her looking adorable-y at me, but did get an adorable shot nonetheless :-)

The map print background is by Studio Calico, and I got it in a kit from a Creating Keepsakes class about Mixed Media. The kit included a piece of dressmakers pattern paper, which could have been adhered with decoupage techniques. I chose to just use my regular favorite Red Duck adhesive down the sides and then grabbed a couple border strips for the top and bottom.

Once I had figured out how I wanted all my layers to go, I got stuck. This layout sat for about a month on my desk, I couldn't figure out just what it needed. With the additions of the border strips and my journaling last night, I finally feel like it can be put in the album.

Whew! I don't like it when an unfinished something keeps getting in my way of creating something new, but it's almost a feeling of relief once I have it completed! And who would have guessed that pattern paper can work with our beloved patterned papers! Not me...

now where are all those old patterns I'm not using... 

Here's another shot with the flash on, so you can see a little bit different view.