Product of the month for February

I decided at the beginning of the year that each month I would focus on a different product, and try my darndest to include that featured product on all my projects. In January, I chose to focus on bakers twine. I love how easy it is to use, and the variety of colors in my stash were incorporated into nearly every project, so yea me!

This month I was hoping that some of the blog hop commeters would give me a suggestion, but my wheels have been spinning trying to find the answer myself.

I kept coming back to "paper." Now, does that sound like a challenge? Heh heh, me neither :-)

 This morning just as I selected a representative photo of using different papers, I changed my mind and have decided my product of the month for February will be...

(Drumroll)



Superbowl Champs Card for Ed in NJ

LETTER STICKERS!

And paper.

Together.

So let's Sea(hawks) what comes of my personal challenge this month!
Thanks again to all the people who left lovely comments on my post for the DCC blog hop this weekend!

-Anna

After Christmas Specials

The mad rushing of Christmas prepping is now over and yesterday I spent some time clearing off the leftovers. Not from the refrigerator- eating at grandmas eliminated any chances of goodies in our house! As the days flew past last week my desire to scrapbook was growing and growing (like my waistband) and it was mixed feelings of relief and sadness that I experienced about this page spread I made in November.

Relief because all I need now is to print a few photos and this awesome two page layout will be complete! I used my Embellish It! kit for the paper choices, dug into my stash of old metal rimmed tags and giant brads, washi tape, sequins and paper clips for the rest of my embellishments. The layout design itself was lifted from a CK feature.

I felt a bit sad though because I had intended to produce a process video to accompany the photo and release it on the day after Christmas. hahaha, the footage is all there but it may be NEXT Christmas when it all comes together?!

 I love making the process movies but sometimes I feel like I'm putting too much effort into them. Usually I feel this way towards the end of getting all the cropping, voice overs, and captioning put together and I finally head to the library with the finished file stowed on my Hello Kitty flash drive. All that time on the computer really gets in the way of my paper crafting!

Well, the feelings of relief at having my Christmas layout (with what ended up being the perfect title) all ready for pictures won out, my desk got cleaned off enough for me to feel comfortable starting something new, and I ended up creating one of my favorite pages of the entire year. You'll have to wait until the February edition of DieCutCrazy comes out to see it though!

 

Now, back to crafting something for Me! er, I mean for my family to enjoy for generations to come ...

Hoping the holiday buzz stays with you for a while longer, and has you creating something magical to store those good-time memories :-)

#HalloweenMemories

Aren't some of the digital photo-editing apps amazing?! I haven't got a chance to lay down my own letter stickers for this page yet, but a couple finger pushes and slides, and what do ya know, my Fancy Nancy titles looks great! Hardly digital looking at all :-) Scroll down to see the accompanying page.

Sorry for the blurriness. That's kind of a theme for this time of year, right? Wow, Halloween and the beginning of fall have come and gone, and I suddenly realize I haven't really started preparing for Christmas (or Thanksgiving) in the way of cards or thought-of-you gifts for my friends and family. So this week Rainier and I made two presents for persons not decided yet. I love Lisa E's simple but oh so cute ideas (look under the I'm inspired By tab above) and her YouTube movie voice is so friendly! She made a tutorial showing a grocery list holder that I thought would not only be super easy to make but easily duplicated too. We took a piece of chipboard, or heavyweight cardstock or kraft paper. 8 1/2x11" worked great. Using paper scraps, washi tape, and stickers we created a notepad holder with photo of the girls, and another home decor piece with a set of three cards attached. Sometimes you find out a card is needed at the last minute, or intuition tells you to bring along a "nice to see you card " when you go to the post office....so this would be a handy holder for grabbing a card on your way out the door.

what? You don't get those need to bring a card with me twinges?
 

Anyway, after getting two done in three days, I'm feeling better about getting into the making for others spirit. There will be a special Holiday edition plus the December copy of DieCutCrazy coming in the next week or so to look forward to. It's funny that as disappointed as I am that Creating Keepsakes and Papercrafting are no longer coming via mail delivery, I'm so excited for a digital magazine to come out.  I have to admit it is thrilling to be published amongst the other talented contributors! Each month it is only a dollar, for tons of inspiration including tutorials and tips and just all around great designs to scraplift, er interpret.  Plus, I make a lot of stuff, and I forget what I share with whom and what I send to the magazine too, so by the time they are published I cannot honestly remember what I will be seeing lol . I have never limited my projects to the season. Writing and making seasonal cards and tutorials for DCC has got me more aware and excited of the way all of that influences trends and motifs and Im thinking, Pretty soon New Years and snow scenes and then spring scrapbook pages will be rolling through my creative space too!
 

But first, I delved into my massive ck haul of fall STUFF. Die cuts, 12x12" richly toned, heavy-weighted card stocks by Echo Park & Basic Grey, amongst other brands offerings. Glittery, leaf motifed everything and everything pretty much :-) Thank you for SEIs last hour sale heehee! $27of Awesome. I have filmed that second page above (sorry the photo is so blurry) coming together. You can find it below, as well as with the other process videos of mine under the tab above. I'm always surprised and delighted to hear of a dash of inspiration a viewer received!! So please, feel free to comment appropriately :-)

Well these two pages came together in about half an hour each. Uninterrupted, non child carrying craft time for me is so rare, and my fingers (both hands!) flew about my desk gluing down this and that. Because I had been gathering like -items prior to creating the pages, I could just reach in my bag of tricks and literally put it on my base and build up with confident decisions. Speed scrapping at its finest! I'm really lucky to have both the girls napping for an hour or two Almost everyday, at the same time, together, without me! right now. Like, three out of five days. Thanksgiving indeed!

Blessings to you and your family, or if you are my family, this week and alldays :-D ~Anna

CK Short Circuit!

Oh wow, it seems like its already been a year since last weekend's Creating Keepsakes Convention in Bellevue, but I guess time flies when you're not creating?!

So where to start, the amazingly great time I had catching and creating up with my Dear Friend, the wealth of knowledge I absorbed volunteering in classes taught by craft industry faves, or the inhibiting factors which didn't allow me to make another thing until yesterday afternoon?

I guess the first stop ought to be announcing the winner from my November 1-10th Blog-Hopping 10-Subbie Celebration Comment Challenge:

That sure was a fun way to say goodbye to CK for another year! I managed to make enough acquaintances in two days to hand out the 20+ Artist Trading Cards I made in preparation. So many talented and extremely nice people that I shared supplies, ideas, and most important, laughs alongside.

Megan You Are Ah-may-zing!

 Special thanks go out to my Director of Photography/Grip hahaha. And to Mike at Queen & Co for another year of allowing me to Vanna new products for him, as well as Megan Hoeppner and Shelby Bywater, two of CK's superstars! Also thank you to Melissa Frances, whose PSA and open conversation about her personal breast cancer discovery and recovery changed my view on monthly self-breast exams (DO THEM! MEN TOO!)

#MyTwoYearOldsAFearlessArtist

Well, usually I'm pretty reluctant to let anything get in the way of my usual chores-childcare-craft routine I've got established, but I really did miss my girls while I was away this weekend. As loud as the siren call of all my new kits, pretty papers, stickers, and unfinished layouts was, I ignored it in favor of trying to focus my attentions on my babes. Instead of crafting next to Rainier and offering half-hearted assistance, I stayed on her side of the art den and kept my hands off my stuff. Yuck and Yea at the same time! (Anyone else noticing the same craft hysteria face that Rainier and I are sharing in these photos?)

the lovely Ship Harbor Inn view

My go-to-guy also had oral surgery up in Anacortes on Thursday and he took the kids and I up early Wednesday night, so I had that to pack and plan for. We had a lovely time and his surgery went well, and before we took him to the dentist I even squeezed in a half page layout from a kit DF got me at the last minute. Was able to finish that and another layout with two more in the works while the house was napping yesterday afternoon...

MerryGoRound Love

I promise I will be sharing what I can remember learning over the next couple of weeks and months. Had a lot of brainstorming going on in our hotel room and it will be exciting putting some of those ideas into world-wide viewing portals :-)

Congratulations to my Big Comment Winner, who should be receiving a package in today's post, and for all who followed the contest and participated. You comments all made me feel like a true winner in the craft community!

Contributions Galore

I've been having a blast assembling my contributions for November's edition of DieCutCrazy, the digital magazine I design for. I enjoy creating on an everyday basis, and there is something especially exciting about seeing those efforts amongst the talented team of designers who are also featured each month.

Cards, scrap book layouts, and home decorations accented by cleverly used die cuts can all be found in each edition of DieCutCrazy, available through your iPad and iPhone. The price per month is very reasonable, and inspiration comes at no additional cost!

I'll be sharing some of my past articles here on the blog so stop back by soon!

Catch up time!

Whew! I feel like I've been riding a roller coaster of creativity the last few days and I'm excited to tell you about what's been keeping me all charged up!

I noticed a few weeks ago that the new Gig Harbor Michaels did not have any papercrafting classes on their August or September calendar...what?! How is that possible, with Toadilly Scrappin closed and the closest class venues located in Tacoma and Port Orchard? I inquired at the register, and discovered there was no teacher. I immediately set bout to fulfill my dream of getting paid to teach and started the application process. I'm proud to say that I am now a certified PaperEd teacher at Michaels! You can see here the Merry Card Tricks class samples I made for my first day at work last Saturday.  My first class will be taught on October 6th from 4-6:00 pm. We'll be making a scrapbook page using Michael's PaperEd design principles- its Scrapbooking 101! Should be a lot of fun! You can sign up here.

Best part of getting the job, besides the 25% employee discount, was popping back into the store Saturday night, heading straight into the classroom, and using the supplies I found in the cupboard to create a card in under 15 minutes. Of course I followed that creative spurt with a little retail cool-down hehe.

 

What with all the online training, interviewing and sample making that was going on, I wasn't getting any ME time in, but yesterday I was able to create two more samples for classes, a layout to add to my album, as well as put together a card that my friend Joanne had die cut for me using the Cricut Craft Room program and our exclusive Close To My Heart Artbooking cartridge... I love the way everything turned out.

Now its Monday again and I have a whole new week of creativity ahead of me... thanks for joining me and let me know if you have any questions!

Let the Fun Begin!

Yahoo! My first post on my first blog, how exciting!
I'm hoping to share some fun projects I'm working on (with pictures), as well as interesting tidbits of craft I find out there... like a fun mini-book project I located late last month and had to try for myself~ I hope my special friend who I've made it for enjoys it!

I will be hosting many workshops for my friends who would enjoy making some heartfelt gifts for their loved ones this holiday season soon~ so keep watching for more details on where and when you can attend!

Or perhaps a handful (or two) of handmade cards to send out is something you've been desiring? These fun and easy opportunities to craft can be scheduled with little notice, so be sure to let me know that you're interested.

Wishing you all a craftalicious Sunday~ and a-way I GOooo!