DIY Banner card

1. Select your favorite large patterned paper and fold in half.

2. Center and Adhere the Large Pink Doily to your card front.

3. Write a cute phrase on a coordinating banner sticker, i.e. I (Heart) You, You Da Man, etc.

4. Adhere the banner sticker to a coordinating small patterned paper strip.

5. Place 3 pop-up squares  to piece #4.

6. Peel off pop-up backings and adhere to the Doily.

7. Adhere Pink Heart Paper Tape to the bottom of the inside of your card, Trim Excess tape.

8. Sign the back!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Red Velvet

Next in my series of How She Dunnits, I have the Red Velvet Cupcake Card.

Starting with a white cardstock base cut at 8.5x11" and folded in half, I adhered a 4x5.25" block of red and white polka dot patterned paper flush with the bottom edge. To this I added a pretty white doily I got for free in a large package of 144 doilys in four colors from a gal on the Key Peninsula Buy Nothing site. Boy, do I love free embellishments, and this card features four of them. 
I had a little bit of red velvet paper left from an art journalling class I taught at KPMS last October. A half inch strip of that, notched at either end, made a striking base for my next layer. I love the monochromatic red on red and white on white mixed together.
See that white cardstock circle stamped in red ink with "from the heart ♡"- both free, including the ink! Thank you, Queen & Co. for the circle, Phaedra for the Tim Holz distress ink,  and another Scrappy Sister of mine for the stamp! 
This was a simple card with a lot of impact thanks to that rich red velvet paper in the middle. Any sentiment or color scheme would have made this card design shine, but I think the Red and white were excellent for Valentine's! And no, there's no cupcake involved. .. this is the Organic Anna version lol
So what is your favorite color combo for monochromatic mixes? Better yet, what's your favorite Valentine treat,   spending time with your sweetie or a sweet to eat? Comments below welcome! 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Silly Pocket Tag Cards h

My life has been pretty hectic the last couple months, leaving very little "me," i.e. craft time. Crafting isn't just a hobby for me, it is also a source of income and more importantly, a therapeutic activity which my mind finds solace in the act of doing. So, going without has a profound and multifaceted effect; my supplies go unused, my talents are not utilized for the good of my wallet, and my creative urges go unsatisfied, leaving me restless and distracted by my desire to MAKE.
I have two upcoming excuses, er, opportunities to Have to do just that; an upcoming Yoda themed birthday painting party for a boy turning 8-and 15 of his friends!- & the Key Peninsula Cooperative Preschool ' s  now annual CraftWithAnna cardmaking fundraiser at Blend, February 10th at 6pm.
I thought it would be fun to share the 6 cards I designed for the event and tell you how I made them, in case you are looking for some inspiration or just want to know, "how'd she do that?"

My first card to share starts with a white card base. To this I've added a pink doily, offset and adhered to the top of the card in the left corner. The placement does not matter, but the bottom will get covered up so leave a fair amount sticking up.
On a red tag I layered a pink square stamped with red hearts. Through the punched hole at the tag top I tied a bit of red Silly String.
Next I ran my tape runner all along the edge and down the middle of a strip of dark red cardstock. I cut about a forearms length of that same red Silly String from Queen & Co.  I got it at convention a few years back. It's stretchy and shiny and oh so fun to use! When I wrapped the string around, I made sure to keep both ends tight against a gluey area, then I ran some more adhesive over those ends, for good measure. Before I placed this wrapped piece on my card base, I slipped that tag in behind.  Another way to say this would be that I made a paper doily, tag, twine sandwich. .. anyway there is a lot of texture going on here.
You could easily replace the Silly String with any kind of fiber; bakers twine comes immediately to my mind. How about you, what's your go-to string of choice? Do you make your tags or buy them pre cut, tie in a knot or tie in a bow- you know I wanna know, comment below :-)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

What to do with those Christmas cards!?

Our classes at the local youth hang out, Key Center's Red Barn, are always a lot of fun! There were four girls who sat down with me and my two assistant crafters to repurpose old greeting cards into new ones. Boy, did they ever create a ton of cards. They really seemed to enjoy the creative process and listened attentively to the tips and techniques presented while we brainstormed from card to card. I would have liked to involve more kids but there was a lot going on; at the Red Barn, kids can play foosball, ping pong, billiards, basketball,  just sit and chill with their friends, or, get involved with a cool art project.  

The project was to use old greeting cards to make new ones. We used a manual due cut machine (gifted early to me by Ray- my very own Big Shot) which they thought was pretty cool. Also, used a new product gifted from the generous folks at Queen & Co.:  tensile -not tinsel- string to make Christmas light strands. Lots of Bling being used! And, as always a delight to give permission to play with product with abandon.

Along with the tensile string, all of the glue, stick on rhinestones etc was donated last month by Queen & Co. What a blessing, huh?  The greeting cards were donated in part by our own Key Center librarian, Dorothy, and another local photographer in Gig Harbor, Nina Barcott. Cardstock was supplied by Two Water's Art Alliance.

Another tool we used which was a big hit was the Wink of Stella pen. This is a brush tipped bottle of glitter water. It's amazing lol. We also added some vintage to our cards by distressing with chalk ink pads.
With all the fun we were having, and the big pile of Christmas cards being created, I wondered, who would the girls give these beautiful new cards to for the Holiday Greetings.... It really was neat that almost all the cards made were donated for Red Barn's managing director, Laura to use as thank you's ♡

Next week we will use the tensile string and the greeting cards to make ornaments... I have green glitter paperclips to use for hanging - maybe we will even string them about the Red Barn?!
So, I'm wondering, what do you do with your old cards each year. Do you still send out holiday greetings, or is an email or text, or a general facebook post sufficient to extend your well wishes? And then, what about birthday cards.... I'd love to read your comments below!

 

CKC Contest Winners Drawn!

Thank you to everyone who entered and have been or are now following along on my mildly epic CraftWithAnna-dventures!

Lest We Forget: Veteran's Keepsakes

  Last night the Friends of the Key Center Library sponsored another CraftWithAnna class: Veteran's Keepsakes. All anyone had to do was stop by with a photo or a story to share and I brought all kinds of crafty goodies for participants to create with.
We even had special guest stop by, a member of our local Key Peninsula Veteran's Association that I'd met earlier in the day at Evergreen Elementary's assembly. He and our Storytime librarian, Carol, shared that although they did not fight over seas during their service years, they were still honored that the youth was showing their appreciation for the sacrifice of time away from their family. A lot of times the glorified versions of Hollywood war times don't match up to the real life experience of estrangement from loved ones, the fear of the unknown, and of course that drill sergeant barking orders at you. Ok, maybe that last one the movies usually DO do a pretty good job of showing.  I made sure to give the layout I had made to our librarian at the end of the night; I was so touched by her sentiments, and it's always interesting to find out something new about a person you spend a lot of time around.
As usual, my students for the evening showed me a thing or two as they made their tributes. We talked about what service to our country means, and I think I made a good point when I mentioned, how much can change in a person's life in just four years. How many moments with our family we would miss out on if we didn't live with them, or maybe lived nearby but not close enough to come home every night. We talked about how the families left behind make sacrifices for our country too. Moms and Dads alike take care of families while the other parent works over seas for undetermined amounts of time.
Another point I made is that, sometimes Veteran's don't want to talk about their experience. What a treasure their words are when they choose to share them, and how, as the recipients of that knowledge, we should honor them by not forgetting their stories and the lessons they contain. We talked about how those stories are actually part of our family's legends and history. And how we can document that history in all sorts of ways! But, that just like a soldier returning home may have a hard time "putting it all out there," we may have a hard time expressing what it really means to us that they did all that they did in the name of God, Honor, and Country.

Enter one of my favorite techniques: hidden journaling!  Using an old greeting card with a ship on the cover was an excellent place to write a note to grandpa in appreciation for his time in the Navy. This wall hanging features anchor print paper, gold chevron washi tape (donated by Queen & Co.) and Amy Tangerine thickers that spell out Grandpa. What a neat way to show some love!

 

Thank you to all the families who made their way to the library and stopped to CraftWithAnna! Our next event will be Saturday, December 19th from 2-4pm; I'll bring everything we need to make some awesome Holiday Greeters. Could be a card, could be a wine bottle topper- it's up to your imagination :-)
To my friends and family who have served for us all, thank you for your time and dedication. And if you have any pic of yourself in uniform, I'd love to scrap 'em! Happy Veteran's day.

DIY Door Decorations

Fall is a fun time to decorate your entry way, right?  The Friends of the Key Center Library sponsored a fun, free, Family friendly event last weekend, and we had a blast creating our own door decorations. With the generous donation of supplies from one of my favorite scrapbook suppliers, Queen & Co., we were all set up with patterned papers, twine, and washi tape galore to decorate with.

Just look at these smiles! And imagine my own :-D

My older daughter Rainie was along to assist with any of the younger kids, and we were having quite the time by ourselves, waiting for our first victims er, participants :-)

Soon enough, our first family came in and we all got down to the business of crafting up a storm! Then I had the pleasure of a repeat CraftWithAnna student, and his sweet enthusiasm for repeating back info he'd gleaned from other classes was the cherry on top of a really fun filled afternoon.

I'm always surprised by how unique everyone's projects turn out. Actually, I always hope they will look nothing like my examples, because then I feel like it's really theirs.

The other part of this class that I got a kick out of was using more of those donated Queen & Co. supplies. You'd never know it, but those are all summer papers we're using! So, take a look through your stash and see if there are some "B" sides that can be used throughout the year. You might just make a surprise discovery of a really right now piece that just has to be used tonight... or maybe that's just what I'll be hoping to do myself~ so go ahead, get crafty!





Last Minute Examples

This week I was invited to teach at our local Youth Center, Key Center's Red Barn on the Key Peninsula. This building came about as the result of a lot of hard work and community support. Out here in the boonies, there isn't a lot for a young kid to do other than get in trouble- or at least that's the way it seemed for my friends and I during those formative years.

At the Red Bard, kids from middle school through high school can come to get homework assistance during the school year, as well as hang with their buddies playing foosball, table tennis, pool, or just sitting on a cool bar stool waiting to watch the cooking show in the kitchen. During the summer, the director, Laura, has partnered with the Two Waters Art Alliance to bring art classes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Civic Shade Seekers

Enter Teacher Anna (and her capable assistants, Rainie and Sunny). Being a teacher of papercrafts can be so rewarding, and I was fortunate to impact other children in our area during the school year teaching at our library for the homeschooled group out here. What is so rewarding for me is that I am guiding the kids towards capturing their stories, whether its through collage, a home for their family pictures and legends, or even by exposing them to that old fashioned way of writing, snail mail.

My completed Summer Home Page

After a quick trip to the supply cabinet housed in the Civic Center, my girls and I enjoyed a picnic lunch outside on the playground. Well, they enjoyed lunch, and I put together my sample for the class I'd be teaching, My Personal Homepage Scrapbooking. Basically, this is a scrapbook style page of any size which represents where you are Right Now. Are you loving summer? Dealing with ongoing personal issues? Missing your friends or family? There are apps for that! No, really, there are lol. In this class I asked the kids (and you of course, can ask yourself), what are you loving right now. Like, what are you really in to?
After compiling a list of ideas, words that summarized what we love, we thought of icons that could represent those ideas, and searched for representations amongst the magazines, newspapers, and a donated stash of summer fun from my friends at Queen & Co. The kids had fun searching for pictures that "spoke to them."


If you search for them, images will appear...

 

We then thought a little more about the design of our home page. For instance, when you look at your Google app on your smartphone, you don't just see a link to open your browser for searching, there are often other icons included under that heading, such as your GMail, YouTube, and Google+. We did the same thing, for a subject like Sports, we would include all things sports. How did we do this? With my favorite element of fun- the FlipFlap! Take an element, add some more awesome Queen & Co. tape, and voila! You have an interactive element to contain more information/pictures/journaling on your page.

One of my students even thought of branding his page and elements with the first initial of his name: I. I love that he let his sister add her art beneath his hidden flip flap at the top left.
 

Jade and Olivia are in the middle of crafting up a storm

I also love that each student created a page that was uniquely their own- exactly the purpose of the class :-)

 One of the goals was also to allow them to decide which size project they wanted to create. I personally wondered about this because even when I attempt to create 8.5x11 inch pages for my albums, I usually end up backing that completed page with a sheet of 12x12... don't know why, but I'm working on it! WELL, the outcome was that 3 out of 4 kids decided to go with the standard, suggested size of the full sheet as a background. But then there was that ONE who decided not to. The funny part was that this young lady was probably the most experienced scrapbooker in the room- or at least she, like many of us, had all the supplies she'd ever need and had not used most of them. I know, I know, they will be used someday, right? Her example was very detailed and included some trendy items I picked up on discount from Michael's a month ago. Her page measured approximately the same size as my Samsung Note3-  Tres Chic!
Interested in attempting a project like this? Go for it! Think about your background picture/ home screen. The subjects you spend the most time with would perhaps be the largest icons. Under those icons you may have additional images to represent the deeper meaning. You may decided on fonts that represent your style, or convey the feel of your subjects. Its a fun way to explore yourself from a topical standpoint.
I hope you enjoyed this project share! I'll be back at the Barn next week to teach some awesome cardmaking to the youth who arrive, so watch for that post, and if you are at all inclined to want to help an incredible organization that serves our community's youth, consider volunteering your time (or funds) in that direction. More information can be found online at http://www.redbarnkp.org/

 

Relay Rally Cards

These cards were sure a lot of fun to make, and for a good cause- they will be used to raise money for our Columbia Bank Relay for Life team!

Thank you to Queen & Company, an awesome scrapbooking supplier that generously donated many of the supplies you see on these cards. I love the one with all that bling- something I have always wanted to try. I was tempted to keep these myself... but I can always make more I suppose :-)
Yes, I think I'll do that now as a matter of fact!
Thank you to all those who are helping us in our fundraising efforts!

Inspired by...Colorful Corners Card

This Danielle Flanders inspired watercolor card was created with just a few stamps and my gelatos.  I've been really trying to use those magical marking crayons for more than just looking at! So simply scribbling a bit on my craft mat, adding a misting of water and then dunking my paper in swirling motions over that colorful mess has been a fun way to experiment.
I started with plain white paper, and colored the entire piece as explained above. Then I stamped with a (recently purchased -gasp) stamp in a newsprint design by KaiserKraft. I didn't try to be perfect with the stamping but I did use Momento black in hope that it wouldn't bleed. I've used this background for about 4 cards so it was effort that paid in multiples!
Using one of the cut pieces for my background, I reached for one of my only flower stamps, a Close To My Heart rose. Stamped that a bit off the page and then used a red and pink gelato/water mix to paint the petals. For the leaves, I simply stamped in green ink and used a watercolor blender pen to pull some of that color into towards the center. It ended up very subtle but that was fine.
Now, I had intended to put a block of patterned paper on the left side of my navy blue card base, but I happened to try putting a remnant from the piece I used over there, and the effect was pretty fab! So I left the card base peeking through and then added a bow in baker's twine by the sentiment. For some extra touchy feelys I layered two fabric flowers with a tiny die cut and topped them with white sequins and a pink Queen & Co. Rock Candy gem.
Although this card had a lot of steps, the effect is gorgeous and simply beautiful. The gelato brings a different depth of color and with a little experimenting, can be just as easy, or even easier to use, than traditional watercolors.
Have you tried these pastel-like tubes of color and had pleasant results? Less than pleasant :0 ?  I'd love to hear about it, so leave a comment below and come back again soon to see what's making in my house!

An Unexpected Punch of Fun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate With Me!

Sparkle A Little Brighter Darling

  54 Subscribers on YouTube!

14 Blog Followers! 

125 Instagram Followers!

2 Gig Harbor stores selling my cards!

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Who is the Queen of Bling?

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

PartyLite Tealight Box Mini Album Share

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

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

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

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

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

Good luck and thanks for reading!

November Contest Details

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


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


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

Ten Minute Layout Inspiration

A lot of times I will turn to a scrapbooking magazine for inspiration. Sometimes it is the color combination, or use of tools I have like the scalloped border punch featured in this Creating Keepsakes issue. Their last-page, 10-minute Layout article is always good for a quick and easy spark of creativity.

Of course sometimes even the best intentions fly out of my brain when I select my products or photo, and tonight was no exception! I had put those three project life cards with the photo and the pink die cuts, along with an old package of brightly colored of rub-ons, a few random blings and pearls and a tiny pink felt flower. 

All of those items were contained in a medium sized product package I had laying around. I am in the habit of collecting these clear plastic bags, which can be a bit bothersome at times, but they are great to have on hand.  So it wasn't just lying around, it was with a bunch of other clear bags in a nice stack under some other nice neat stacks of scrapbook-cardmaking type things :-)

Creating kits like these out of like-colored bits and pieces out on my desk make it easy to whip up a simple layout. Ironically, my last post was titled Ships Ahoy, and that evening I ended up scrapbooking a page whose title will likely be Ships Ahoy~ or maybe it should read, Sisters Ahoy? Rainier and Sunday are sitting in the stearn of a little dingy at Gig Harbor's Historical Museum. They were so into acting like they were steering a ship and all of us were enthralled watching them tug at the long lines and swing the sails around.

 There is already a small title on the bottom left, so I may just leave it as. I rarely use a white paper background but adore the look. The simple borders along the top and bottom ground the scattered cards and random flowers, and it all looks delicate and pretty.

It was really easy to find the borders I wanted to use in the colors and designs etc, as a result of another item which I have trouble letting go of, which is the manufactures' strip at the bottom of papers. I have a nice BAG to store them in though, it is a large 12x12 clear, and I have it folded in half. One side has the barcode strips and I can see them all alongside almost all of my borders stickers. There are a lot of Queen and Co. edgers and felt borders too mixed in there too.
 There is another place where I store border stickers that are still on their 12x12 sticker sheet though, so it's not the best system ever. It does work well for me and my personal creative process, I mustn't let my creative flow get interrupted. When I want to MAKE, I need to be able to grab my supplies quickly, adhere and cut, embellish, etc in anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The faster I can see what there is to use, the better!
So what is one of the best organizer things you've installed in your life? There is a new video coming out next week in my Card Magic series... Part Three will also feature a sneak peak at my Super Subbie YouTube contest!!! I have almost got 50 subscribers as well as some of my favorite designers following me on Instagram so I think a contest is in order.
Oh and not to brag or anything but I get additional 40% off at Michaels extra employee discount, whaaat? Look for some repurposing Halloween stuff posts coming up this winter, as well as more pocket page / project life style scrapbooking tips. Thanks for reading,
~Anna

Inspired By...Fall Card Share!

Recently I was listening to a piece on NPR about how depression and art "go" together... hmmm, being an artist who doesn't think of herself as being clinically depressed, I was intrigued enough not to change the channel. In summary, there was a correlation between the surges of creativity or highs, that a depressed person might cycle through, and how being medicated can actually impair a creative (but depressed) person's ability to, well, create! Of course there was a lot more information and examples given, but this is the basic idea that continued swirling in my head.

The idea of the highs and lows of being a creative person got me thinking, reflecting really, and questioning my own spurts of activity. Sure there are times when I don't feel creatively productive, but I was asking myself, do those lows have anything to do with my being stressed, anxious, or even mildly depressed? No. As in, I have no idea!

It is a concept that I've considered before, and even witnessed. I have a dear friend who lost her son in a car accident, and there was a distinct period of mourning (of course), but I remember thinking to myself, "she's going to be as OK as she can be" when I noticed art coming from her craft room once again. It's scary, thinking that a life altering event or even just a bad case of the baby blues could interrupt what has become my therapy, my go to feel good activity! I have also considered, what would I do to lift the funk if I didn't have that outlet? Again, I have no idea yet.

Here is a handful of cards I made a couple of weeks ago.

On the other, more positive side of the craft room, I got a little personal insight it is that I can spend all night up with the kids and tossing and turning myself, get up at 4:AM to participate in a triathlon that is an hour an half's drive away, complete before mentioned tri, lead a five hour crop at Michael's (completing a two page layout) and then come home only to stay up late creating a total of seven cards before finally retiring to bed again. WHEW! It was exhausting just writing that paragraph long sentence!

Part of my seemingly endless motivation comes from the friendships I'm blessed to enjoy. My coworkers daughter will be competing in her own Tri- Iron Man style in AZ soon. Since she is a high school mate of mine I felt it was appropriate to support her efforts with a collage card (#1 Encouragement) reading "Give 100 & 1 % .

My mom is part of Women's Drinking Team -did you know those actually existed? Complete with custom jackets and Octoberfest attending, how fun! "Dancin Donna" can give the Danke! (#2 Octoberfest) card for her next Designated Driver! Using a few cuts from the cricut to dress up the front, Queen & Co. pearls and a bead strung on bakers twine, there was still something else needed to complete my card front. I found the answer in a bottle of Liquid Glass! I also added one small orange gem to the sentiment and included a die cut on the inside of the card which peeks out at the bottom. That die cut was printed with a pumpkin, so I didn't have to do another thing in there :-)

When I first started dating Ray, there were many examples of his past wander lusting interspersed with our futures plannings, and although we have not traveled as extensively as I had imagined, I would still go anywhere in the world with him if asked. I think. See the gold chevron on that card (#3)? and again on the inside of that top encouragement card? It is a new product from the K & Co, Smash line, and it is actually a rub-on. Very easy to use and it adds instant drama- something we are never in short supply of at our house!

Finally, to honor my triathlete Hall-of-Famer friend , I made a card with a .50 stamp picked out of the bargain bin which reads, "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." Dedicating part of your life to fitness takes commitment, one that some people have a hard time relating too. I admire his enthusiasm for racing, and this card will be a nice thank you for all the "You can do it!"s he's given me over the years.

Thanks for stopping by and reading through my musings today! I based many of my card designs above on a flyer for Embellish It!s monthly card kit club. If you're looking to spend a little time crafting with me, check out my process videos link above. I've got a Halloween Card Magic three part series coming out over the next couple of weeks starting TODAY. Happy fall!   

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

Little Odds and Ends

Didn't get to make too much last week as I have been downsizing my collection of papers and momentos and have a ton of "junk" spread all over my workspace. Got so tired of that mess I shoved it all in a bag last night and was able to make two really cute cards you can see on my instagram feed today. (click the purple camera circle to the right to be taken there)

This card was made for a friend of a friend recently and was made with very little dimension, using stamps and lots of fun summery colors. I need a bit of something though, so I went over the heart with some Liquid Glass which turned it into a custom enamel shape. After this photo was taken I also added the glass effect to the Smile word too. Baker's twine and my favorite Queen & Co. bling twinkling dressed the card up further and then I drew on some stitching at the top left with my new alcohol pen freebie from the Scrapbook Expo last month.

So where does one house an incredible selection of acquired bling (brads are not included in this mix)? Why, in my Queen & Co. miniature suitcase, or trunk, of course! It's the perfect size for the tiny packages and I also recently organized it so I can show you how well all my rhinestones and pearls live together. There are also enamel dots in there. I have another trunk that I keep washi tape inside. A great reason to sign up for one of their classes at an event!

Speaking of, it's almost November! Well for most readers that will be insignificant and not worth mentioning, but for me it's the peak of my year as that month is when Seattle hosts the Creating Keepsakes Convention. You will see a lot more about this as it approaches so I won't spend too much time on it here, but it is on my mind of late and if you've never gone you ought to look into it. And start saving your money for the vendor fair lol (the paper is calling me DF)!

Anyway, having all my blings together in one place allows me to flip through them easily and also to reach for all my options with one lift of the arm. You can take a tour of my craft room here.
I'm considering a new shoot of my set up; some items have changed places since I uploaded that video, but for the most part my room is the same. More paperwork stuffed in out-of-sight places since last night, but otherwise... plenty of stash to shop from at home!

Thanks for stopping by today. I've got a new scrapbooking process video coming out this week, click on the purple YouTube link up at the top right and subscribe to my CraftWithAnna channel, do so and you won't miss any of my latest movies as they get online. Have a great week and make it crafty!

Way to washi no.722

Take a lot of coordinating colors of washi and use them to create a really cute card!
First I covered half of a blank card base with the light blue stars washi tape. Then I covered another piece of scrap cardstock, cut it into separate strips, punched each strip with the scallop border punch, and then layered them together over the ends of the first washi application. Finished with a lovely K & Company die cut and Jillibean soup label sticker. I felt it needed still something else, a query that is almost always solved by the addition of either bling or twine. Or both!
Thanks for stopping by! You can see this card in person by visiting the downtown Gig Harbor Copy It...Mail It! and I'm terrifically excited to announce that as of this afternoon, a few of my cards are available online through Etsy! I'll have more details about this coming out in the next few days. For now you can click on this link: www.etsy.com/shop/craftwithanna  and see what I've got up. Hooray for card sales!