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

It's April Card Share Time!

You can read all about and see all the details for the cards featured in the video link above in this post. I've been making away; aside from this collection and the bonus projects, I created about 20 more cards last week. Between store sales, custom orders, fundraising cards, preparing for the retreats I'm teaching at, and these videos, I barely had time to squeeze in this beautiful layout... but that's just the type of challenge I enjoy!


 Be sure to subscribe to my CraftWithAnna YouTube channel. You'll see all my videos show up on your watch list as they are published. Can I get a whoop whoop!

I'll post more pictures of this layout and some close ups of those gorgeous clusters tomorrow. Sign up to follow my blog and I will send you an email when I post. As always, I thank you for stopping by and watching!



P.S. Leave a comment below regarding your favorite card... there's no prize, I just love the feedback lol.

Pocket Page Practice

All those gorgeous Easter outfits sitting in your camera or on your phone today can help fill a few minutes of down time, just load them into your favorite photo grid app and you'll practically have your scrapbook pages complete!

I used the Android app PhotoGrid to create these ready to print 4x4 square photos. There is a really neat app out there called Snapbook that lets you download Project Life style cards in assorted designs. This app also has an editing program for fun borders, stickers, and more, but for this project I just saved a few patterns I thought looked Easter-y and then added them to my photo line-up in PhotoGrid.

I could have stopped right there, but you know, I have what I call a preservists mind set; if there's a story or sentiment leading the day, I want to include that along with the photos. Otherwise known as scrapper's dilemma, journaling is really what makes these more than just cute pics of the kids and family dressed in their best. Without the story, there isn't much for the observer to do other than flip the pages of cute after cute after cuteness.

For example, see those great selfies my mom took up there? I found myself throughout the day turning to point things out to her or just to smile or share a moment during the sermon. Since last week was her chemo day she wasn't really supposed to be exposed to the level of germies present at church yesterday, but thanks to technology, I still brought her to the pew! Adding those sentiments to that photo collage really enhances the images featured.

Now, there is always room for more embellishment, and I'm sure I'll be digging into my extensive Queen & Co. bling collection to complete these mini pages, but they will also make great snail mail gifts just the way they are. I'll be using yet another app to send these to either Costco or Walgreens (half off at photo coupon code is: FIFTYORDER) and then we'll see what their next step in scrap-evolution will be :-) I've got just a few scraps of the April 2015 EmbellishKits Jubilee Card Kit left, so you'll most likely see my layouts on that next card share. Click HERE for the last one.

 Wednesday night I'll be up at Michael's showing you all the tricks of using the Cricut Expression, a magical device that transforms your cut out wishes into tangible embellishments for your cards or scrapbook layouts. I've even used them for home décor pieces so really the options are economical and limitless- just the way they should be!

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Dad's don't always get the credit they deserve for doing something wonderful for their daughters, so I want to be sure to highlight something sweet Ray did last week.
Rainier celebrated her 4th birthday with a weekend of slumber party fun with me over at my mom's house, including a trip to the Symphony, lunch out with friends, and a big party after worship at church.

As much as I enjoyed spoiling her with mother daughter time, I couldn't help but feel that our better halves were home missing out. True, we would be hosting a Tea Party for her friends on her actual birthday of Monday the 19th, but I was relieved nonetheless when dad mentioned his plan for a Friday date night for he and his oldest gem.

After a short morning's work under a few horses, he drove home, showered, and packed up their organic popcorn treats, and with Rainie decked out in date night finery they headed to the Harbor for their evenings activities. Shopping, movies, and dinner, just what any lady likes!

While they were gone I had so much love in my heart at the thought of their good time that I had to fashion up a card to show how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness. The perfect sentiment popped out of my stash, but I wanted the background to reflect my heartstrings' song.

Anchors are such a strong symbol. Not only do they reflect his maritime joy but are a true reflection of his importance in our lives...although it may be my love of Washington that has anchored us here for now, he is the foundation of our family upon which most of our philosophies and habits are set.
Often times while I am preparing to make a card, I will glance around my desk to see what leftovers I can use, and my eyes fell upon this Basic Grey sticker sheet. The stickers have long since been used up, a recent trend I've pounced upon btw, and it seems a waste to toss the left over "frames," so there on my desk this sheet sat. I love grid designs, and when I layered the sticker backing over my anchor printed background, I loved the look so just went with it. I did end up turning the backing a couple of times to get the placement right.
An enamel swirl, some blingy bling and I was almost done. After adding some distress ink to the sentiment strip it felt like this card was ready to be hidden in plain sight for hunny to chance upon.
Thanks for celebrating an inspiring dad with me today!
 

Mason Jar Madam

Inspired by Friendships

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

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

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

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

Filled with Fun - and LOVE!

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