Silver Lining

I see a lot of memes on facebook that I totally identify with, and usually just save them to my phone. Occasionally I even print and scrapbook them! This one is just SO the way I feel though, I had to share.
Have you ever struggled with how you are seen by another? Like, it seems so unreasonable, their "take" on you? Boy, I sure do. I think most of my acquaintances see me smiling, a lot, and though I have my beachy moments, in my heart, I am trying to be patient and understanding above all else.
So why does this post strike me... well, I used to be so closed off. I've chosen aloofness and to distance myself more many years, in many instances. But when I met Jaime, I felt it was time to change. I was inspired by her positivity. I think God placed her in my life to show me that, people can change. I know I did. That I continue to evolve. And some people find my kind of cheer irritating, sure. But I'm just going to keep on keeping on, and love them all the harder lol. "Nobody puts baby in a corner," right!?
Since being blessed by so, so many relationships I might not have pursued if I'd remained the same, I've come to appreciate my friendships all the more. I may seem overly optimistic to some, but I'm just trying to share the good news of this life, my meaning of life. Love others, lift them up, look on the bright side. Learn from mistakes, from misfortune, from unbearable sadness. God has a plan for each of us! We know not how each moment impacts the next... if you're ever feeling sad, lonely, unheard, not worthy, please, reach out and let someone like me help you see that silver lining. We all need a little sparkle in our life ♡ #whenindoubtjustaddglitter

Spotlight on Sunday on Monday

   She's got....personality  <3 

You know something I am never lacking? Printed photos. The feeling of a fresh stack of prints from Walgreens contained within an envelope riding on the passenger seat next to me is one that literally gives me a thrill just thinking of. Hey, I basically scrapbook for a living so those are all little inheritable CraftWithAnna tax write-offs! You know something we don't have many of? Professional family portraits. Living within our age of digital photography, combined with my desire to take better photos of my family, to really capture our lives and twinkling eyes more naturally, has always made getting into a studio with the four of us an unimportant task.
Enter gala nights on board our cruises. Enter fabulous outfits that we would normally never wear! Enter a REAL photographer, huge umbrella'd lights, and... posing in front of strangers with little to no direction, on the way to dinner, with two hungry kids and a very possibly inebriated hubby?!
Yes, it's true that part of the reason my family was so anxious to dine was that I made them all pose for my own photo session in our cabin :-O  I had each of my subjects stand near the natural light coming in from the window, then turned them in a few directions and coaxed familiar grins and real smiles from them. Oh and we couldn't forget mom! Thank you, self-timer. THEN I allowed us to progress to one of the photo stations set up to capture our fellow travelers in all their regalia.
Check it out; we totally nailed it! I mean, of two poses and quick photographs taken of my reluctant and ravenous family, this one has those gleams and twinkles and even the dramatic background that I love to capture with my android lens.
I even captured this photo, with that same lens, albeit "illegally" from the display gallery. Cause people, I was trained by the best in the art of sneak photography/photobombing. And, you should know after reading a few posts of mine that I would much rather hubby saved his money for (wine and) organic food stuffs than to pay $47 for ONE photo that we may or may not ever be put on display in our home. The home where we may or may not lounge about dressed in our (birthday) suits and glittering dresses. I do wear glittering shoes often... :-)
Besides, there was still the po$$ibility that we could run into a paper products store of some interest along the way... 

 

Lisa E Design Blog: Valentine Giveaway Winner

Lisa E Design Blog: Valentine Giveaway Winner: And the winner of the Valentine giveaway prize is Anna  who posted on February 16 at 2:23 p.m.

"!!!!!!"

A beautiful conclusion to a terrifically scrappy weekend. Yesterday I met with friends for croppin' and taught a newbie how to create her own lovely mini album. Too much fun and just the right amount of wine :-)
Today I was given the liberty to continue playing with paper, and wrapped up about ten pages from my work-in-progress Christmas album. Sometimes it was just a title or a bit of journaling  that needed to be filled in, but there were quite a few blank page-turned-layouts as well.
Now this awesome contest announcement... what a wonderful way to end a fantastic weekend with my family and friends. Thanks for stopping by and sharing my bliss...

& thanks, Lisa!

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

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.

Global Prepping with Martha

World Card Making Day is Saturday October 4th, folks, and I'll be at the Gig Harbor Michael's celebrating with our Martha Stewart punches! It's never too early to start making Christmas cards, and for the Demo Discount price of just $12.50 you can take home three beautiful handmade cards- with matching envelopes, created with the Martha's Envelope Score Board! Stop by to pick up a kit or just visit,

 -Anna

Fathers Day Gift-Cards

Traditional gifts for dad this year in the form of a shirt from me and another shirt with tie from Rainier :-) in the form of handcrafted paper cards, of course! I saw this idea while surfing the web (working) last Saturday. We made them Sunday morning and I think that helped them look so crisp and fresh.
My card is on the left and used a six by six My Minds Eye sheet as the shirt base. Its a subtle dark grey pinstripe which paired beautifully with these dark greybuttons from an Sei album kit. There was no + sign in the glitter thickers, but a couple snips later it is barely noticeably pieced together.
Rainier has been using scissors since a very young age and I'm so proud to see her advanced skills in how closely she followed the outline of the tie on her card. I drew a line around the outside, which she cut around, then she cut closer to the line again, and finally, cut the line off. On the inside of the card (which she makes first for some reason, and I always leave for the end), she stamped DAD and drew her sister's name as well as her own, and some other...sentiments.
Dad loved his card and we love dad!

Another Holiday Scrapped to Completion

One of my dilemmas in scrapbooking has got to be the creative limbo of not being able to move forward until a section of life has been scrapped in its entirety.

Now trust me, its not something that holds me back, as Im perfectly content to scrap any photo for any reason at any time. Easter pics at Christmas time? Birthday photos of my youth mixed in with ski vacations! Sometimes it can even be a good challenge to use seasonal papers for something other than the season they were printed for. A lot of striking color combinations within that mix up.

Still, there are all those stacks of photos that want glory in 12x12 form. Dress me up! they seem to scream. Yes, my photos talk to me, dont yours?

I went on a tear around my craft room the last week, tidying up albums, rearranging loose pages into their chronologically held place amongst bursting d-rings -and the dreaded post holders!

Id love to finish up my Christmas section, but first I whizzed back in time on my broomstick again to Halloween of last year.

This was such a fun part of 2013. I went with my mom to some terrific friends Monster Mash, and my costume was entirely inappropriate.  Score one for mom on the loose lol. My friend Stephanie dressed up as Babe the blue ox and covered her face with blue eyeshadow. Now that's commitment to a costume lol! of course, my mom with a big bling Bindhi was pretty off the chart too.

Then Rainier, dressed as Fancy Nancy, went trick or treating with her dad (Momar Ghadafi). I was in the car dressed as one of his "bodyguards"- google that one-, watching over sleeping baby sister. We got out and met up with them down the! block just in time for a picture of them ringing the bell. You can see that process here:

Following the tricking we went to another friends party and of course more picture taking ensued. My favorite series is this of my youngest playing with a bag of candy as her dad watches on mildly. Good thing they dont yet know what poisen lurks within heheh.

My pages all have a very cohesive look because I made one kit and worked out of it for all the layouts. A cut apart sheet like this one by DieCutsWithAView takes all the guesswork out of titles and color scheming. Just arrange a few pieces here and there, add photos and a few other themed embellies like brad and ribbon, and youll be saying sayonara to another set of photos in no time.

Thanks for taking a look at what Ive been working on this week- still trying to incorporate washi tape on every project, but somehow I feel like I'm failing miserably. Perhaps this is because I made a sh*t ton of stuff outside of my normal output, mostly a lot of cards at the beginning of the month, and not much of that got washi-fied. Ah well, that's why it's called a challenge!