New Video-& A Scrapbook Kit Reveal Teaser

It's been a while since I've made a video, but I just had to before heading to my first ever Portland version of the Creative Keepsakes Convention I love attending. I'm looking forward to spending time with my favorite designers as well as visiting my favorite booths to stock up on my favorite paper collections! Can you tell I'm excited?

Lately, I've been thinking about some of the changes that have occurred in our home over the last year... not going into detail here, but more reflective thoughts that I nonetheless would like to scrapbook in some form or another. Next week I'll have a video to reveal my solution, as well as a review of the trends I spot this weekend on the convention floor.

If you're not already subscribing to my CraftWithAnna YouTube channel, do so today~ that way I don't have to worry about you missing my next video release :-) Take care, friends, and keep it scrappy!

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!

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.

Labor of Love

Okay these are not childbirth photos so you can go ahead and look at the photos :^)

I'm scrapping at the Sharon Memories here in Olympia and wanted to share my first completed layout with you. 

Pictures of three special dads available for spending Father's Day with are offset with warm wood tones, blues and even the surprising pink! 

I'm hoping my honey will journal about his road to fathering and what it's like parenting our brood (does two count as a brood?)- I even placed a sticker of an old fashioned pen at an angle a lefty like himself would hold it.

Nautical stickers echo the Gig Harbor Historical Society's emphasis on the Mosquito Fleet's local influence . I also added a burlap lol through the magic of Washi tape!

Thanks for cropping by to craft with me tonight!

♡ Anna

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Six by Six Series: Episode One

In this series, I've been exploring different ways to make use of those cute little six by six inch paper pads of patterned paper available from most designers. These miniature replicas of the full sized sheets are perfect for using on your scrapbook pages, as well as on your cards; their smaller sized prints can even help you include somewhat bolder patterns with ease. Another bonus? If you fall in love with a new release but can't justify the purchase price, you can still get the designs you love and not break the bank- or appear to be walking through the door with yet another ream of paper!

Bonus number three? A lot of the collection pads are coming out double sided. Yes, twice as much fun in one small price! Look at how easy it was to just tear out two of the same pattern (green snowflake) from my Jillibean Soup Winter Tortellin & Spinach Soup 6x6 mini pad. This brand actually gives you three sheets of each double sided design, so I had no problem using two sheets for my background. I did have a problem tearing the paper out, but no worries, I just cut it across with my paper trimmer and used my kraft background to create a lovely border. A little inked distressing on the edges, along with a few coordinating stickers from the same company, and my Mommy & Me layout was almost done.

Do you have a problem cutting into a 12x12 sheet of paper... I'm not sure why it is so hard for me but I really struggle with it. With the smaller designs, I don't have that problem at all! See the row of houses that anchors my page? Yes, it was cut from a pint sized sheet as well. Perfectly coordinated embellishment base for my word cluster down there! A few more little houses up at the top help to create that visual triangle, along with the repeated cirlces stickers and typewriter motif.

I'm really pleased with how this page turned out. It was super simple to create, with the die cut circle as a photo mat to break up the very linear design of photo and sticker placement. So many people comment that Sunday is like a little mini-me, and what better way to visually tell that story than with some little mini prints! So how will you use your little darlings? Leave a comment below and come back by my blog to see the rest of my Six by Six series. Happy crafting friends!

Happy (Inter) National Scrapbooking Day!

Creating cards with my friend yesterday was the perfect way to get my craft mojo fired up for my favorite holiday, (see blog post title).

Last night Sunday and I got to spend some quality craft time with my mom, and as soon as little one retired for the night,  two layouts AND another little card literally flew out of my carry-around stash!

This morning I spent a little time scrolling for inspiration on Instagram. Isn't it just terrifically amazing how much creative energy there is in the crafters community to tap into!? I loved seeing what everyone was getting their glue sticks on in honor of NSD. I'll be working just about the entire day and night through, so being able to tap in and participate by looking will be a big bonus for my day. I mean, who wants to miss out on the fun, right!?

These photos from the last time my in-laws were out are so special to me. I really wanted to do some heartfelt journalling to echo those warm, fuzzy feelings :-) Sometimes, list style journalling can make it easy to get some of those more mushy gushy feelings onto the layout. The little cards in many paper collections out there have great prompts too if you just can't get there on your own.

These photos are so special because they highlight visually some of the really lovely ways my "parents" indulge our family when they visit our coast. There is always a lap available for cuddling. They help me see a different side of my Mr., through stories of their youth -and his! I love that they actually read the things I painstakingly write on the albums and albums worth of layouts they look through!

This last visit I got that great shot of Mr., Sr. Printing up some prose for his grandaughter at my command! Lol what a treasure that will be for us later in life. What a treasure these two are for me, now in life. I can't wait til they come out again... maybe I can even get them scrapbooking this visit!
Enjoy your day, and get scrappy!

Scrapbooking "Off the Grid"

I love it when I see a magazine feature or advertisement or card in a shop that inspires me, don't you? Picked up some "vintage" scrapbooking magazines from a friend last week and yesterday afternoon a layout featuring a grid of 16 squares with rounded corners caught my eye. Funny, this layout was actually a lift of another scrapper's layout! So I guess its a pretty good design in terms of its adaptability.

On my desk's to do list this last week has been some photos taken last December, over at my wine-loving friend Becca's. Every year she bakes, like, a hundred cookies and her family decorates them all in one night. This is like a dream event for me! But how could I go and leave my little ones both at home... we don't exactly promote sugar ingestion in our home, but this is the kind of traditional holiday gathering that I grew up with.

Rainier and I met my mom over at Becca's and ended up bringing our own cookie dough along for the fun. Delicious, healthy, and easy to make, these cookies even appeal to regular cookie eaters :-0 Just take a banana, mix it with some nut butter, oatmeal, a dash of vanilla and I think that's it! You can add cocoa for extra yum. There may be more to it, I haven't made them since December so I'm a bit mucky on the particulars.

Sprinkles of raisins, currants, and almond slivers had my toddler in decorating heaven along with the other kids there that night. Including some very large kids home from college, haha! I was feeling very MOM like, with my glass of wine, overlooking all the festivities... but you know as soon as a seat opened up, it was ON for me to get my sprinkle on! I felt kind of bad because we wouldn't be eating them, but we thought of a great way to pass on the goodness; send them for fellowship after church the next day :-)

Matting my photos really helped them to stand out against a very busy background. Adding some cooking themed stickers for embellishment made the layout a lot less serious and I was able to pass on the few not used for Rainier to use on her own project. You'll be able to see this entire layout, with a cool use of a negative die cut, in the next issue of DieCutCrazy.
Can't wait that long for some die cutting inspiration? Check out the April edition, now available on your Apple device and as a PDF as well! And, you can see another grid style scrapbook layout opposite this page:

No one in the World...

You may recall seeing the kit for this layout in my Special Edition: Packing for a Crop videos. The SEI flocked background was out of my comfort zone, but I think you'll agree, it really pops without competing!

I added a Glitz Designs sticker (thanks Cruise and Crop) as well as a Basic Grey brad (Big Lots, Ill be back!) to a globe die cut for a simple little anchoring embellishment cluster.

You know Im (a horder) into recycling and repurpousing... take a look at your packaging materials like I did for the fussy cut flower group on the left hand side.
A long title and a long row of bling, a journalling card cut in half to stretch behind my photos, and pictures of a little girl who makes my heart sing... I gotta say, love how it turned out! But...
Where are the stamps?
Heh heh gotta get crackin on incorporating my March theme product :-) pretty good reason to craft today, dontcha think?