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

Stampendous Trash to Treasure

I'm a hoarder. Not of all things, but many. When it comes to empty sticker sheets, I have the darndest time putting them where they belong once every sticker has finally been used. After all, some of these have been with me longer than my own children! That's funny, but it's not a joke, lol. 

So, this last year I have made a huge effort to a. not buy any more stickers, and b. use up as many stickers as I have available, especially those that have had like, two or three left on them for ages. And while I recently succomed to a small shopping splurge at Scrap That's closing sale, I have also made a considerable dent in the amount of space that all of these sticky bits need for keeping!

The only thing I found discouraging was my complete inability to throw away that empty packaging... so I needed to have a space for sticker sheets with stickers, and sticker sheets without. And that, my friends, is just ridiculous. Especially when space in any crafting area is at a premium... on Saturday, I finally did it.

 Upcycling Saturday 

I grabbed that considerable stack of empties and I dumped them into the garbage. I even crumpled it all into a big ball, so I'd be less likely to try to retrieve them later in the day. Like five minutes later. 'Cause this isn't the first time I've tried this method of disposal/effort!

But then, guess what? I went back to my craft space and stood marveling at that newly empty space, and inspiration hit- BLAMO! And back to the garbage can I went, to retrieve before mentioned ball of garbage to carefully smooth out and look at with a fresh gleam of creativity in my eye.

What if... I used the sticker backs on a piece on top of a piece of paper- let's say it's patterned. And then, what if... I used my new WeRMemory keepers stamping tool to fill in those "frames" with all of those stamps I have and also don't find much use for. I may have danced in my pants just thinking about the possibilities!

 This idea was...

What a fun project! Both kids were so interested in seeing how I was going about placing the clear stamps, picking out colors with me, and marveling at how easy it was to stamp repeatedly in the exact same place (most of the time). I know the clear acrylic block/clear stamp combo is supposed to make that an easy task, but my stamp skills are not all that terrific, nor do I usually care to be careful when I'm making a mess.

The best part about this process was that if I didn't love the results, I didn't feel the need to keep them. That is HUGE! So I gave them to the kids. What, you didn't think I'd actually throw them away, did you :-)

Trash to Treasure #318: Stampendous Sticker Sheets!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Memorial Day Mini Albums

Spent the evening out with the kids over with the Red Barn youths, creating fun fast and fantastic mini albums just in time for Memorial Day. With just a few scrap papers and stickers, chipboard, and staples, we all made interesting little booklets. There was a place for family, a couple that celebrated military careers, and even just some little sketch books.

I've taught this class a few times this month now, but it never ceases to amaze me what my students come up with when they are handed a stack of scraps and a sticker sheet :-)  Thanks to the Two Water's Arts Alliance, who sponsored this Tuesday's CraftWithAnna class.

It's Time For A New Scrapbooking Kit Preview!

Remember how much fun we had in last month's EmbellishKits.com cardmaking kit preview video? Well this month we're using the super sized versions of those Echo Park papers to build some scrap-tastic layouts! The Jack & Jill collection by Lori Whitlock features old-timey icons like antique cars, baseball, bowling, airplanes, horses, and more- all cool stuff to pair with your favorite heritage photos or even just your friends hanging around the ball park.

The June 2015 Scrapbooking kit from EmbellishKits.com also includes beautiful aqua neutrals from Simple Stories, a great big wood veneer from Heidi Swapp that spells out Journey, and black and blue toned fibers to accent our layouts. To further customize our pages, we've got a full 12x12 sheet of stickers AND a 12x12 sheet of pop-out-your-own die cuts to play with!
I like to take all tear all of the die cuts away from their paper backing right away; for me it's easier to store them in one of those plastic packaging bags I always seem to have floating around the craft room. Don't have any yourself? Hmmm... I think a shopping splurge at EmbellishOnline.com may be in order lol.
I've seen crafters store their die cuts in pretty displays of stacked cake plates, elaborate drawer systems, baskets, and even Tupperware containers! It's all about doing what works for you, in your craft space- the important factor is your ability to enjoy them :-) And enjoying the die cuts included in this month's kit is easy to do- think subtitles, & embellishment clusters! Next week you'll see how I use some of these fun little paper bits to enhance a few handmade greeting cards and even a mini album... as one of the tags reads, "the sky's the limit!"
For this month's kit preview CraftWithAnna tutorial, we're building a fun, two page layout featuring photos of my two girls living the life of jet setters! You know me, I'm always interpreting the examples my own way; something that is so easy to do with the designs and products included in each kit from EmbellishKits.com.
Of course, there are wonderfully detailed written instructions and the full color examples to guide you with product placement and the general look of what your layout can look like if you do everything just as directed. Either way, you'll soon have a beautiful layout to include in your album!
I hope you enjoy our latest preview video- be sure to that subscribe button so you don't miss the exciting reveal of what I come up with using the supplies included for an additional two page layout. I know I'll be able to create additional projects using those numerous die cuts, stickers, an off-cuts too. So follow along on instagram @AnnaBradshw or search for #CraftWithAnna to see what's coming from the craft room and comment away!

May 2015 Card Share for EmbellishKits.com!

It took me a few days to get my video made- instead of my usual craft submersion this weekend I instead participated in the creation of some terrific Mother's Day memories - go figure! I laughed to myself throughout the day because usually I take this day off from any caretaking activities, child related or otherwise. For some reason though I kept washing dishes and comforting the kids- so maybe I'm maturing in my motherly way lol.
My brother came over in the morning and helped us set up a playset one of Ray's clients gifted us last fall. I somehow managed to convince him that the best place for them to play would be directly across from my craft room window... so yes, I will need to spend even more time in there, "supervising!" Later in the day my mom and her husband came over and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon, complete with BBQ and a long distance chat with my step-sister in Germany. I couldn't help but show off my seedlings- but did not mention the crop of aphids I discovered hiding in all my kale. YECH!
But back to the showing off- you're here, you know I love to do it so here it is without further ado:

We certainly hope you are enjoying these kit preview and share videos! Show your support with a big thumbs up and tell a friend what they're missing- inspiration, ideas, and non-intentional impersonations of Rachel Ray by yours truly :-)
Thanks again for following!

Show Quality Crafts

I've been spinning a few plates more than usual. Sometimes as a parent working from home it can be harder to remember to make time not dedicated to housework and catching up on all the tasks one could do during downtime at the office (if they had one to go to. Or time to waste there). To really focus on engaging my kids in an activity not pertaining to their food consumption or the rituals of bathing. To turn off my mental task checker and turn my attention on the loves of my life-and well, I can't help it that they choose papercrafts for fun can I?

Yesterday we followed directions housed within the Disney-riffic pages of one of the library's borrowed magazines. I guided both girls through the process but tried really hard not to tell them just where to apply adhesive, stickers or the bling that transformed their discarded cardboard forms into stunning treasure keepers!

I love that Rainier is building scenes with her embellishments now. She explained as she added crowns to each character that the lion is the king, the ladybug is the queen, and the snowflake is the judge...of the pageant! Hmm is it time for another of those productions already?

 Rainier's meticulous placement is so different from Sunday, who I believe delights in the textural pleasures that come from stacking stickers oh, 15-20 deep in about a one inch square area! Although, sometimes she decontructs a completed project and disperses the sticker stack amongst other creations... she may have seen a few of my finer repurposed constructions, hmm?

Whatever our day brings, being able to spend a few peaceful, MOSTLY non-squabbling moments together doing what we all love is bliss in itself; it is the art of living well that we are practicing. 

Since practice makes perfect, I've now got a lifetime of fallback excuses er,  reasons to put off all those other obligations!

Late Night Love Life

One of my favorite holidays to design cards for, Valentine's Day is even more special for us because the day before is Sunday's birthday. Plus, I'm just a really lovey dovey kind of gal, and what better way to express that tangibly than with a handmade card? These were made with the My Mind's Eye woodgrain 6x6 paper pack. I also picked up a package of wood veneers to add to my stash and used the cupid one as I consider it to be the least versatile and therefore the first to go to the store in time for selling! Simple Stories chipboard and some foam adhesive built this embellishment cluster into a focal point of the card, but doing something as simple as adding gems to a pennant sticker really dresses up a simple embellishment. Feeling a little more advanced? Try layering trim behind a sticker as I did with the Be Mine card. Using grey lace, I did have to cut a little on the corners of the hearts to help the ribbon lie flat. Then over two border stickers, also layered, and to top off my fancy embellie, I pop-dotted that smaller heart and paced it slightly offset for some textural flair. Working from a 12x12 sticker sheet helped all of my cards coordinate, and I LOVE the look of each!
 

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!
 

Color inspiration

A pretty card for a new client came together rather quickly- it's amazing what one can make from the bits and pieces left on the workspace! The tiny scrap of floral printed paper on the left was the inspiration for my colored scraps on this card... as you can see, inspiration can be interpreted as loosely as desired when it comes to my crafting world!
The part to focus on is being able to create based on anything- important to remember when looking at other artist's offerings and being tempted to compare skill levels or products available. Think about what you're envious of; what do you admire about another's gallery? Then collect some product and create something about it!
So, back to my scrap bucket: a previously misted muted purple with Thank You stamped randomly, first and second generation, amongst the droplets. That pink heavy weight cardstock? Old Creative Memories sticker packaging from, you guessed it, that cold foil batik leaf sticker! A bit of teal with holding a jewel from a broken necklace twined on, and my favorite silver Sharpie to accent the grey card base edges.
Go take a look at one of your most used workspace. See anything that, well, goes together? Throw it on a card or alongside some pictures from this week and just Get Crafty! Feeling the need to introduce new products into the mix? Head over for a free make and take at the Michael's store in Gig Harbor this afternoon, Saturday Jan. 10th from 1:30-3:00 pm. I'll be demoing DIY Valentine's for the 12th Man in your life... Go Hawks!

Quick Card Share for Dec 15th

Just a quick look at a few cards I made last week, and I'll be back to share more of what I've been doing with my time this month tomorrow!

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!

More Quick layout inspiration

Last night while waiting for my favorite show, Survivor, to load between commercials on the computer, I ran into my craft room and grabbed two sheets of paper, based on a layout I had admired earlier in the day, at left in this picture, featured in Northridge Media's, Create: Quick and Easy Scrapbooking. Its a little magazine with big ideas for capturing memories in a flash. All very do-able ideas I might add!
So last night all I had selected was that burgundy flourished background and the green and cream music notes piece, the reverse of which has a delicate grid with scalloped border going round the edge. Grabbed this pic of my mom and I at one of our favorite hang out spots, the Wine Studio in Gig Harbor. I thought it was a good match for the two papers because we love music and singing together and the only thing better than drinking wine for us is a little Karaoke! Aside from that, there was a lot of wood in the photo background and I like how the faint striping in the background mimics the racks of wine shelved in this place.
To mimic my example's kraft border, I simply cut along the grid lines of the green and cream print, then turned over the cut out piece, and curled the edges up for added visual interest and texture. You can just see a little of the background color along the edges and this looks extra shadowy in real life. There is something about the shabby look of those curled edges that I don't ususally include in my layouts... but when I do, I always think, why don't I do this more often?!
Another look I love is sewing on paper, but despite moving my sewing machine to sit directly in front of me while crafting, it continues to collect dust instead of improve the look of my paper piecings. My latest excuse is that it's too hard to plug in... funny though, I can plug anything else in down below that location, no matter how much I need to move or crawl, so yeah, that's not a great reason!
My aunt recently garage sale-d a bunch of kid's stickers, including a set that looks like it came in a Carnation packet or something. I decided they would be a better addition to my stash, and used them right away by adding the little sentiment stickers directly on the photo- in part to hold it in place, because it was bedtime for me!

So this morning Rainie helped me select and lay out flowers and brads to finish off this gorgeous layout. My October product of the month challenge has been "flowers," but along with that I think the challenge for me has been "hot glue gun!" Not a tool I'm used to reaching for, but damn it does make adhering easy! It's all those strings at the end that don't make me so happy. It seems like they keep appearing no matter how vigilant I try to be about getting them off!I love the smiles my mom and I are sharing in this photo. She is my number one go-to hang out person; she has a different way of looking at and reacting to situations, we have a lot of fun and can find a reason to laugh about all of life's ups and downs. Part of the inspiration to add the flowers came from that quote by Emerson, "Earth laughs in flowers." Getting to preserve the memory of that fun night out with my own daughter completes my circle of happiness!

I love that in our house it is not uncommon for the three of us girls to be in the craft room at 7:30 in the morning making things together- while Rainie and I worked at getting everything in just the right place, Sunday was busy placing her own stickers on a little mini book she had crafted (by book, I mean a piece of paper, folded over)! After that it was on to painting, acrylics for Rainier and water for Sunday. We can't find our water colors, so just water works for us lol.

Thanks for stopping by to read today and keep watching for the next Card Magic: Part Three, which will have contest info and a whole lot of fun contained within :-) Catch up with Parts One and Two on my YouTube channel- subscribe and don't miss a thing! There is a purple button link to all my social media accounts at the top right of this post.

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.

The littlest entrepreneur

WA State Cinderella Preliminary Pageant Bound! 

I've been nearly bursting with pride this last week as Rainier put her energy and efforts into not just creating a dazzling variety of sticker laden cards, but took them another step and sold nearly everyone of those darling handcrafted gems.
Last month she and Sunday  competed in the Miss Puget Sound Pajama Pageant (find a highlight video in my YouTube channels listings). My normally shy girl loved the experience so much that before it had even started, she was asking to do another...hmmm my wallet can't really support that habit!
She thoughtfully proposed selling her own handmade cards "just like ma" and has hardly been able to meet the demand, whipping up 2-5 cards a day. I guess I am most excited that she was able to achieve a goal like this at such a young age, as well as learn that valuable lesson of hard work=dream can come true. Not all of us have the opportunity to grow up with that kind of monetary confidence gained!
She did in fact meet her goal and will be participating in the Washington State Cinderella Pageant Preliminaries October 12th. I'm taking the camcorder along and hope to capture and publish another video for those unable to attend. Maybe some family will be able to learn more about pageants as well from those... I did a lot of searching online myself, trying to get a gist of what we could all expect from the events.
I guess I have been a little surprised by the adult reactions related to hearing that I'm "putting" my kids in pageants. It's kind of like direct-marketing myths; someone who knows someone had a bad experience/remember what happened to Benet?/those are just popularity contest and promote self loathing. Those are pretty standard responses, and there were a few more vehement responses as well. To me, over the head of my 3 year old.  After she's asked with all the confidence she can muster if they'd like to buy a card...
Honestly? I don't want any of those experiences in our lives. It's all too easy to fall into the societal commercial imagery of what girls "need," I.e. clothes, makeup, and a husband! In our house we emphasize confidence, how beautiful a winning attitude often is, and above all, enjoying the experience whether or not we win (or a man is there to watch us).
To me it's just like ballet or football in that there is hard work/practice, uniforms, and photos of the recital/tournament/ stage debut of course. Hopefully I'm Mom enough to guide my little blossoms with enough love that they will navigate the winds of adversity with grace and the desire to do their best and give God the rest :^) Who knows, with all the scrapping I'll need to do as they grow, I may need to call on Rainie's entrepreneurial talents to raise a little money for moms paper and sticker collection -er, supply!

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

Way to Washi No. 727

Putting an emphasis on the photo is always my goal, but with all the hot products available today, my pages can sometimes get inundated with embellishment.
Today, I put the emphasis on white space! A few stickers and a single photo placed in a grid, a simple embellie of brads wound with crochet thread, and a die cut mat at an angle all pull the eye right to the middle of my layout where my photo takes off-center stage.
I felt the page lacked a little cohesive color, so I pulled a roll of coordinating My Minds Eye Washi out and selected the orange crosshatch pattern for the top and bottom. Once I laid it down I could see that a skinnier would be better, so I just placed the paper edge down the middle of the tape and cut off the excess for the bottom piece.
I love this "clean" and simple page which took probably all of ten minutes to create. Thanks for stopping by, and remember,  there are atill a few more days to enter my Scrapbook Expo giveaway by leaving a comment below, on any of my YouTube videos, or by becoming a subscriber to either there or here- or do all of this for multiple chances at winning.
Good luck, and go get your washi-ng done!

Scent On the Go-www.PartyLite.Biz/AnnasCandlesTheres still time for me give you 10 dozen candles free in July!

Same-Month Scrapping

Working on a layout featuring photos taken within the same month...is that an even thinkable task with scrapbooking?! With the blossoming of Project Life style scrapping, i.e. daily, weekly, or monthly recapping of life's happenings, this idea is becoming more realistic. Add to this equation tiny printers that you can wirelessly send your photos to for instant printing, and you've got a recipe for some same month scrappin.

Well, I don't have a Project Life album per se, and I don't have a cool new Selphy printer, but I do have pictures, an album and I do have a printer! So even though the ink is running out in said printer, I did print off my fourth of July pictures and scrapped them within the same month. I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment.

I started with a series of photos of my family taken down at the beach as we waited for dusk to turn to night. My hunny is known for his dislike of the traditional family portrait taking session, but my mom's got an iPhone, so within the 30 or so pictures she snapped I found three that I really liked and wanted to have all on the one page. You can tell when looking at the photos that I was trained to hold my picture smile! 'Cause I am like the wax statue that my family is posing around lol.

This year I've been working really hard towards reaching for my not-favorite items. Not that I don't love all my products, but there are definitely some with dust accumulating on their edges. Instead of patterned cardstock, I got into my patterned paper (probably purchased over a decade ago) and chose an unlikely sheet of a snow covered treescape. It reminded me of that grey light that our eyes see as the sun sets. Next I pulled that striped sheet from a gifted paper pack which includes the die cut letters you see in my title.

When I have trouble getting my die cuts to pull cleanly from their background, I simply cut around the letter for a fun and funky new look, and then pull up the edges on the letters for a bit of dimension. This saves me a lot of frustration (and wasted letters)! Plus, on this layout especially, it can lend my alpha a bit of visual weight it may be lacking.

Under my title I added some scraps as banners. Some banners got their edges inked for more depth, and I even cut the lighthouse from Graphic 45's By the Sea collection and turned it to create a nautical flag as well. There are so many different reds in the picture itself that I didn't worry about matching, and tried to use bright, dull, and everything in between shades without fear. The same idea was in mind for the many blues, and it seems to have translated well. Rub on stitching and Queen & Co.'s star shaped rhinestones helped to emphasize our Fourth of July fun.
It doesn't show much in the photo above, but I got really creative with some washi tape fireworks as well. I'll be sure to post an additional entry with my completed left page and a close up of what I think are some of the coolest fireworks amongst my album to date. Thanks for reading today, and don't forget to comment for a chance to win either a die cut or a scrapbook page designed just for you in my Scrapbook Expo contest going through the end of the month.  

Add a Fourth of Fun

Today I'm sprinkling a dash of creativity, adding a Fourth of Fun, and mixing up a big scrap bucket of card fronts!
Occasionally, there are nights I successfully bring myself back downstairs after tucking the kids into bed. Earlier this summer I discovered a way to make a table I can work off while sitting on the couch and it's opened up a few more hours of crafting for me! As hunny and I watch our fill of the Orange is the New Black, I sort through my scraps and find interesting color combinations to play with. Sometime I'm really happy with the results, and sometimes I just love the idea of what I've made, but not really the card itself.

That's the case with this card to the left; I actually like it a lot more photographed and here on the blog than I do in real life. It was fun to create though, and that's what matters most to me. The cute little paper flower was made by folding strips of paper and then topping it with a fussy cut flower and a pearl. A peek-a-boo sticker from the kids and an assortment of additional blings bring the focus onto the flower. Thank goodness I have every color bling under the sun to compliment all the shades shown here, thanks to Queen & Co and their value priced booth at CKC each year!

Speaking of bling, I need to go make some Fourth of July cards for the peeps I'll see. I've got some blue and red star blings that are just dying to get on something.
Have a safe and fun, festive Fourth- and make it crafty!

Michael's Haul and Projects!

I'm really excited today to be posting my latest video, a Michael's shopping trip and what I've made with the stuff I've bought!




I love working at Michael's in Gig Harbor, the store is so clean and bright and the scrapbooking section is close to the front of the store so I can still see outside. This really helps because otherwise time disappears when I'm in there lol. It's almost like the casino, except, well I never leave with more money than I came with...
There are a lot of good sales usually and then my employee discount boosts my percentage off as well. It's hard not to find SOMETHING to take home! I find that shopping from a sales rack almost guarantees my products will coordinate, too. So that's a great tip for a shopping trip :-)
Coming home with the intention of sharing what I had bought and then building a kit was so exciting! It took a little longer than I expected for my video to get made, mostly because of getting my cards in the store and then just my usual scrapbooking and teaching schedule (You know, whenever possible).
Looking back through the finished projects, I realized I must have got an additional sticker sheet, or maybe I already had one from the same DCWV Vintage collection. I also used a lot from Basic Grey, one of the 4x6 Journalling card pads.
I hope you enjoyed this shopping trip! I love to read your comments and am grateful for my followers. What do you find yourself bringing home from Michael's? Let me know if you need suggestions, and Happy Crafting!

Back in the Backyard -Crafting!

Little Photo Sesh Outside the Library

Once the weather in Western Washington decides to get summery, it is so hard to stay indoors. Even going to the library is a reluctant venture, because we just love getting all that delicious vitamin D!

Oh yeah, this is the Life!

A crafty gal like me won't let the call of the great outdoors get in the way of creating every day, so I just move outside to the backyard :-) Rainier has gotten pretty mobile with her supplies as well and its a real joy to be whipping up projects in a creative frenzy together.
Here's a chance for you to craft with me,

Congrats, Grads! #PHSalumni

I had such a great time creating that elegant looking card with common junk drawer paraphenilia. If you've got the inclination, a search on instagram (see my social media icons to the right) for #DCCrestlye will bring you some interesting imagery.
Graduation is just around the corner for many... think back on how you might have felt at a similiar time of accomplishment in your life, and channel that energy into a thoughtful, handmade gesture for someone.
If you're looking for some new or inspiring ways to use your die- cuts, check out the latest edition of DieCutCrazy, a digital source of delight!
I hope you enjoyed my video, and go rummaging about for your own  re purposeful items-
Now....
Get Crafty!




PS It has been some time since I was able to put up a movie on YouTube...hit that subscribe button and you'll see my latest uploads upon sign in :-) Suscribe to this blog and follow along on all my (published) CraftWithAnna-dventures!