::ANNA::

Generally Flat, NewART, Scancafe Friend Discount + JO food Revolution Begins

Enjoying dinner with friends on my birthday last week, complete with jewelry gifted from E and L, plus one *yummy* sundae with candles amidst a chorus of *Happy Birthday to You*.

This week, in spite of an unexpected snow day and very little to complain about, I've been feeling a little *flat*, and therefore creatively challenged.  

It's my greatest challenge of working in this industry: Keeping myself positive and inspired.  Basically, if I'm not inspired, it's pretty hard to work.  So the desire to scrapbook could not be any further down my list of priorities, and I'm waiting, no so patiently, for that creative spark to return.  

I'm sure it will.  At some point.  Hopefully soon.  Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I have spent all the creative energy I do have on a few new products for the store this week.  Some Birthday WordART in honor of my birthday last week, and DesignerDigitals upcoming birthday celebration on 1 April 2010, as well as some *cooking* inspired products, to name a few.

............................................................................................................................................................

I also have a 40% off coupon for an order of $300 or less *for a friend* from Scancafe.  At the beginning of the year I sent in about 1000 heritage photos for the tedious job of scanning.  I was a little dubious about parting with my *treasure* but I am glad I braved the process.  My photos were returned safely and all my heritage photos are now in digital format ready to go. It was a painless process and a job well done, though the process did take about 8 weeks start to finish.

Email me at anna underscore aspnes at yahoo dot com or leave a post below if your interested.  First come first served.  

Note: Order must be place by 28 March 2010.

............................................................................................................................................................

Ella eats the same thing every day: Veggies + Ranch Dip, a fruit, a protein (usually cheese, turkey or peanut butter), a gluten free carb (GF pasta, crackers or rice cakes) and something sweet such as GF cookies, chocolate or similar.  

Last year it was such a chore to put a lunch together after dinner.  Hate is such a strong word but I really did dread it.  Lately, after watching Food Inc. and in anticipation of JO Food Revolution, I see this task I have of feeding my children in a whole different light.  It's no longer a chore but I see it as being important. 

Thank goodness I have at least one child who loves to eat healthy.  Luke is getting there slowly.  There used to be a time when nothing green would pass his lips but these days he's catching on.  Proof that you just have to keep trying.  Last night he scarfed down a salad of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, edamame and black olives, with 1/2 avocado on the side doused in balsamic vinegar ( or soy sauce as he calls it).

The Jamie Oliver Food Revolution 2 hour Premiere begins tonight on ABC 7/8C.  

I know what I'll be doing after bootcamp tonight ;)

"I took your Album Magic class in the first round and have since knocked out a total of four albums! Album Magic is, well, magic!  I have a question...I noticed in this blog's photo the "direction" of the spine titles. I had mine printed like your Alaska 2004-2006 album and have since noticed the default setting seems to be the other way around. Is there a "rule" guiding which way the title should face on the album spines?"  Marg van Patten

There are no rules to how you go about about the design of your photo books. It's all simply a matter of personal preference, as is the case with every aspect of your scrapbooking.  In terms of album spines, I do personally like a degree of consistency.  The font or design on a spine may differ with each album I create, however, I make sure that all titles *face the same direction* so that they look great lined up on my bookshelf.

In AlbumMagic, I teach a lot about discovering and preserving your personal preferences, your likes and dislikes, as well as style.  I also provide you with a framework, to which you can work in light of those preferences, to create one meaningful album after another.

Learn more about or sign up for AlbumMagic.

Sandwich Petals in Action

I just discovered an photo using of the Sandwich Petals I mentioned in Friday's post.

This is the Agave Grain variety stuffed with the previous night's leftovers a.k.a Fish N Veggies with Tahini Dressing.

New Layouts, a Party, Sandwich Petals GF Tortilla/Wraps and a Petition.

A few things on my mind this Friday afternoon.

As I type, music is blaring in the background as we gear up for our St. Paddy's Day party tonight, so it seems appropriate that I post these new pages using my ArtPlay Palette Lucky to be released in the store this weekend.

I've shopped for food, friends have helped me decorate and Eric's now working on the lights.

Looking forward to getting together with our friends tonights.  

Hoping I won't be too worse for wear for my birthday tomorrow.

............................................................................................................................................................

Super-excited about a recent food discovery that I thought I'd share as they've fast become a staple in my breadbox.  I know, odd I would have a breadbox when I don't eat bread in the conventional sense, but i do.

Enter Sandwich Petals:  The Ultimate Gluten-Free Flatbread. 

In their words, and mine.

I've searched high and low for a good and affordable Gluten Free and Dairy Free substitute for tortillas and wraps only to be disappointed with plastic tasting versions that break apart when handled.

My bootcamp trainer picked up a pack of the Agave Grain flavour from an event that she attended a few weeks ago, and I've since ordered a Variety Box and tried the other two flavours, Spinach Garlic and Chimayo Red Chile. 

Tip: Order on a Monday you get 2 boxes for the price of one (12 wraps in each variety for a total of 36 wraps) making them a very affordable $.35/wrap.

Sandwich Petals with it's 10 grain blend are made by Raquelita's Tortillas located here in Denver Colorado and were created for Celiacs, Diabetics, Athletes and are virtually allergen free.  Not only are these wraps GFDF but they are also Soy and Nut Free.  You can read more about them here or there's a video about them here.

I eat them for breakfast stuffed with eggs and turkey; for lunch with stir-fried veggies or salad; or for dinner as a pizza base or cut-up, toasted and served as chips.

If you live locally they are available at Paradise Bakery and Cafe.  6 of their locations are carrying them across Denver.

............................................................................................................................................................

On the topic of food, you'll remember this post about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which will premiere on ABC on 26th March.

Jamie Oliver has now started a petition that he'd like to take to the White House after the TV series airs. You can check it out here.

Thoughts on Albums

I promised myself at Christmas, as I was scrambling to finish various Album *projects*, before the year end, that I'd have a better plan for this year.

Saturday marks the first day of Spring and we're almost one quarter of the way through 2010, so this little promise that I made myself, has been on my mind, especially with the second round of AlbumMagic commencing April 14, 2010.  

I think it would be timely for me to start another album *project*.

I have a master list, to which I'm constantly adding as a new ideas arise.  I have a number of brainstorming techniques that I use to come up with ideas for albums, and I complete them according to priority (i.e. if it is a gift for someone), or my choice could be dictated by the photo(s) or story that inspires me the most at that particular time.

I don't stress about the topic.  I just pick one.  The others will be still on my list next time around.

What defines an album *project*?

For me, an album project has a definite beginning and a definite end.  Most are 20 pages, sometimes more, depending on the content and are printed as Shutterfly photobooks, such as this one and this one.  They can be FotoFocussed, where the project is led by the photos, or StoryFocussed, as where the project dictates the photos used.  *projects* tell a story or document a complete, or near complete event i.e I do not intend to add the the book at a later date, bar perhaps a second volume with a related story or subject matter.  Album *projects* often document specific events, such as my family vacations or can e gifts for my friends and family.

You can see my other photobooks here.

I compare album *projects* to my *everyday* or *themed* scrapbooking, such as my monthly pages, Ella's school album, and our Christmas albums.  These are all on-going projects, to which I add frequently, and are therefore stored in page protectors in these binders.  When I've filled a binder, I start another.  They are never finished.

I could create my Album projects in binders but I have found Photobooks work for me.

Over the past 8 years, in my digital scrapbooking life, I have developed a streamlined system for creating my Albums, a format that I follow regardless of the subject matter, content and style that I choose for each album.  Albums used to take me weeks to create.  I can now knock them out in a weekend thanks to this nifty AlbumMagic system.

Interested in learning more about my easy and time-saving process?  Do you want a framework to which you can work to make your style and preferences work for you?

I invite you to join me in class.

Happy *Green* Day

My own two little leprechauns went to school this morning sporting green hair.  They've been looking forward to this all week. 

I of course, being English, have never really celebrated St. Paddy's Day, but just because I'm not Irish doesn't mean to say I can't have fun with it :)  A few ideas to brighten your day.

• *Go Green* in the conventional sense and do something for the environment.
• Have a Green Shake
• Try your hand some Shamrock LatteART
• Make Green Eggs and Ham for Brinner (a.k.a breakfast for dinner)
• Create a scrapbook page about how lucky you are (see below)
• Have a party on Friday with all your friends (like we are)

New *lucky* themed products coming to the store on Sunday:

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Scrapbooking the perfect photo: What are you waiting for?

Supplies + Journaling

Have you ever had a photo so special you just can't bring yourself to scrapbook it? One that you've picked up  *opened up* in Photoshop more than once only to put it away again  close it because you don't feel like you can do it justice?

This is how I feel felt about this image of Ella when she was just a few days old. It's a poor quality photo taken on my old 2.1 megapixel Olympus camera.  It was a good camera at the time and cost me $750.00.  Just goes to show how things have moved on in the camera world since year 2001.

Nevertheless, this is my absolute favourite photo of Ella as a baby.  In spite of the technical imperfections, I adore it, and it's taken me almost 8 years to actually getting down to scrapbooking this imperfectly perfect little snapshot.  What was I waiting for?

As is often the case, thinking about it is so much harder than just getting down to the task of doing it, and now that the page is done, I still only see that imperfectly beautiful photo.  The rest is just the icing on the cake.

So much wasted time trying to achieve perfection when the photo is already perfect. 

Try it.

Playing *Hookie*

My sister arrived Thursday for a mini vacation with us.

We kicked off our time together on Ella's first field trip of the year to Denver's Children's Museum.  We took Luke with.  Ella thought it was very cool to have her friends meet her Auntie Sarah.

Then Uncle Del flew in for the weekend and we headed into the mountains, stopping for some pizza at Beaujo's.  You'd never know their Gluten Free Dairy Free Pizza is anything other than the real deal.

Saturday, we skiied Copper Mountain graduating E and L to the Super Bee, the most most challenging side of the mountain.  Great powder, lots of sunshine and an all-around GOOD time.

And the fun continued off the slopes:

Uncle Del has had to head back to work but the fun will continue for the rest of us.  Heading off to the mall tomorrow and looking forward to a girls day out with my sister, before heading back into mountains for the rest of week on Tuesday.

NewART

Coming this weekend to DesignerDigitals

 

The Naked Chef

I've always been a fan of the Naked Chef, also known as Jamie Oliver. His simple approach to food appealed  to me from the get-go, and I have to admit, I have a good number of his cook books.

In recent years, he's proven himself to be more than a Chef and British TV personality hailing from Essex, England.

I recently came across, and was really impressed with, his TED prize wish:

And, I'm not one for any sort of reality TV, but I'm definitely going to be checking out *Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution*, which premieres on 26th March on ABC. 

Love this guy!