::ANNA::

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2012.

I'll be back in the New Year.

AnnaRelease Winner

Love all the excitement at this time of year :)

Random.org generated a number of 57 (but I didn't take a screen shot before I closed the window).

Annette ~  Please email me at anna(underscore)aspnes(at)yahoo.com.

Thanks everyone for playing along.  Loved hearing about all you Christmas plans.

NewART is now available.  Happy Holidays!  I'll be back later with a final Christmas message before I disappear for the remainder of the year :)

NewART Sneak Peek + GiveAway

Just wrapping up my product release for Friday 23 December 2011.  It will be the last one for this year so you'll want to check the store on Friday for a few sweet surprises.

This release is primarilyy Project 365 inspired with a twist... Or Project 366 I should say as 2012 to be a leap year.

I have created 7 coordinating products to serve all your artsy daily documenting requirements for 2012, and there is more to come:

This HUGE ArtPlay Palette sports a neutral palette and includes 2 BrushSets (10-piece artsy and 43-piece LabelWords BrushSet) as well as 29 elements and 21 overlays and transfers.  I plan on adding 4 seasonal Add-On Palettes sets throughout 2012.

A few coordinating pieces:

I have also devised an easy-to-commit-to-program for those that have tried project 365 and previouly fallen off the wagon like myself.  

Enter the FotoInspired Layered Templates collection.

This collection of 20 - 12 X 12 layered templates supports 1 through 7 photos which are designed to correlate with the days in one week and designed for use in daily documentation, such as Project 365/366 (Leap Year), 52 Stories or Photo Of The Day (POTD). 

The templates are sorted into folders according the number of photos they support and provide options for all Project 365/366 scenarios.  If you forget to take a photo 1 through 6 days of the week there are templates available in each number category to showcase your photos.  For example, if you take 4 photos in one week (and miss 3 days) you select a template from the 4 Fotos folder.  This is how I plan to move forward with project 365 in year 2012 ~ If I take a photo, I'll document it, but if I don''t, I have a plan that will work.

The visual separation provided by the curved framed masks delivered with a separate cast shadow make them perfect for use with the ArtPlay Palettes which also happens to be my number one approach to layouts.  I definitely see some of the framed masks being replaced with any of the FotoBlendz Clipping Masks to create further variations...  

I'm looking forward to and think I can actually commit to this variation of Project 365 (366) in 2012.  

How about you?

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*Please note that this GiveAway is now closed*

It's Christmas and so I have an extra special GiveAway this week... I'm gifting my entire AnnaRelease for this week at a value of $48.93 to one lucky reader.

Please share:

What are you most excited for this Christmas?

I'll announce a winner on Friday at 10am EST (or thereabouts).

Good Luck and thanks for playing.

Tutorial | Creating A Festive Glow

Todays guest post is by AnnaTeamer, Chris Asbury, and shows you a unique way technique for adding adding a little extra festive magic to your Christmas layouts by superimposing Christmas lights over your photos.

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Step 1.  Locate a string of mini white lights with white wire, which blends in better with a light background. Take a photo of your lights by laying them out on a plain white surface. I used a white tablecloth. The auto setting works fine for this technique because you’re going to use a blending mode on the lights photo. Take a few photos both with and without flash to compare results.  I decided to use the non-flash photo because of the softer focus and lower contrast.

Step 2.  Assemble the first few layers of the page using papers and elements from Anna’s ArtPlay Palette Sweet Christmas, as shown in the Layers Palette.

Step 3.  You can enhance any object in a photo (i.e. the little wreath in the upper right of my photo) by adding light and consequently increasing the contrast of the image.   Clip one of the FotoGlows from FotoGlows No. 5 to the photo and set the blending mode to Overlay at 100% opacity. 

Step 4. Open the Christmas lights photo in Photoshop/Elements, move the image onto the layout using the Move tool from the Tools palette, and place as desired.  Apply the Overlay blending mode to this image at 100% opacity.  Note that, you may have to carefully erase some of lights background using a soft brush and low opacity avoiding the lights and wire.

Step 5. Duplicate the Christmas lights layer and change the blending mode to Soft Light at 100% opacity to increase the glow effect and add definition to the string of wire. Again, you may have to erase some of the background of the layer.

Note.  I’ve chosen the Overlay and Soft Light modes for my lights layers, but depending on your focal photo and background paper you may get better results with different blending modes. I encourage you to experiment with the blending modes.  You can quickly scroll through them by selecting *Normal* blending modes and moving up or down the list using the up/down arrow buttons on your keyboard.

You can see further examples of this technique here.

Would love to see what you come up with.  Please post your pages here.

The Countdown

Christmas is less than a week away and E and L are beginning to get really excited.  Especially as they are now out of school.

Sam continues to surprise each day and was discoverd this morning making a snow angel in a pool of rice ~ Thank goodness for Pinterest which is a super place to find Elf on the Shelf photo inspiration.

I love that Ella is documenting this each day by taking a photo with her iTouch.  Even yesterday, sick with a tummy bug, she sent her little friend off to take a photo.   I plan to use the photos to create an accompanying page to this layout using this template.  I'm also inspired by this.

This morning Ella and Luke received Santa Emails via the Portable North Pole (PNP).  I did these last year but took the time to add the photos this year.  Well worth it!

The emails from Santa were equally well received.

Note.  I admit these are certainly not the best photos in terms of technical merit but nevertheless meaningful.  They'll still be added to my Holiday Project 2011.

The Holiday Album | Photo Organization and Preparation

Learn more about the Holiday Album Project and Organizing Your Photos by Theme.

The Holiday Album is available here.

NewART Sneak Peek

A few of the new products coming to the store tomorrow.  

It's been a busy and enjoyable day in the creative zone.

MidWeek Release and ArtSale

There is a special MidWeek Release happening the store day which includes a rework of the popular Work Hard Play PageSet in ArtPlay Palette format, an extra Add-On Paperie set and some SoccerPlayer brushes created for some of the soccer photos I have of Luke.

And a few layouts using these new digital art supplies:

Additional Supplies |  ScriptTease Sport No. 1, WordTransfers Personal Best No. 1, DifferentStrokes No. 7 BrushSet, Painted FotoBlendz Clipping Masks No. 4

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This weeks ArtSale includes 15 hand-selected Christmas and Winter-themed products discounted by 30% until Friday Dec 16, 2011 only.

AnnaTeam Inspiration using this week's ArtSale picks:

Vicki Walters | PotPourri Paperie No. 2, LoopDaLoop Christmas No. 1, Holly Plumes Korners N Edges No. 1, Christmas WordTransfers No. 1, MultiStitched by Anna Red/ White No. 1, MultiMedia Santa No 1, Torn n Tattered Snowflake Template No 1, FotoGlows Snow No 1

Phylis Dillon | Digital Supplies

Chris Asbury | Digital Supplies

Amber Ries | Digital Supplies

Eszter Baranyi | Digital Supplies

More inspiration can be found in the AnnaGallery.

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My friend Amy Kingsford, known for her wide range of talents in the digital and paper crafting realm, is launching a new website this month.  There's lots of great Christmas craft info, GiveAways and a special little something from me.  Go check it out.

Making It Happen

I was a guest on The DigiShow last week where I had the opportunity to share how I fit scrapbooking into my every day life.  

I have to schedule it otherwise it doesn't get done, and the truth of the matter, is that lately there has not been as much of that scheduled time as I would like.  

I typically aim for the top 5 stories each month and pair those with appropriate photos, with the flexibility of doing more when time permits.  Some months there are more layouts than others.

13 Years | ArtPlay Palette Sophistica, ArtPlay Palette Find My Way No. 2, Stitched by Anna Bitz No. 2

Having assessed my layouts from year 2011, I have met my goals for most of the months, but I still feel as though I want and need to do more.

Life is busy. 

I can sit and wait for quieter times as expressed in one of last weeks posts. This is usually my stance when I'm tired and feeling overwhelmed and comes at the end of each week.  I have a 7 and 9 year old, I work full time and I have a husband who sometimes works unsociable hours.  Life is not going to slow down for me any time soon.

So how do you make it happen?

Time Management.  Make the most of the time you do have instead of focusing on the time you don't. Take that available time and become smarter about how you use it.  Assess what's taking up your time now and consider giving up something in order to make more time for something else. Everyone has the same amount of time.  It's how you choose to use it that counts.

Think Less Do More.   Spend less time thinking and procrastinating and use that time to achieve more.  It's amazing how easy it is to overthink a task. 

Simplify.  Get the photos and the words on the page and add the artsy flair time permitting.  I admit I need the art to keep me interested in this *sport* but I also recognize not every one of my pages has to be an artful masterpiece.  I have gleaned from experience that I like mix of simple pages mixed with more complex artsy ones in my albums.

Cold Outdoor Soccer | ArtPlay Palette Work Hard Play Hard (coming soon), SoccerPlayer No. 1 BrushSet

MultFoto Layouts.  Get more done faster by using more photos per page.  MultiFoto layouts are a great way to speed up your scrapbooking, and the more photos you use the less you need to add by way of art supplies.  MultiFoto layouts quickly become crowded when combined with too many digital supplies.

Veterans Day | Numbered Overlays No. 2, ArtPlay Palette Red White Blue, FotoBoost Layered Templates No. 3, StraightStitched by Anna White No. 1, WordTransfers Patriotic No. 1

Commit to a Class.  Classes are a great way to make you accountable and give you the push you need to get a project or some layouts done.  I am currently working on Katrina Kennedy's Capture Your Holidays class and it's certainly helping me stay focussed with regard to holiday photos.  

• The Simple Scrapper, a.k.a. Jennifer Wilson, has a  free class coming in January 2012, in which you'll learn the 5 Simple Truths of Time Management.  
• There are also some new and exciting classes coming to the recently launched Creative Passions learning site which will host the 2012 classes from many of the teachers from get it Get It Scrapped. You can read more about the changes here.
• Finding Photo Flow in 2012 will also mean less time searching for photos and more time spent scrapbooking.

There is time in your life to scrapbook regularly, it's a matter of assesing your current commitments and asking yourself where your priorities lie.

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NEW 2012 Scrapbooking Classes

Creative Composites by Jana Morton

Get ready for more blending action.  Jana is back and ready to help your take your blended images to the next level with color enhancements, layering of blending modes, filters, sequencing of photos and creating motion. Look over her shoulder, to better understand how she uses Photoshop tools to transform photos into art.  Note that completion of Blending and Beyond is a prerequisite to taking this class.  The second round of this class runs from Feb 16, 2012 to March 19, 2012.

Class runs Jan 9, 2012 - Feb 13, 2012

Learn more about the class and register here.

Learn Digital Scrapbooking with Templates by Pattie Knox

Learn how to create designer-inspired pages quickly and easily using Photoshop Elements/Photoshop and layered templates and be highly entertained during the process.  My friend, Pattie Knox, is a teacher by profession and has one wicked sense of humor.

Class runs Jan 30, 2012 - Feb 16, 2012

Learn more about the class and register here.

Scrapbook Page Layering by Debbie Hodge

Master design techniques for layering for all scrapbook styles and learn all the tricks for using your stash to create layouts you'll love.  This class is for both digital and paper scrapbookers

Class runs Jan 24, 2012 - Feb 14, 2012

Learn more about the class and register here.

Welcome Christmas

We've taken our merry little time this year but festivities have finally begun at the Aspnes house.

It began Friday with me frantically tearing around Denver trying to find an elf.  It took a few stores, but as luck would have it, there were a few remaining.  The result was a very happy girl who talks to her elf Sam and looks forward to where he might land each night.

We also managed to get the rest of the house looking like Christmas.  

Some of my favorites from decorating.

Luke's little feet peeking out from behind the tree.

A gift for Santa and a letter that has been written since Thanksgiving, but continues to be edited.

Sunday jammies...Though every day is a jammies day as far as Luke is concerned.

Luke singing "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" while he decorates and suggests "it would be really cool if Santa could ride on the reindeer".

A German ornament from my childhood.

A break from tradition with Luke placing the angel on the top of the tree this year.  Ella has always done it but is simply too big now, and as Luke quitely rightly stated, it's about time he gets a turn.

Hints of a teenager shining through.

Big and little.

Aspnes times 3.

Attempt at bokeh but a little more practise required.