::ANNA::

Elegant Halloween Pumpkin Project

Digital Supplies:  ArtPlay Palette Wicked (lady, Wicked WordArt, spider art) ArtPlay Palette Monster Treats (spider)

Are you looking for a unique change from the traditional carved orange pumpkin? 

How about giving these elegant white pumpkins a try... They provide great contrast to traditional Halloween decor.  The cream base color creates a  perfect canvas for decorating with black transfers for a beautiful and dramatic affect, and you reap the benefits of avoiding messy pumkin carving clean-up.  Arrange them in groups use just one as an elegant table centerpiece to add a touch Halloween charm.

Follow these easy steps to create your own elegant pumpkins:

1. Gather supplies: 

• White Pumpkins (large and small sizes)
• Avery #4383 Clear Sticker Paper
• Ink Jet Printer, Scissors or craft knife
• black Sharpie
• ribbons, buttons, jewels, spiders, etc. 
• Optional: spray  adhesive. 

2.  Create the transfers: Open the .png brush files from ArtPlay Palette Wicked and ArtPlay Palette Monster Treats into a photo-editing software program.  Size the art to fit your pumpkins and print, following the instructions for your printer.

3. Apply transfers to pumpkins: Trim each design as close as possible using scissors or craft knife. Peel the backing and apply the printed transfer to pumpkin. Spray adhesive is optional.

4. Decorate the pumpkins: Use ribbons, jewels or buttons to add additonal charm.

5.  Document your decor. Take a photo of your arrangement and create a page to document Halloween 2011.

Layout by Chris Asbury, digital supplies for this layout can be found here.

Please note that small size of the tiny pumpkins makes it difficult to apply transfers.  You can decorate them with smaller art such as the spiders and add simple Sharpie designs such as polka dots.

Optional: For a more playful look use orange pumpkins and decorate with colorful Halloween designs, or mix both the white and the orange pumpkins. There are no rules. Have fun and Happy Halloween!

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This post was brought to you by AnnaTeamer, Chris Asbury.  Thank you for sharing your talents and creativity.

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.

Something from my past

The children went to bed early tonight, not feeling well thanks to a sneaky little virus making it's way through our neighbourhood. 

I took some time to sort and organize my letter and card box.  I chopped up some manilla folders to make nifty little dividers to organize my letters into categories, such as Mum, Grandma and Grandad Davies, Sarah (my sister), Friends, School, Birthday, Engagement etc... and voila!  No more searching around for my old report cards, exam results, wedding planning emails and the like.

I love to spend time re-reading letters.  With more and more people using the internet to keep in touch, letter writing has become a lost art.  Who doesn't love to read a letter?

I found all kinds of little treasures stashed away with the letters including this little poem I wrote to my Grandparents.  I must have copied it from somewhere...obviously had quite the imagination even back then...I can't have been much older than Ella at the time.

Valentine Lift

Why re-invent the wheel when you don't have to?

Ella came home last Friday with an invite to to create Valentines cards for her class, and I needed to look no further than my friend, Ronalyn, for inspiration.  We've yet to print them and stick them on cardstock but they're pretty much going to look exactly like Isabels. 

Just the way Ella wanted it.

WallART Project

 

To go with the new color on the walls I have been working on personalizing our new home with some photo projects.

I bought these frames from Michaels during one of their frame sales when we moved to Alaska four years ago.  We had a big empty wall in our living room and I decided, having just had Luke, it would be a great way to showcase some of my digital pages.

There is one for Luke and one for Ella and up until now they have housed 6 random layouts from that year.  We have the perfect spot for them in our new home right above our couch and so this time I designed something that co-ordinates with our new lliving room colors. 

 I love how they turned out.

Step by Step Instructions:

1.  Buy two big frames.  I think I paid $40.00 each for these.  Buy as big as you have room for or you can afford.

2.  Dad and I then went to a frame shop and asked them to cut 2 mats the size of the frames we had purchased.  A frame shop will also of course cut the "windows" for the layouts but at considerable added cost.  It's easier and you get a nice bevelled look, but again, the decision depends on your budget.

3.  After careful measurement, my Dad used a craft knife and a metal ruler to cut 6 each 8.25 X 8.25 inch "windows" into the mat board.

4.  He then cut 6 each 8.5 X 8.5 squares from black paper.  I think we used the black paper that comes in Album page protectors but black cardstock would also work.

5.  Dad glued the black cardstock to the back of the mat using a glue stick.

6.  The layouts are printed at 8 X 8 inches and glued lightly to to the black backing.  This way the layouts can be changed out without having to replace the black cardstock every time.

7.  I designed the collage based on colors and patterns in our living room.  The swirl and and circles emulate the same patterns on the pillows on our couch.  Papers were recolored in Photoshop using adjusting Hue and Saturation.

Supplies:  Abstract Token Words, I Love You Circle Overlays & Frames by Ali Edwards, Pina Kit by Andrea Victoria