November Book Club

Here are a few shots of my november book club challenge. The challenge was transparencies and to use the "gratitude is an attitude" saying. It was a paper bag photo album, my first one. I had my transparencies as pullouts from the side and the top of the paper bag openings. I did some journaling on the transparencies, also. I had soooo much fun. On every page I tried something new, whether it was sewing, stickling, hinges, stapling, or hand stitching - i tried something new and different on each page. I guess it's really not that hard for me to try new techniques as I am a beginner to the whole paper crafting world :)This is the cover:



One of my favorite layouts is this one. It has a tree that's representative of the source of paper! One thing I'm grateful for :) This also has some stitched words from my sewing machine - on transparencies - stating " fabric, paper scissors" Three things I'm grateful for. the other page is me - with a vellum overlay (making memories) saying " god could not be everywhere so he created mothers" - then I have the same pic of me printed both normally and reversed - get it mothers are everywhere.....



My second fav layout is this one. I drew a coffee mug stenciled it on to glimmery paper, added some swirly diecuts (creative imaginations) as steam and attached a starbucks logo - i wrote that is was grateful for coffee all shaky like - cuz I'm a serious addict!



This is the kit for december... I made a decision to to title it "Christmas A to Z" I have taken words (a - z) that embody christmas (at least to me) and their corresponding definitions from Webster's online - working on an appropriate font and then will scrap a page for each letter. some pages will have pictures others will have found objects from everyday christmas stuff.....fun fun fun - anyhow my overall challenge is to work with paint. We got some distress paint in the kit and - I have never attempted any type of paint before, so I will try and incorporate paint on each page as well. ????

P is for pajamas, pooh and pancakes

Super Q had pajama day at his school, it was precious. Cute pjs everywhere! Anyhow, they made poohs,ate pancakes and watched a pooh movie. It was a fun day indeed for my little kindergartner. I came in to snap a few shots (as room mom and class historian for the end of school year album).
I went to my book club last night and finished my november transparency challenge about hour before.... i'm happy with it :)
my next blog entry will show pics of it. Anyhow, this month (dec) we are challenged to use grunge board (we got the whole alphabet!), shimmy xmas paper and an acrylic dove. So think I am going to do a mini book about the ABC's of christmas? Any other suggestions???
blog to ya soon
xoxoxo
anna

HOLY VINTAGE BUTTONS, batman

So, I got a really super cool box of vintage buttons from my mom! (Thanks for letting me raid your dresser mom) I get my creative genes from an original martha. My mom has always crafted, i think she first learned to sew because she had to make her own clothes, but anyhow she then quilted - crocheted - makes cards - collects crafts (lucky me). When I was home (for a night) at thanksgiving, she let me look through her stuff, I found this cool box of buttons - I think she said she found it at a flea market for a few bucks or something! Nuts huh? Well anyhow there is every color, shape, even fabric and leather buttons in there!
I made a bunch of die cut flowers at a "crop" one night and decided to make flowers and use some of these buttons as the center bud. They look really cool - BUT I forgot to take a picture of them :( I already gave away most of the flowers, Quinton got in trouble at school one day, last week, (he did not listen to his teachers- very first time he got in trouble!) Anyhow, I had him write them "I'm sorry" letters and take each one a flower later that day. I think he really got the idea that he needs to listen to his teachers. Anyhow, the flowers turned out really cool - but I ran out of die cut flowers - so I need to go back to a "crop" and cut some more. I think I'm going to use felt (for the die cuts) next time and make some more button flowers - I used a pipe cleaner for the stem. Well - that's it for now, I need to go and finish my book for book club

!
ciao,
anna

Christmas in focus?

I'm having a hard time "getting" in the mood for christmas :(
I have all the decorations up, starting wearing my converse xmas shoes, have the company xmas party (still can't find a dress) but none of it is coming in to focus for me. For me (other than halloween) it's the hap - happiest time of the year! I can't get shopping started, I can't buy anything to wear to the company shindig on Saturday (3 days away!) I haven't sent out a single xmas card yet, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't.... It's beginning to look a lot like Dec 24 and I'm gonna be the last minute girl AHHHHHH! Somebody slap me! OK - my hubby, just handed me a stack 10 cd's of xmas music (I love music) and he said if this can't help me then nothing will! I better start listening... wish me luck y'all!

OH - the picture is our christmas tree - from the very bottom of the trunk looking upward!

dah cousins

Here's a cute picture of the cousins! They are all soooo cute! (it was taken at thanksgiving in Sac town) Thanks you cecilia for the awesome sweaters!



My brother is soooo funny, when he saw marcel in his sweater he said he looked like freadie cruegar! so here's the shot:
It's amazing how fast time goes by and how our kids are almost boys and we'll soon be talking about High School grads then college and wedding and grandbabys AHHHHH! WAIT - I have to remind myself every day that they are only young once and they are as cute as they can be every second of everyday of every week....
that's it for now :)

Creative Cafe

SO - creatively speaking - What the heck have I been doing with all my free time? Well, on Thursday nights I have been going to the CREATIVE CAFE! it's been fun! This past thursday I went and my newest friend patty was teaching :) She's one of the coolest creative soul that I've meet here in CA, she's from Freeport TX and just has the sweetest spirit. OHHHHHH - she's a quilter too!! Anyhow - we made this cool creation - I plan to put a cute pick of my two boys kissing mom on it ...awhhhhh... OH yah - here's the store where I've been going for all the goods for my lastest inpirations :)

OK - soooo I've been working on a few other projects but one of the coolest things that I have done since we moved here is join a "book club" Not your typical bookclubit's for scrapbookers. I really hesitate to call myself a scrapbooker persay, I don't feel like one. I've never even made your typical "scrapbook" I've done some pages here and there but I don't really have the big album... Anyhow I like to think of myself as a paper crafter or my lastest discovery of coolness is "life artist". It's a term coined by ali edwards. One seeming cool chica. I just bought her book and I'm learning more about the "whole movement" Anyhow - back to paper crafting. More to come on the book club - I'm working on a mini album for december's meeting.....

I made an altered "six pack" tool caddy! I've been using it for some of my bigger glue bottles and funky scissors. I saw the idea in the december issue of Paper Crafts. Anyhow, I've been reading, thinking, and crafting everyday, I just haven't written bout it in a few days :(

I am so glad that I've found an outlet to express myself, good or bad, where perfection is not required and whatever I create, IT IS OK!!! (rule number one when you are life artist).
Ciao, Anna

My bro, Lawrence

SOOO, I've been pretty lucky in my lifetime. I have been blessed with a beautiful family and a loving support network. There are moments in time that only certain people in our lives can relate to or understand. Even though my brother and I are not the same gender, we have been though a lot together and we share times that only we can understand and help each other through. It's almost been one year, since we "almost" lost him, but thru the grace of god, we are able to share more "moments" and memories with him.
He's an amazing person. He's patient, caring, giving, talented, hilarious, inspiring, loyal and gracious. He lives his life by example and actions. He does amazing work with children and teenagers who REALLY need to be shown their worth. He's been through hell and came back stronger than before. We (your family) are very grateful to have him around. Check this out: http://www.santacruzpl.org/cid/public/full.php?id=403

Here is a picture of "LAW" this summer. He's soaring..... soaring above the past. Rising to a new high in life. Rising to the next chapter God has planned for him.