Gosh... u beat me to the punch Linda!! I was in the process of posting some new pics and Linda already posted this one..... (different view at least) :) Linda made this BEAUTIFUL Birthday Banner for me.... I'm lucky to have such creative friends!! She ROCKS!! Look at the "tude" on her (and she has wings no less!) Trying to come up with a name for her.... any suggestions? She hangs on my dining room hutch (where I craft ......) Love her!

Second Pic.... What I did with my insect inchies from a swap I participated in back in April/May. Cute specimen box from Martha Stewart.. (Michael's) It's in my bedroom (my hubby even likes it :)


What I am doing with cute postcards, inchies and ATC from Swaps (that I am not scrapping or framing....) Well - I am gluing them to a great big huge licorice tub (repurposed of course) that I store my fabric flowers in. It's looking AWESOME! It reminds me (as I craft) to be creative and enjoy the spirit of sharing your craft. I really love it... It's not quite filled up yet.. need a few more swaps under my belt to get it covered :)

Alright.... most recent swap... Summer banners.. I really strayed from the vintage style in which most the women like in the cpa... But come on.... does this paper not SCREAM summer or what? It's very bright so I (white washed it - with paint) and then use flowers and glitter and rhinestones to sparkle each one up. They are on their way to Kingwood.... wahoo!

Last pic... is a RAK.... for my dearest friend Linda....... the artist survival kit.... kinda a fun play on the "wreak this journal" by keri smith..... the words are in downloadable format if you want to make on for yourself. I cut up all the words and glued them to cardstock along with TONS of anna griffin butterflies. I felt the butterflies were appropriate for a creative book of this sort.... very freeing...
Well that's all for today. Blog at you soon!
Anna

"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." from the great law of Iroquois Confederacy (i saw it on my klennex box...)


Found this image while blogging about...... had to nab it.... unfortunately I don't know where it came from..... the blogger did not have a link as to it's origins.... so that's all I can tell about it....


Anyhow - I'm feeling brave and taking a chance at hosting a swap. I'm part of a yahoo group called Christian Paper Artists. I've participated in a few swaps and I am enjoying the whole theory of it :) So - I'm going behind the scenes to see how it all works.... yikes.... OK - the swap name is "Going Green". It's an ATC swap that needs to meet the qualifications of... the colour green - a recycled item or a nature theme. If you are interested.... come join the group. Most of the swaps I have seen so far are inchies and ATC's... the group is made of some very creative women all over the US. It's fun :) Here's a link to some great inchie ideas... CLICK ME.... in case u have no idea what an inchie is..... (i did not until a few months ago :)
Ciao 4 now...
Anna

Inchies....Raks and Quarter Coke!

Some randomness....... this picture is a badly photographed (my cam is not good at close-ups... why i need an SLR!) of my "by the sea" inchies I made for a CPA swap. i had fun playing with crackle paint - glimmer mist - diamond glaze and few sparkles... ohhhh and my 1st pass @ vintage photos from my friend katie :) I'm growing - Linda will be proud....




Two shots of a RAK (random act of kindness) I made for a lady in the cpa who shares the scrappy bug with me :) I actually really tried hard to play with my camera to take a better close up on this.... used natural light and some different shutter speeds....


Last - and most certainly - the most spectacular..... is a BEAUTIFUL photo shot by my friend and accomplished artist Laura. She shot it a few years back in her hometown of Canton, Mississippi. She used some water colors to spruce it up and named it "Quarter Coke". She said it reminds her of the "good ole days" when coke used to cost a quarter. I scored this awesome painted photo on my recent trip to Houston. I was lucky to be staying at her house and about 1 hour before I hopped on the plane.... I asked if I could go through some of her "stashed" art..... She had oodles of it. I also got a GREAT b&W photo of NYC shortly after 9/11 she shot from NJ across the river looking into the spotlights of where the twin towers used to stand. It's very striking and I am just so honored to be able to have a piece of art from Laura. She's doing some amazing things with oil and canvas these days. And I hope I can "score" one of those someday...... ? when she has a "stash" built up. :)
All my love....
MAQI

All because of the love of paper...

Ever since my fabric obsession recently turned to paper (still mostly love the patterns) I have met some cool people (in person and on the net). My dearest prayer MOM and friend, Linda , showed me a whole other world existed out on the internet. She the reason I am blogging and rekindled my creative spirit, and I thank her as much I can for that! :) Anyhow, she's in a christian paper artist group - (ok she practically runs it...) and she kept posting these really cool treasures that she made for swaps and RAKs and others that she received from friends all over the US. Well, to make a short story long, I joined the group and have met some really great and talented women. Like Chris and Nathalie and Katie. I have joined two swaps (joyfully yet reluctantly) as I am trying to expand my paper crafting horizons. I made some inchies and a few ATC houses - I'll post them soon.....

Like I said ...... my short story made long..... A few weeks back - I was challenging my blog visitors to leave a comment and in return I'd make them a card. BTW - I made 7 cards - Faye was the only one who I never got an address for. WELL.... KATIE sent me a treasure back. It's a wall hanging with the letter A, a cute little girl with a crown and rhinestone (oh la la!) OHHHH and WINGS (one of my obsessions) and lastly a great bible verse I would have never thought to have such valuable meaning! "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not by ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on the tablets of human hearts. " 2 Corinthians 5:3 . Y'all - I love it sooo much - it's just precious. I can't believe someone I just met took the time to create this little treasure. Well - It's hanging on my INSPIRATION board (right next to my post-it note.... "I am creative , I am an Artist"... A plug for ALI.... ) and it's going to stay on my board for a very LONG time - Thank You Katie for making my week and thank you Linda for opening my creative spirit to all these wonderful women. You are a rock star!
xoxo
anna

inchies....

Well - I joined christian paper artist group (thanks to linda :) and I signed up for an inchie swap - It's my very first time making anything like this and it was fun. I hope that i don't get kicked out of the club (though) being a rookie and all - these ladies are really talented!!

I tried to be a little different than my scrappy stuffy - I used tulle, vellum, vinyl, transparency, crackle paint and diamond glaze (and paper, too) these are just a few that i made - the theme was butterflies and bugs (i only made 2 bug ones.... woops) what do yall think?