MidWeek Release. 5 NewART digital products are now available in the aAStore. These products are 30% off until Wednesday June 26, 2013 at 9am EST. ArtsyKardz. 3 New sets of ArtsyKardz to coordinate with ArtPlay Palette Sky's The Limit delivered in .jpg and the popular layered .psd format for use in digital and traditional scrapbooking as well as Project Life. I'm incorporating these into my own Project 365 this year. Instructions and inspiration for using both the .jpg and .psd version of these Kardz can also be found in the following posts: Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 1 Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 2 8 Ways for Use ArtsyKardz in Digital Layouts Product previews below are linked to the respective products in the aA store. A new FotoInspired DoublePage template for Project... Continue reading

The 30% aA store-wide Summer sale is in full swing and all I think it's time for a new AnnaEssentials post in which I share my current top 10 products from the aA store. Products are not listed in order of preference and previews are linked to the aA store. ........................................................................................................................................................... 1. FotoInspired Templates. I love the latest FotoInspired templates, Pack No. 2C, intermixing them with Pack No. 2A and No. 2B for my weekly Project 365/Life FotoInspired pages, as well as other event-themed pages in which I'm using a large number of photos. 2. Project 2011. I created this workshop in year 2011 to document my summer stories, a project in which I explored the many different ways to tell my stories both practically and creatively. The workshop includes templates and .pdf worksheets to guide you through the process... Continue reading

I have done races in the past, a few in Denver and a couple of Sprint Triathlons in Seattle. Running has always been something I have done by myself, for myself, but yesterday we broke new ground and took part as a family in the Denver Color Run 2013, aka *The Happiest 5K on the Planet.* Here's one of their official videos. All my photos were taken with my iPhone 5. We had a blast. It turned out to be more of a 5K walk than a run as we jogged a little and then walked through the various color stations where we were doused with paint. People of all ages and walks of life came together and had an enormous amount of fun. It was a great way to spend Father's Day. The *finale* was a big dancy party... Continue reading

School's out and Summer Solistice is just around the around corner... Let's celebrate with a surprise almost storewide SALE! All digital products are discounted by 30%, excluding those in the GiftKardz, Licenses and On Sale categories. I have also kept last weeks releases at a 20% discount in fairness to those customers who supported those designs. The sale is in effect from Friday June 14, 2013 at 9am EST through Friday June 21, 2013 at 9am EST. NewART is now available in the aA store. Each of the 5 individual digital products is discounted by 30% or available as a collection at a discount 37% off through Friday June 21, 2013 at 9am EST. Wishing you a very happy summer! Continue reading

There is no Tandem Scrapbooking layout this week. Ella and Luke finished school yesterday for their 2 month summer school break and I am once again adjusting to another shift in schedule as I juggle my roles as Mom and Designer. I'm hoping I can get December 2005 wrapped up over the next week so that I begin a new project that I'll be sharing next week. FotoInspired layout Week 23 was created using digital products from the FotoInspired No. 2 series. This template design is now available as FotoInspired DoubleTemplate No. 17 in the aA store and supports up to 19 photos. I adapted this template slightly only by switching out 2 of the smaller masks on the first page with a mask from FotoInspired Masks No. 6, resizing accordingly to better accommodate the number of photos I had... Continue reading

MidWeek Release. 5 NewART digital products are now available in the aAStore. These products are 20% off until Wednesday June 19, 2013 at 9am EST. ArtsyKardz. 3 New sets of ArtsyKardz to coordinate with ArtPlay Palette This Is Life delivered in .jpg and the popular layered .psd format for use in digital and traditional scrapbooking as well as Project Life. I'm using these into my own Project 365 this year. Instructions and inspiration for using both the .jpg and .psd version of these Kardz can also be found in the following posts: Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 1 Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 2 8 Ways for Use ArtsyKardz in Digital Layouts Product previews below are linked to the respective products in the aA store. 2 Additional products include a new DuoPack... Continue reading

This tutorial by AnnaTeamer, Eszter Baranyi, shows you how to create a Zoomify plugin in Adobe Photoshop allowing your layout viewers to zoom in on the smaller details of a low resolution image posted on your personal blog. ....................................................................................................................................................... 1. Select Layout. Open your full resolution layout or image in Photoshop in .jpeg format. 2. Open Zoomify Dialogue Box. Go to File > Export > Zoomify. 3. Template Settings. The Zoomify Export dialog box will appear on your screen. Select a color background from the Template drop-down menu. You also have the option to use the Navigator which will create small thumbnail in the top left corner of the Zoomify window. See the following layout demonstrating the use of the Zoomify Viewer with Navigator. The following layout shows the Zoomify window without the Navigator. 4. Output Location Settings. Navigate and... Continue reading

Feeling pretty pleased with myself for actually taking some photos this weekend after a bit of a dry spell. Of course, it helped that we had an eventful weekend to inspire me. I used my iPhone 5 although ironically had my Canon 60D complete with external flash already to go. The phone camera is just so much more convenient. Friday night Ella and I hit the store to buy supplies for her 11th Birthday Party. She doesn't actually turn 11 until next month, but her birthday falls on the 4th July Holiday weekend and we've learned from experience that most people are vacationing during this time. I rarely go to Walmart but time constraints necessitated the visit. Ella was thrilled to pick out her favorite treats as well as *the glow in the dark stuff* needed to fulfill her detailed... Continue reading

Community: a usually small, social unit of any size that shares common values. The digital scrapbooking community enables us to share our creativity and form relationships all over the world. When a member of our community is hurt, we rally together to do what we can to help. Vicki Stegall is the amazing force behind Oscraps and makes it possible for me to share my Art with you. On May 20th, her home town, Moore, Oklahoma, took a direct hit from a powerful tornado that caused massive devastation to her own community. The Oscraps designers came together as a mighty force to create this enormous collection of digital scrapbooking supplies, the proceeds of which will ALL go to the Red Cross to assist in the on-going relief efforts. This amazing collection has 3 purchase options based on levels of donation.... Continue reading

NewART is now available in the aA store. Each of the 6 individual digital products is discounted by 20% or available as a collection at a very low discount 46% off through Friday June 14, 2013 at 9am EST. Related articles AnnaRelease 17 May 2013 AnnaRelease 24 May 2013 + Celebrating 100 Sale AnnaRelease 22 Feb 2013 + SALE Continue reading

The same layout used for my FotoInspired Project was adapted to create my Tandem Scrapbooking 2005 month in review page. I simply replaced masks from FotoInspired Masks No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 to accommodate more than twice as many photos. I also switched out some of the frames for MultiFoto-style frames from FotoInspired Frames No. 2. Click on the images for complete supply list and better view of the pages. FotoInspired Week 22 was created using digital products from the FotoInspired No. 2 series and the resulting template design is now available for your convenience as FotoInspired DoubleTemplate No. 16 in the aA store. Merging ArtsyKardz. This week delivered another page with a *smaller than usual* number of photos which meant that I was able to incorporate a larger number of ArtsyKardz in my layout. I repeated many... Continue reading

MidWeek Release. 6 NewART digital products are now available in the aAStore. These products are 20% off until Wednesday June 12, 2013 at 9am EST. ArtsyKardz. 4 New sets of ArtsyKardz to coordinate with ArtPlay Palette Wanderlust delivered in .jpg and the popular layered .psd format for use in digital and traditional scrapbooking as well as Project Life. I'm using these into my own Project 365 this year. Instructions and inspiration for using both the .jpg and .psd version of these Kardz can also be found in the following posts: Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 1 Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 2 8 Ways for Use ArtsyKardz in Digital Layouts Product previews below are linked to the respective products in the aA store. Introducing a new series of Artsy Layered Template Packs.... Continue reading

This post about using ArtPlay Palette was written by AnnaTeamer, Heather Prins, and is designed to provide guidance and direction to those new to ArtPlay Palettes as well as additional inspiration to seasoned ArtPlay Palette users. ........................................................................................................................................................... Background. I remember when I first saw the Artplay Palettes in the store. I felt terrified to try them. They didn't look like any of other digital kits I was used to seeing and I was intimidated by all the gorgeous artsy looking layouts people made with them. They looked so complicated, especially with my limited knowledge of Photoshop, but I couldn'e have been more wrong. I finally bit the bullet and purchased my first Artplay Palette and it wasn't long before I became a serious hoarder. I quickly discovered that each component was as easy to use as a button or paper... Continue reading

Summer is apparently here! I have to admit it's taken me a little by surprise as we have some big things happening on the homefront which have me mentally side-tracked right now. The sun is up, E and L finish school next week and *The Rockster* has taken to dragging his own bed out onto the patio to bask in the heat. A few fun summer events I have noticed happening around the scrapbooking community: Summer Stories. Jen Wilson of The Simple Scrapper is hosting a free class this summer in which you'll learn simple approaches to documenting summer with a mini book. Free Summer Photography Tips Webinar. Katrina Kennedy of CY365 is hosting this free webinar on June 6th, 2013 at 9pm EST. Space is limited so hurry to register here. Free Soulful Journaling Ecourse. This ecourse contains exercises,... Continue reading

NewART is now available in the aA store. Each of the 5 individual digital products is discounted by 20% or available as a collection at 37% off through Friday June 07, 2013 at 9am EST. Related articles AnnaRelease 17 May 2013 AnnaRelease 3 May 2013 + iNSD Sale AnnaRelease 24 May 2013 + Celebrating 100 Sale Continue reading

There is no Tandem Scrapbooking layout in light of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. I'm a day short in the office this week and simply ran out of time. I have 2 more pages to complete year 2005 and then I plan to take a short break from this project, to work on my niece's baby album, with a view to working through year 2006 photos towards the end of the year. FotoInspired layout Week 21 was created using digital products from the FotoInspired No. 2 series. This template design is now available as FotoInspired DoubleTemplate No. 15 in the aA store and supports up to 15 photos. I switched out one of the masks on the left-hand page with one from FotoInspired Masks No. 6 to better accommodate the photo of our bedroom. Observations. This week's spread once... Continue reading

MidWeek Release. 6 NewART digital products are now available in the aAStore. These products are 20% off until Wednesday June 05, 2013 at 9am EST. ArtsyKardz. 4 New sets of ArtsyKardz to coordinate with ArtPlay Palette Lush delivered in .jpg and the popular layered .psd format for use in digital and traditional scrapbooking as well as Project Life. I'm using these into my own Project 365 this year. Please note that the 12 X 12 ArtsyKardz are essentially artsy backgrounds in layered .psd format. You won't necessarily use these in your Project 365/Life pages but they make great launch pad for all your other artsy pages. Instructions and inspiration for using both the .jpg and .psd version of these Kardz can also be found in the following posts: Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 1 Tutorial |... Continue reading

There is less than an hour to save on the 100 Artsy Templates Celebration. Pick up any, or all of the 100 Artsy Layered Templates for only 100 cents ($1.00) each until 1pm EST today. This is 67% off the regular template price, a discount that is unheard of in the aA store, and not one that will be repeated any time soon. I have also increased the number of aA GiftKardz up for grabs in this week's special AnnaARTsy Challenge. It would be awesome if we could get 100 layouts using the 100th Artsy Template in the AnnaGallery. You can get all the details here. As the celebrations wind down, members of the AnnaTeam share their pages using the Artsy Layered Template No. 100. You can see my layout using the template here. Mother's Day 2013 | Joan Schaefer... Continue reading

Digital Supplies + Process Notes I honored the 100 Artsy Template Celebration with a new layout this weekend using Artsy Layered Template No. 96 and ArtPlay Palette Lush. Watch for 2 more Artsy Template themed blog posts on Monday and Tuesday. Continue reading