I {heart} You Always!

Good morning bloggers! 
Have you had a great weekend so far??
I hope I am having a wonderful time - I am writing this in advance, as I 
will be out of town with the hubs when it posts Sunday morning. :o)

Today we have a new and fabulous sketch up at Sketchabilities 

This layout is from a trip the hubs and I took a few years ago to Las Vegas, 
and these photos were from the Flamingo Hotel - my forever favorite in Vegas.

I have used Pink Paislee papers, Maya Road chippies, Jenni Bowlin paints, Prima flowers and canvas mistables, Tattered Angels spray inks, Tsukineko inks and my sewing machine.

My flowers were painted with Modge Podge and then dipped in crushed vintage glass.

All my chippies here are from Maya Road, they have been painted  with Jenni Bowlin 
and Claudine Helmuth paints.  

I am alos linking up over at 
Paper Play Challenges - Flowers and Lace

Be sure to join us at Sketchabilities and link up your take on the sketch!
You have until October 31 - Midnight EST! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week this week!
Anita

Embossed Christmas Tree Card

YeeHaw Y'all!!! It's Friday so that means I am outta here!!!
By Friday morning I will be on the highway with the hubs to spend the weekend
in a B&B and do some touring in a historic East Texas Town. 
And visit the Alligator Farm. Guess who's idea that one was???

Anyway,, today it is Friday so it is time for another Challenge over at 
Frosted Designs - this week we are all about embossing you can do heat embossing 
or you can do pressure embossing - totally up to you!
Here is a look at my project.
Seriously,, I will have my Christmas Cards DONE this year!! I am all about the letterpress
these days. If you want to know what that is, I have a fabulous tutorial HERE you can
check out. I used a Sizzix plate to do the large gold background, and a QuikCutz plate for the 
tree and the sentiment. Love me some letterpress!! Then all I did was mat, add
a little bling and a bow. Ta-da! done.

Be sure to hop over to the Frosted Designs Blog for some
fabulous inspiration - the DT is always full of great ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Have a great weekend.
Anita

Halloween Decor with Glue Dots

Is it Friday yet??? No,,, are you sure???
Friday needs to get here soon,,, the Hubs and I are headed out of 
town to a B&B for a weekend get away. I am ready to go now!

Today I have a really cute Halloween project to share with you.
This was really fun and quick to make, and I made it all with supplies I had on hand.
Cute, yes??? I used a Maya Road Coaster Album - 3 pages of it anyway, for the base. 
Basic Grey papers, Prima flowers, May Arts Ribbon.
 I used a Sizzix die to cut the scallop pieces. I used Ultra Thin Glue Dots® to glue down all the papers and then sealed the edges with Modge Podge.   

For this section I used Mini Glue Dots® for the chipboard letter, Craft Glue Dots® for the flowers, leaves, and ribbon, and Pop-up Glue Dots® for the Witch Hat. 

Apply washi tape randomly on the background. Use Mini Glue Dots® on the chipboard letters and Craft Glue Dots® for the flowers and twine. 

The pumpkin is from a Maya Road mini album. I used Craft Glue Dots® for the pumpkin and flowers, and Continuous Glue Lines® for the ribbon. 

For complete directions and supply list check out the Glue Dots® Gallery 
Thanks for stopping by today!
Anita

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team.

Then and Now - My Precious Daughter

Good morning blogging friends! Did you have a great weekend??? 
We had a very relaxing one - even if it was a little too HOT
to be almost the end of September!!

Today I have a layout using some new products from The Crafty Scrapper in 
Waxahachie. These were perfect for a layout showing how time 
went by as my pretty baby went through school.
 The papers are from the Reminisce Making The Grade line - they have a paper for every single year!!
I also used Bazzill Two Scoops cardstock, Maya Road, Bo Bunny, Tim Holtz, Heidi Swapp stamps, a little bit of bling, and the strips at the bottom - those a re Studio Calico rub-ons and I put them on a tag and then cut them out. I am not sure who made the ribbon. 
The clocks are stamped onto kraft circle stickers, and I added Tim Holtz clock findings. 
The little "button" behind the grouping here is actually a Shrinky Dink!  
The flower is from Canvas Corp (I think) and I added some bling to it.

This button looks way better in person I swear! The Shrinky Dink is stamped on the back side, and then I stamped the Kraft Sticker - together my camera will not focus on it! 

I am linking up at:
Divas By Design - at least 4 layers 

Thanks for stopping by today!
Anita

Letterpress with Embossing Folder Tutorial

Hi everyone,, hope you are having a fabulous weekend so far!
Today I have a quick and easy tutorial on how to use your 
embossing folders to letterpress. 
Letterpress refers to the art of embossing ink into paper. It has been used for
ever to make invitations and stationary. It gives a great look when you are cardmaking too.

*****
These photos are a little darker than normal, I wanted to really show the contrast
in the embossing, so I had one of the lights off!
***** 

You can use any brand of embossing folders I am sure, but I have only
ever tried it with CuttleBug folders, because that is what I have.
The secret to letterpress is to use really heavy paper. I use watercolor paper. Plain old watercolor paper
than can be found in the arts department of any craft store. I use a coupon and buy the largest size 
I can get, and then cut that to fit my needs. You will also need ink and if you want you can use some embossing powder to up the shine factor. I like slow drying ink, so I use Tsukineko.
Open up your folder and ink the side where you can feel the raised design. I find the best way is to lightly run the ink pad across the raised parts. If you put too much pressure you will get ink between the design parts and it will create a messy emboss. If you get a little out of the lines like I did here, use a baby wipe to clean it up.
Run it through your CB machine using the same plates you normally would to emboss - A-B- the folder- B.
And there you go! See how mine has a little bit of color between the design? I put a little extra ink in there because it was a Christmas tree and I wanted to fill it in. If this kind of thing bugs you, be sure to use very light pressure when inking.  You can see the tiniest bit of sparkle here, After I ran it through the CB machine, I sprinkled it with gold embossing powder and heat embossed it. 
See how deep the ink is pushed into the paper? That is the beauty of watercolor paper! 
This is a piece of watercolor paper that I ran through the machine with no ink. This is the BACK side - the design here is raised instead of being pushed in. You can have lots of fun with this side too!
Here I rubbed the design with Inka-Gold and then fussy cut it. I will add this to a card. 

I hope you give this a try, it is lots of fun and you can do a lot with it.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Anita

Quick and Easy Die Storage

Good morning bloggers! Today I have my first post for 
Craft Storage Ideas - so please be sure you hop over to the blog and 
check it out. There is such a great team and 
so many good ideas on the site!

Are you like me and have too many nesting die sets? Well, really, can we have too many?? I have quite a few and storage was becoming a problem. I wanted to keep them handy in my Alex Drawer unit from IKEA with my other dies, but was having a hard time finding a way to do it. I looked at the available store-bought options and none appealed to me. I also did not want to keep them in the package - too bulky.

A little creativity was in order. I wanted easy access, to be able to see the dies at a glance, and to use something I already had here in my craft studio. I started hunting around and found exactly what I needed!



I bought these clear envelopes for a project some time ago from Inky Antics for a project that I never got around to. They are the perfect size. I grabbed those, my Crop-o-Dile, and a left over ring from an album kit. I used the Crop-o-Dile to punch holes in the corner of the envelopes - I did them all at once so they would be even. I put one set of dies in each envelope and put the ring in.



Easy peasy! Of course, it didn't occur to me until much later on that I should label them, so I could remember which sets I had - you should do that from the start! Now all my sets of thin dies are stored in the space of one envelope. Easy to reach, easy to see, and I didn't have to buy a single thing.



Hero

Hello fellow bloggers!
 We are having the most beautiful fall weather here in North Texas!
(and how many people besides me go B-E-A-U-tiful when they spell that?
It is the only way I have ever been able to keep it straight!)

It is Tuesday so it is time for a new palette over at
ColourQ - This weeks palette had some of my favorite colors in
it - greens and yellows!

I have used Basic Grey papers, and cardstock from Stampin' Up and Bazzill.
The brads and fabulous die cut sticker is Basic Grey, flowers by Prima, ribbon from
Stampin' Up, MS punch, Tsukineko ink, and my Cricut machine for the letters.

Here is a look at the palette this week

You have until Sunday at noon to get your entry in.

I am linking up at the following challenges:
Catered Crop - Knots - 

Thanks for stopping by today!
Anita

Sketchabilities Design Team

Howdy everyone! I hope you are having the same great weather that we
are having here in North Texas! The windows are open , the fans are going and 
it is wonderful and cool!

Today it is time for my first assignment at Sketchabilities and the 
reveal of the new Design Team!!
I have used Pink Paisley papers, Bazzill cardstock, Viva Decor Glitter and Pearl Pens,
Tsukineko inks, Leaky Shed Studios chipboard pieces, some craft supply items,
American Crafts ribbon, bling, MS and EK Success punches, and my sewing machine.
I heat embossed the bottom piece of chipboard, and the snowflake I used 
a Glitter Pen from Viva Decor.
 For this chippie I alternated Pearl Pens and Glitter Pen. For the ribbon pennant I 
glued ribbon to a piece of cardstock then cut it to shape.

Here is the sketch we are working with this time around
I rotated the sketch 90 degrees and instead of 4 small photos I used
2 long photos. 

Be sure to hop over to the blog to play along with us - you have
until September 28th to get your sketch linked up!

Have a great weekend.
Anita

Blessings - Fabulous Friday

Howdy Bloggers,, it is time for Fabulous Friday challenge at 
Frosted Designs and this week we are all about using up those
journal cards that you know that you have laying around!
I have tons of them!! 

For this layout, I have used paper and supplies from The Crafty Scrappy
the papers are Reminisce,, love the fall colors!
cardstock is from Bazzill, punch from EK Success, flowers, ribbon, chipboard
 and journal spots from Maya Road.
The stick pins I made myself, using Maya Road pins, see the tutorial here.

The fabulous butterfly chipboard is from Maya Road, I have painted it with Inka Gold in multiple colors, and used a Viva Pearl Pen to accent it. Sorry my photo is a little fuzzy - no sunshine here!

Be sure to stop by Frosted designs and play along!

I am also linking up at

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!
Anita 

Smile - this is happiness

Howdy blogging friends! It is halfway through the week and 
I am ready for the weekend! I have been able to get some serious 
scrapping done, which is why you haven't seen me here on the blog much the 
last week or so. So much paper, so little time!

Today I have a layout made with the fabulous new October Afternoon 
Woodland Park paper line. It is available at The Crafty Scrapper and let me tell you
it is some super cute paper!!! 
 Cardstock is Bazzill, flowers are Petaloo I think, lace is from the craft store, ink is Tsukineko, 
I have used my distresser and my sewing machine. 
The butterflies were fussy cut from the Huckleberry Hill paper, then I slathered them with Glitter Modge Podge. Some of them were layered onto Maya Road wooden butterflies. 
I love pom-pom fringe. The world would be a much happier place if everyone used more pom-pom fringe! The stick pins are Maya Road and I have dressed them up with crystals and alcohol inks. All the die cut stickers are from the Woodland Park line as well. 

I am linking up to the following sites:
Southern Girls Challenge - bling, bling! - Sparkle Modge Podge on everything! 
Unique Crafters Challenge - Anything Goes
Catered Crop  - Pink!

Be sure to stop by and show some love to the fabulous sites above and play along. I get so much more scrapping done now that there are all these fabulous challenge sites on the web!!

Thanks for stopping by today. 
Anita

Glue Dots Design Team Announcment

Happy Saturday everyone!
I have some super news to share, and I have been about 
to burst waiting to tell you!
I have been asked to be a Dottess (how cool is that name?) on the 2012-2013
The team is full of wonderful talented ladies and I am so excited to get started!
Be sure to hop over  to the blog and check out the fabulous talent
they have gathered together. 

Anita

Craft Storage Ideas - Contributor Team

Howdy Fellow Bloggers!
I have been waiting all week to be able to say that 
I made the Contributor Team over at 

I am super happy and I know some of the ladies already 
from previous DT's so that is even better.
Be sure to add the blog to your list, as we will
be putting some fabulous posts up on
how to manage the craftiness in your life ;o)

I have one more super fun announcement to make in the 
next few days,, I am just waiting on the go ahead from the 
company!! I am bursting at the seams!!
Stay tuned!!

Anita