Wednesday, March 31, 2010

In Production...

...at Precocious Paper:


The number of fabric flower designs available will double by this weekend!  Happy Wednesday! Tessa

Saturday, March 27, 2010

My weakness...

...is Diet Coke with Lime.  When the prompt "My Favorite Drink" came up at These are a Few of My Favorite Things, I knew I would have to scrap my addiction.  I love this soda, but the bondage of waking up and heading to the fridge for one is killing me.  I really want to quit.  And I will.  But until I've summoned enough will power, this is my drink of choice.




I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!  Tessa

Thursday, March 25, 2010

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

Yes, this is my last sketch at Sketchy Thursdays as a design team member :(.  I can't believe how fast 6 months has gone by, but I have loved every minute of it.

Six months ago my son was 6 1/2.  He just turned 7 on Sunday.  Time really flies.  I used this week's sketch to document that when Colten reached the halfway mark, he insisted upon adding the "and a half" whenever someone asked him his age.  Now he can't wait to say seven and a half!  He's growing up too fast!




And here's the sketch:


The prize this time is AMAZING!  You need to head on over to Sketchy Thursdays to check it out!  The new DT takes over next week, so be sure to see what they are all up to - knowing Diana and Heidi it will all be fabulous.  Have a great day! Tessa

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Two Chicks April Kit Sneak Peeks

I am having a blast working with the April kit from Two Chicks Designs!  The colors are so happy, the textures are wonderful, and I love the variety of papers.  One thing I love about Christie's kits is that you can coordinate all the pieces, but they stand by themselves really well, too.  Christie has a knack for mixing manufacturers that can satisfy any scrapper's style.

I can't share my layouts quite yet, so here's a little taste:





The kit will go live at Two Chicks on April 1st!  And don't miss their March Madness sale going on right now.  Ten awesome t-shirts are on sale for only $9.99!  I'm getting a couple :). 

Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Monday, March 22, 2010

Button, button, who's got the button?

I loved playing that game as a kid!  Probably because I've been a button addict my whole life :).  When I saw the new challenge at The Studio, I was super excited because it involves buttons - but that's not all!

The challenge: "Buttons and bows! Use either buttons or bows on your page – or both for extra ‘brownie points’!"


I took it a step further.  I have a jar of clear buttons that don't get used as often as they should, so I challenged myself to use those buttons specifically.  Once I found the photos I wanted to scrap, I realized bows wouldn't belong on my page, but I did put my clear buttons to good use!



I thought the clear buttons would make perfect raindrops, and I am really happy with the result!  The photos are from a road trip my kids and I took last weekend.  On the last leg of our journey, it got cloudy and rainy.  The boys were so wound-up that I braved the rain, pulled over at this scenic viewpoint, and let them play for a few minutes.  They were good the rest of the way home :).


My favorite thing about this layout is that my boys really liked it.  Like, went-back-a-couple-of-times-to-look-at-it liked it.  The DT did amazing work on this challenge, so please head over to The Studio to check out their layouts.  There is a paper bow you MUST see!  And thank you to everyone who hopped over to The Studio last Friday to check out my tutorial.  Your sweet words made my day!

Happy Scrapping! Tessa

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Rebekah's Birthday Bash Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to my blog!  My name is Tessa and if you are following along, you should have just come from Audrey Yeager's blog.  What an amazing weekend!  Wow, the talent of all these artists is just amazing and I am definitely inspired.

For my little stop on the hop I wanted to share an altered canvas that I created:


I am a youth leader for my church, and "be strong and of a good courage" is our theme for 2010.  This visual reminder helps me keep my goals in sight and things in perspective :). 

♥ First, I primed my canvas with gesso.  Next, I dry-brushed pink acrylic paint perpendicular to the strokes I used for the gesso (just for a little added texture).  I then sprayed whitewash over the canvas, and using a bristly brush, I evened it out. 

♥ I punched butterflies from vintage French poetry book pages, adhered them to the canvas, then repeated the paint and whitewash. 


♥ Next, I used some Tim Holtz crackle paint to detail the edges of the canvas, and when dried, highlighted the cracks with pink chalk. 

♥ I stamped my sentiment with jet black Stazon ink and dry-brushed a little more paint over the words. 


♥ For my flowers, I dyed some cream colored Prima roses with vintage pink Glimmer Mist.  I also made fabric flowers from strips of a vintage-inspired print and found a vintage-inspired cabachon.  The cream, five-petal flowers have been in my stash for a long time, pulled from a bouquet of silk flowers that was beyond its prime.  Little pearl centers brightened them up :).  The velvet leaves are by Prima (I cannot own enough of these!).  I added the flowers with simple hot glue.


♥ To add more dimension to the top portion of the canvas, I punched more butterflies and added them to cardstock to make them more stiff.  I used dimensional adhesive to pop them off the canvas.

♥ I used my last treasured piece of this ribbon (I think it's by Maya Road) to hang the canvas, stapling it to the back with my handy-dandy super stapler.

It's really feminine, and since I am the only girl in my family, this will definitely have to hang in my studio.  But that's just fine by me :).  Happy Birthday, Rebekah!  Rebekah will be receiving a little birthday present from my Etsy shop, Precocious Paper.  One of you lovely hoppers will be winning a pair of their choice of flowers, too!  If you give an altered canvas a go, I would love to see it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Now off to the talented Anna White-Sharman's blog :).  Happy scrapping, Tessa

Friday, March 19, 2010

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

If you frequent The Studio, you know that once a week we have an "extra" little post for you, besides the regular challenges. If you haven't been by yet, today would be a wonderful day to check us out - it's my day to share! I've created a tutorial on using alcohol inks to customize embellishments. It's a trick I've had to learn since I now live hundreds of miles away from convenient scrapbook supply shopping :).

Here's a peek:

 
I hope to see you there! Tessa

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Taking Flight - American Crafts

Even though we are expecting some snow, lately it has felt like Spring here in Wyoming. So, for this week's Sketchy Thursdays layout I decided to go with Spring colors, which meant using the sweet and fresh Botanique line of papers by American Crafts :).


Supplies Used: patterned papers (American Crafts), cardstock (DCWV), embellishments (American Crafts chipboard, thickers, journaling sticker and flair), glimmer mist (Tattered Angels), pen (Sharpie), ribbon (vintage seam binding)

Here is the sketch:



I chose to use one photo (my pictures are still stuck on my external hard drive and this one was a leftover from earlier layouts), and compliment the colors of the photo with the yummy AC papers. I used a chipboard bird as a mask to highlight the space I used for my title. I really love how colorful and yet serene this layout is :).


I am filling several orders today then working on MANY new designs for my shop. I hope to list them all this weekend. Please stop by tomorrow when the Birthday Bash Blog Hop for my friend Rebekah begins tomorrow. I am very excited to share my project!

Congratulations to the new DT at Sketchy Thursdays! I can't wait to see what is in store. Head over there now to see who they are and to get all the details on playing along. Have a great day! Tessa

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Two Chick's Marvelous March Kit

If you know me, you know I love to combine orange and blue in my layouts. When I saw this kit from Two Chicks, I swooned :). Along with pretty greens, khakis, reds, and yellows, this kit is a gorgeous combination of bold and beautiful.

Here is the kit:



And here is what I have created so far...

Ten Things I Love About My Boys - Mini Album (For all the pages, please visit here.)




I made the album with chipboard and acrylic pieces that I cut down to size. I rounded the corners with my Corner Chomper and added metal rings. I tinted all of my photographs to match the colors in the papers (although the green printed darker than I hoped - but it's my oldest son's favorite color, so I didn't fret). I made all the little circle button embellies with punched papers and Chicken Feed. I stamped on the acrylic pages with white Stazon ink. My hours of crafting are much appreciated - my boys can't put this book down :).

I've decided my on-hand, go-to stash of stationery is getting slim, so I made some cards...




I have a couple of layouts in mind, too. This kit just seems to go on and on :). To see the other DT members' projects, check out the Chick'n Coop blog. And you MUST head on over to Two Chicks - there is an AMAZING sale going on!

Happy Tuesday! Tessa

Monday, March 15, 2010

You're Invited!

I love the online scrapbooking community.  I've made so many friends, including the talented Rebekah Brumby!  She is celebrating her birthday this weekend with an amazing event - a birthday blog hop!  More than 30 artists will be sharing layouts, altered projects, and challenges, and I even heard there would be prizes (hint, hint, wink, wink).  I was so happy to be invited to be one of the stops along the way, and I am very excited to share my project with you. 


The blog hop will begin here on Friday, March 19th at 7:00 p.m. GMT and will go all weekend long.  You can RSVP on Facebook here.  I hope you play along - I've seen some sneak peeks and it will definitely be worth your time :).  My part of the hop will go live 6:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday :).

I hope your Monday was a good one!  Tessa

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Poetry and a Prize!

We have a new challenge for you at Scrap that Poetry!  The poem is an Irish Blessing - perfect with St. Patrick's Day coming up this week!  It's a bit of a long story, but it looks as though I may have lost the last two years of my photos due to computer problems.  I'm heartbroken, to say the least.  So what do I do without photos?  Create an altered canvas instead of my usual layout :).



I painted the canvas with a combination of white wash and light blue acrylic paint.  Then I layered masking tape on a self-healing mat and cut out the hill shapes.  I adhered my hills, then painted them green.  I made my sun and flowers from rolled fabric and burlap. 


I printed out my journaling, cut the pieces, and outlined each strip.  Then I hand-doodled around my border.  Now I just need to decide what ribbon to hang the canvas from :).

And guess who is sponsoring Scrap that Poetry?  Precocious Paper, of course!  You could win a pair of Dyed Cardboard Flowers, a set of Bridal Satin Blossoms, a pair of Lace and Felt Flowers, and a Bouquet of Fabric and Felt Flowers.  I've pictures some sunny yellow samples here, but the winner will have her choice of designs :).


I'd love to see you play along!  Thanks for stopping by :).  Tessa

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sketch Love

As you’ve probably heard, there is a design team call going on at Sketchy Thursdays. That call means my term is coming to an end :(. I’m so sad! I have loved being a part of this team and will always be grateful to Diana and Heidi for the experiences I have had. In tribute to my run at ST, I created this layout, based on Diana’s new sketch:



On picnik.com, I created a collage of all of my ST layouts and the DT’s photos. It was fun to go through the past six months in layouts! I added journaling by creating a tag that is tucked behind the photo collage, and instead of a circular photo I added a cluster of handmade, faux silk rosettes.



The copper patterned paper and thickers are from American Crafts’ new line, Botanique. I’m not sure if I ever mentioned it here, but during the CHA sneak peeks back in January, I won the collection from the AC blog by leaving a comment. The prize package arrived a few days ago. It. is. amazing.


I’ve got to ship out over 200 flowers today, so I’d better be going! I’m going away for the weekend to visit my sister, who lives much closer to crafty shopping than I do. I can’t wait! Enjoy your weekend, and I hope to see you playing along at Sketchy Thursdays!

Tessa

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Welcome to the World - The Studio Challenge

A new challenge is up at The Studio!  As soon as I read what the challenge was going to be, I knew exactly what I wanted to scrap.  The challenge is to use memorabilia on a layout.  I chose to use the ID bracelets my son and I wore in the hospital when he was born.


I placed the bracelets where I otherwise might have used strips of patterned paper or ribbon and attached them with a heavy-duty tape runner.



I had some other ideas for using memorabilia, too:
♥ Punch shapes out of paper memorabilia like menus, maps, and receipts
♥ Create a pocket for ticket stubs or cards
♥ Use pamphlets, maps, or other large pieces of paper memorabilia as patterned paper
♥ For dimensional memorabilia, sew a pouch out of a transparency onto your layout with the piece inside
♥ Laminate hair from a first hair cut onto a tag

I used this "vintage" Sketchy Thursdays sketch for my layout.  I love how versatile sketches can be.  The layout I originally created for this sketch looks very different:


I hope you take a minute to check out the other DT girls' work over at The Studio.  Their layouts are fantastic!  Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Smile - It's Thursday!

It's Thursday once again, and yes, I did get sketchy over at Sketchy Thursdays :).  We were given the wonderful opportunity to work with a digital kit from Sassy Designs again.  The colors in this one are so pretty - blues, plums, dark chocolate browns.... Loved it!  As you may have guessed, I am not a digital scrapper.  I love what other people do digitally, and someday I'll learn, but I just haven't left my paper and glue long enough to figure it out.  But that doesn't mean I can't use digital kits! 


I chose several of the papers from the kit, printed them out, and then used them like traditional scrapbooking supplies.  I used masking tape because a few of the kit elements reminded me of masking tape.  I added stitching on the flower stems for texture, and I just had to have some blingy flower centers :).



Here is Diana's lovely sketch.  I loved this one so much I'm sure I will use it again soon!


I hope you play along!  The prize this week is the digi kit, and I promise - you will love it!  Whether you go hybrid like me, or digi like the other DT members, it's a gorgeous collection.  Have a wonderful day!  Tessa