Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  We're celebrating on The Studio blog today with a new challenge.  It's the last Sunday of the month, so we have a fantastic sketch for you.  Also, if you celebrate Halloween, we'd love to see a Halloween theme to your page.  Otherwise, any other celebration will do :).

Colten was a ghost last year, and inspired by fellow DT member Rebekah, I used a photo editing program to spookify this photo.  I used layers and layers of paint, gesso, mist and ink to grunge up a pretty piece of Parisian Anthology paper.

The black flowers are from my Halloween Rolled Fabric Flowers set in the shop, and the teal flower is coming soon to my virtual shelves (along with ten other colors!).  I used mist and alcohol inks to color my leaves.

Don't forget - Attitude of Gratitude begins tomorrow!  I am SO HAPPY to see so many of you joining in.  You can find details here.  Even if you don't think you can keep up on a daily basis, I would love to have you join in as often as you can.

Have a wonderful day! Tessa

A love note

Just a little love note I made for my hubby, inspired by the Moxie Fab World challenge to play with damask prints. 

I thought it would be fun to try to make something masculine with damask, which is a print I more often think of as girlie or pretty.  I love the result!

And yes, that is my favorite color scheme again :).  Have a great weekend! Tessa

Designer Friday - Giveaway Day

Let's meet the rest of the Precocious Paper design team, Rebekah and Nikki!

Rebekah Brumby: I'm a proud Mum of one and part time secondary school science teacher. I've been scrapping prolifically since Connor was born in 2006 and can't get enough of it usually :) I would describe my style as layered texture because I love lots of embelilshments and layer them up to give depth and texture to my layouts. Since I joined a couple of design teams and was invited to teach some classes, I've been doing more altered items and home decor pieces but my heart belongs to layouts really. I'm really excited to be joining the Precocious Paper design team and working with Tessa's lovely products and I hope that you'll enjoy looking at my layouts too.

Rebekah created this beautiful fall layout using a bloom from the Friendly Forest Bouquet (to be listed soon!).  I love how she picked up colors from the fabric in her patterned paper choices, and isn't that puppy the cutest thing ever?

Nikki Antonello: I live in the gorgeous North East of Victoria, Australia, have been married to my beautiful husband Stef for almost 13 years and we have 3 cherubs…..Noah 7 , Isabelle 5 and Joshua 3 . I came to scrapbooking about 6 years ago after the birth of my first son. Noah was born with Down Syndrome and has since also been diagnosed with Mild Autism. In the early days of my scrapping it was a wonderful way to come to terms with lots of things that were going on in our lives and to celebrate some very long awaited milestones….some five years and two extra children later, this beautiful craft has well and truly become the most lovely celebration of all of our lives and an outlet I could not do without!  Before scrapbooking I have always dabbled in some sort of lovely crafty pursuit…painting, folk art, cross-stitch and paper-tole….all of which appear still, in some form on my layouts and projects. My creations usually include some dimension and texture in busy little clusters of embellishments, but I generally enjoy a clean and simple style. I love the gorgeous vibrant colour and images for the boys pages, but am so fortunate to be able to indulge in flowers and all things feminine for Isabelle’s pages.  I am very honored to be a part of this gorgeous team and look forward to sharing my work with you all.

Nikki created three cards using a new set of Sewing Pattern Petals (to be listed soon!).  The blooms are very versatile, as Nikki demonstrates with a birthday card, a best wishes card, and a Christmas card.  And don't you love how the sewing pattern paper looks with kraft cardstock?

 

Now that you've met all of my talented designers, let's do a giveaway.  Take a look back at the October Designer Fridays and leave a comment on this post about your favorite project or a favorite product that was featured.  I'll draw a name on Monday, November 1st, and that person will receive a little package of Precocious Paper goodies.  And be sure to check the shop this weekend - inbetween Halloween festivities new product will be going up!

Thank you, Nikki and Rebekah!  Have a great day! Tessa

Fall

Autumn is by far my favorite season of the year.  Today is a beautiful fall day here in Northern California and I have a fall layout to share :).

We went to Bishop's Farm last weekend, which is THE place to visit if you're looking for a great pumpkin patch and plenty to do.  It rained the entire time we were there, but that didn't stop us from having fun!  I have a few other layouts in the works with pictures from our day, but for today's Sketchy Thursdays layout I decided to focus on the beautiful colors we found.

Here's the sketch:

I had fun with layers on this one - popping up pieces of the patterned papers, making flowers from chipboard buttons and burlap, folding paper....

Everything you see here is from the November Scrapbook Circle kit.  If you aren't a subscriber, this is a fantastic kit to start with!  I absolutely love every single piece.

I'd love to see you play along at Sketchy Thursdays this week.  Be sure to stop by and see what the rest of the DT created.  Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Holiday Wreaths

A while back I said I'd share my holiday wreaths with you.  I'm still on a yarn wreath kick and now stalking yarn sales at the craft stores :).  I even have an official yarn shelf in the craft room. 

You've already seen my Fall wreath:

And this is my Halloween wreath:

I'm really excited to start working on my Christmas wreath.  I'm using mint green, a dark olive green, a sparkly white and a true red.

I've already bought the yarn for a Winter wreath (shades of light blue, white and gray), a Valentine's wreath (salmon, cream and ballet pink), and even a couple of others.  Maybe I should learn to knit, too :).

I started seeing my "Attitude of Gratitude" button around the web.  I'm so glad people are joining me.  If you need the details again, see this post.  Remember, there's a $25.00 gift certificate to Precocious Paper in it for you!

Have a good day!  Tessa

The Make and Create Shop

I was so excited to be asked to guest design for The Make and Create Shop in October, but when I got the kit in the mail, I was over the moon!  It's stunning!  I created three layouts and still have plenty of bits and pieces for at least two more or a handful of cards.

First, Oh How I FALL for Those Eyes.  All three of my boys are blond with blue eyes, and oh how I love those blue eyes.  Each one has a shade of their own, and Colten's are the same color of the river behind him in this photo. 

Everything but the paper (My Mind's Eye) is in the kit, including those adorable felt embellies.  I dyed the cardboard leaves with Glimmer Mist and added even more sparkle with the gold sequins.

Second, Autumn Bliss.  The "bliss" is Dear Lizzy and the alphas are Basic Gray, but everything else was in the kit.  I colored my kraft background with Distress Inks then layered and layered the trims, flowers, and buttons. 

I wrapped the gold wire around a little screwdriver (why that was in my scrap room, I don't know....) to make the little spirals. 

Third, Fabulous Fall.  I LOVE this page.  I used book paper from Scrap Rat, Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, Pink Paislee alphas, and a few Prima leaves I had in my stash, but the rest is in the kit. 

I used the crepe paper to make a pleated border and the tissue paper to make a lollipop flower.  The other flowers were already made and in the kit.  I stamped the brown leaves with gold metallic ink for some added interest and created a spray in the corner with glimmer mist and sequins.

If you are looking for unique embellishments for your autumn (or even Christmas) projects, you MUST get this kit.  There's even a half kit available with plenty of fantastic items from the regular kit.  I love that the mix of handmade embellishments and carefully curated trims add a special touch to my pages and go a long way.  You will not be disappointed with this purchase :).

You can find the shop here.  Stop by, take a look around, and tell Anna I sent you.  Have a wonderful day!  Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude

Hello all!  I was recently inspired to give a great deal of thought to what I am grateful for and how I am showing it.  It didn't take long to realize that I really could be living a more thankful life, including not only being more grateful, but also expressing my gratitude more often.  So, to help myself develop a better "Attitude of Gratitude", I have created a challenge for myself, and I hope you will join me!

Each day in November, I will publicly express something that I am grateful for.  I personally am going to seek out blessings in places I tend to overlook.  I will post my thoughts here, on Facebook, and on Twitter.  I hope that by the end of November I will have trained myself to be a little more grateful and to remember to express that gratitude.

How about you?  Are you in?  Should you choose to join me in these daily doses of blessing-counting, I have a $25.00 gift certificate to Precocious Paper that may be yours!  Leave a comment on this post with a link to where you are posting your thoughts.  In the beginning of December I will randomly draw a name.  If you post about this challenge on your blog and send me a link, I will give you an extra entry.  Feel free to turn the above graphic into a button for your blogs. 

Sound like fun?  I can't wait!  Let me start early - THANK YOU to all of my wonderful blog readers, customers, and friends for the blessings you are in my life :).

Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Hourglass

Have you heard Mindy Gledhill's latest album?  It's amazing.  I love every song and you can find me often scrapping with her music in the background.  One song in particular pulls my heartstrings: Hourglass.  I imagine she's speaking to her son, and being the mama to three boys, I tear up everytime I give it a listen.

Tip: Scroll down to the bottom of the blog and pause the music player :).

The challenge at The Studio today is to journal on at least 50% of your layout.  I chose to scrap these photos of Jaxon from a summer outing.  Although I could go on and on about him, I decided to use Mindy Gledhill's voice instead.

I divided my page into a grid, arranged my photos and a few pieces of patterned paper how I liked, and then filled the rest of the squares with the lyrics.  I wanted certain words to stand out, so I "wrote" them with alpha stickers.

I handstitched the grid lines (I really need to get a sewing machine!) and added the simple little buttons for embellishment.  I have to say that this page is going to be in my top favorites forever.  I love how the colors came together, the way the alpha stickers look, and most of all, the story.

I hope you join us!  Even if you struggle with journaling, there are several different approaches to this challenge from the design team and I'm sure at least one of them will inspire you.  Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Designer Friday

You've met half of my wonderful design team so far.  Let's meet two more fantastic ladies, shall we?

Amanda Jones: I have been scrapbooking in the format we currently know since my son was born almost 8 years ago. I have always loved writing, photography and paper products, and have dabbled in various crafts over the years. Scrapbooking is the creative outlet that combines all of my passions, and this is probably why I can never see myself stopping. At the moment I am enjoying mixing vintage and modern products in my projects, and finding creative uses for vintage items. Anyone who knows me will probably already know what a big fan of Precocious Paper I am. I am so excited and honoured to be part of Tessa's new team.

Amanda has created two projects perfect for the season.  First, an altered frame for Halloween.

What a beautiful, simple idea!  I love the way that this fabric flower, from the Festive Fall Bouquet, combined so easily with some alphas and a chipboard pumpkin for a super cute Halloween decoration.  Amanda also created a really creative home decor piece. 

She said, "My next project I started with the intention of creating an altered canvas, again as an autumnal decoration for my home.  I ended up turning 2 canvases into a fall decoration which houses a mini album.  My reasoning? This way I can enjoy it all year round! Once I'm done displaying it I can fold it together and keep it in my mini album storage basket. Oh, and did you notice? I used the red string from the cute packaging my flowers came in to tie it all together.  Again I used flowers from the Festive Fall Bouquet. There's such a versatile collection of patterns in there!"

I love how Amanda worked those fall flowers!  And I'm still oohing and ahhing over my next designer's project.  Meet Anna:

Anna White-Sharman: I’m Anna, I’m 26 and I’m from the UK. I love scrapping and have been creating for about 3 years now. I have a passion for embellishments! I have just opened my own little shop selling my own embellishment kits, The Make and Create Shop. I also love sewing, making jewellery and baking cupcakes! I’m delighted to be part of the first Precocious Paper design team, I can’t wait to receive some of Tessa’s delights!

Anna created a fabulous layout using my Red Super Stars.  Anna said, "I love them, they are brillant for little boy layouts! I thought they would go great with the Mickey Mouse cake I made my nephew for his 2nd Birthday. I wanted the stars to stand out so used black cardstock. I then used die cut, star cardstock as a mask to mist over using a silver shimmer mist to make the star pattern." 

A talented scrapbooker and cake-decorator this gal is!  Thank you, ladies, for your fabulous work!  I would normally give you some sort of coupon code right now, but today I am announcing another kind of sale over on Facebook.  You may want to stop by ;).

Have a great Friday! Tessa

I Love this Boy...

My oldest is a second grader.  A second grader!  I'm still in denial.  I tell him to stop growing up all the time and he just replies with, "Mom, you know that's impossible."

I decided that since this page was about my love for him, it could be a bit on the girly side.  The butterflies represent how he's growing and changing on a daily basis, and how fleeting my time is with him. 

The flowers are my absolute favorite set in the shop right now - The Flower Power Bouquet.  I love the golden yellow with the kelly green and fuchsia.  I really liked the effect of trimming off the fuchsia flower to be flush with the edge of my page.

My layout is based on this new Sketchy Thursdays sketch:

I loved looking through all of last week's entries and hope you'll play along with this one.  Have a fantastic Thursday!  Tessa

Chocolate for the High School Senior

I don't know about you, but I had "senioritis" pretty bad my last year of high school.  I was SO ready to get on with college and adult life.  My baby sister is a senior this year, and she's got it bad, too.  She's also a major chocoholic, so when I saw the prompt for this week's challenge at The Paper Variety, I knew exactly what to do:

Senioritis Pills!  The prompt is to scrapbook a treat of some kind, be it a Halloween goodie bag or any other themed sweets.  While doing her homework and finishing up all those scholarship applications, she can relieve the stress with Junior Mints, Chocolate-covered Cookie Dough Bites, Mint Bliss Chocolates, Snickers, and Baby Ruths.

I used a simple craft storage box and embellished it with Sassafras papers, Cosmo Cricket ribbons and alphas, and an Elles Studio tag.  Pretty sweet, huh?  I hope you join in over at The Paper Variety this week.  The prize is fantastic! I wish I could play! 

And on a not-so-sweet note, we have a plumbing problem.  It's not good.  I won't be able to create or ship orders for a day or two, but little extras will accompany each package that goes out late as my thanks for your patience. 

I hope your humpday is better than mine :).  Tessa

Christmas Garland

I'm really not the kind of crafter who is this far ahead of the game, but when I opened up my supply of vintage scrapbooking goodies from Scrap Rat, I was instantly inspired to create a Christmas Garland.

Amanda makes these fantastic typewriter words by meticulously typing each one on an old typewriter on vintage paper.  I used the Christmas set and added them to snowflake ornaments that I had left over from last year.  I misted them with Glimmer Mist for an aged look. 

Along with a canvas pennant album by Maya Road, I used Scrap Rat's small book pages as pennants.  Embellished with accordian flowers, velvet leaves, and sparkly letters, I'm kind of hoping that Christmas comes soon so that I can hang this pretty garland where everyone can enjoy it.

I think I'll hang it over an evergreen swag.  The deep green will really highlight the perfectly aged edges of the papers.  I strung each piece on a strand of cream pearl trim and the ends are tied with vintage ribbon from Scrap Rat.  I love the vintage-y look!

Scrap Rat is being featured on the Paper Craft Inspirations Magazine blog today.  The review is well worth the read, especially since you'll find a coupon code :).  I hope you'll take a look and then venture on over to the shop.  Amanda is filling her shelves with all sorts of fantastic things.  And more is on the way that I am really excited about (but can't share yet!).

I hope your Tuesday is a good one! Tessa