Vintage Giveaway!

Good morning! I am a little sad to see the Vintage Series over at Amanda Jones' blog end today. There has been so much inspiration! I have two projects up today and I'd love for you to take a look. First, a tutorial for making a fabric flower using vintage fabric (or any fabric, really):

And second, a fabric garland:

You can read all about these projects here. Amanda is doing a giveaway at her blog (go enter, quick!), but I thought I would do one here, too :). If you would like to win this collection of vintage and new/handmade items, just leave a comment:

Prize includes:
♥ a mini fabric garland
♥ a string of vintage, yellow pearl beads
♥ a vintage match box
♥ a vintage game token
♥ a vintage stamp
♥ two yellow Petaloo flowers
♥ five Precocious Paper flowers

I will choose and announce a winner next Friday. I will ship worldwide, except for Italy. I will be back a little bit later with a new Sampler to reveal! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa

Faux Polaroid Tutorial

Hello! I have a tutorial up on the Scrapbook Circle blog today, but I thought I should share here, too. One of the items on my wishlist right now is this little guy:

I love the look of Polaroids, and the fact that this camera produces mini Polaroids? Even cuter! Until I can make him mine, here is what I can do in the meantime:

Gather together a square punch, paper trimmer, and white cardstock.

Punch a square out of your cardstock. Make sure that you reach your punch as far into your paper as possible to leave enough room for the caption space and to make sure your punch is "square" with the paper. This will make the next step easier :).

Using your trimmer, cut a rectangle around the square. Cut pretty close to the square at the top and sides of your rectangle, but leave a much bigger space at the bottom for the caption.

And, voila! You've got a faux Polaroid frame! And I can see I need a new blade on my trimmer ;).

I hope your Thursday is a good one! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa

My Debut at Epiphany Crafts

I am so very excited to be a part of the Epiphany Crafts design team and on Monday my first project went up on the blog! The theme of the week is Easter Treats, and this was my take:

I made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and packaged it in a mason jar. To decorate the jar, I added a fork with twine, a wooden tag, and leaves.

The flower is a brooch, complete with an Epiphany Crafts epoxy and charm. The top of the jar is covered in the same fabric as the brooch. I used the tangerine tumble roses fabric by Amy Butler from her Love line. I thought the pinkish orange was perfect for Easter :).

Now I have a yummy treat and little accessory for a friend :). If you need any Easter treat ideas, be sure to visit the Epiphany Crafts blog all week. The design team is doing amazing things! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! Tessa

Vintage Napkin Holder, Smash

Hello! Amanda Jones' Vintage Series has been a delight to follow this past week and I have a few more contributions of mine to share with you today! A few days ago, Amanda posted about my vintage napkin holder:

My grandmother gave this to me a few years ago and I just recently incorporated it into my scrapbook room storage. I love using it to hold tags and ephemera. You can read more about it in this post.  Today, Amanda is sharing how I put my napkin holder to use to create this Smash Book page:

Remember the vintage fabrics I shared last week? I used a swatch of one of my favorites on this Smash Book page:

I love using fabric as an alternative to patterned paper, especially when I want some texture. The other contributors to the Vintage Series have some fabulous ideas, too, so head on over and check them out. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day! Tessa

Smash Sunday

Hello! I'm back with week two of Smash Sunday, the weekly post where I share what I've been up to in my Smash Books. Last week I put together these Spring-inspired pages in my red, Everyday book:

I used these photos for a pair of layouts (that I will share soon!), and had doubles printed. I used the extras for these pages, along with bits and pieces from Lily Bee, Cosmo Cricket, Elle's Studio, American Crafts, and Pink Paislee. I had a lot of fun searching my stash for green, pink and red.

My favorite details include this red bookmark, which I received as a thank you gift in an order from the Etsy shop 29blackstreet. It's her own original art and seeing as I am currently putting together my summer reading list, I thought it was the perfect piece of ephemera to add this week.

Also, even though I don't sew, I've begun collecting spools of thread in pretty colors. I love the look of a little bit of messy thread tucked here and there. It must have to do with the random strands I find stuck to me after crafting all of the fabric flowers for my Etsy shop :). I added some red thread in the corner and I really like the way it loops off of the page.

A magazine clipping made its way onto this spread. I found this leather bow bracelet image in a BHG magazine and trimmed it out. I had already seen a tutorial for these bow bracelets on Pinterest and even taught a group of girls how to make them, but with Spring here, I want to make more in some bright pretty colors.

SRM Stickers has several sheets of great Spring-themed sentiments, and I just had to add several. Some are on the edges, and one is directly on a photo - I love that technique and will probably use it again and again!

I smashed a bit more in a few spare moments, but I'm still tinkering and will share next time :). I hope you've had a great weekend and are ready for a great week! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa

Designer Friday!

Happy Friday! Today I am excited to share more work by Amanda Jones. She combined the Kraft Funday line by My Mind's Eye with several of the new Precocious Paper goodies:

This awesome layout includes a Black and White French Script Fabric and Felt Flower in the lollipop style (now an option for ALL Fabric and Felt Flowers)...

...as well as a Typewriter Keys Butterfly Doily.

I just added these lovelies to the shop and they match all the other Sewing Pattern Paper embellies I've been stocking:

Amanda also created a card with her leftover bits, with another Ribbon Bow front and center. I've been getting requests for more of these, and I promise I'm working on it! I've got oodles and oodles of ribbon sorted and cut and just waiting to be assembled :).

I hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. I am throwing an art-themed birthday party for Colten tomorrow and will share the details soon! Have a great day! Tessa

Vintage Fabric Love

Happy Wednesday, all! I am up on Amanda Jones' blog today as part of her Vintage Series, sharing one of my favorite vintage materials to craft with - fabric! Here's a peek, but for the rest, you'll have to visit the post.

Read more here. I'm off to celebrate my oldest's birthday :). I can't believe I've been a mother for nine years! Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Out and About

Hello! In the past week or so I have made 13 layouts and several other bits and pieces, but I can't share any of it yet. So, while I patiently wait to prove that I have been creatively busy, I thought I would let you know of some fabulous stuff going on out there. First up, Miss Art's Papercrafting School is having a free class weekend! Here are the details:

The headmistress at Miss Art's would like to invite you to our biggest free class event yet!  Beginning on Friday,  March 23rd, you will have 3 days to check out three of our most popular classes for free, no subscription needed.  

Three of our 201 class have nearly completed their 12 months of availability, and each of these amazing classes deserves a farewell party!  The Secret Garden with Stacy Cohen, B. You! with Heidi Kelley, and All About Me with Bethany Kartchner have all been around for nearly a year, and will soon be removed from our class schedule to make room for some amazing new classes.  That means that this weekend is your chance to check them out one last time, for FREE!  If you've been thinking about joining our student body, consider this your campus tour, led by three amazing teachers. When you visit us on Friday, head to the "Classes" page to view this weekend's free classes.  We'll see you there!

missartspapercrafting.com/classes

Also, Amanda Jones' Vintage Series began yesterday and I am finding myself more and more envious of the ephemera/vintage collections some people have! If you want more information on where to find vintage goodies, how to store them and what to do with them, you must follow along.

I hope you've been happily busy, too! Enjoy your day! Tessa

Smash Sunday

Hello! I am back after a week-long blogging hiatus with a new weekly post: Smash Sunday! Each Sunday I will be sharing a page or two from one of my Smash books. If you are unfamiliar with the Smash Book concept, here is a great place to check it out. You can find my first Smash book, Summer 2011, here. I started a new one with the theme of "everyday" - bits and pieces of daily life, hopes and wishes, and little moments. This is the first two-page spread in the book:

This is actually just the first printed page in the book (on the right), but I embellished the left hand side, too, covering up the book information printed at the bottom. Just the other night I asked my husband how we should redecorate our bedroom. I had found this image in a magazine several months before and was kinda hoping he would give me permission to do something this bright. I'm still working on it :).

One of my favorite materials for Smashing is die-cuts. I have lots that haven't made it onto scrapbook pages, and the Smash book is an ideal place for those homeless cutouts. I love these butterflies :). Also, notice the "love" on the left and the "love my life" on the right? I am using an SRM Sticker sentiment on just about every page. With the variety of stickers and sayings, there is always something just perfect :).

I will be sharing more pages, including my title page, in the coming days during a special event at my friend, Amanda's blog:

I LOVE mixing vintage finds into my work and this series gave me the opportunity to do just that. I'll be sharing Smash book pages, a tutorial, and some well-loved vintage gifts from my grandmother. The other artists on board for the series are amazing, so you really MUST tune in. I'm truly honored to be a part of it!

Well, that's it! I hope you will enjoy this new series on my blog :). Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Designer Friday - Elise & Precocious

Happy Friday! Today I am excited to share what design team member Elise Lindsey did with the Precocious Sampler.

"Every year for my birthday I end up saving my birthday cards in a shoebox tucked away somewhere, so last year for my birthday I decided to punch a hole in my cards, make a fancy cover and leave them out on my coffee table to display them! This year, it's the big 2-1 and one of my sewing pattern petals had a 21 vintage bingo chip center-PERFECT for the cover of my cards!" I love that one of the Sewing Pattern Petals Elise received had a special significance :). Elise also made a layout:

"For this layout I disassembled the black and white chevron fabric and felt flower and layered the fabric flowers underneath my photo and the shabby twist tulle flower. The hearts at the bottom of the page were a happy accident. I punched out hearts from this patterned paper to use for a previous project and then wound up backing them with the polka dot sheer ribbon for this layout!" 

What a fabulous tip for the ribbon! And I love that Elise isn't afraid to take the flowers apart - I love that look! Last, Elise made this cute card:

Thank you, Elise, for all the inspiration! You can find the Precocious Sampler in the shop here. The For Like Ever Sampler just sold out, but I do have a good handful left of the Precocious Sampler (I made extras because I loved the colors so much!). I'm off to prepare for tomorrow's dance competition - I've got eight special little gifts to finish up and I'll share those tomorrow ;). Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Best.Day.Ever.

The March kit at Scrapbook Circle is most appropriately named Best.Day.Ever. I love that! It's filled with brand new things from CHA-Winter - Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, My Mind's Eye, Jenni Bowlin, Lily Bee Handmade, etc. I am hosting a new challenge inspired by the kit at the SBC blog today and this is my take:

The challenge is to use a stencil in a layout. Best.Day.Ever. includes this fabulous stencil paper by Jenni Bowlin. I played peek-a-boo with mine and made little windows for glitter, patterned paper, sequins and buttons.

Everything you see here is from the main kit and the add-on. I had just taken this photo of Jaxon (and my hubby's arm) on Sunday during a walk, and the setting sun had cast a pretty yellow and pink glow on the photo. I knew it was perfect for this kit, so it was the first one I scrapped.

If you'd like to play along, you can find all the details here. You don't have to be a subscriber and you don't have to use an SBC kit to join in. You could win a $10.00 credit to the SBC shop :). Thanks for stopping by. Have a fabulous day! Tessa

A is for Apricot

For some reason, I pronounce the word "apricot" incorrectly. Instead of the long "a" sound, if I don't think about it, I say the short "a" sound. I must not have ever been corrected as a child and it just stuck. One of my favorite jams is the apricot jam my mother-in-law makes, and my husband has caught me quite a few times asking him if he wanted "aaahpricot" jam instead of "aypricot" jam on his pb&j. It's weird, I know. And now you know one of my many quirks. 

Anyway, the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World is all about the lovely apricot:

I needed to make a white elephant gift for a party, so I pulled the orange and teal tones from the inspiration image to decorate a tag:

I clipped the doily to the bag so that whoever ends up with my gift can reuse the tag. The gift is an act of service rather than an object, so on the inside is a simple card with my gift and contact information. 

The wrapping is a simple brown paper bag, folded in half. The bag is easily reused, too :).

If you'd like to play along with the Moxie Fab World this week, here are the details. Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

She laughed and danced...

Hello! I have a layout up on the Miss Art's blog today that I've been dying to share! I think it's my favorite layout in a long time, and I've officially crowned it my favorite of 2012:

I used the January and February kits from Miss Art's. My favorite part is the blue and white ruffle blossom:

You can read more about how I made the flower at the Miss Art's blog here. Speaking of Miss Art's, my next class is all filmed and the photography is all done. We are editing and just about ready to send it off. I'll let you know when it's available at the site. I'm really happy with how it is turning out :).

Have a great day! Tessa