Washi Butterfly Birthday Card - Love My Tapes, SRM Stickers

I am still obsessed with this pink stripe washi tape that I got from Love My Tapes. I think the pink and graphic stripes are a great contrast to the fabric I started with on this birthday card for my sister:

First, I cut a piece of fabric to fit the face of my card base. I distressed the edges by pulling away loose threads. I did my best to center the fabric design on the card, then sprayed a bit of pink Heidi Swapp Color Shine to the center. Next, I applied a few rows of washi tape to scrap cardstock and used my butterfly punch to cut out the shape.

I added a brad to the center of the butterfly and attached an SRM Stickers sentiment between the brad and butterfly. Last, I attached the butterfly/sentiment to my card with a dab of hot glue. Oh! And don't forget a bit of thread wound up behind it all.

You can see my post featuring this card on the Love My Tapes blog today. If you're reading this, Liz, Happy Birthday! Your card is on its way!

Have a great day! Tessa

Easy-peasy Mini Glittery Garland - Love My Tapes

At this moment, we are experiencing the worst storm we've seen in six years. Winds are supposed to reach 70 miles per hour, and right now, they are knocking over my backyard fence. We've got sand bags around the house's low spots, the trampoline is upside down, and we're bracing for several inches of water. Winter in California :).

Since the only errands I need to run today are school runs (yes, school is still in session), I'm getting ready to settle in with some wrapping and crafting. I have an easy gift wrap idea and tutorial up on the Love My Tapes blog:

Using Love My Tapes' Glitter Paper, I punched an even number of pinked circles (from the prize ribbon punch by Jenni Bowlin). The paper is adhesive backed, so I simply peeled off the backing and sandwiched the twine between two shapes. Easy-peasy:

This box is from DCWV. If you have a local JoAnn store, go check out the boxes. They have several sizes in several colors. They also have nesting boxes. I'm using them like crazy this holiday season for gifts. The quality is awesome and the price is great, too.

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay warm and dry :). Tessa

New Art Journal - Love My Tapes

Hello! I'm excited to share with you a new ongoing project - my art journal. When I say "art journal", I mean my baby-steps venturing into art journaling. I'm not a really messy, artsy kind of girl, but I've been itching to play with stamps and watercolors, so I've decided to create this book of quotations. I'm going to play, get my feet wet, but it will be pretty clean and simple. All of the quotes will come from LDS General Conference addresses. The first two I created were chosen because gratitude has been on my mind all month:

For this page, I used pink airmail washi tape from Love My Tapes. You can read more about it at the Love My Tapes blog here, including a tip for using the right ink for washi tape.

I LOVE the Open Book collection by Maggie Holmes, and I am obsessed with these flower and leaf die-cuts. Every single line of scrapbooking supplies should come with a package of die-cut flowers and leaves. In my opinion ;).

I used a $5 set of watercolors from Michaels to paint "grateful". I really like the contrast of the ballet pink and teal.

For this page, I used My Mind's Eye washi tape and more Open Book flowers. I went with yellow and green because I love the way those two work together.

I love how this quote is a gentle reminder to stop complaining ;).

I also love stamping one letter at a time. I could hand write the quotes, but stamping them forces me to take time to ponder the words. By the time I finish, I have a better understanding of what the words mean than when I started.

I'm behind on sharing my Attitude of Gratitude posts here on the blog, but I do intend to catch up this week. If we're Facebook friends or you follow me on Instagram, you know I had a crazy week with much to be grateful for. ;)

Attitude of Gratitude day 17: I'm grateful for my boys' teachers. I say this every year because parent teacher conferences always fall in November, but it's true. Some years I connect with their teachers more than others. Some years the boys connect with their teachers more than others. Most years are relatively smooth and successful. Others are hard. This has been a hard one. So much adjusting, growing up, and learning how to parent three students instead of just two, and all that with a baby. But I'm so grateful for all that my boys' teachers do, and even if I don't care for policies or curriculum, I'm behind them 100% because they are literally raising my kids with me.

Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Wonder Woman Costume Accessories - Love My Tapes

Hello! This year for Halloween, our family is dressing up with a theme - superheroes! I shopped for t-shirts around town and online, and we picked up capes during our trip to Six Flags this past summer. We also picked up this adorable Wonder Woman onesie for Adlyn:

When I was getting her costume ready for the Trunk or Treat party, I realized the outfit was missing something. It came with tights and a cute hairbow, but no crown and cuffs! Those are kinda important, I think, so I pulled out the new glitter cardstock from Love My Tapes and went to work.

I drew the shape of the crown onto the back of the cardstock and used scissors to cut it out. I then hot glued it to a gold metallic headband. To make the star, I used red glitter paper and my Epiphany Crafts star tool to make a star epoxy. I hot glued the star to the center of the crown.

To make the cuffs, I simply cut out long rectangles of gold glitter paper and added more stars. To attach them to her sleeves, I used tape. I'm not going for longevity here, just looks ;).

Safety tip: If you make paper accessories or any accessories for a baby or small child with small parts, the child should always have adult supervision while wearing them. 

You can see my post on the Love My Tapes blog here. Do you like the comic book effects on my photos? You can find those here. Have a great day! Tessa

Bow Paper Clips Tutorial - Love My Tapes + Halloween Giveaway Winner

Hello! I shared a fun and easy tutorial on the Love My Tapes blog yesterday, and I wanted to share it here, too. Turn your boring paper clips into something extra cute with some fabric tape:

While you could easily use regular fabric for these, I love using fabric tape because it eliminates the need for sewing or gluing. To make your own, all you'll need is fabric tape and paper clips.

Step 1: Cut four equal pieces of fabric tape. I wanted my bow to be about 2 inches wide, so my pieces are that length.

Step 2: Remove the backing and place two pieces sticky sides together. Trim excess tape so that no adhesive is visible. Repeat with the other two pieces.

Step 3: Cut a piece of fabric tape at 0.75 inches and another at 1.25 inches.

Step 4: Remove the backing of the smaller piece. Pinch the middle of your bow with one hand, then use the other hand to wrap the small piece of tape around the bow.

Step 5: Remove the backing of the larger piece and thread it through a paper clip. Leave the front section of tape longer than the back.

Step 6: Starting with the back section of tape, secure the bow to the paper clip. Wrap the front section of tape back over the bow and press firmly to make sure the tape is secure.

You can use your paper clips as bookmarks, as embellishments on layouts and cards, to add tags to gifts, or just as cute office supplies. Be sure to check out Love My Tapes' selection of fabric tapes to find the perfect designs for you :).

Giveaway winner...

Thank you to everyone who joined me for the DCWV Halloween blog hop this past weekend! I enjoyed reading your comments and I'm glad you like my altered pumpkin :). I used random.org to choose a comment and the winner of the stamps and stickers is...JennyKozar! Jenny, please email me at precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com with your mailing address and I'll get your prize off in the mail right away :).

Have a great day, everyone! Tessa

Happy Little Life - Love My Tapes

Hello! Last week I had the opportunity to share a layout on the Love My Tapes blog:

I started with a photo leftover from my Be Yourself mini album (see yesterday's post). I love the combination of dark blue and kelly green right now, so I chose patterned paper that would compliment that. I used a Project Life card for my title, and embellished with a Maggie Holmes bow:

I shopped my stash and rediscovered these vellum banners by Crate Paper. Love these!

I added some Love My Tapes lace tape to the side of my photo for a little more texture.

To bring in more green, I used Love My Tapes washi tape to create a border on my page. When I put the washi tape down, I placed it over my page and my table so that it stuck my layout to the table. Then I misted my cardstock and let it dry. Because the washi tape was holding the paper down, it stayed nice and flat as it dried.

You can find my post at Love My Tapes here. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

"Tape" Magnets - Love My Tapes

Hello! I have an easy tutorial for these darling tape magnets on the Love My Tapes blog today:

All you need is magnets, tapes (I prefer fabric tapes), and pinking shears. I hope you'll stop by and take a look :).

Have a good one! Tessa

Fabric Tape Mason Jars - Love My Tapes

Hello, hello! I LOVE Mondays. They make me feel extra productive. On Monday, I've got a blank slate for the week and I can make the improvements and adjustments that are needed. After a relaxing Sabbath Day, I am recharged and ready. Mondays just feel good :).

pin - Evelyn Henson Etsy Shop

On this happy Monday, I am sharing a washi tape project that I made for my mom on her birthday a couple weeks ago.

I found small Mason-type jars at the dollar store in town. I picked up several and inspired by all the cute washi tape jar projects on Pinterest, I decided to give my own jars a go.

I used three Love My Tapes fabric tapes around the jars. I overlapped each one just slightly to create a solid band around the jars.

To top the flower vase jar, I replaced the solid lid with a flower frog lid. I found a package of these at Michaels; 4 pieces for $5.00, I think. To top the candy jar, I punched a 2.5 inch circle from a piece of cardstock. I applied the washi tape in strips over the cardstock, then used sharp scissors to cut off the excess. Then, I just added the cardstock piece over the lid and beneath the ring.

I made this card to go along with the jars. I would have used the same tapes, but my craft space is not the most organized and I couldn't find it when I was pulling out supplies for the card. At least I color coordinated, right? The sticker sentiment is by SRM Stickers.

I'm sure I'll play with tape and more jars soon. I love that I can easily customize and coordinate gifts with different styles and colors of tape. You can check out my jars on the Love My Tapes blog today.

Thanks for visiting, and happy Monday! Tessa

Quotes Portfolio - SMASH Sunday

Hello! I started a new portfolio. I bought another pink Pretty Style portfolio and have made it my quotes book. I collect favorite quotes in notebooks, art prints for my home, and on my Words board on Pinterest. I decided it was time to house them in a SMASH book, too. So, last night after Addie went to bed, I made a few pages:

First up, this colorful page. I just reorganized my SMASH book cart (the raskog IKEA cart), and I realized just how many die-cuts I have. I decided to use up some by creating a grid of die cuts at the top of this page. The die-cuts are by Basic Grey and DCWV. DCWV needs to put out a package of just typewriter die-cuts. I think I'm all out now :(.

Some of my favorite parts of this page are 1) the paint chip, 2) the polka dot bag, 3) the orangey-red woodgrain washi tape with hearts (Freckled Fawn).

My next page is this mosaic quote page made with Love My Tapes washi, fabric and lace tapes (plus a couple of other washi tapes I had in my stash):

You can read more about this page on the Love My Tapes blog today.

The third page I made is one of the bird pages in the book. I instantly thought of one of my favorite quotes about flying, which led to a quote about challenges and the sticker quote about dreams. I left spaces for more quotes to be added later, as I find the right ones.

The birds on a wire are cut from a piece of a Hambly transparency. I am hoarding the last bit of that sheet, as well as some others. I'm so sad they aren't in business anymore. I saved the gold floral die-cut from a project I did several weeks ago. I punched birds from the same gold foil paper (Chickaniddy Crafts) and placed them in the glassine bag. On the opposite page, I used the negative from punches.

You can see more photos of these pages in my flickr photostream. Thanks for visiting for SMASH Sunday! Tessa

Stick Figures - Love My Tapes

My new favorite ladies give new meaning to the term "stick figures":

I was perusing Pinterest the other day for washi tape project ideas, and this darling project popped up in the search results:

my pin - original source

I fell in love with the idea of using tongue depressors as puppets and washi tape as clothes, so I settled in with my washi stash and got to work.

First, I chose washi tapes that I thought would be fun to mix together - one for each top and one for each skirt. Love My Tapes has a great selection of designs that work perfectly for a project like this.

I applied the washi tapes and then used a white galaxy marker by American Crafts to draw collars, skirt hems, belts and corsages. I used a fine tip Sharpie to sketch out the edges. I drew legs, shoes, and colored on tights or socks. For the faces, I used a pencil first and designed hair and added eyes and smiles. I used colored Sharpies and more white marker to color it all in.

I'm going to wrap these ladies up and gift them to my little niece. I hope she'll enjoy playing with them, maybe during quiet time at church. For more washi tape ideas, be sure to visit the Love My Tapes blog, and be sure to visit the original creator of these puppets for her tutorial, here.

Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa