The Studio December Challenges

Even though this month has been FULL, I couldn't pass up playing along at The Studio. The December 1st challenge was to create a layout based on childhood, to use a frame, and to employ layering. Here is my take:

The December 16th challenge was to create a Christmas layout without Christmas papers or embellishments, to use only one photo, and to not use alpha stickers. Wow, not using Thickers was a challenge, but I managed! I used Amy Butler paper, I painted the red border with Twinkling H2O's, and I blinged out the page with rhinestone swirls and sequin butterflies:

I hope you were able to do some scrapping this busy holiday season. I know I am looking forward to 2010 as a very scrappy year, and I can't wait to participate in even more challenges and scrapbooking venues.

By way of Precocious Paper, I've been busily shopping for new fabrics here in California while visiting family. Stay tuned for many new, wonderful flower designs in the shop soon!

Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

The Night Before Christmas

We safely arrived in California yesterday and are excited to be spending Christmas with our families! This is Jaxon's first Christmas and I love how he is mesmerized by the lights of the Christmas tree and is anxious to get into all the sticky sweet treats.

The challenge over at Scrap That Poetry is to scrap the poem the "Night Before Christmas". The most important tradition we have on Christmas Eve is to read the Christmas story. We read from the Bible, and then we also read from a children's story book or watch a movie of the story. Doing so helps us all stay focused on the real reason for Christmas, and our children learn the story and the importance of the holiday. I didn't have any photographs of this tradition, so I staged one! I placed pieces from my nativity set on my Bible, with the pages turned to the Christmas story. I made the photo sepia-toned and added the Orton-ish effect (picnik.com) for a dreamy look.

I wish your family the merriest of Christmases! May your holiday be filled with love and family!

Tessa

Busy, Busy Thursday!

I'm busy, but I'm loving it! My play is today! If you haven't heard, I'm Candy Elf, Sugar Elf's girlfriend. Sugar looks/acts/sings/dances a lot like Elvis, and we have the best time! We've already done four performances and we still have the big one tonight. I am finding this theater group to be so rewarding! Not only have I met some wonderful people in my new little town, but I've been able to share my dance talents and my time. All of the smiles on the kids' faces - priceless! So between shows, I would like to quickly share my Sketchy Thursdays layout with you for this new week.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take:


Head on over to the Sketchy Thursdays blog for all the details on how to play and what is up for grabs. I've got to get the kids from school, take a shower and get all elfed out again, make dinner and back to the theater - phew! Isn't Christmas Time wonderful?!?!

Happy Thursday everyone! Tessa P.S. - Elf pictures will be appearing soon :)....

Landon

I loved making this custom album, not only because this is my favorite color combination, but also because it was based on the most adorable nursery! Teddy bears, baseball, and red, white and blue - adorable! Felt teddy bears with black eyes and little pink noses, handmade tags, crimped paper, hand-doodling, over 30 hand-sewn buttons, cute alphas, and adorable papers by my mind's eye. Oh, I love doing baby boy albums!

Although I am not able to do anymore custom albums for the Christmas holiday, beginning in January I will be taking orders once again for Valentine albums, as well as any other theme you may need (birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc.). I'd love to hear from you! Tessa

Pieces of Me & Tammy

This holiday season I received many requests for custom paper bag albums, and here are two that I made for a sweet customer, Vannie.

First, "Pieces of Me". Vannie gave me a wonderful list of ideas to work with, and here is where those ideas took me. The gorgeous papers are all black, cream, and white - vintage-inspired, and flocked with a gorgeous black velvet texture. I hand made all of the flowers from faux-silk fabrics with amazing shimmer and sparkle. I added paper leaves, velvet ribbons, text in two of my favorite fonts, extra pocket pages for more photos and journaling, and lovely lace. I used vintage seam binding and dozens of other pretty ribbons on the binding. I love how eclectic, unique, and beautiful this album turned out to be!

Second, I made a more simple album - "Tammy". This little girl's album features brown, pink, turquoise, and lime green papers full of sparkle, pink hydrangeas, pink rhinestones, and gorgeous polka-dotted ribbons. I'm sure her mom will love filling it with memories and photos.

Thank you for looking! Tessa

Good Things

I'm letting my inner Martha out and sharing some "good things" with you today.

Good Thing #1: Sketchy Thursdays is hosting another second chance challenge, and it's a card sketch once again! I decided to use the sketch inspiration for my sister's birthday card - a vintage-inspired library pocket. A gorgeous set of {ippity} stamps is up for grabs. Head on over for all the details!


Good Thing #2: I feel very blessed. I found an inpiring blog - Rachie's Place. A little comment I left earned me some amazing blog candy. A Christmas scrapbooking kit with oodles of embellies and vintage goodies, a vintage green glass compote (I think it may hold jewelry on my dresser - not sure yet), and a stack of vintage childrens Christmas books. Merry Christmas to me!


Good Thing #3: I am an elf. Yep. A singing, dancing elf. I have the wonderful opportunity to be in a theater group called "The Enchanted Entertainers". A group of moms here in my little town produce plays for the children and it is SO MUCH FUN! "The Elf Who Stole Christmas" is my first play, and I had the chance to choreograph a fantastic little dance number! We perform for all the schools and the community on Thursday. I am so excited! I will post pictures this weekend.

Good Thing #4: I've always loved everyone I've met named Joy, and my new friend Joy is no exception! By chance we met through Etsy and over several emails I have a new Facebook friend and a ribbon exchange partner! I sent Joy some Santa ribbons and look what she sent me:

It feels good to count my blessings every once in awhile. We are truly blessed, every day. We just need to remember to look around for those "good things". I hope you are having a wonderful day! I'll soon be sharing a couple of custom albums I've made, so stay tuned :).

Tessa

Off the Page Scrapping

So if you haven't noticed yet, I'm on a yo-yo kick right now :). I love turning them into flower embellishments by adding chipboard, button, or rhinestone centers. Here is the present I made my sister for her birthday - a headband.


I made two different sized yo-yos out of Anna Griffin fabric, added a rhinestone brad to the smaller one, and sewed a rhinestone button to the larger one. I simply used a hot glue gun to glue the flowers and Prima velvet leaves to a headband I bought at the store. Easy and super cute! The flowers I sell in my Etsy shop could easily be used for a headband like this ;).


Happy Friday, Tessa

Happy Birthday, Shanae!

Today is my sister, Shanae's, birthday! I made her the cutest present - to be blogged soon - and card - to be blogged awhile later - and I used a photo of her and her cute baby Jasper for today's Sketchy Thursdays sketch.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take:

The prize this week is a kit from Express the Moments. I won a kit from Kim for a Page Maps contest, and it was amazing! You definitely want to play this week for a chance to get this kit. The winner is chosen at random, so no excuses! Play along!

Head on over to Sketchy Thursdays for all the details, today's winner and faves, and the DT's amazing work with the sketch.

Last week I offered a set of handmade yo-yo flowers to anyone who played at Sketchy Thursdays and linked to my post. ***Diana*** played and linked and I would love to send you some yo-yos! Of course you count! Send me your addy and let me know your color/pattern preferences. Would anyone else like some yo-yo flowers? Play along at Sketchy Thursdays this week, come back here to tell me you played, and if you are randomly chosen I'll make some for you too!

Happy Thursday, and Happy Birthday Nae! Tessa

The Road Less Traveled

The inspiration poem for the current challenge at Scrap That Poetry is "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. I've always loved this poem, and as I thought about which photo I could scrap, I remembered a photo that my brother sent home from Paraguay, where he is serving a mission for our church.


I decided to pull my title from the last stanza, which reads: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Not many young men spend two years of their lives completely devoted to serving people in a strange place. He teaches English, guitar, provides service, and shares a special message. I'm proud of his decision to go on a mission, and I know that his choice to take a road less traveled is making a difference - in his life and many others.


Thanks for taking a look! Tessa

My Favorite Holiday!

'Tis the season, but the holiday I just scrapped is Independence Day. I absolutely love the Fourth of July! I made this layout for These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, where we were challenged to scrap our favorite holiday.

I decided that since I was scrapping the Fourth of July when I traditionally should be working on Christmas cards, I would add something non-traditional - aqua! I made the yo-yos in the corner out of the blue cherry fabric you see and hand-sewed iridescent sequins around the border of the layout. It was fun to think back on warm summer days (as I blog, it's below zero here in cowboy country).

Thank you for stopping by, and if you'd like to win some handmade yo-yos, see the post below!

Stay warm, Tessa

Happy Chilly Thursday!

Brrr, it's cold outside! Being a California girl, this transition to Wyoming winter is an adventure! But despite the temperatures, the scenery is just goregous! I was so happy with the picture I shared with you the other day that I decided to use my winter shots for this week's Sketchy Thursday challenge.

Here is the sketch:



And here is my take:



The three photos are of three different trees, but I love how they look like a panoramic photo of the same tree. I'm usually one to finish a layout and leave it be, but later I just had to add the fuchsia rhinestones to my medium snowflakes (even though it was after I sent my picture to Diana).



Instead of using a rectangle of patterned paper, I chose to cluster my embellies - bling, snowflakes of all sizes, and handmade yo-yos - in a rectangular area.



I scrunched vintage seam binding and knotted satin ribbon, had to use Thickers for my title (they just call to me, you know?), and added journaling strips. I added "snow" (Mudd Puddles) to a few areas of the layout, then covered it in icicle Stickles for more sparkle.



Sponsoring Sketchy Thursdays this week is a fellow Etsy shop, goshery. Come play along for a chance to win an embellishment kit! And I had so much fun making those little yo-yos, that if you play along at Sketchy Thursdays this week and then come back here to let me know, I will randomly select a comment to this post to win a set of handmade yo-yos.

Now get scrapping! Tessa