Friday, December 30, 2011

GCD Studios and Heidi Sonboul

Have you heard? Heidi Sonboul has created her very own collection for GCD Studios - Oh Happy Day!


You can find the sneak peek on Heidi's blog today, then the full reveal on the GCD Studios blog January 6th. It looks so fun and bright and cheerful! Way to go, Heidi!


Be sure to stop by and check it out :). Have a great day! Tessa

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

GCD Studios and Christmas

Just sharing a couple of layouts that I made with GCD Studios products for Christmas. First up, the church Christmas party:


These photos are of last year. The tables were decorated with ball ornaments and the boys and I had a little fun with them while we waited for the party to start. I love using bits of ribbon this way:


This photo is also of last year, and it makes me sad to look at it. This year's crop of oranges and mandarins really hasn't been a good one at all. There just aren't as many, they aren't as big and they aren't as yummy. I guess I was spoiled in 2010 :).


Lots of handstitching here. I had fun making the page leafy and green :). I hope the trees look more like this in 2012. 

I hope your week is going well! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my Christmases past :). Enjoy your Wednesday! Tessa

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Music...

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music, so one of my favorite events of December is the music concert at school. As a gift to the boys' music teacher, I made this:


I filled a tube by SRM Stickers with jingle bells (it had to make music, too!) and chocolates, then added a snowflake and more jingle bells to the top. The sentiment is also by SRM Stickers.


The finishing touch was wrapping the tube in Tim Holtz' sheet music tissue tape. I think that's my new favorite technique with these wands and tubes :). You can see the post about this tube at the SRM blog here.


How was your Christmas? Other than being in pain from dental surgery, I really enjoyed it. We are lucky to have our families close, so there was a lot of family and fun. And it isn't done yet! We still have plans for the rest of the week, although Josh did have to go back to work today. I hope your holiday was everything you wanted it to be and more. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Friday, December 23, 2011

Please welcome...

...the Precocious Paper Design Team for January-June of 2012!

Suzanne Spokus
Cassandra Cyr
Melinda Gallagher
Elise Lyndsey
Amanda Jones (Alumni Designer)

I will be introducing these lovely ladies to you more formally once the holidays are over, but please feel free to visit their blogs and leave them some love. Also, please let the wonderful Mandy Koeppen know how much you appreciated her and her amazing work! She's going to be missed around here.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend, and I'll be back next week with more crafty pursuits to share :). Merry Christmas! Tessa

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Merry Christmas Wands

I have the wonderful opportunity of directing a little performing and competition dance troupe called "The Sparklers". They are delightful four to six year old girls and they couldn't be cuter! I decided to make them wands that they could twirl around with for the holidays:


Using Magic Wands from SRM Stickers, I filled the wands with little chocolate candies and then wrapped each one with decorative tape. This tape is from last year's line by Martha Stewart. I loved the candy cane stripe effect :).


The toppers are actually ornaments and I glued them on in such a way that they could easily be removed from the wands and added to a tree. I used a snowflake ornament as my base, then added an accordion fold rosette. Next came a punched heart and a banner-cut sentiment (SRM of course). A little aqua twine and the wands were done :).


The girls loved them, especially the fact that they were wands. They started twirling immediately :). You can find more about these wands on the SRM Stickers blog today, here. Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Friday, December 16, 2011

Felt Bows and Necklaces

Happy Friday! I just wanted to pop in to let you know about a couple of blog features going on :). I had several people ask me how I made the felt bows for these cards:


So, I created a tutorial that is on the SRM blog today. Enjoy!


Also, I have a necklace on the GCD Studios blog. I used a few of the cabochons from the Sweet Surrender line, as well as the Chip Art tool and some Chip Art jewelry. You can see my post here, as well as as the inspiration photo that started it all.


I am so swamped with work right now that I just haven't been able to pin down my new Precocious Paper design team. Thank you for all who are waiting so patiently! Have a fabulous weekend! Tessa

Thursday, December 15, 2011

A little birdie told me...

...to buy her. And put her on my Christmas wreath:


I loved the glitter and long, long tail feathers. I think she looks happy nestled in the poinsettias and felt roses.


I enjoyed my feathered friend so much that I decided to add one to Colten's teacher's wreath:



Thank you for all the well-wishes! The pain has decreased significantly and I am taking just enough Vicodin to get by. The medicine is still making me a bit loopy, but I'd rather be somewhat productive and loopy than in pain and on the couch. This is a terrible time of year to be out of commission!

Be sure to stop by Sketchy Thursdays today for a new sketch (by the talented Heidi Myers!). Also, Scrapbook Circle has two challenges going on right now, with a fabulous Christmas kit up for grabs. Thanks for checking in and enjoy your day! Tessa

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

SRM Stickers

Hello! I was so excited to accomplish a lot this week, and then I had two wisdom teeth pulled. I know, I'm kind of late to the game in terms of getting them out, but at least the process has started. Two on Monday, then the other two next week. Things are going pretty well, but let's just say that Vicodin and I do not make a cute couple.

On to happier things, you know how much I love SRM Stickers. I was ecstatic when Miss Art's Papercrafting School asked me to design a class based on SRM's calendar stickers. I jumped at the chance and my class went live yesterday. In two minutes, I show you how to make a pocket calendar (a quick and easy stocking stuffer or small gift!). You can find the class here.


Also yesterday, SRM Stickers featured a wand/tag project of mine on the blog. It was actually a project that didn't make it through the final round in a magazine call, but I love it all the same:


I filled the magic wand with twine-wrapped spools as a gift for a scrappy friend. I love the cursive font on some of the SRM Stickers and had to use the cursive "thanks" for my tag. You can find the post here.


Today on the SRM blog I am sharing my One Little Word project - an ATC holder. I am addicted to the calendar stickers and found that they were a match made in heaven for ATC's.


You can see more photos of my ATC holder and the different kinds of ATC's I have already added here. You can find the SRM blog post here. I will share more about my OLW project soon.


Before I go, thank you to The Paper Variety! I was excited to see this news this morning. Also, I am hoping to finalize my Precocious Paper design team choices today. Thank you all for your patience! Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Monday, December 12, 2011

Cupcake Poppy Invites

Hello! This week is shaping up to be a very busy week. It's only 8 am Monday morning and I already have three surprise hitches to my previously planned schedule. But, I'm going to stay positive and calm and do my best to keep the spirit of the season around me as I check off my to-do list. From what I'm seeing on Facebook and Twitter, I am not alone in this holiday craziness :). Good luck to all of you who are just as busy (if not more!). Before things got too busy to blog, I wanted to share a set of invitations that I made:


My sister-in-law, my husband's baby sister, is celebrating her 16th birthday on the 16th. She decided long ago that I would be throwing her the party at my house, and I couldn't say no! This is us earlier this year :).


Anyway, we planned a chocolate-themed, Sweet Sixteen, Golden Birthday party. I thought my Gold Metallic Cupcake Poppies were the perfect embellishment for her invitations, especially since we are decorating cupcakes as part of the festivities.


I layered a doily, piece of ribbon, piece of tulle, then the cupcake poppy and felt leaves. I used a decorative corner punch to dress up the paper, but kept everything else really simple.


They were a hit and Clarissa was excited to pass them out to her friends. I'll let you know how the party went next week :). Thank you for stopping by. I'm off to tackle #1 on my to-do list today - etsy orders! Have a good one! Tessa

Friday, December 9, 2011

Designer Friday!

Amanda Jones has been playing with the Very Merry line and I love the cards and tags she has come up with. Let's take a look:


First, I love the long shape of this card - perfect for embellishing with some white space to spare. Amanda used three of the Very Merry Sweet Spots and hung them like ornaments. So pretty!


For this card, Amanda used a Very Merry Butterfly Doily. These doilies have glittered paper for just enough sparkle and shine.


Amanda topped a pretty kraft package with a Silver Metallic Cupcake Poppy and a pair of Felt Roses. I love how they look all nestled on the large doily.


And last, but not least, a delightful tag. Amanda layered a Cupcake Poppy from the Sampler onto a doily and topped the tag with a Sweet Spot. Thank you, Amanda, for all of the inspiration! You can find the Very Merry line in the shop here.

This is post #2 for me today :). If you'd like to see what I've been up to at SRM Stickers and Miss Art's, be sure to read the next post down. Have a wonderful day! Tessa

SRM and Miss Art's

Happy Friday! I wanted to share with you a couple of projects I have out on the world wide web today. First up, SRM Stickers:


Using their calendar stickers, I created a Year of Cards. I designed a simple recipe (large background piece, small strip, smaller strip, bow) and applied it to all the months of the year.


You can see the post at SRM Stickers here, and you can see more photos of the cards here.


Speaking of SRM Stickers, I have an online class coming up at Miss Art's that features more calendar stickers. Part of the Take 2 series, it will go live on the 13th. Here's a sneak peek:


I also got to play with May Arts ribbons for another Take 2 class and it is live today!


For more information on Take 2 and Miss Art's, see their website. I'd love to know what you think of my classes!

I'll be back a little bit later today with a fabulous Designer Friday post featuring Amanda Jones and the Very Merry line. See you soon! Tessa

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Holiday Music = Card Inspiration

There's a new prompt at The Paper Variety that I thought would be fun to play along with - create a project inspired by holiday music. I've been humming holiday tunes since Thanksgiving day, so to narrow down my song choice I went to my collection of SRM Stickers. What did I find?


Perfect! The large circle sticker reminded me of an ornament, so I went looking for circular embellishments to compliment my sentiment. I originally made these yo-yo's for other projects, but never ended up using them. I think they are at home here. I went with the green and grey color palette and pulled out tapes to match.


I had so much fun making one card that I whipped up another:


"Joy to the World" is one of my favorite Christmas hymns :). The sentiments are all SRM Stickers.


If you'd like to play along, you can find The Paper Variety's challenge here. Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude Winner

I really enjoyed reading through everyone's emails and blog posts about the Attitude of Gratitude project. I'm grateful to all who joined in, even those who just read my posts and encouraged me to keep sharing. I've randomly selected a winner for the Precocious Paper shop credit and she is the lovely:

SARA ZENGER!

You can find her blog, and her Attitude of Gratitude posts here. Thank you for your inspiration and participation, Sara! Please email me with your Precocious Paper wish list and we'll get you set up with $20.00 of shop goodies.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season! We are in the middle of Winter Music Concerts at the moment, and I am loving hearing my boys sing. Our music director is fabulous! I love that she exposes the children to music from around the world. Carson sang in five different languages last night! Colten has two performances tonight and we can't wait :). There is nothing better than music to ring in the Christmas season. Thank you so much for stopping by! Tessa

Monday, December 5, 2011

Wrapping Gifts

Hello! I'm wrapping gifts over at GCD Studios today :). Well, technically, I didn't wrap anything because I am really not good at wrapping. But I did top some cute gift bags with some pretty fancy embellishments using GCD Studio's Scandia Jul collection. You can take a look here.


Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Christmas at The Studio

Hello! There's a new challenge up at The Studio - use Christmas stash for a non-Christmas layout. I struggled a bit with this one as I started going through all of my Christmas papers (two drawers full!). Finally I decided to look for papers with a non-traditional color palette, and Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather won:


The lavender in the pattern was just enough to make me think the paper wasn't too Christmassy. Paired with my new navy polka dot tape (love this shop) and some felt roses from my shop, I think it came across as not too holiday-ish. Speaking of my shop, there's a hint of a new product in this layout :). See it?



You can find all the details for playing along here. I'm hoping to get some rest today and to wrap up a few different projects I have piling up. Enjoy your day! Tessa

Friday, December 2, 2011

Designer Friday!

Hello! Mandy has been playing with the Vintage Poinsettia line and has more projects to share! Let's start with this beautiful "Holly Jolly" card:


Mandy doubled up the gold cupcake wrappers from a pair of Cupcake Poppies and crinkled them for texture. The foil of these metallic Cupcake Poppies is perfect for this technique. She added a felt leaf and the gold tinsel trim for a truly festive, gorgeous card.


Next up, two mini cards made with scraps from Mandy's stash. What a great way to put those extra bits to good use:


Mandy used the two White Glitter Tulle Mini Poinsettias from the Sampler and felt leaves.


Lastly, a card that doesn't have to be for the holidays - "Follow Your Bliss":



Using one of the Vintage Poinsettia Butterfly Doilies, Mandy created a simple and very pretty note.



Mandy, thank you so much! I just love every little bit. If you are interested in any of these items, you can find them all in my shop here. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day! Tessa