Designer Friday!

Happy Friday!  Amanda has been working her magic with the June Sampler, Summertime, and has several fantastic projects to share today :).

First up, this awesome layout of her son :).

I love the beautiful simplicity - a little paint, a little bit of cardstock, and the stars.  Isn't he a heartbreaker?!  Being a mom to four* boys, I really appreciate masculine scrapbooking supplies and kept that in mind with this sampler.  However, this one isn't just for the boys:

I love this sampler for parades!  The 4th of July here in the US is my favorite holiday and I am inspired to save some of this sampler for parade photos :).  Amanda altered the cardboard clouds with paint, and framed her title with a painted postage stamp frame.  The great textured piece under the photo is the paper ribbon from the sampler. Do you spy a young Amanda in the photo?

And speaking of Amanda as a young girl, isn't she lovely? Again, I love the paint.  You don't need much patterned paper when you put the sampler to use like this :).  ***If you are a die-hard patterned paper lover, though, I've got you covered with some paper options that match the kit next Friday :).*** Even after three layouts, Amanda still had plenty to create this adorable card with:

And she still has pieces to play with :).  Amanda, thank you so much for the inspiration!  If you would like to purchase a June Sampler, you can find it here.  Through Sunday, if you purchase the May Sampler and the June Sampler, your shipping is free!  As well as any other items you'd like to pick up :).  Just use code MJFREE during checkout.  I hope your weekend is marvelous, and if you're celebrating Memorial Day, have a safe and happy time.  Tessa

PS - For fabulous close-ups of Amanda's projects, be sure to stop by the Facebook page and take a look through the June Sampler gallery :).

*PPS - edited to add, I only have three boys! I must have been counting the hubby when writing this post :).  So if you've been wondering....no! I'm not expecting :).

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

♥ Because my camera is fried, I don't have a Sketchy Thursdays layout photographed to share with you today :(.  However, the design team did a fabulous job with this week's sketch and if you haven't stopped by yet, be sure to pop over to Sketchy Thursdays to admire all their work.

♥ The Precocious Paper June Sampler is now available.  If you purchase both the May and June samplers this weekend, you will receive free shipping! Just use coupon code MJFREE during checkout.

♥ The June kit from Scrapbook Circle is now available.  Garden Party is full of beautiful papers and embellishments.  I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one!

♥ I don't know about you, but as much fun as all this scrapbooking stuff is, the horrific events in Missouri and surrounding areas have really focused my perspective.  My heart has been heavy for several days now.  Although I don't know anyone personally who has been affected by the tornados, I have friends who are suffering because their loved ones are victims.  The images are heart breaking.  The stories are so very sad.  I cannot imagine what these people are enduring and feeling.  And even though my heart has been heavy, it has been full of prayer for these people and their loved ones.  I am inspired by their strength and hope to be able to endure my challenges with such dignity.

I hope your Thursdays finds you well and happy :). Tessa

June Sampler!

Hello all! I apologize for the quiet this week.  Over the weekend I managed to ruin my camera, which means I'm having a difficult time getting anything photographed to share :(.  Hopefully I will be able to remedy my situation soon.  But in the meantime, I do have the Precocious Paper June Sampler to show you!

Meet "Summertime".  I was inspired by my favorite color palette for this one :).  I'll be using Summertime to scrapbook memories of my boys, whip up a Father's Day card, decorate for patriotic holidays, and document summertime memories.

Summertime includes:
♥ 1 Aqua/Red/Lime Fabric and Felt Flower
♥ 1 Red/Pink Polka Dot Fabric and Felt Flower
♥ 1 set of Recycled Cardboard Clouds - NEW to the shop!
♥ 1 set of Recycled Cardboard Postage Stamp Frames - NEW to the shop!
♥ 1 Turquoise and Aqua Lace Lollipop Flower
♥ 3 Felt Super Stars in Red, White, and Turquoise with Aqua Buttons
♥ 2 Rolled Fabric Flowers in Red Polka Dot and Turquoise
♥ 3 Leaves
♥ 3 Ribbons on Clothespins
♥ 1 Decorative Stick Pin

And here are the coordinating Sweet Spots:

To celebrate the new release, I am offering a special today through Sunday.  Purchase both the May Sampler and the June Sampler, and shipping is free!  You can also purchase additional items for free, so long as both samplers are in your cart.  Use code MJFREE during checkout.

Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Designer Friday!

Happy Friday! I've been blessed with a wonderful response to the monthly samplers, so I thought it would be fun to offer more sampler options in the shop.  I have several in the works, but today I would like to share with you the first mini sampler to hit Precocious Paper's virtual shelves: Fuchsia Cherries!

The very talented Mandy Koeppen worked her magic with the mini sampler and created this fabulous card:

Don't these colors make you think of summer?  The deep pink and golden yellow say summer to me :).  Mandy's stellar cardmaking skills didn't stop there:

Gorgeous, right?! I love how easy it is to give a handmade note some serious texture and "wow" by adding a fabric and felt flower :).  Mandy also dressed up a simple headband for her daughter:

How cute is this?!  All you would have to do to recreate this look is sandwich your headband between a piece of felt and the flowers, with hot glue in between.  Not even five minutes and you would have your own sweet hair accessory :).

You can find the mini sampler, Fuchsia Cherries, here.  If you have any requests for color palettes or themes, let me know! I have a list going and would love to add your ideas.  Thank you Mandy for your fabulous work, and thank you for stopping by today!

The boys are gone on a camping trip tonight, which leaves me all. by. myself.  It's either going to be a scrappy marathon or a night out with my sisters.  Either way, I can't wait! Enjoy your weekend :). Tessa

I'm loving the circles...

...lately at Sketchy Thursdays! This week, ST inspired yet another balloon layout, this time of Colten:

The large circles are covered in strips of ribbon (from the scrap ribbon jar I mentioned yesterday).  I simply punched a circle from cardstock, covered it in adhesive, then lined up strips of ribbon.  Once the circle was covered, I trimmed the excess ribbon to make it a perfect circle again.  Easy peasy and a great way to add texture.

I love using kraft cardstock for my backgrounds, and I discovered a neat trick with this layout.  I bought some pearl-colored Glimmer Glaze a little while back.  It was too transparent for many of the uses I had in mind, but I thought I would try flicking it across this layout to see what happened.  When the glaze dried, it was clear and shiny, making it look like wet drops on the kraft.  I love the look and will definitely be using this technique again :).  The white spots you see are Studio Calico's white Mr. Huey :).

Here's the fabulous sketch:

The sponsor this week is Miss Art's Papercrafting School!  I have the wonderful opportunity to be an instructor at this site and my first class is in production now.  Play along at ST and you could win a two month subscription! Good luck and have a wonderful day :). Tessa

A Doubly Sketchy Thursday

*** Yay! My lost post from the Blogger mishap last Thursday has been restored! ***

Haha, is that a word?!  I've got TWO Sketchy Thursdays layouts to share today :).  First, if you haven't stopped by Scrapbook Circle this month, you are missing out!  SBC is celebrating its 5th anniversary with prizes and a fun sketch challenge provided by Diana at Sketchy Thursdays.  Here is my take on the sketch:

To see the sketch and play along, join us here.  There's a whole beautiful kit up for grabs and you have until Wednesday evening to enter :).

Next up, my ST layout for this week:

I loved the sketch and can see possibilities for using one side or the other, as well as a double page spread.

It's been a while since I've done a two-pager, so I went for it.  I am SO happy with the results, although I am still struggling with the process of photographing such a large layout.  Please feel free to click on the image for a larger view.  I feel like all the details are getting lost.  Any suggestions?

Isn't he a ham?  This kid is full of personality.  I'm in trouble :).  I used Cosmo Cricket's new Social Club line - fabulous line for boys!

Be sure to visit Sketchy Thursdays for all the details on playing along.  Well, I'm off to yet another field trip, this time to one of our local hospitals.  When I get back it's Etsy time - I'll have a tutorial for you tomorrow and a whole bunch of orders are going out this afternoon.  Have a great day! Tessa

Star Studded

Hello!  I'm excited to share a new layout with you today, this time for The Paper Variety's new challenge.

And the challenge:

I've been wanting to try reverse applique for sometime now, and this layout seemed to call for it.  Although now I'm in the market for one of Martha Stewart's anywhere star punches, I had to go old school.  I punched a star out of scrap cardstock and traced it onto my page.  Using a craft knife, I cut the star out.  I distressed the edges with a bit of heavy-duty sand paper and then backed the space with a contrasting patterned paper.  I thought about sewing around the star, but then opted for doodling.  From a distance, the effect is too subtle to notice, but when you look closely, I think it looks really neat :).

I cleaned up my scraproom a bit over the weekend and re-discovered my ribbon scraps jar.  When I have a scrap of ribbon that is too short to store on clothespins with my other ribbons, I stick it in this jar.  Well, the jar was really full and I couldn't remember the last time I dug through it.  I vowed to use it this week while scrapping and that's where my background came from.  The red and blue pattern is paper, but the rest is ribbon and trim.

We would love to have you join us at The Paper Variety!  You can find all the details here, including info on this week's sponsor, Technique Tuesday.

I hope your Wednesday is a good one :).  Thank you for stopping by and for your sweet comments - reading your thoughts is always a bright spot in my day.  Tessa

Monkeys and Bling

You may recall that a few weeks ago my little man turned two.  We had a monkey-themed birthday party for him:

For favors, I made a jungle of tubes and wands by SRM Stickers.  A little leftover greenery from a floral design project, rosettes with monkey faces, and chocolates that looked trunk-like made these favors a hit :).

The tubes stood by themselves perfectly, but because my wands were a little top heavy, I displayed them in large, glass vases.

A few years ago I won this party kit from Martha Stewart, but the monkey theme was a little too young for my boys at the time.  So I saved it and luckily remembered that I had it when I started preparing for Jaxon's party.  We call him monkey all the time, so it was very fitting :).

You can check out this party on the SRM Stickers blog today, and if you scroll down to Friday's post, you will also see the magic wand I made one of my soloists right before her first competition this year.  The colors match her costume perfectly :).

My favorite part was the bling wrapped around the wand.  I used three or four strips of rhinestones, just lining them up end to end and trying to wrap the wand as evenly as possible.  I loved the effect :).

I have several more of these wands and tubes to share with you soon - they are so fun to play with!  Favors, little gifts, containers, thank yous....  If you don't have a retailer near you that sells SRM products, you should check out their website and pick some up :).  Have a wonderful day everyone! Tessa

Canvas Flower Tutorial

Happy Friday! I'm glad to see Blogger back in action, although yesterday's post has gone missing.  Hopefully it will magically reappear.  If not, I'll repost the content on Monday.  But anyway, I have a tutorial for you today!  The May Sampler includes a new item to my shop - Layered Canvas Flowers. 

Made from raw canvas, these pretty flowers can be used simply as-is, or embellished.  I'd like to share with you today how you can alter these petals with paint.

First, remove the brad and separate the layers.

Next, coat each piece with a layer of gesso and let dry.  The gesso makes the paint more vibrant since it doesn't sink into the canvas. You could skip this step if you like the look of paint on raw canvas.

Paint each piece and let dry.

For added interest and a little bit of glimmer, spray pieces with mist and let dry.

Reassemble the pieces and secure the brad.

By adding gesso and paint to the canvas, the petals lift and curl like natural flower petals.  The dimension is beautiful.  Wouldn’t this be a great addition to a mini album cover, scrapbook page, hair clip or brooch pin?  One thing is for certain – these blank canvas petals are full of possibilities!

If you would like to try this technique, you can find the canvas flowers in May's Sampler, "Mother's Portrait", here.  I'm thinking about adding the canvas flowers separately to the shop.  What do you think?  Thanks for stopping by today :).  Enjoy your weekend! Tessa

Aiming High

...with my to-do list today :).

I took this photo a couple of weekends ago at an air show at our local base.  Ah-mazing (the planes, not my photography skills)!  Have a great day :). Tessa

More from Scrap Rat

Happy Tuesday :).  As promised, I have more to share with you today from Scrap Rat's May kit.  Did you know that Scrap Rat sells acrylic stamps in their own original designs?  I finally got my hands on them and they are fabulous!  The quality is outstanding.  I had fun playing with some of the star stamps on this layout:

I used paint to get a fun, messy, opaque look.  This is my son and his acting teacher, Mr. Christopher.  He is a fantastic teacher.  I'm sad that the session is over now, but as soon as Mr. Christopher is back from his summer acting gigs and teaching again, I am signing Colten up.  He loved it!

I also used the bingo token stamps on this layout:

The stamp set comes with the circle image and numbers 0 through 9.  Perfect for customizing.  I only used the circle stamp, but I thought it was the perfect compliment to my circles of patterned paper.

No stamps on this one, but oodles of vintage goodies.  I love how well they mixed with the "For the Record" tags.  The pocket is one of the glassine packaging bags that held embellishments in the kit.

I think there are still a few kits left, and you must see the stamps. You can find Scrap Rat here.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely day! Tessa