October Samplers

The October Samplers are finally live! First, let's meet Pumpkin Patch:

Pumpkin Patch Sampler

Filled with the traditional colors of Halloween, I threw in a good dose of kraft. It reminds me of the hay bales at the pumpkin farm and it just felt so "fall" to me :).

Pumpkin Patch Sweet Spots

Pumpkin Patch Butterfly Doilies

Pumpkin Patch Felt Roses and Leaves

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and because my grandmother was affected by breast cancer this past year, I decided to offer this Pink Ribbon Sampler:

Whether you use the sampler with Breast Cancer Awareness in mind, or just enjoy playing with the pink, white and black embellishments, I hope you take a moment as you create to send out prayers and good thoughts for all those affected by the disease.

Everything is up in the shop now :). Enjoy creating (and shopping!) everyone! Tessa

This and That...

I know that for most of you it already Tuesday, but I thought I would squeeze a post in before Monday was over. I want to say thank you to all of those who left comments on this giveaway post. I asked you to share your tips for cultivating a good life, and the things you said were all so wonderful! I highly suggest you read through the comments. Every single one is a great idea that needs instant implementing :). The randomly selected winner of the giveaway is Debbie Butcher! We've already chatted via email and I can't wait to see what she does with the September kit from Scrapbook Circle :).

Speaking of wonderful words, I have to share something from this past weekend that pierced by heart and filled me with peace and comfort that I can't even begin to express with words. If you are a woman that has ever doubted her self-worth, felt invisible or like she couldn't do enough, or looked around at her daily life and wondered "why?", then you need to hear this. Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to pause the music player.

On a business note, I am a bit late in releasing the October Samplers. I should be up and running very soon :). I'm in the middle of planning a big event for the young women at church, so my priorities are a little different this month than the usual. Thanks for your patience :).

Have a wonderful night! Tessa

Designer Friday!

Before I share with you a gorgeous layout by design team member Amanda Jones, I want to thank you for the great response to last week's Fan Friday :). Thanks to Emily Hammann, as well, for sharing her work with us. If you would like to be featured, please send me an email at precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com. And now for Amanda's layout:

How fun is this?! Definitely not something you see in my part of the world :). I bet this fabulous page came together pretty quickly, too. A cardstock base, a photo, a few felt roses and leaves, a butterfly doily and a sweet spot, a title and handwritten journaling. Seems like the perfect recipe for a great, but easy, page.

Thank you, Amanda! I love it! All of the embellishments can be found in my shop here.

Thank you for spending a few minutes of your Friday with me. Before you go, you may want to read yesterday's post for a chance to win a September Kit from Scrapbook Circle. Tomorrow I will be sharing a Marilyn Monroe inspired layout, and Sunday is reveal day for the October Samplers - yes, I said samplerS.  See you soon! Tessa

Fun News and a Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be staying on for another term at Sketchy Thursdays! Several girls from the last DT have now been joined by many other very talented designers, and I am excited to be a part of it :). You can read the announcement here. There's a new sketch up today, too.

I think this is one I will go back to again and again. I love how simple and versatile it is:

My mother-in-law gave me a whole bunch of big paper doilies, in all kinds of shapes, and I was happy to find a circle large enough in scale for the page. Thanks, Mom!

You can find all the details for playing along at Sketchy Thursdays here. I also have a layout up at Scrapbook Circle today. Our current challenge is to use a number on a layout, inspired by the "playbook" paper in the September kit. Here is my take:

Jaxon's game face just cracks me up. He's my little football player :). Look out, his tackle is tough for a 2 year old! Anyone can join the challenge, club member or not, so head on over for all the details.

And speaking of the September Kit, I get to give one away!!! Crate Paper Random, Amy Tangerine...it's a fabulous kit!

The kit is called "The Good Life", so I want to hear your tip for cultivating a good life. Leave your idea in a comment on this post by Sunday night and I will announce a winner on Monday. Good luck!

Have a great Thursday, everyone! Tessa

Sisters and Schedules

This week feels much more manageable than last :). I feel like I have a rhythm, and although this is my first blog appearance of the week, my priorities are in line and my to-do list didn't keep me up last night. Before a new challenge pops up at Sketchy Thursdays tomorrow, I thought I had better share my layout from last week:

This challenge is in conjunction with a blog hop at Scrap Fit, and as part of that hop, we were also asked to use the theme of friends. Well, my best friends are my sisters, so I scrapped a favorite photo of the four of us. The sketch is a great one for a series of photos:

I used one of my favorite color palettes, as well as butterflies from my latest Sampler, Autumn Afternoon. I also used some gold doilies that I've had in my stash for awhile, and some new goodies from My Mind's Eye. Their stamps are my new favorites (lace border).

You can get all the information on playing along here. A new challenge also went up at The Studio this past Sunday: list journaling. I love list journaling as a technique to get words on the page without being too fussy. I used a past Sketchy Thursdays sketch, no photos, and list journaling to describe a typical day:

For my title, I loved the look of overlapping alphas, but I had to get creative so that it was all even:

You can find all the details for playing along here. There's an Ella Publishing gift card up for grabs, so you really do want to join us :). I'm off to get the boys to school, finish up some orders, choreograph a musical theater number for my youth group, and tick a few other things off of my to-do list. I hope your day is as happy and productive as you'd like :). Tessa

Fan Friday - Emily Hammann

Hello! Welcome to the first installment of Fan Friday! I love getting emails from customers with photos of what they created with my Precocious Paper embellishments. It's really exciting to see how they took something I made with my two hands and made it a part of their own creation. I try to promote their work by sharing on Facebook and pinning on Pinterest, but I decided that I needed to devote some of my blog space to celebrating their creativity. So, one Friday per month now belongs to my lovely customers!

We've welcomed many new friends and fans since the birthday blog hop, including this month's spotlight, Emily Hammann.

Emily was so sweet to work with when placing her order and I just knew as I wrapped up that package that she would be making something fabulous. When she shared photos with me on Facebook, I was not disappointed :). First up, a pretty wreath:

Emily has inspired me to make a wreath with the September Sampler, too. She also has me itching to make an altered canvas:

Emily, thank you so much for sharing your talents with us! You really made Precocious Paper shine :). If you would like to know more about Emily, you can visit her blog here. You can find the products she worked with here. If you are interested in being featured on the blog, please send an email with photos of your Precocious Paper projects to precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com. Have a great day everyone! Tessa

PS - I know I've been awful quiet this week. It's been one of those weeks when everyone needs my undivided attention and there just aren't enough hours in the day to tend to them and the blog. I promise to catch up this coming week - I've got a handful of scrappy things to share!

Designer Friday - Diana Waite

Happy Friday! I'm excited to have Diana Waite return as a guest designer today. She has done some fabulous things with the September Sampler, Autumn Afternoon.

First up, this beautifully simple layout:

I love how the kraft cardstock and stitching are the perfect backdrop for the clustered flowers. So pretty :). Not only does she do layouts, but Diana is a fabulous cardmaker, too.

The papers Diana used are from the new Amy Tangerine line. What a great combination!

This card holds a special surprise....

What a cute gift! And I love how the ribbon from the sampler made a frame for it all :). Diana, your work is beautiful! Thank you so much!

The September Sampler is selling like hotcakes! The response has been fantastic. If you'd like one, you can find it here. Once you get your sampler, please share what you created with it on the Facebook page or the Flickr page. Or if you are showing off on your blog, send me a link to your post and I'll add it to the Pinterest page.  Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Happiness and Paper Airplanes

Hello! I've got two layouts to share with you today :). First up, a new sketch from Sketchy Thursdays inspired this layout:

I dug deep into my scraps for this one and love the combination of papers I ended up with. I also tried to use embellishments that have long been waiting to be added to a page and I think I'm quite "happy" with the result.

Here's the fabulous sketch:

Be sure to stop by the blog to see the other designers' takes as well as this week's prize.  Layout number two today is one I made for the challenge at Scrapbook Circle.

To play along, you need to create a layout about travel. I used some of the new Amy Tangerine papers for this layout (from September's kit), as well as paper airplanes I asked my hubby to make. No, I don't know how to fold paper airplanes. As a mom to three boys, I should probably learn ;).

You can find all the details for playing along here. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! Tessa

The Studio - Back to School

I'm catching up after the Labor Day holiday - two posts in one day! Be sure to read my GCD Studios update here.

The current challenge at The Studio is to create a layout with a school theme. As I looked through my photos, I realized that I never scrapped this photo of my son with his teacher on the first day of school last year.

I pulled papers from my scrap drawer and made some Sweet Spots (like the ones in my Etsy shop). I wrapped twine around the layout and added the date with Jenni Bowlin stickers/chipboard. My title is an SRM Sticker.

Speaking of titles, if you peek over at The Studio blog, you will see that my original sample says "second grade". Oops. He's in second grade this year, duh. A quick trim off the top and a new piece of cardstock underneath made my fix quick and easy.

Ella Publishing is sponsoring the month of September at The Studio, and your school-themed layout could earn you a $20.00 gift certificate! I have loved every e-book by Ella that I have purchased, so I can personally attest to how awesome that prize is. You can join us here.

Thanks for stopping by (again!). Tessa

GCD Studios Update

With school back into full swing, I have taken a look at some our routines from last year that could use some tweaking (or complete overhauls!). One thing we've struggled with is storing and organizing homework supplies. We've tried several things, but finally, this project that I shared on the GCD Studios blog on Tuesday seems to be working best.

Last year each of my boys had their own pencil box filled with the same supplies. It didn't work very well, and I'll tell you what I learned.  Without a specific home for everything within the box, it was hard for my boys to know what was actually there. Scissors can drown in a sea of coloring crayons, you know. They could leave a glue stick out one afternoon and not realize it until the next day (after little brother ran away with it).

The compartments in this particular box will help my boys to see all of their supplies at a glance. If a compartment is empty, something must still be out.

So far, so good. The box is holding up quite well, the supplies haven't gone missing, everything is still in its proper place.... My fingers are crossed that this will continue to be a good solution for the rest of the year. And isn't that school-themed paper the cutest? Love those pencils :).

Did you know that GCD Studios has a monthly newsletter? Heidi Sonboul does such a great job with it. It's filled with layouts and projects that you won't see on the blog, as well as tutorials, designer features, and news about upcoming events and contests. Just send an email to inthestudio@gcdstudios.com to be added. Here's a layout of mine that was included in a recent newsletter:

And after you've signed up for the newsletter, be sure to check out the kit of the month. To win one, see this post for details.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day! Tessa

Birthday Blog Hop Winners

Random comments, $5.00 credit winners:
Alisha
Ursula
Wendi
Mippy
Scrappin' Abz

Blog follower, $20.00 credit winner:
Amanda Johnson

Facebook fan, $20.00 credit winner:
Kayla DuPont

Grand prize, October-December Samplers winner:
Tina

Congratulations everyone! Please email me at precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com to claim your prizes. Thank you to everyone who celebrated my birthday with me, especially the fabulous designers who contributed their time and talents. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Tessa

Not too serious about 30

Hello! First, I want to welcome all of my new blog followers :). Thank you for adding me to your list of places to visit. Second, I have to say thank you for all the birthday wishes! I seriously was overwhelmed yesterday :). Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Today I have a Sketchy Thursdays layout to share with you.

I love how versatile this one is. The design team has a great variety of takes on this one, so be sure to check out today's post for more inspiration.

I wasn't going to add the hairy mustache to my layout right there. I was simply holding it above the mustache in the photo to see if it really was the same shape, but then the sticker stuck and wouldn't come off without damaging the photo. So, I guess it's now a fun 3-d effect :).

I would love to see you play along at Sketchy Thursdays! This week's prize is the September kit from Scrapbook Circle, and because I have that kit in hand I can tell you it's definitely something worth playing for!

I'm off to fill orders :). If you want in on free shipping and a free gift this week, just pull a coupon code from any designer's blog from the hop (click here to get a list of designers). The codes are good through Monday the 5th.  Oh, and I'll be back tomorrow with all of the winners from the hop! Have a great day! Tessa