Designer Friday - More From Jules

Jules Dix has been busy with the October Sampler, Pumpkin Patch. She has created more fabulous, spooky home decor to share with us today.

Aren't these jars gorgeous? Jules has used flower embellishments from the sampler to accent and top these hauntingly pretty glass jars, as well as ribbons from the sampler as ties.

This cupcake poppy is a new design to Precocious Paper and will be available separately in the shop soon.

I love how this fabric and felt flower fits perfectly on top of the jar :). Besides being available in the sampler, you can also find this flower in the Halloween Bouquet.

Jules, thank you so much for all of your beautiful work with the October Sampler! If it weren't for that darn ocean I'd have to cross, I'd love to come trick-or-treating at your house :). It must be the best decorated Halloween haunt ever :).

If you haven't picked up your Pumpkin Patch sampler yet, there are still a handful available. Don't forget to take advantage of free shipping. I'm still celebrating 5000 sales with free shipping through the 31st - just use coupon code PP5000 during checkout. One randomly selected customer will receive a $50.00 shop credit, just for making a purchase during the celebration. Will it be you?

Have a fabulous weekend! Tessa

Naptime

School started back in August, and with that, the return of a fairly regular naptime for Jaxon. However, lately he has been determined to skip those naps, which leads to a grumpy boy and flustered mama. A trick I learned was to schedule errands a bit before naptime, so that as we drove home, he would be lulled to sleep in the car. I took the photo in this layout on a recent outing.

I'm kinda excited about this picture. It's my first iPhone photo on a layout! Yes, I finally got an iPhone and I am loving it :). The first apps I downloaded were Instagram, Hipstamatic, and Pocketbooth. So much fun! Back to the layout, it's based on the new sketch at Sketchy Thursdays:

I decided to try a different type of banner accent and went with hand-cut hearts on a hand-drawn string.

I thought the film background paper was a good choice for the iPhone photo, and I kept everything else pretty simple. I sort of had to - my craft table was (and still is) covered with dozens upon dozens of new flowers for the shop and I had to scrap on the floor. I wasn't about to pull all my supplies down there with me, so I went for a minimalist look. I love the result :).

I hope you'll join us! A $20.00 gift certificate to a great kit club is up for grabs. You can find the details here. And if you're in the market for some tutorials for sewing on paper, I've got a pair of really good ones linked up on the Scrapbook Circle blog today. You can take a look here.

Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Miss Art's

Hello! My first post as a design team member for Miss Art's Papercrafting School went up on the blog yesterday. I shared this layout, made with the "Eleanor's Garden" kit:

You can get "Eleanor's Garden" for free when you purchase the "Amelia's Solo" kit - fabulous deal! If you haven't been by Miss Art's to check out the store, it's really worth a look. The available supplies, including vintage and storage options for your craft space, are a wonderful variety that you don't seem to find anywhere else.

You can find my post here, and the shop is linked from there. I'm working on a few more layouts, as well as two new classes to be revealed soon! Exciting stuff is happening at Miss Arts :).

I hope your week is going well! Enjoy your day, Tessa

November Samplers

Hello! I'd like you to meet "Very Merry" and "Vintage Poinsettia".

Very Merry Sampler:

1. Silver Metallic Cupcake Poppies

2. Felt Roses and Leaves

3. Butterfly Doilies

4. Sweet Spots

Vintage Poinsettia Sampler:

1. Gold Metallic Cupcake Poppies

2. Sweet Spots

3. Butterfly Doilies

4. Felt Roses and Leaves

As if the samplers weren't enticing enough, you can receive free shipping through the 31st as part of my 5000 Sales Celebration :). Just enter PP5000 during checkout. Free shipping is automatically offered to customers who purchased the previous month's sampler, so anyone who bought the October Sampler and chooses to purchase one of the November Samplers will receive a free gift, as well as free shipping. I've got to spoil you lovely shop supporters somehow, right?

Happy holiday crafting! Tessa

Cards for my hubby.

Happy Monday! Yesterday I shared this long lost card (lost to the memory card, that is), and it made me remember that I never shared the cards I made for my husband for his birthday and our anniversary. In August. Better late than never, right?

For the anniversary card, I went with an office-y, layered theme.

I balanced the cutesy heart paper with the bold chevron paper, then added a pocket made from a graph paper bag. The large "9" sticker and the "i love you" sentiment are both SRM Stickers. The 2011 button is Ormolu, and the "note" tag is Elle's Studio. The felt heart is American Crafts (old, too - I wish they sold more of these!).

I topped it off with a bullnose clip that came from a Scrap Rat kit and a little splatter of Mister Huey. Josh loved it :).

I made his birthday card a bit more festive with banner stickers from Lily Bee. I'm a big fan of the number stickers from SRM, which I used again on this card. The "make a wish" stickers are also SRM. I tied the banners with bakers twine and used my handy dandy tiny attacher to secure it all, then added the buttons tied with twine with glue dots. He liked this one, too :).

I've been itching to make cards lately, so hopefully I'll be sharing more soon. Thank you for stopping by today! Tessa

PS - If you haven't heard, Precocious Paper reached 5000 sales! I'm celebrating....

Just sharing...

Cleaning out my camera card I spotted this card that I whipped up for a birthday. Just thought I would share :).

Balloon punches, pop dots, and hand-drawn strings. Easy-peasy.

I love how easy SRM Stickers make it to add sentiments to quick cards :).

My 5000 sales celebration started yesterday, and what do you know? Precocious Paper hit 5000 sales! I'm so excited and grateful :). Here are the details on the sale:

Also, don't forget that Attitude of Gratitude is coming up! I have an Attitude of Gratitude Mini Album kit to give away for those sharing the event with their blog/facebook/twitter readers. You can check out all the details here.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope your weekend has been lovely :). Tessa

5000 Sales Celebration!

I am super excited to be so close to reaching this milestone! This shop has been such a blessing to my family and me, and I cannot express just how much gratitude I have for the opportunity to own it and share it with you. I am so very thankful to all of you who purchase my products, spread the word about my shop, and support me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Beginning today and running through the 31st, I am celebrating! Here are the details (click to see larger):

I would appreciate it if my lovely international customers would purchase at least $10.00 of merchandise when using the free shipping coupon. Coupon is not valid for custom (or reserved) orders listed prior to the 22nd. However, all orders, custom or not, will go into the drawing for the $50.00 shop credit and are eligible to receive the free sampler for being sale #5000.

If you want to wait to shop until the 25th to see the reveal of the November samplers, I don't blame you :). But if you want to place an order now and hold it until then, just send me a convo or email.

Good luck and happy shopping! Tessa

PRECOCIOUS PAPER SHOP

Designer Friday - Jules Dix

Happy Friday! Halloween is just around the corner and I am thrilled to be sharing with you an amazing project created by October's guest designer, Jules Dix. I sent this lovely lady the Pumpkin Patch sampler and the photos she sent back just about knocked me out of my seat :).

Eeek! How awesome is this?! Not only has Jules expertly layered hauntingly gorgeous Halloween papers, but she has also tucked Precocious Paper flowers into several nooks.

I was especially excited to see what Jules did with the white tulle included in the sampler. She pulled and stretched the tulle to look like creepy fog. I think the tulle would great mummy wrappings or cobweb, too.

Amazing work, Jules! Thank you so much :). If you would like to play with the October Sampler, it's still available in the shop here.

In other Precocious Paper news, there are some fun things coming up!
♥ The November Samplers (yes, there are two!) go live on the 25th.
♥ A 5000 sales celebration is in the works - look for a coupon code and prizes to be announced soon.
♥ Attitude of Gratitude starts soon - be sure to add the badge to your blog and pick up a mini album kit here.
♥ A handful of items, including popular Sweet Spots, are down to their last sets. Search the shop for "last" to find and purchase the items that are next to gone.


Enjoy your weekend, everyone! Tessa 

Pink Projects

I have a couple of projects out in blogland today, both of which are of the pink variety :). First up, a layout for the latest challenge at Scrapbook Circle - In Stitches:

Isn't my niece adorable?! She is SO cute :). The challenge is to use stitching on a layout, inspired by the sewing-themed papers in the October kit, Fresh Picked.

Everyone is welcome to play along, subscriber or not, so head over here for all the details. There's an awesome Halloween kit up for grabs.

I also have a project up on the SRM Stickers blog today.

I found a pink tennis shoe key chain in the dollar bin at JoAnn and just knew it had to become a wand for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Did you know that SRM Stickers has a whole line of BCA stickers? I used a phrase from one of the sheets on the tag.

Check out the SRM blog for more information and links to the BCA stickers. If you are looking for more BCA embellishments, take a peek at the kit in my Etsy shop here. Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope your Thursday is wonderful :). Tessa

Happy

Raising this little guy has been different than the older two. Colten and Carson were born so close together (one year, one month, one week and one day apart), that it felt like I had always had two kids. They were into the same things nearly at the same time. They always had a buddy for entertainment. Jaxon, on the other hand, has only me during the school day. And he has me full-time, unlike his brothers, who saw Mom go to the dance studio for 30+ hours a week. So, our dynamic is different, and I am enjoying every possible moment. Like the one pictured in this layout.

Yes, it's a weed, but the sweet thought behind it is heart-melting. Really, there are no weeds when your boys offer you flowers ;). He is such a happy kid, and his happiness makes me happy.

I made this layout for the current challenge at The Studio - alter your background. I tend to alter the background of just about every page I make with mist or paint, so this time around I thought I would use rub-ons. I used a punchinella rub-on sheet from Glitz Designs, adding dots here and there, some overlapping and some distressed. I misted a bit on top of the dots, too.

If you'd like to play along, you can find the challenge here. And just to give you a heads up, in November it's my turn to set the challenges. I've got some ideas twirling around that I think will be fun, as well as a fabulous prize to give away! Thanks for stopping by today :). Have a good one! Tessa

Fall Colors

I love the traditional colors of fall, but throw in a juicy pink and pretty blue and I'm swooning!

This photo and color palette is the jumping off point for my latest GCD Studios layout:

The pink barn wood paper from the Spring in Bloom Collection by Donna Salazar was the perfect backdrop. I went with a trendy chevron pattern that I learned how to create here. Notice how I put the orange at the top (like the pumpkins in the cart), pink in the center (like the sweatshirt), and yellow at the bottom (like the pumpkin she's holding)? The colors of the design flow right into the photo and back out again.

To add interest to my chevron pattern, I tucked a string of sequins between each row. Distressing and bending the papers gave the sequins a chance to peek out.

I used the blue from the palette for my title so that it stood out from the other bold colors. I love the look of mixed alphas and used three different alpha styles for my long title.

When you scrapbook your pumpkin patch outing this year, don't be afraid to stray from the traditional orange. Throw in some pink or aqua for a fun take on a fall palette. Oh, and if you're wondering who this adorable little girl is (wait, Tessa only has boys...), this is my husband's cousin's daughter.

Thank you all for your support yesterday! I had so much fun working with Nantucket and putting together SRM/Pink Paislee projects. Thanks to Pink Paislee for the beautiful papers and embellishments to play with and to all of you for your sweet blog comments, emails and Facebook comments :). Here's the post if you missed it.

Don't forget - Attitude of Gratitude is gearing up again, and if you help spread the word, you could win one of the new Attitude of Gratitude Mini Album Kits from the shop. For details, see this post. I'm excited about the response so far and can't wait to get started :).

Have a great day, all! Tessa

Pink Paislee Nantucket

If you've been following the SRM Stickers blog over the past several weeks, you are probably familiar with the Paper of the Week feature. Each Monday, a designer is sharing projects created with SRM products and a partner manufacturer. Today is my day, and the collection I was sent to play with was Pink Paislee's Nantucket :).

The first project I made was a birthday card for my mom:

All the papers, trim and die-cuts are from the Nantucket collection, and the sentiment is SRM.

Next, I made my mom a mini-album for her birthday. You can see all of the pages in my flickr photostream here.

The pages are 4" by 6" pieces of chipboard, each covered in Pink Paislee papers and trim. I made the flower on the cover out of one of the Pink Paislee Mistable trims by gathering it into a circle and stapling the center. I colored the Mistable alphas by dipping a paintbrush into my Glimmer Mist bottles.

I backed each photo with a large shipping tag to add height to the pages, setting each tag off from the one before to create a staggered look. I misted the Mistables trim to match the papers and simply hot glued them to the edges of the pages. I added pearls to each page, handwritten journaling, and of course - SRM Sticker sentiments! The little glassine envelopes are filled with opalescent sequins. I thought they looked like ocean bubbles :). I also added a few die-cuts from the collection to the envelopes.

Next, I made a little home decor project to add to my livingroom collage wall.

My boys love their bikes, and when I saw the Mistable bicycle in the collection, I knew I had to do something with it. I spray painted the bicycle and the word explore with glossy black paint. I cut free-form hearts from leftover trim and created a little banner with an SRM sentiment. I simply glued it all to a white background and framed it :).

I needed a little thank you gift and the Nantucket collection was perfect for a tube and tag:

The candy is Cookies and Cream Drops (like the candy bar, but in a no-shell, pop in your mouth form - yummy!). The tag is layered with Nantucket die-cuts and trim, as well as SRM sentiments.

Lastly, I made a layout of one of our summer adventures. Yes, I live in California, but we didn't make it to the ocean this year. However, we did enjoy the lake and Nantucket still worked for this page:

I left the Mistable alphas and wood pieces natural because I love the colors of the wood. I clustered die-cuts and used SRM stickers as my title and journaling. I really love the way this one turned out :).

So that was my adventure with Pink Paislee's Nantucket! I loved working with the collection. SRM Stickers couldn't have been a better partner to the products. You can see the Paper of the Week post - and WIN the collection, as well as a package of SRM Stickers - at the SRM blog here. You can see more photos of these projects here. And if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I'll be sure to address them soon. Thanks for stopping by! Tessa