Boom!

Hello! Happy Tuesday. I have a Valentine's Day project up on the SRM Stickers blog today :).

You can read about how I made it here. I hope you are having a dynamite day :). Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

For Like Ever

The January Sampler is now live in the shop! Meet "For Like Ever":

I was inspired by this print that I found at fellow Etsy shop 29blackstreet...

...and these great Pinterest finds:

garland - dress - shoes - heart (ack! I can't find it now!)

Also available are Butterfly Doilies, Sweet Spots, Felt Roses and Leaves and new Button Sweet Spots.

New this year, I am offering a discount when you purchase the entire line. You can find that special listing here. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Winter Blossoms

Happy Friday, all! I am getting ready to ship off all of my CHA assignments, but wanted to say hello first. While I was working on my layouts for the GCD Studios booth, I decided to take a little mental break and make something completely unrelated. I had just read the Winter Blossoms challenge at MoxieFab World earlier that day and thought that a card was the perfect mini project to rejuvenate my creativity. This is the inspiration:

And this is my take:

I was inspired by shape, color, and the festive feel. I made my round flowers by die-cutting layers of vintage book paper. I then colored each flower with Twinkling H2O's (watercolors with shimmer) and secured the centers with pearl brads.

If you look closely in the photo, you can see a circle garland between the pom poms, so I mimicked that look with some gold, circle confetti. A few drops of gray mist helped add to the confetti look and brought out the text in the flowers.

I made the sentiment with an SRM Sticker, using only the words "to you" so that I can use this card for just about anything one day in the future. I believe the entire sentiment is really "Happy Birthday to you" :).

You can find the Winter Blossoms challenge here. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Welcome to the Nest

Hello! I wanted to share the wreath I made for my son's teacher today.

For this wreath, I started with a phrase - welcome to the nest. I knew I wanted a mama bird and an egg, all cuddled together in a little nest, perched in flowers. I wasn't sure which colors to use because they don't know if their baby is a boy or girl, and I didn't want to ask the nursery colors and give away the surprise of the gift. So, I found my bird and went from there. 

I added a bright spring green to lighten up the palette. I had to dye the egg to match the green yarn (alcohol inks were perfect for this). I made flowers from white and coral felt, then added a pair of silk green flowers. 

My favorite part is the banner. I hand cut the pennants from broadcloth and stamped the alphas with brown Staz-On ink. I hung the pieces on embroidery floss and finished the ends with sweet little bows.

Carson's teacher loved the wreath and come to find out, the nursery is brown and green! Now if it's a girl, the coral will be the perfect feminine touch :). And if not, well, good thing it wasn't pink ;).

I hope all is well for you! The baby and I (baby, he's almost three!) came down with the flu this past week. While Josh was out of town. And CHA assignments were coming in. Ack! So, if I'm a little quiet for awhile, just know I'm busy and will be sharing quite a bit soon. Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Tribute to Sketchy Thursdays

I feel like I just said goodbye to a dear friend, one that I may never see again. Sketchy Thursdays has posted its last sketch for the blog as we know it. You can read the announcement here.

I found Diana Fisher's blog when we both made the design team for A Scrappy Design back in 2009. Diana was posting sketches on her blog and even though I had never liked using sketches before, I gave them a try. Diana's sketches were so easy to use and just the spark I needed. I remember being so excited when she would leave a comment on my flickr photostream about my layouts :). Soon Diana and Heidi Myers launched Sketchy Thursdays and I was thrilled to be a part of their first team. I enjoyed my first term thoroughly, was a guest designer during the next term, and then they just couldn't get rid of me from then on :). Being on the Sketchy Thursdays design team has been a real, sweet, treasured part of my life for the past few years. I wish Diana, Heidi, and all the rest of the ST gang the best. I hope you know how grateful I am...for everything :).

In tribute, I've put together as many of my Sketchy Thursdays layouts as I could find into these collages.

Ack, before tears hit the keyboard, I'm going to switch gears. I played along with a fun challenge from The Paper Variety this week. The challenge is to use black and white with a pop of color. I made a birthday card for one of my girls at church, a girl after my own yellow-loving heart :).

Of course I had to use SRM Stickers for my sentiment :).

Thanks for the challenge, TPV! I hope you will make the time to visit Sketchy Thursdays this week. If you're a fan, be sure to let Diana and Heidi know they will be missed. I know how hard the decision must have been to make and I'm sure they can use the virtual hugs. Have a great Thursday! Tessa

1st Layout and 1st Card of 2012

Hello! Thanks to Sketchy Thursdays and Scrapbook Circle, I have my first layout and first card of the new year to share with you today.

A new sketch is up at Sketchy Thursdays, and this week's sketch has a prompt in partnership with our sponsor, Scrappy Chics. The prompt is to use blue and silver, inspired by their current kit.

When I saw this chevron paper by Authentique, I had to get it and put it to use on this page. I also loved using their little word stickers. I used a Pink Paislee mask to create the long vertical rectangle in the center, but you have to look carefully to see it. I love how subtle it is.

I had fun adding texture with the trim and doilies. I'm so glad I saved these bright blue doilies from forever ago. They were perfect for this project :).

To play along at Sketchy Thursdays, see this post. There's a gift card up for grabs :). And speaking of a gift card, you can also win one at Scrapbook Circle by playing along with this card sketch:

Can you believe I made this sketch? I totally cheated (meaning I just layered things other people made - I so don't deserve any credit). Anyway, I made a Valentine for my hubby with the new You + Me kit:

I really love the kraft, red, grey, white combo. You have to see the entire kit (here). And play along (here).

So there you have it! My first layout and card of 2012. I see many, many more in the near future :). Thank you for spending some time with me today! Have a good one! Tessa