This Happened - Scrapbook Circle

Looking for the DCWV/Faber-Castell blog hop? Click HERE.

This happened. I dolled up my little girl with a pair of aqua and polka dot sunnies (complete with bows) and posed her for instagram shots. Yeah, I am that mom.

The current challenge at Scrapbook Circle is to create a layout based on the phrase, "Today is a HAPPY day." The March kit, Portobello Road, includes an exclusive stamp that says just that. I altered the stamp to suit my layout (see how at the Scrapbook Circle blog today).

Isn't she the cutest?! Once a week I take the kiddos to the park after school to do homework and then play. While the big boys run around the playground, Addie and I chill on a blanket. And take pictures. On rainy days we go to the library, which is great, but not quite as relaxing. Days like this one are truly happy days.

Everyone can play to win a $15.00 shop credit, subscriber or not. I'd love to see you join in. Find all the details here. And see more of my take on the challenge here. Thanks for stopping by and have a happy day! Tessa

DCWV and Faber-Castell Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to Precocious Paper! My name is Tessa and I am glad you are here. If you're a regular, or here by chance, I hope you'll join us from the beginning for this hop. If you've just arrived from the very talented Tiffany's blog, you're in the right place :).

I've been designing for DCWV for almost two years and I have to say, the textured papers that DCWV has come out with are some of my absolute favorites to work with! Add Faber-Castell to the mix and oh my goodness, great messy fun is to be had! My mother-in-law's birthday was coming up, so I decided to make her a mixed media mini album:

What you see here is the Navy and Coral Stack by DCWV. From my own stash I added tissue paper, mother of pearl buttons, white washi tape and thread. Now for the texture and Faber-Castell....

I made my pages from 6x6 pieces of the textured DCWV papers, as well as the Navy and Coral Stack. This spread features a piece from the neutral corrugate paper stack. I used Faber-Castell's whipped spackle and a DCWV stencil to create the pattern in the corner. I scraped it thin in most places to show off the texture of the corrugate. I love that look!

This next spread features a piece from the Woven Stack.

Faber-Castell gelatos and this paper are a match made in heaven! I loved how the woven texture grabbed the gelato, then how the watery color trickled down and pooled in the little squares - kind of like syrup on waffles!

The next page spread features DCWV's Cork Stack. I love how the cork texture peek-a-boos through the spackle.


I enjoyed spreading it onto the page in kind of an uneven way - the little peaks and valleys add even more texture.

This spread features the Woven Stack again. I loved the effect of the gelato so much that I just had to use this technique twice!

This page features DCWV's Burlap Stack. I think the burlap was my favorite material to add the whipped spackle to!


The bristly texture is really visible through the spackle when applied thinly.

If you're interested in seeing more views and close-ups of this album, you can see more in my flickr gallery here.

I hope you enjoyed my mini album and that you'll enjoy the rest of the hop, too! Be sure to leave comments at every stop you make and follow DCWV and Faber-Castell at all your usual social media haunts. $75.00 in product from these fabulous companies is up for grabs. Finish the hop by Friday and the winner will be announced Monday. Now onto Karen's blog! Good luck and happy hopping! Tessa

Hello Sweet Girl - DCWV Good Wood Stack

I love the look of wood grain. My husband built cabinets while going to school and he was always so proud of the way he cut boards to maintain continuous wood grain across a bank of drawers or cabinets. I've learned to appreciate those efforts and now think twice before deciding to paint over a piece of furniture with pretty wood grain. ;) DCWV recently came out with a new stack called Good Wood. There are several varieties of wood grain patterned papers - photo real, hand drawn, embossed, colored, etc. I pulled a few of my favorites to create this pink and wood grain layout of my little girl:

The background of my layout is a whole sheet from the stack. The flowers in the corner are embossed. I used some Heidi Swapp Color Shine to fill in some of the petals with pink.

I also used the Color Shine to dye my wood triangles. I believe I got these in a Studio Calico kit about a year ago or so. The triangles matched the triangle paper in the Good Wood stack, so I thought they were perfect embellishments. 

I used pink and wood grain sequins (Studio Calico), as well as some washi tape, mist splatters, and pink thread. Here and there I added pink bling by DCWV. The title "hello" is fussy-cut from another sheet from the Good Wood stack.

You can find the Good Wood Stack at JoAnn stores now. I'll have more DCWV on the blog Monday. We've got a blog hop with Faber-Castell coming up that you won't want to miss. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Product Review - Rimmel London US Moisure Renew Lipstick

While following some of my favorite artists, scrapbookers and crafters, I've come across reviews for products that I have ended up loving. I'm really glad that those ladies shared their opinions, so I hope you don't mind if I take a post or two to follow suit. :)

I'm wearing #360, As You Like Victoria, by Rimmel London US. This is from their Moisture Renew line. Now, I am not a lipstick girl. Of course, when I'm performing on stage (as a dancer), I wear plenty of lipstick. I also like to wear lipstick for girls' nights out and to church (churchy colors, mind you). I love to wear lipstick on date nights, too, but the hubby doesn't like kissing it, so...it's a battle of wills sometimes ;). My main complaints about lipstick are that the color doesn't stay true while wearing it and that it dries out my lips something fierce. This lipstick solves both of my problems!

My lips felt moisturized the entire time I wore the lipstick. It was comfortable to wear. And on top of that, the color stayed vibrant. It didn't fade away. The only drawback (if you see it as one) was that my lips seemed to be slightly stained afterwards. I didn't mind the added color to my bare lips, but if you really wanted to go au natural afterwards, you may want to use a fancy make-up remover.

All in all, I would definitely buy this lipstick. In fact, I checked at my local Target today and it looked like they were clearancing out older shades to make room for new colors. I plan to purchase a "churchy" shade (you know, something not so bold and "look at me!"). I also plan to reccommend this color/brand to my dancers for their annual showcase. It matches our usual brand just about perfectly, but I'm sure my young dancers would prefer something more moisturizing on their cute little puckers.

If you give this brand a try, let me know how it goes :). Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

PS - I plan to use these silly selfies for an upcoming layout. Stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Mini Monday - So Lucky

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I look forward to scrapping Adlyn's first St. Patrick's Day, but in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to visit a mini album I made over a year ago for the occasion.

If you took my friend Amanda Robinson's Silhouette Cameo class, you may have seen this. All papers used (cardstock, patterned paper, gold foil) are by DCWV. The cut files are Amanda's fabulous creations. The flair is by A Flair For Buttons. Our props were from the dollar store and made with my Silhouette.

We had a lot of fun at our leprechaun photo shoot! There's nothing quite like giving your kids some crazy props, some chocolate coins, and letting them go to town ;).

I hope you enjoyed my mini! I'm planning to host one Mini Monday per month here on the blog, so stay tuned for more mini albums. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa