Easter Best - Pretty Little Studio

Before I share today's project, I have to celebrate for a moment:

She's one. Today. I cannot believe it. Seriously, where did the time go? As fast as it has sped by, I am grateful for every moment. The good and the hard. She has grown so much, but at the same time, I have grown even more. Adlyn has inspired me to be better in so many ways. The way she wraps her arms around my neck, even while we're sleeping, makes me want to love more fiercely. The way she reaches out to people (even strangers) and shows them love with smiles, pats of her little hands and even cuddles makes me want to be a better friend. The way she glows when she sees her brothers come home from school makes me want to spend more quality time with the people I love. The way she absolutely adores her daddy makes me love him more. I am so grateful to be her mama. Truly, truly blessed.

All this birthday milestone stuff has had me looking over photos of the past year, and these photos caught my eye:

I realized that I hadn't scrapped them yet, and they were perfect for an assignment from Pretty Little Studio to feature the word flags (one of my favorite PLS embellishments). You can read more about them here.

This is Adlyn in her first Easter dress. She was awfully wiggly, so I had a hard time getting photos, but I think the blurry pictures tell the story well.

It's funny - I was just telling a friend at CHA that I was "so over" the yellow and gray trend. Huh, looks like I'm not, really ;).

Thanks for stopping by today. For those of you looking for sneak peeks of Adlyn's birthday party, see my IG feed. Her party isn't until next weekend, so you've got a week until I blog it all. I'll be sharing photos of the DIY on IG fairly regularly, though! Have a good one! Tessa

Dear 2015 - Chickaniddy Crafts

I love the challenge of taking a non-scrapbooking-related image and translating that into a layout. Chickaniddy Crafts gave me the assignment of turning this pin...

...into this page:

You can read more about how I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut and layer the numbers at the Chickaniddy Crafts blog here.

My journaling is a letter to the New Year. I am excited for the milestones my family will hit in 2015 and I am looking forward to every single bit of it.

I used the Scrumptious collection for this page. It may be tailored to fall/autumn scrapping, but it works beautifully for everyday, bright and whimsical pages, too.

Maybe at the end of the year I'll write another letter to 2015, one of gratitude. Hmm, I wonder what Chickaniddy line I'll use for that? Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Washi Butterfly Birthday Card - Love My Tapes, SRM Stickers

I am still obsessed with this pink stripe washi tape that I got from Love My Tapes. I think the pink and graphic stripes are a great contrast to the fabric I started with on this birthday card for my sister:

First, I cut a piece of fabric to fit the face of my card base. I distressed the edges by pulling away loose threads. I did my best to center the fabric design on the card, then sprayed a bit of pink Heidi Swapp Color Shine to the center. Next, I applied a few rows of washi tape to scrap cardstock and used my butterfly punch to cut out the shape.

I added a brad to the center of the butterfly and attached an SRM Stickers sentiment between the brad and butterfly. Last, I attached the butterfly/sentiment to my card with a dab of hot glue. Oh! And don't forget a bit of thread wound up behind it all.

You can see my post featuring this card on the Love My Tapes blog today. If you're reading this, Liz, Happy Birthday! Your card is on its way!

Have a great day! Tessa

Adlyn at 4 Months Mini Album - DCWV

Hello! Today on the DCWV blog I am sharing a new mini album, my first one created with the Insta Photo Fun collection. As DCWV's video hostess, I filmed a great tutorial on bringing together Insta Photo Fun pieces with other DCWV lines. You'll have to take my word for it, though, because I had major technical difficulties. As in, I'm shopping for a new video camera :(. But hopefully these photos suffice and you can hold tight until after Addie's 1st birthday party - I'm planning a birthday mini album in the pink binder and I will be filming my process for that one!

I started with photos of Adlyn at 4 months, then pulled things to match - the yellow Insta Photo Fun binder, a hot pink bling sheet (I hand-cut that heart from the bling sheet), patterned vellum from Premium Paper Collection packs, glitter paper from a 6x6 Glitz stack and more patterned paper from the yellow Insta Photo Fun stack and the 6x6 Basics patterned paper stack.

My favorite part of this whole process was working with page protectors. You may have noticed, I don't do pocket scrapbooking. I've definitely toyed with the idea, but I'm still super happy with my traditional layouts and don't feel the need to try something else right now. Having said that, I loved working with these mini pocket pages! They made the mini album process fast and simple.

I used 4x4 and 2x2 photos and pieces of patterned paper. I loved working with the uniform sizes because it was fast and I didn't have to think too much. I also loved working in the vellum. The peek-a-boo effect was fun to play with.

I've got more photos of the album pages in my flickr photostream here. I hope you'll take a look, and if you haven't already, check your local JoAnn store or JoAnn.com for the Insta Photo Fun collection.

Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Hello Love - The Studio Challenges

Hello! I am really struggling with Adlyn turning one this week. I've been pouring over the last year of photos just dumbfounded at how fast time has passed. To ease the panic I'm feeling of losing my baby girl to toddlerhood, I have been scrapping older photos that haven't made it to layouts yet:

This layout is based on the new challenge at The Studio - to use up what's on your desk. I don't actually have a desk since converting my craft room to Addie's nursery, so I guessed at what would be sitting on my work table if I had one - my January Scrapbook Circle kit and old photos, as well as some party crafting supplies (I am having so much fun DIY-ing her birthday party!).

I absolutely LOVE this kit full of Pink Paislee, Crate Paper, and more. I had a lot of fun pulling the kit pieces together and mixing them with this gold and white striped tissue paper that I am currently making tissue paper tassels from:

Here's the journaling if you'd like to know what my page is about:

You can join us at The Studio Challenges here. I think I need this challenge quarterly. It was so great to use some things I had been dying to use, but hadn't found the time for.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week! Tessa

This Girl - Pretty Little Studo

"Oh, dear." I find myself saying this quite often, in reference to my little girl. It's a favorite phrase to use at this stage of exploring, finding herself stuck in cabinets, in crates, and on boxes. She's sneaky, too, finding a way past cabinet locks to granola bars and hand soap. The messes are endless, but so is her sweet and sassy disposition. When she had on this animal print outfit for church a few weeks ago, I knew an impromptu photo shoot was in order to try to capture some of that personality.

And deliver on the personality is exactly what she did - by not cooperating ;). She still looked super cute in her new coat and cheetah-print sweater dress, though. I used Pretty Little Studio products from several lines to create this page.

I was asked to feature the talk tags, which you can see on the Pretty Little Studio blog here. I thought a talk tag made a great place for a die-cut and sticker. You don't always need to fill those things with journaling, you know ;).

When I found out I was having a girl, I made sure everyone knew that her wardrobe wasn't going to be pink, pink, pink. I soon learned that it is really hard to avoid pink, but it also grew on me and now she does wear pink fairly often. However, if I can put together something cute without it, I will :). That's one of the reasons I love this outfit, and one of the reasons I used blue to compliment all that black and brown on this layout.

Thanks for stopping by today! I appreciate your visit :). Have a great day! Tessa

Year-Round Teacher Appreciation - Love My Tapes, SRM Stickers

Hello! I am good about remembering to thank my kids' teachers during teacher appreciation week and the holidays, but I need to be better about expressing my gratitude at other times of the school year, too. After all, she returns emails quickly, answers questions thoroughly and is putting up with teaching my son, so she deserves a thank you card, January or otherwise.

I thought the ruler washi tape from Love My Tapes was a great fit for a teacher card, so I pulled that out along with other Love My Tapes fabric and lace tapes. I went with my favorite formula of strips of tape, then added SRM sentiment stickers directly to the tape. A few enamel dots finish it off.

I'm not the only washi tape fan in my household. Check out who tried to be sneaky-sneaky while I was photographing the card:

Oh, Adlyn. She was moving really slow with one eye on me. This girl is too smart! She definitely keeps me on my toes :).

You can also see this card on the Love My Tapes blog today. Thanks for stopping by today! I hope your week is going well :). Have a good one! Tessa

Chickaniddy at CHA

Hello! I got home from CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association trade show) late Sunday, cuddled the kids Monday, and am ready to share with you one of my favorite booths and companies - Chickaniddy Crafts!

(left to right: Diana Waite, Heather Leopard, me, Heidi Sonboul, Jennie Blaser, Lisa Andrews, Meghann Andrew)

I had the opportunity to attend the show again with Scrapbook Circle. We had so much fun designing the next several months of kits. If you aren't a subscriber, you're going to want to be! Anyway, we were all pretty excited about Heidi Sonboul's latest collections for Chickaniddy and were sure to put in an order. If you haven't seen 365...

...or Yipee...

...run to the Chickaniddy blog to take a look. The papers are fabulous, the embellishments are fantastic, and you have to see the enamel words. Chickaniddy is the first company in the industry to do enamel words and they are awesome! I can't wait until my design team box gets here and I can play :).

On another note, I was up on the DCWV blog yesterday with a new product reveal video of the Insta Photo Fun collection. Check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Embroidery Floss Tip - Love My Fabrics

Hello! I am currently soaking up the last moments of my time in SoCal at CHA, but I wanted to pop in and share with you a quick tip for organizing embroidery floss.

When I hand-sew on my layouts or make fabric flowers, I typically use embroidery floss instead of thread. After awhile, storing that floss became a huge mess, so I devised this pretty and inexpensive storage method.

You can read more at the Love My Fabrics blog here.

Enjoy the rest of your day :). Tomorrow I'll be sharing a fantastic new collection from DCWV in a new product reveal video. Stay tuned! Tessa

Yarn Wreath - Chickaniddy Crafts + a Video

Hello and welcome to the fifth and final day of "Christmas Catch-up" here at Precocious Paper. I'm on my way to CHA, but I am also excited to share with you this yarn wreath embellished with Chickaniddy Crafts' Jolly Good embellishments.

I started with my usual straw wreath base, then wrapped the wreath form with yarn that I matched to the Jolly Good collection. I used several of the Jolly Good cardstock stickers to embellish the wreath, as well as handmade flowers and leaves.

Read more about the process of making this wreath on the Chickaniddy Crafts blog here. If you'd like to learn my technique for creating the large, two-toned felt roses, please enjoy my latest video tutorial:

I'm experiencing technical difficulties that I won't be able to resolve until I get back from CHA. I will update this post with the video when I get back on Monday.

Thanks for not minding that I stretched out the holidays a little farther into January. I hope you enjoyed my round-up of Christmas projects. I know I enjoyed creating them. If you missed any, be sure to check out...

*Pretty Little Studio December Mini Album Cover
*The Studio Challenges-inspired Company Holiday Party Layout
*Craftwell Gold Embossed Leaf Wreath
*Chickaniddy Crafts Jolly Good Mini Album

Be sure to leave a comment on the Craftwell wreath post if you'd like to win the Teresa Collins Woodgrain Embossing folding that I am giving away.

Enjoy your weekend! Tessa

Christmas Catch-up - Christmas Mini Album - Chickaniddy Crafts + Video

Hello! It's day four of my Christmas Catch-up and I have one of my very favorite Christmas projects to share with you today! As you may know, this past Christmas was Adlyn's first. I wanted to make something special to document this special time, so I used the adorable and whimsical Jolly Good line from Chickaniddy Crafts to create a December mini album just for Addie.

I made the album out of an old book. You can read more about that process on the Chickaniddy Crafts blog here.

The pages are all ready for photos and journaling. I just need to print, write, and add in the memorabilia I saved.

If you'd like to see the inside details of the album, check out this video walk-through:

Thanks for visiting, friends! I'll be back tomorrow with the final installment of Christmas Catch-up: more Jolly Good inspired craftiness and a video tutorial! Have a great day :). Tessa

Christmas Catch-up - Gold Leaf Wreath and a Giveaway!

Hello and welcome to day three of my Christmas Catch-up! I had the wonderful opportunity to guest design for Craftwell this past month. Using Teresa Collins' Cut-n-Boss machine and the Woodgrain Cottage embossing folder, I created this wreath:

You can read more about my process for creating the wreath on the Craftwell blog here.

Basically, I embossed cardstock, hand-cut the leaves, painted them with gold spray paint, and attached them to a wire wreath frame.I love how the gold spray paint brought out the woodgrain texture of the leaves.

GIVEAWAY: Do you have a Cut-n-boss machine (or another die-cut machine that can take 8.5x11 embossing folders)? I happen to have an extra Woodgrain Cottage embossing folder that I would love to pass on to someone who could use it. Leave a comment on this post - including a way to contact you - and I'll randomly draw a name on January 14th (one week from today). I'll update this post with the name of the winner that day.

Update: The winner is cghundley! Thanks to all who left comments :).

Thanks for visiting today! Tomorrow I'll be sharing a new video, so stay tuned :). Have a great day! Tessa