I Love this Hair

I just realized that you'll see another layout for Chickaniddy Crafts on my blog next month with Addie wearing this same sweatshirt. I swear, she has more than one shirt! And I guess it just really coordinates with Chickaniddy ;). Anyway, did you see this one on their blog Monday?

I really enjoyed making the big, colorful title. For my process, be sure to see my post over there.

Seriously, how cute are these pigtails?! They don't always stand up like this. Sometimes they fall out around the elastic perfectly so that they look like little messy buns.

I'm having so much fun being a mama to a girl :). Well, stay tuned for that other pink sweatshirt layout, haha! Thanks for stopping by! 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

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

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

Grateful Eight - Chickaniddy Crafts, and Attitude of Gratitude 2014

"If you want to find happiness, find gratitude." - Steve Maraboli

This quotation inspired my "thankful layout" for the Chickaniddy Crafts blog:

I loved working with the Scrumptious line. The die-cut numbers inspired the list-style journaling.

I liked the ring of "grateful eight", so I went with eight things I am thankful for.

Of course, I am grateful for many more than eight things. With November coming up, I've been putting a lot of thought into my Attitude of Gratitude project.

I started Attitude of Gratitude five years ago on this blog. I basically shared something I was grateful for every day in November, here and on social media. Some years I gave away prizes for people who joined me. Last year I was a miserable failure - being pregnant and following through with a daily project just didn't work out for me. Every year I have made a gratitude journal. Well, last year I started one.;)

My intentions are good, though, and I am determined to follow through this year. I'm going to focus on blog content, sharing various ways to document and express gratitude. I'm excited about it and I hope you'll join me in some way.

I hope your day is going well! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa

Not So Spooky Halloween Decor - Chickaniddy Crafts

Hello! It's finally raining here in northern California, which we are so grateful for because of the drought and the King Fire that is raging nearby. However, this time of year and change of weather usually brings with it colds, and a cold has settled into 4 out of 6 of us, including the baby. I refuse to get sick, and so far my 5th grader is doing just fine, so...fingers crossed! I want to finish decorating for fall this week (among the 500 other things I need to accomplish), and I can't do that from bed. Speaking of decor, did you catch my project at the Chickaniddy Crafts blog this week?

I made a garland out of vintage velvet leaves, tulle of all kinds, and patterned paper from Chickaniddy Crafts' Scrumptious line.

I made an arch out of floral wire, then used my hot glue gun to attach the flowers and vintage leaves.

I really enjoyed making this project because 1) you know I love flowers, and 2) I'm more into friendly, cute Halloween decor. I'm sure I'll enjoy this garland on my kitchen chalkboard all October long. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Library Pocket - Pretty Little Studio

Hello! Do your kids do AR? Accelerated Reader? It's a program that helps determine the difficulty range of books appropriate for your child. Students take quizzes on the books they read and acquire points. Each child has a point goal set by their teacher, and at our school there are also rewards for the number of words read. My boys have loved this program and it has helped them turn into voracious readers. My 5th grader has a problem, though.

Carson can't keep track of everything he has read. I know, that's not really a "problem", but this is of great concern to him. ;) Teachers try to give kids plenty of opportunities to take the quizzes, but Carson reads so fast that he often has three or four books to test on once his turn comes around. He will sometimes forget which books he has read and still needs to take a quiz for.

For example, he read the Harry Potter series at the beginning of 4th grade. He managed to test on all of them except the first one. He still reached his point goal, but his main reading goal has been the million word club. In 4th grade he made it to the 3 million word club. Only one other student did that (his brother, Colten) and one amazing reader made the 4 million word club. Carson would have made the 4 million word club if he had not forgotten to take that Harry Potter quiz. Bummer, right?!

So, to be more organized this year (his goal is a crazy 5 million words!), we brainstormed ways to keep better track of what he has finished. We started with a whiteboard, but that was boring. Now, we use this cute library pocket :).

You can find instructions and a supply list at the Pretty Little Studio blog. I used the Silly Monkey collection and I can't wait to use more for scrapbook layouts of my boys. It's a really cute line and you can check it out here.

Now Carson has another problem. He needs ideas for books to read! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments here or on my facebook page. We appreciate it!

Have a good one! Tessa

PS - I have some not-so-spooky Halloween decor up on the Chickaniddy Crafts blog today! Check it out here. :)

That Scrumptious Face - Chickaniddy Crafts

Hello! It's my favorite time of day right now. The mornings have been cool and I've needed a sweater a time or two. I wish the temperature would hold all day, but I know that will come soon with the arrival of fall. We've already set the date for our annual trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm and I am so excited that I had to look up all the photos from last year. This one of Jaxon became a layout that was featured on the Chickaniddy Crafts blog on Monday:

The Autumn Haze paper is my favorite from the Scrumptious collection. The watercolor-like stripes are so pretty :). To dress it up a bit, though, I stamped leaves in watermark ink around my photo:

I absolutely love the illustrations stickers and used the cute pumpkins to anchor my title cluster.

Okay, October, hurry up and get here! I need to make more pumpkin patch memories! If you missed my post at Chickaniddy Crafts, you can check it out here. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Chickaniddy Crafts

Hello! I have happy news to share :). I was invited to join the Chickaniddy Crafts team for the next year! I was lucky to have the chance to design with Heidi's debut lines for Winter CHA 2014 and I am excited to be designing with her new lines now!

I'll be sharing Chickaniddy Crafts projects in the next couple of weeks. Be sure to check out the design team announcement here, and like Chickaniddy Crafts on Facebook here.Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Quotes Portfolio - SMASH Sunday

Hello! I started a new portfolio. I bought another pink Pretty Style portfolio and have made it my quotes book. I collect favorite quotes in notebooks, art prints for my home, and on my Words board on Pinterest. I decided it was time to house them in a SMASH book, too. So, last night after Addie went to bed, I made a few pages:

First up, this colorful page. I just reorganized my SMASH book cart (the raskog IKEA cart), and I realized just how many die-cuts I have. I decided to use up some by creating a grid of die cuts at the top of this page. The die-cuts are by Basic Grey and DCWV. DCWV needs to put out a package of just typewriter die-cuts. I think I'm all out now :(.

Some of my favorite parts of this page are 1) the paint chip, 2) the polka dot bag, 3) the orangey-red woodgrain washi tape with hearts (Freckled Fawn).

My next page is this mosaic quote page made with Love My Tapes washi, fabric and lace tapes (plus a couple of other washi tapes I had in my stash):

You can read more about this page on the Love My Tapes blog today.

The third page I made is one of the bird pages in the book. I instantly thought of one of my favorite quotes about flying, which led to a quote about challenges and the sticker quote about dreams. I left spaces for more quotes to be added later, as I find the right ones.

The birds on a wire are cut from a piece of a Hambly transparency. I am hoarding the last bit of that sheet, as well as some others. I'm so sad they aren't in business anymore. I saved the gold floral die-cut from a project I did several weeks ago. I punched birds from the same gold foil paper (Chickaniddy Crafts) and placed them in the glassine bag. On the opposite page, I used the negative from punches.

You can see more photos of these pages in my flickr photostream. Thanks for visiting for SMASH Sunday! Tessa

Summer Sun - SRM Challenges

It's the first Friday of the month, which means there is a new challenge up at SRM Challenges! This month's theme is summer. I had some extra prints of a San Diego trip a couple summers ago that I've been meaning to scrapbook, and this challenge was the perfect opportunity.

I used two sticker sheets for this layout. The general summer sentiments from this one, and the beach/water-themed stickers from this one. I simply trimmed out my favorite sentiments and lined them up on rows of washi tape and stripes in the patterned paper.

The papers are from Dear Lizzy's Lucky line. I have hoarded this collection and it's about time I use some of it! It felt good to use some of that stockpiled paper :). The flower brads are Chickaniddy Crafts. The alpha stickers are Fancy Pants Designs.

I also finally got to use some washi tapes that hadn't made their way on anything yet. I love the dark navy and floral tape! It almost looks black here, but it's really a beautiful blue in person.

If you'd like to join in the challenge, you can check out the details here. Several other designers have projects up to inspire you, too, so be sure to stop by and take a look. If you were just there, thanks for clicking over to my blog. I hope you enjoyed the close-ups :).

Thanks for visiting! Tessa