My Boys, the Photographers and Sketchy Thursdays

We were walking to church one beautiful Sunday and I pulled out my camera to get some shots of the boys and the leaves.  Then I passed the camera off to Colten and Carson and they took pictures of Josh and I, walking hand in hand.  They turned out pretty great and I had to make this page with them:

My journaling comes from the latest poem at Scrap That Poetry, "The Tables Turned."  The design team did a fantastic job interpreting different parts of the poem and creating a variety of layouts.  I kept mine fairly simple with some paint and buttons. Come check out the blog and play along.  We'd love to have you :).

Today is Thursday, so I have a Sketchy Thursdays layout to share, too.  I loved the trio of photos in the sketch and decided to create a layout using photos from the firestation field trip I went on with Colten's class.  I was only going to use kraft, red and black, but then I opted for those Cosmo Cricket letters.  That "D" had a blue center, so I just had to slip into my favorite color combo - again :).

Here's the sketch:

And here are some details:

I know December can be a crazy month, but what better way to de-stress by giving yourself a little scrappy time?  I hope you can find a few minutes to join in on a challenge or two soon.  Have a great day! Tessa

December Daily Album and TPV

Here I go, from one big project to another!  The Attitude of Gratitude challenge came to an end and my December Daily album begins today! 

I'm a first-timer and very excited about it.  I started working on this several weeks ago, right after Ali started posting about it.  I got sidetracked before doing my cover until I saw this week's prompt at The Paper Variety:

I immediately chose the bottom row and got to work creating a title with three different alphabets.  I kept the cover really simple because I kept embellishments to a minimum on the inside, too.  Here are all the details:

* I'm going to document EVERY day of December - there's a lot of fun stuff planned between Christmas and New Year's, so I don't want to quit on Christmas.
* My album is 6 inches by 6 inches.  I plan to print my photos at 4 x 6 (some as collage prints), add a square of patterned paper, and journal on the leftover block.
* I will type my journaling daily (crazy, I know, I almost always use my handwriting!), keeping a document at the ready on my desktop. 

* I will print my photos and journaling once per week and will work on the album at a set time once each week.
* Materials used: patterned papers - Fancy Pants Christmas Magic line (2009); snowflake transparency - Hambly; velvet embossed transparencies - Fancy Pants; doilies and butterfly punch - Martha Stewart; tags - Elle's Studio; teal alphas - Making Memories; typed number words - Scrap Rat; pom pom trim - Maya Road; paper flowers - Kaisercraft.
* I plan to embellish the metal rings with ribbons after the album is complete.

Have you done a December Daily album before?  Any words of advice?  Don't forget to head on over to The Paper Variety to see which path on the tic-tac-toe board each designer took.  Without discussion we all ended up doing something different :).  Have a great Wednesday!  Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude #30

Today, I'm grateful for Christmas music!  I've been playing a Christmas station on Pandora for a couple of days now and just can't seem to get enough.  One of my favorites, made famous by the movie Home Alone, is The Drifters' "White Christmas".  It just makes me happy.  If you'd like to listen, you'll want to pause the music player at the bottom of my blog.



I'm going to finish up a couple of layouts with the fabulous December Scrapbook Circle kit while listening to more holiday tunes.  Enjoy your day! Tessa

Calling all Attitude of Gratitude Players...

Can you believe that only a couple days are left in my Attitude of Gratitude challenge? Where has this month gone?  As I look back, I feel blessed, enlightened, happier, more hopeful, and energized in my lifelong journey to become a better person.  How do you feel?  What are your thoughts as this project comes to a close?

I am planning to dedicate a special post to my final thoughts on this challenge, including photos of my finished gratitude journal and announcing the winner of a $25.00 gift certificate to my shop.  If you have played along, please remember to link me to your posts here.  I am very interested to hear what you have to say after participating, even if it wasn't on a daily basis.  Please email me your thoughts, and with your permission, I'd like to share them here on the blog - precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com.  Please send your emails and link your posts by Saturday night.  I will publish my post and announce our winner on Sunday.

Today I'm grateful for this life that I have been given - the experiences that are mine to grow and learn from, the joys and the sorrows that I have been blessed with, free agency that allows me to make my own choices, and the eyes to see that I am perfectly fine as me.

Before you go, I have some fun news :).  Precocious Paper is being featured in the December/January issue of Ready, Set, Create!  I really enjoyed doing the interview and cannot wait to read about it.  Take a look at this cover - that's a Precocious Paper Sewing Pattern Petals bloom!

Also, I will be the featured artist at Scrapbook News and Review on December 6th.  I won't give any hints, but I will tell you that I worked very hard and this is what my scraptable looked like when I was done creating samples:

Have a wonderful Monday, all!  Tessa

Carseat Driver

Hello!  The last challenge of November is up at the studio.  Amanda created a great sketch and has challenged us with this twist: use a monochromatic colour scheme.  I love yellow, and I've made a couple of yellow monochromatic layouts before, but never for a boy.  So I challenged myself further to make one work for my little guy.

He loves to coo, giggle, and shout little things from his carseat while we are driving.  He loves cars (which he calls vroom vrooms), so taking a ride is like a parade of sorts.  He is starting to talk now, so I'm sure the jibber-jabbering will only increase - which I love!

Here's the sketch:

The design team did a great job, as usual.  You have to see Nic's all white layout - amazing!  Check out the challenge here.

Today I'm grateful for naps.  Yesterday morning I curled up on the couch with the baby and the boys and I watched a movie.  The baby and I woke up nearly three hours later.  It felt so good!  It was only then that I realized I needed to take some time to slow down and rest.  I'm grateful for those rare times that I get to physically recharge with some downtime.

Have a good day everyone, and maybe try to catch a nap!  Tessa

Designer Friday (on Saturday)

Yes, I know, I'm a day late :).  I have layouts from Rebekah and Nikki today that I can't wait any longer to share, including one with a new design from Precocious Paper.

Nikki created two very sweet layouts with Cupcake Poppies, this first one with Orange Polka Dot Cupcake Poppies...

...and this one with Pink Gingham Cupcake Poppies.  I love how Nikki fashioned the blooms by adding stitched leaves and pretty stems.  So very cute!

I sent Rebekah a new design in my Super Stars line - Grunge Super Stars.  This particular set is called "Gunmetal Grunge" and made of charcoal-colored shimmery cardstock, recycled cardboard distressed with black ink, black felt, and gunmetal-colored brads.  I absolutely love how they look on this page:

I'm so grateful for such a talented design team!  Nikki and Rebekah, thank you!  If you'd like to try out any of these embellishments, now is the perfect time!  Today is the last day of my Black Friday sale.  Use this coupon code during checkout for 10% off of your order: BLACKFRIDAY2010.  Also, since this is the last Designer Friday post of the month, leave a comment about a project that inspired you and you could win a prize package from Precocious Paper!

Nikki joined in on the Attitude of Gratitude challenge today with these beautiful thoughts: "There are soooo very many things I am grateful for in my life.  At the top of my list....Stef and my three cherubs, whom I thank God for on a daily basis.  They fill my world with love and laughter and  bring out the best in me.  They are a constant source of all that is important in my life and teach me something new each day!"  I love that last sentence - what blessings our families are :).  Today, I'm grateful for my mom.  We are headed to JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts before the sun rises to snag some crafty deals.

Have a great weekend everyone!  Tessa

P.S. - Heather at {embellish*ology} is also having a sale (use coupon code turkey10), and Scrapbook Circle has some fantastic deals available, too!

Attitude of Gratitude #26

I'm really glad I have taken this gratitude journey.  I think in a few short weeks of doing this project I have learned more about myself and living a grateful life than I have in a long time.  Today that knowledge has been put to the test.  It came to my attention today that someone in my professional life said untrue things which have had a negative impact at work.  If you've followed this blog for a little while, you know that my job outside of Mother and Etsy is teaching dance - which I passionately LOVE doing.  However, it seems that just when things get going well with my job, something attempts to tear me down.  A work-related project was very disappointing today, too.  And this may seem really trivial, but in the 2.5 years that I have been selling on Etsy, I received my first non-positive feedback from a customer today.  I've had nothing but positive feedback in the past and have worked very hard to make my wonderful customers happy.  However, this customer would like to receive something for next to nothing, and I cannot supply what she wants.  Seeing that brown square with a circle inside of it (twice) made my heart fall to the pit of my stomach.

Okay, so the lessons I am learning.  There is no room in my life for negativity - none.  I cannot be happy unless I give and hold onto love, forgiveness and gratitude.  I need to learn from every situation I am in, every challenge I am given, every trial I encounter - big or small.  I need to make the proverbial lemonade.  I need to remember that other people's choices can have a ripple effect in my life, but that I can control how large the waves get.  I can ride those waves or drown in dispair.  It's my choice, and even though I'm struggling a little bit, I am trying to be grateful for all I have - the good and the bad.  I am also seeing even more clearly the importance of living in a way that only uplifts others.  I don't want to be the cause of someone else's hurt.

So today, I'm grateful for the opportunity to come out stronger and better on the other side of trials and challenges.  I'm grateful for inspiration from others who have made the negative in life beautiful.

And if you're still reading, I'm grateful for YOU.  I am constantly uplifted by my blog readers and appreciate all your sweet comments of encouragement and support.  You're the best :).  Have a wonderful weekend!  Tessa