Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Wrap it Up Wednesday - Gift for the Hubby



Hello and welcome to Wrap it Up Wednesday! I love a pretty present. Ask my family and friends - I sometimes ooh and ahh over the gift wrap more than the gift itself! My problem is that I am not very good at wrapping gifts. Time and time again I have resorted to tissue paper in a bag with a pretty tag or flower embellishment. While that is all well and good, sometimes a bag just isn't quite the right approach. So I challenged myself to wrap several recent gifts and I have lined up those projects to share with you every Wednesday this month.



First up, my hubby's Valentine's Day gift - a framed print that I found here. I wrapped the frame in kraft wrapping paper. I worked with two different kinds of kraft paper for this series. I bought some at a dollar store and found it to be the easiest to work with because it was thinner. I also liked the texture. However, if you are looking for durability, the Scotch brand kraft paper that I picked up at my local JoAnn store was thick, and it was also more smooth.


I wrapped the gift in an ombre orange-red yarn. I went with this color palette because I didn't want it to be too frilly for my manly husband, but still romantic. I tied a simple bow, then tucked an arrow behind it. I made the arrow out of a stick from our backyard. I simply cut the triangle and chevrons from patterned paper (DCWV - Coral Couture Stack), then hot glued them to the stick. I thought an arrow was a great fit for my husband - not a fancy bow or flower.



To finish it off, I splattered a bit of mist in coral, white and gray across the package. Instead of a tag, I used alpha stamps to stamp directly onto the wrapping paper.



My husband loved it :). You'll see over the next few weeks that I love my kraft wrapping paper, and I turn to yarn often. I'll be showing you a couple of gift topper options, as well as other ways to dress up plain paper. I hope you'll stop by for more! Have a great day! Tessa

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Feeling lucky? - SRM Stickers

I am this year! I haven't always done a lot of crafting for St. Patrick's Day, but this year, I've got several projects to share. First up, these SRM tubes that I made for my boys:



I was in the checkout line at JoAnn's when I looked over at those bins they fill with seasonal things and little kid craft supplies. I saw a package of glittered leprechaun hats and instantly thought, "Those would look great on top of tubes!"


The day finally came when I was putting them together. It was after school one afternoon, before cub scouts. We bring home an extra cub scout with us to help get him to our den meetings. While the boys were working on their homework, I was working on these tubes. I was staring at the tubes with the hats on, thinking that they needed something else, when this precocious cub scout says, "You know what you should do? Add beards!" Genius! He also suggested googly eyes and pipe cleaner arms, but I didn't go quite that far :).


I cut the beards on my Silhouette Cameo, then added the "Lucky" sentiments from SRM's quick cards sticker sets. A little green bling and mint M&M's finished them off. Now my boys can't wait for St. Patrick's Day.


You can read the post about these tubes over at the SRM Stickers blog today. Have a great Tuesday! Tessa


Friday, March 1, 2013

Etsy-versary Celebration - Giveaway Winners

Did you win? Let's see...


went to...


who graciously declined the prize due to her large SMASH stash, so the next gal in line was:



went to...


who is the lovely...



went to...


who is the lovely...



went to...


who is the lovely...



went to...

who is the lovely...


Winners, please contact me at precociouspaper (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you won a physical prize, please send me your mailing address. If you won the shop credit, just send me a list of goodies when you are ready and I will set up a listing for you in the shop.

Thank you all for your support! This has been a really fun week :). Don't forget - the sale is on through Sunday. Every fifth item is free and code 5YEARS will take 5% off of your entire order.

Have a great day! Tessa

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Time With You - DCWV

DCWV has so many new stacks out that I am having a hard time choosing which one to play with next! The District Stack caught my eye with its bright yellow, red and blue papers. The metallic silver foil is so pretty and the gloss accents are really fun, too. I printed this photo from our recent Valentine's Day shoot and decided to pull my favorite red and neutral papers from the stack to make this layout:



I fell in love with the red and black rose print and just knew I'd have to cut into it. I love my little cutterbee scissors for fussy-cutting. I also fussy-cut the clocks from another patterned paper. They were (obviously) what inspired my title and journaling.



The title was cut with my Silhouette Cameo (Jenna Sue font) and the journaling is typed in my favorite font, Traveling Typewriter (dafont.com).



The photo was too warm for the silver metallic from the stack, so I pulled gold foil paper from the Foiled Cardstock 6x6 stack to layer under my photo. I simply tore off about an inch at the bottom and tucked the rest of the piece under. I love all the new 6x6 options for this kind of layering!



Josh has been working extra late the past couple of weeks, so while he toiled away last night I comforted myself with scrapbooking this layout and indulging in a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg. Those things are the bane of my waistline's existence this time of year. Forget jelly beans, give me the Reese's Eggs! Better yet, give me jelly beans and then I won't be tempted :).



Be sure to check out all the new stacks at Michaels and JoAnn's these days :).

Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Etsy-versary Celebration - Giveaway #5

Happy Birthday, Precocious Paper! I can't believe my baby is five years old today :). In celebration, today's giveaway is...


To enter, leave a comment on this post. Comments are only open through today, and winners for all the giveaways will be announced tomorrow.

Thank you for your orders and support! I have had so much fun celebrating this week. The giveaways may end tonight, but the sale continues through Sunday. Every fifth item is free, and use coupon code 5YEARS to receive 5% off of your entire order.

If you've been missing the scrappy content here on the blog this week, don't worry. I'll be back a little later today with a new layout for DCWV.

Have a fantastic day! Tessa


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Etsy-versary Celebration - Giveaway #4

Hello, hello! Today I have a giveaway that I really put my heart into. If you've been following Precocious Paper for some time, you know I have an affinity for making yarn wreaths. I have a new one for my front door every month :). Today, I am giving away one I made just for one of you!


This is a large, 14 inch wreath. I based the color palette on my Sunday Best sampler, available here. Wouldn't this look pretty on your front door for Spring? If you'd like to win, just leave a comment below. Comments are open through Thursday and a winner will be announced Friday.


Don't forget about the Precocious Paper sale! I know many, many of you haven't ;). Thanks for keeping me busy! But if you haven't heard, every fifth item you purchase is free and on top of that, you can use coupon code 5YEARS to get 5% off of your total. Shop here.

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your Wednesday :). Tessa

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Etsy-versary Celebration - Giveaway #3

Happy Tuesday! As I sit here at my laptop with my planner (yes, I still use a paper and pen planner), I can't help but feel giddy about all of the dates lined up so nice and neat. Having everything as organized as possible, at least on paper, brings me a sense of calm. That doesn't mean my days ever go as planned, but having some goals and deadlines in place certainly helps. If you are a fan of calendars like me, you will love today's giveaway:


First, a magnetic calendar kit by SEI! The calendar has a blank, re-usable surface and it attaches to your fridge (or any other magnetic spot). You can slip in a background to dress up the calendar, and the kit comes with enough paper and embellishments to make a background for every month of the year. I love that this calendar is essentially perpetual. You could re-use it year after year.

Also, I'm including a brand new stamp set from Technique Tuesday! I actually won this stamp set at CHA from their booth. Teri Anderson pulled my business card during a drawing ;). Even though the sentiments speak to my calendar-loving heart, I'm not much of a stamper, and this set looks like something someone who does Project Life would get more use out of. So, instead of hoarding a great set of stamps that I may not use, I'd love to pass it along to someone who will use it :).

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post. Don't forget to enter Sunday's and Monday's giveaways, too! You have through Thursday to enter and winners will be announced on Friday.

Don't forget about the sale going on at Precocious Paper, too! Every fifth item is free, and you also receive 5% off your entire purchase with coupon code 5YEARS.

Thanks for stopping by today and for celebrating Precocious Paper's 5th birthday with me! Tessa