Attitude of Gratitude: Day 9

This is my boys' bookshelf. It's a battle I have fought over and over again, but my boys just don't share the same love of organization that I do. However, I'm okay with the mess now. Why? Carson just earned 350% of his reading goal for the first trimester of the school year and came in first place in his class. Colten also surpassed 100% of his reading goal. I don't mind one bit that these shelves are a mess because it means they are reading. I am grateful that my boys love to read.

Today at the SRM Stickers blog I am sharing a layout I made with photos I took on our October trip to the pumpkin patch. My assignment was to use the stickers on fabric, so I chose to create my layout on burlap:

The stickers took to the burlap beautifully! Did you notice the lace and felt flower from my Etsy shop? That one is from the Autumn Afternoon Sampler.

You can find the SRM Stickers post here. Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 8

Today I am grateful for my family. I never imagined that as a mother I could love my children so much. I never guessed how good it would feel to make dinner together, eat together, sing together, pray together and play together. I grew up in a great family that did all those things, but the perspective of mother is different and now I understand. I am truly blessed. I am grateful to my husband, my partner in creating our little family, our little piece of heaven on earth. We had a great family night last night that I will share with you soon - we got crafty and I'd like to show you what we made, when it's finished :).

Precocious Paper is sponsoring The Studio this month! I am giving away your choice of the Very Merry line, the Vintage Poinsettia line, or a $25.00 shop credit. All you have to do is play along with a challenge this month. Our first one is up: Create a layout with hand-cut shapes. Scissors only! No punches or die-cut machines. Here is my take:

I hand-cut the circles from scraps of patterned paper. I thought the whimsy of the almost-circles matched the whimsy of the photos. This kid and his faces, I tell ya. Sometimes I wonder how so much personality fits in one little two year old!

I hope you'll play along with us! You can find all the details in this post here.

And speaking of sponsoring, Precocious Paper is also sponsoring Sketchy Thursdays' December Guest Designer Challenge! I'm giving away an Attitude of Gratitude kit and a $10.00 shop credit. For more information, see this post. Be sure to take a look at the design team samples - they all made layouts about gratitude and they are amazing!

 Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 7

Good Monday morning :). I woke up headache-free and ready to tackle my to-do list. Spirits are high and I hope to keep it that way :). Today I am grateful for children who make me laugh. I think one of the characteristics you need to be a successful parent is a good sense of humor. While getting in the car to head off to school this morning, I heard from Carson, who was putting his seat belt on, "Everyday I'm buckling...." If you're familiar with the song "Party Rock Anthem" you'll get why it's so funny. If not, just know, I was cracking up. No matter how crazy my boys make me, they can always put a smile on my face with their silly antics and innocent takes on life. I just love them!

Over at the SRM Stickers blog on Friday I shared a calendar I made with their new calendar stickers:

I added the stickers to shipping tags, then hung the tags off of wires attached to an empty frame. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and even though we are still several weeks away from 2012, I'm enjoying seeing it up on my wall.

You can read more about how I made it on the SRM blog here. I've got more photos up in my flickr photostream here.

And one more crafty thing before I go.... If you follow Precocious Paper on Facebook, you're probably aware of this already, but I just have to let my blog readers know, too. Precocious Paper is going digital! I've partnered with Sahlin Studio to have select products digitized for use in digital scrapbooking! Autumn Afternoon is available now, and more is coming. You can purchase the digi elements here. And be sure to check out what the Sahlin Studio design team is doing with it all! Sigh, just gorgeous!

Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude: Days 4-6

Hello! Another migraine sidelined me from Friday until today, so I'm going to do a bit of catching up now. I was sure to express gratitude to someone each day I didn't post here on the blog, so I was being grateful ;). I just wasn't able to sit down at the computer and type it all out.

Day 4: I am grateful for the opportunities I have to work with youth. As a mother, as a volunteer at my kids' school, as a youth leader at church and as a dance teacher, I have multiple opportunities to work with children, tweens and teens. I'm not always as mindful as I should be about the influence I have with these people, and I was reminded of that this week. I want to be an influence for good, and I am grateful that I have been trusted in so many places to do so.

Day 5: I am grateful for work. I am grateful that I have opportunities to bring income into my family through work that I love. I am grateful that my husband has a good job and that he can provide for us. I am grateful that I can teach my children the value of hard work. I am grateful that my parents taught me how to work.

Day 6: I am grateful for health. As I watched Jaxon go through his little ordeal this week (he's much better now, thank you!) and as I have experienced a major migraine this weekend, I am grateful that our lots are not any worse. I am grateful that, for the most part, we enjoy good health as a family. Things could change in an instant, so health is one blessing that I count every single day.

Before I go, I just wanted to share a little experience I had Friday. I wasn't feeling good at all, so I wasn't a very good playmate to Jaxon that morning. I set him up with train tracks and cars so that I could sit and rest for a little bit. When I handed him the last car, he looked up at me and said, "Tank you, Mommy." We're still working on the "th" sound :). But it wasn't prompted and it melted my heart. Gratitude is contagious. I hope you are sharing your gratitude often. I promise, it will catch on, and when there's gratitude, there's happiness.

Have a great day! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 3

I am grateful for fall. The colors haven't reached their peak yet in my neck of the woods, so I am enjoying seeing the trees down my street just now begin to blaze with color. I am watching the sky outside darken, and I just picked up a new (houndstooth and totally adorable) umbrella at Target. I love the crisp mornings, the cool air on my skin, and I just can't help but feel a little extra happy because of it all. I really do love fall, and I am grateful that I am able to enjoy it right now.

I made a layout about how fall makes me feel, and it's up at the Scrapbook Circle blog today:

I used the new kit from SBC, called Harvest Festival. I based my layout on a sketch by the fabulous Diana Fisher of Sketchy Thursdays, which she so kindly created for today's new challenge on the SBC blog.

I'd love to see you join in on the challenge! You can use any materials you'd like (although we would love to see SBC kits in action), and anyone can enter (subscriber or not). You can get all the details on the challenge here.

Looking for more sketch inspiration? Be sure to check out Sketchy Thursdays today :). Since it's not my team's week to create samples, and because my schedule is kinda hectic at the moment, I took the week off. But wow, there are fabulous things to see - so head on over!

And if that's just not enough to get your creative juices flowing, Miss Art's is having another Free Class Weekend this weekend! Here are the details:

Has Halloween left you covered in sweet wrappers, partially duct tapped to your child's abandoned costume with a bank account balance that's more trick than treat? If your feeling more hallow than happy let Miss Art's headmaster treat you to a fantastic, but time sensitive offer. For this weekend only, (November 4 - 6th) enjoy a tuition free class designed to renew your creativity, and go easy on your wallet.  You can even snack on the candy "taxes" you've stolen from the kiddos while taking the class.  Beginning on Friday, November 4th, you will have 3 days to check out one of our most popular classes for free, no subscription needed. In “Layered Layouts”, you will accompany our inspired resident architect, Julie Winks, as she explains the essential underpinnings of daringly designed layouts. We hope to see you in the class room and if you enjoy our class that you'll be kind enough to leave an apple or a comment for the teacher.

You can find Miss Art's Papercrafting School here. Have a wonderful day! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 2

Today I am grateful for the sound of little, chubby feet that run with reckless abandon down the hallway when Mommy comes home. I'm grateful for the tackle-style hug I get when those feet reach me, even when I lose my balance and down we go. I'm grateful for the gleeful shout of "Mommy!" and the newly learned phrase, "I miss you at the store, Mommy." I'm grateful for Jaxon and the opportunity to be his mother. And even though it was nice to go grocery shopping last night sans boys, I was so glad to get home and see them all.

Have you been by the SRM Stickers blog lately? They have kicked off a new contest, all about Tubes. You can read more about it here. And while you're there, you can check out this Grateful Wand that I made.

While you are expressing your gratitude this month, take every chance you get to express your gratitude for someone to that someone. Everyone needs to hear that they are appreciated, and whether you do it with a handmade gift, a card, or even just an email or phone call, it's important that it be said.

Enjoy your day! Tessa

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 1

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I love this quotation from President Thomas S. Monson. It comes from an address you can find here. This is what my Attitude of Gratitude project is all about - lifting people up. We have enough negativity in our lives as it is. I hope this project brings light and happiness to everyone who participates.

Over the weekend, my son hurt his arm. It didn't seem broken or seriously hurt, but he was in a great deal of pain. My husband and my father gave him a priesthood blessing, and his disposition improved a bit. We planned to take him to the doctor first thing Monday morning if he wasn't feeling better. Sunday night was awful. My heart ached for Jaxon as he shouted in pain every time he tried to roll over in bed. It was a long, sleepless night. As soon as the older brothers were dropped off at school on Monday, we went to urgent care. The doctor found that he had nursemaid elbow, a partial dislocation. A quick pop back in and he was back to his normal self - within minutes! We are still moody because we are catching up on sleep, but he's okay. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful for priesthood blessings and for healthcare professionals and so much more.

What are you grateful for? If you would like to participate, you can read the invitation here. Many of you emailed me that you were joining in and even helped to spread the word. From those names, I've randomly drawn the winner of an Attitude of Gratitude kit from my shop. Congratulations to...

AMANDA JOHNSON!

Please send me your mailing address and I'll get the kit off to you right away. And speaking of the Attitude of Gratitude kit, I've asked my friend Heidi Myers to be a guest designer for Precocious Paper this month, and she has been working her magic with the kit. Would you like to see her cover?

Amazing, right?! We'll reveal more as the month goes along. I'll be sharing my album here and there, too. If you would like a kit, there are still a handful available in the shop. I promise to ship quickly so that you can start recording your gratitude right away :).

I'm grateful that you stopped by today :). Have a great day! Tessa