A Paper Cut You Want

I am very excited to share something new from GCD Studios - The Paper Cut! It's a beautiful magazine produced by GCD Studios and filled with inspiration from the design team. You'll find sketches, color palettes, tutorials and dozens of ideas for using GCD Studio's newest collections. The layout is gorgeous, professional, and worthy of real-life glossy pages. I've gone through it twice myself and still want to take another look!

You can sign up to receive the magazine at this link. Be sure to check out my tutorial for using a banner punch to create a multi-petaled flower like this:

See, not all paper cuts are bad :). Have a good one! Tessa

Smash Sunday

Hello! This week I'm sharing a very dimensional page :). I usually keep my Smash pages fairly flat, but my collection of Scrabble tiles gave me an idea that I couldn't refuse to bring to life on a Smash book page:

Yes, my name is Tessa and I am a craft addict :). I balanced out the bulk of the Scrabble tiles with a few fabric yo-yos.

The round epoxy stickers and the lady with the scissors are by GCD Studios. I used fabric as my background piece, as well as a banner cut from my favorite Dear Lizzy paper EVER.

The date tags are by Elle's Studio. The "hello" stickers are both SRM Stickers. A bit of navy and pink washi tape and some splashes of mist made it complete :).

I'm not sure what I will do with the other side, but I did add some washi tape to ensure that the future page coordinated. I'm thinking of adding journaling strips with "gems" my kids say from day to day. Like yesterday, when I asked my almost three year old if he could spell he said, "e-i-e-i-o."

Thank you to all of my new blog friends for spending some time here! I'm glad to see that you are following along and I really appreciate your visits and comments. Have a great start to your week! Tessa

P.S. - Don't forget to enter to win my vintage goodies giveaway here!

Vintage Giveaway!

Good morning! I am a little sad to see the Vintage Series over at Amanda Jones' blog end today. There has been so much inspiration! I have two projects up today and I'd love for you to take a look. First, a tutorial for making a fabric flower using vintage fabric (or any fabric, really):

And second, a fabric garland:

You can read all about these projects here. Amanda is doing a giveaway at her blog (go enter, quick!), but I thought I would do one here, too :). If you would like to win this collection of vintage and new/handmade items, just leave a comment:

Prize includes:
♥ a mini fabric garland
♥ a string of vintage, yellow pearl beads
♥ a vintage match box
♥ a vintage game token
♥ a vintage stamp
♥ two yellow Petaloo flowers
♥ five Precocious Paper flowers

I will choose and announce a winner next Friday. I will ship worldwide, except for Italy. I will be back a little bit later with a new Sampler to reveal! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa

Faux Polaroid Tutorial

Hello! I have a tutorial up on the Scrapbook Circle blog today, but I thought I should share here, too. One of the items on my wishlist right now is this little guy:

I love the look of Polaroids, and the fact that this camera produces mini Polaroids? Even cuter! Until I can make him mine, here is what I can do in the meantime:

Gather together a square punch, paper trimmer, and white cardstock.

Punch a square out of your cardstock. Make sure that you reach your punch as far into your paper as possible to leave enough room for the caption space and to make sure your punch is "square" with the paper. This will make the next step easier :).

Using your trimmer, cut a rectangle around the square. Cut pretty close to the square at the top and sides of your rectangle, but leave a much bigger space at the bottom for the caption.

And, voila! You've got a faux Polaroid frame! And I can see I need a new blade on my trimmer ;).

I hope your Thursday is a good one! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa

My Debut at Epiphany Crafts

I am so very excited to be a part of the Epiphany Crafts design team and on Monday my first project went up on the blog! The theme of the week is Easter Treats, and this was my take:

I made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and packaged it in a mason jar. To decorate the jar, I added a fork with twine, a wooden tag, and leaves.

The flower is a brooch, complete with an Epiphany Crafts epoxy and charm. The top of the jar is covered in the same fabric as the brooch. I used the tangerine tumble roses fabric by Amy Butler from her Love line. I thought the pinkish orange was perfect for Easter :).

Now I have a yummy treat and little accessory for a friend :). If you need any Easter treat ideas, be sure to visit the Epiphany Crafts blog all week. The design team is doing amazing things! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! Tessa

Vintage Napkin Holder, Smash

Hello! Amanda Jones' Vintage Series has been a delight to follow this past week and I have a few more contributions of mine to share with you today! A few days ago, Amanda posted about my vintage napkin holder:

My grandmother gave this to me a few years ago and I just recently incorporated it into my scrapbook room storage. I love using it to hold tags and ephemera. You can read more about it in this post.  Today, Amanda is sharing how I put my napkin holder to use to create this Smash Book page:

Remember the vintage fabrics I shared last week? I used a swatch of one of my favorites on this Smash Book page:

I love using fabric as an alternative to patterned paper, especially when I want some texture. The other contributors to the Vintage Series have some fabulous ideas, too, so head on over and check them out. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day! Tessa

Smash Sunday

Hello! I'm back with week two of Smash Sunday, the weekly post where I share what I've been up to in my Smash Books. Last week I put together these Spring-inspired pages in my red, Everyday book:

I used these photos for a pair of layouts (that I will share soon!), and had doubles printed. I used the extras for these pages, along with bits and pieces from Lily Bee, Cosmo Cricket, Elle's Studio, American Crafts, and Pink Paislee. I had a lot of fun searching my stash for green, pink and red.

My favorite details include this red bookmark, which I received as a thank you gift in an order from the Etsy shop 29blackstreet. It's her own original art and seeing as I am currently putting together my summer reading list, I thought it was the perfect piece of ephemera to add this week.

Also, even though I don't sew, I've begun collecting spools of thread in pretty colors. I love the look of a little bit of messy thread tucked here and there. It must have to do with the random strands I find stuck to me after crafting all of the fabric flowers for my Etsy shop :). I added some red thread in the corner and I really like the way it loops off of the page.

A magazine clipping made its way onto this spread. I found this leather bow bracelet image in a BHG magazine and trimmed it out. I had already seen a tutorial for these bow bracelets on Pinterest and even taught a group of girls how to make them, but with Spring here, I want to make more in some bright pretty colors.

SRM Stickers has several sheets of great Spring-themed sentiments, and I just had to add several. Some are on the edges, and one is directly on a photo - I love that technique and will probably use it again and again!

I smashed a bit more in a few spare moments, but I'm still tinkering and will share next time :). I hope you've had a great weekend and are ready for a great week! Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa