GCD Studios and Heidi Sonboul

Have you heard? Heidi Sonboul has created her very own collection for GCD Studios - Oh Happy Day!

You can find the sneak peek on Heidi's blog today, then the full reveal on the GCD Studios blog January 6th. It looks so fun and bright and cheerful! Way to go, Heidi!

Be sure to stop by and check it out :). Have a great day! Tessa

GCD Studios and Christmas

Just sharing a couple of layouts that I made with GCD Studios products for Christmas. First up, the church Christmas party:

These photos are of last year. The tables were decorated with ball ornaments and the boys and I had a little fun with them while we waited for the party to start. I love using bits of ribbon this way:

This photo is also of last year, and it makes me sad to look at it. This year's crop of oranges and mandarins really hasn't been a good one at all. There just aren't as many, they aren't as big and they aren't as yummy. I guess I was spoiled in 2010 :).

Lots of handstitching here. I had fun making the page leafy and green :). I hope the trees look more like this in 2012. 

I hope your week is going well! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my Christmases past :). Enjoy your Wednesday! Tessa

Music...

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music, so one of my favorite events of December is the music concert at school. As a gift to the boys' music teacher, I made this:

I filled a tube by SRM Stickers with jingle bells (it had to make music, too!) and chocolates, then added a snowflake and more jingle bells to the top. The sentiment is also by SRM Stickers.

The finishing touch was wrapping the tube in Tim Holtz' sheet music tissue tape. I think that's my new favorite technique with these wands and tubes :). You can see the post about this tube at the SRM blog here.

How was your Christmas? Other than being in pain from dental surgery, I really enjoyed it. We are lucky to have our families close, so there was a lot of family and fun. And it isn't done yet! We still have plans for the rest of the week, although Josh did have to go back to work today. I hope your holiday was everything you wanted it to be and more. Thanks for stopping by today! Tessa

Please welcome...

...the Precocious Paper Design Team for January-June of 2012!

Suzanne Spokus
Cassandra Cyr
Melinda Gallagher
Elise Lyndsey
Amanda Jones (Alumni Designer)

I will be introducing these lovely ladies to you more formally once the holidays are over, but please feel free to visit their blogs and leave them some love. Also, please let the wonderful Mandy Koeppen know how much you appreciated her and her amazing work! She's going to be missed around here.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend, and I'll be back next week with more crafty pursuits to share :). Merry Christmas! Tessa

Merry Christmas Wands

I have the wonderful opportunity of directing a little performing and competition dance troupe called "The Sparklers". They are delightful four to six year old girls and they couldn't be cuter! I decided to make them wands that they could twirl around with for the holidays:

Using Magic Wands from SRM Stickers, I filled the wands with little chocolate candies and then wrapped each one with decorative tape. This tape is from last year's line by Martha Stewart. I loved the candy cane stripe effect :).

The toppers are actually ornaments and I glued them on in such a way that they could easily be removed from the wands and added to a tree. I used a snowflake ornament as my base, then added an accordion fold rosette. Next came a punched heart and a banner-cut sentiment (SRM of course). A little aqua twine and the wands were done :).

The girls loved them, especially the fact that they were wands. They started twirling immediately :). You can find more about these wands on the SRM Stickers blog today, here. Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

Felt Bows and Necklaces

Happy Friday! I just wanted to pop in to let you know about a couple of blog features going on :). I had several people ask me how I made the felt bows for these cards:

So, I created a tutorial that is on the SRM blog today. Enjoy!

Also, I have a necklace on the GCD Studios blog. I used a few of the cabochons from the Sweet Surrender line, as well as the Chip Art tool and some Chip Art jewelry. You can see my post here, as well as as the inspiration photo that started it all.

I am so swamped with work right now that I just haven't been able to pin down my new Precocious Paper design team. Thank you for all who are waiting so patiently! Have a fabulous weekend! Tessa

A little birdie told me...

...to buy her. And put her on my Christmas wreath:

I loved the glitter and long, long tail feathers. I think she looks happy nestled in the poinsettias and felt roses.

I enjoyed my feathered friend so much that I decided to add one to Colten's teacher's wreath:

Thank you for all the well-wishes! The pain has decreased significantly and I am taking just enough Vicodin to get by. The medicine is still making me a bit loopy, but I'd rather be somewhat productive and loopy than in pain and on the couch. This is a terrible time of year to be out of commission!

Be sure to stop by Sketchy Thursdays today for a new sketch (by the talented Heidi Myers!). Also, Scrapbook Circle has two challenges going on right now, with a fabulous Christmas kit up for grabs. Thanks for checking in and enjoy your day! Tessa