{{Precocious Paper}} Blog Hop!

Good morning! 

Welcome to a very special {and picture heavy} post! So grab a cup of coffee and take it all in ;)  

First things first, HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, TESSA!!

Tessa is one of the first scrapbooking bloggers I "met" when I started my blog more than three years ago. She is so super sweet and talented, too!  In addition to being a wife, mother to three adorable boys, and a dance teacher - she runs a very successful etsy shop, Precocious Paper!  I don't know how she does it all.

Imagine my surprise when I received an invitation to join a blog hop birthday BASH for Tessa's 30th birthday! Um.. yes please!!  This girl knows how to throw a party ;) Besides the AWESOME line up of bloggers, with tons of projects to share sponsored by Precocious Paper, she is giving away over $100 in Precocious Paper product!

So, if you've just happened upon my blog today, you will want to start back at Tessa's blog, so can hop from the beginning and not miss a stop.  If you are coming from the fabulous Jan's blog, you're in the right place! Welcome!

I had a chance to create with this assortment of Precocious Paper goodies:

The rolled fabric flowers are the first flowers I fell in love with in Tessa's shop. I bought some for my wedding layouts and I'm pretty sure I've accumulated every color she's made since then lol! They are so fun to work with and really add a touch of elegance and texture to a page.

I used these white ones on a wedding layout from my sister-in-laws ceremony in Colorado. I was inspired by sketch 132 at The Scrappiest. The papers are from DCWV stack "Lemon Flower".

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Aren't they the perfect touch? Each set comes with one large flower:

And two smaller flowers:

The next layout I made uses both the sweet spots and the chocolate cupcake poppy! The design was inspired by the latest sketch at Let's Scrap. The papers and alphas are from Basic Grey.  I knew I wanted to showcase a bunch of candid photos from our trip. 

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The sweet spots were just the subtle embellishments I needed to bring these two pages together. I added the cupcake poppy to the cluster next to the title:

I love how Tessa mixes felt, paper, brads, doilies, and pearls to create these fun accents! And you get a bunch..

I had a few sweet spots leftover and made a quick and simple card inspired by the photo challenge at Paper Smooches:

It says it all .. Thank you so much Tessa for including me in your celebration!!

Are you drooling over the Precocious Paper product you saw today?? Here's how to win!

* leave a comment below - Tessa will be choosing random blog hop participants to win credit to Precocious Paper

* become a follower of the Precocious Paper blog - one random follower will win a $20 gift card to Precocious Paper

* become a facebook fan of Precocious Paper - one random follower will win a $20 gift card to Precocious Paper

* complete the hop for a chance to win the grand prize - September, October, November AND December samplers (a $54 value!)

Tessa has added many new products to the Precocious Paper shelves! Treat yourself with this FREE SHIPPING code and receive a thank you gift, as well.

Code: SPBBHFREE

Thank you so much for stopping by today and celebrating Tessa's 30th birthday with us. I would be honored if you became a follower and came back to visit me!

Your next stop on the hop is... the fabulous Diana!!

Happy Hopping !! :)

Furever My Friend :)

Staying bunkered down at home for the weekend while we wait out Hurricane Irene here on the East Coast. Wishing all my scrapbooking and blogging friends a safe weekend!

I have been creating all morning, most projects I can't share yet - but I do have one layout I to show you. I'm making a scrapbook for my best friend who is due in any day now :) She has a BIG, lovable chocolate lab who is about to have a "baby brother". I had to create a special page for him in the scrapbook for all of those cute puppy/baby pics.

The "Furever My Friend" set at The Digi Bistro store is my favorite! And I used several cuts on this layout:

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I think it's my favorite page I made for her so far! :) The name of this set is included in the collection, perfect for this scrapbook layout's title!

There are some adorable doggie cuts, I chose 2 of them that best resembled her dog. Some of these have spots you can also cut, but I left them out as he is solid brown. I just had to add google eyes!

All of my diecuts are on popdots for dimension :)

The bone is also included in this set, and I used my new favorite Scrappy Mom Stamps "Raining Cats and Dogs"to stamp "I woof you!" on each of the them.

The scallop mats were made with the Stylish Edges #5 file - perfect for 4x4 square photos. I embellished each of them with my EK Success ticket punch and another Scrappy Mom Stamps sentiment from the same set. These are popped up, so her photos can slide under.

The doghouse was so fun embellish! I used my Cuttlebug "distressed stripes" folder on the red layer to make it appear wood-like.  I also added a little sign for her dog's name instead of the paw included in the set... and another bone!

 

 I hope she enjoys this page as much as I do! :) Be sure to stop by the Digi Bistro blog and facebook page to see what the rest of the design team is creating. A new set will debut on Monday and a new challenge introduced on Tuesday!

There's still time to participate in the "step card" challenge. See all the details here.

Have a great weekend! :)

Birdy in pink :)

I needed to make a girly birthday card today and am excited to enter it into a few challenges :) The colors were inspired by the Birthday Sundae's pink/green/white challenge and the overal design inspired by this card sketch at Sassy Little Sketches.

This little birdy is part of the Simply Tweet collection at The Digi Bistro! I don't have the Straight from the Nest cartridge that the Scrappy Moms challenge called for, so I used a similar cut.  The sentiment is from their Everyday Greetings set.

This was my first time using liquid pearls! I think I'm hooked! I also used my Martha Stewart doily lace punch :)

  

I'm also entering this card at the Paper Trail and Fantabulous Cricut for birthday cards :)

Have a great Saturday!

It's a jungle out there!

Well at least at Cricut Cardz it is this week ;)

Challenge #89 is to create jungle themed birthday card for child!

If you have Create a Critter, you HAVE to join this week :)

I used the little monkey and made this card:

I'm loving green and brown together ;)

Stop by Cricut Cardz and see what the rest of the DT created and to link up your own creations! I can't wait to check them out.

New challenge up at TPV!

There's a new challenge up at The Paper Variety!

We welcome back a fabulous sponsor:

The Paper Trail is offering an assortment of Graphic 45's "ABC Primer" to one random winner. Perfect for back to school season!

I made a card for this week's challenge:

Head over to The Paper Variety to see what the rest of the design team (and guest designer!) created this week, as well as enter to win :)

Have a great day!

{Step Card}

Welcome to the "This to That Tuesday Challenge" at the Digi Bistro!


I love trying new techniques :) This week's challenge at The Digi Bistro was to make a "step card", a first for me! But it was super simple and definitely a repeat technique!

This is a standard 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card, scored in half, but with a few other strategic cuts and folds.  I followed this tutorial for the measurements.

I embellished my card with the ADORABLE "Under the Sea Friends" designs. 

So cute, right?! The little crab is my favorite.

I used a sentiment from Scrappy Mom Stamps.

Stop by and see what the rest of the talented design team created.

We want to see your step up cards, too! 

Link up you cards to The Digi Bistro blog for a chance to win 3 prizes. Random winners may receive a $5, $10, or $15 gift certificate to The Digi Bistro!

Have a great day!

Owl Always Love You

A quick page for a great sketch at Frosted Designs.. I've got to make a dent in my Colorado pictures! LOL!

I used my new Hoot n Holler cricut cartridge. This will eventually be a double page, hence the uneven pink frame.

Have a great Monday!

Thank you cards!

I needed make a bunch of thank you cards for various people who have helped me get my classroom moved and set up, as well as work on the curriculum with me this summer. 

Lots of hours, lots of work for a successful start! I wanted them to be cute, but quick and easy too since I wanted to 'mass produce' them. Here's what I came up with:

Again, loving the 4x4 square cards! This adorable apple is from Create a Critter (without the face layer) and cut at 3 1/2". I am so glad I experimented using patterned paper for some of my cuts on my previous card -- aren't those red/white polka dots perfect? Who would have thought!!

I'm committed to using up my 6x6 pads of paper :) These background mats are from Basic Grey.  

The "thanks" stamp is a favorite from Scrappy Mom Stamps. If you are looking to expand your sentiments selection - you must go visit them :)

And now I'm hungry for cupcakes.

 Darn those cricut cuts that look so delicious!! :) I was inspired by Fantabulous Cricut's cake/cupcake challenge.

This cupcake is cut at 3 3/4" on Create a Critter and adhered to a 4x4 easel card (which is the challenge at Celebrate the Occasion). I have found a new love in square cards!

The patterned papers are from Basic Grey's Green at Heart 6x6 pad. That is one of my favorite collections from them! One thing I don't do enough is use patterned paper for my cricut cuts. I used the polka dot pattern for my cupcake liner. So cute!

A side view for you. Easel cards are easier than they look to make! I ran the icing layer through my Cuttlebug d'vine swirls folder. Love the dimension.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you're having a crafty Sunday ;)

Exciting News!

Did you see the new blinkie on my sidebar?

Wahoo!! I'm SO excited to be invited to join the
The Digi Bistro team!

Cher's designs are just TOO cute and I can't wait to jump in and start cutting. 

Take a minute and check out The Digi Bistro!

I bet you can already guess which set is my favorite :)

I'm honored to join these fabulous ladies on the design team!

Check out their blogs for things they've already started creating. You'll be so inspired!

Laura

Corri

Lauren

Sandra

Melanie

Jessica

Carley

Cher

Also, be sure to "like" The Digi Bistro facebook page so you're updated on the latest products, but also inspired by the projects posted!!

Thanks again, Cher for the opportunity! 

Have a great weekend everyone :)