Happy New Years!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families! Steve and I had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the day at my parents house enjoying Christmas day with them. My mom bought my dad a PS2 for Christmas, so I bought him Guitar Hero to go along with it and oh, wow.....what a hit that was. We all took turns playing the guitar and had a blast. His PS2 also came with "Sing Star" and that was a pretty big hit as well. It was so funny how the game would tell you if you were good or awful as you were singing. I am a trained singer and I got quite a few "BAD" reviews....totally fun though :) The only bummer point that day was realizing my camera's battery was not charged and so I didn't get any photos :( Ah, man...I would have had some hilarious photos too. Ah shucks!

Tonight I am hosting a New Years Eve party at my house for my family. I will serve dinner, appetizers and of course drinks ;) I have requested that Dad bring the guitar hero game....so as you can imagine, good times will be had tonight! Oh, and there will definitely be photos!!

I have been taking a bit of a break scrapping. Sometimes we need do that for a bit right? Although I can't stay completely away from my scrapping-addiction, so this last week I totally re-vamped my scrap room. On Thursday, Steve and I spent the afternoon finally putting some color on my walls. I chose my favorite color..... "Tiffany-box" aqua-blue. I am making fun canvases to hang on the walls using some of my stamps and other mediums....lots of black and white and polka dots to go with it. I have also gone through EVERYTHING I have and ended up purging a lot of my stuff. I have a lot set aside to possibly sell on Ebay, but am not sure if that would be the right direction. Any ideas? Anyway....it feels really great to have my room totally organized and colorful. Just the way I like it. I'll be sure to take some pics to share. It's so pretty :)

Oh, and something else I am pretty excited about right now.... Steve and I both joined the gym. Since my whole training fiasco, I've not been working out as much. Um, and it shows. Not pretty. Anyway. Steve said he would be my partner at the gym and help motivate me. I really appreciate how sweet he is by going with me, doing cardio right next to me and encouraging me. For some reason I need that right now. I am just soooo not happy about the weight I've put on, so I am really going to do something about it. I only wish I wouldn't have let myself get this heavy. Ah, well... I am doing something to change that! Here's to a new body for Tessa!

In closing this ramble-session of a post, I am sharing my latest layout. This layout was created for the StylesTheWord blog. Our inspiration for December was Pam Callaghan. Pam has been one of my favorite scrappers since I started scrapbooking 3 years ago. I have had the opportunity to get to know her somewhat personally through a few phone calls and our design team positions together. I adore her style and it was awesome to give her "style" a whirl. January's inspiration is me. They are calling my style "Excellent and Eclectic." Pretty fitting don't you think? LOL!


And....here is my sketch for Crop Addict's January Manufacture Challenge where Piggy Tales is the featured manufacture. Please feel free to use this sketch if you wish :)




Here's wishing everyone a wonderful New Year. I wish for you a wonderful, heathly, prosporus year.

I'm sick (yuck) but we have snow (YAY!!!)

Uh, yes I do realize that is a weird title for this post. Just keeping things in perspective at the moment. ha! Well, I've got to remember what's good today as I lay here feeling like um.... *you know what*. I'm totally not trying to create a whine fest here or anything, but geesh, I got Steve's cold earlier this month which luckily only lasted about a week and just Monday night I started feeling nauseous and was sick all that night (like that ugly sick that luckily you only get a couple times in your life) and all the next day. I even called in sick for work today which I don't ever like doing. I am feeling better stomach wise, but man-o-man my body aches and I feel weak. Whah, whah, whaaa.. I know..lol!

So, I thought I would put some of this down time to use and share with you what I woke up to on Monday morning. I just love how pretty the snow is. Here is another fun collage (love these things lately..ha) of our neighborhood and home the morning after a bit of snow fell.

Scrappy wise:

Here's a layout that should make you laugh....Um, or cry..ha, ha!
Though the hair cut I was sporting at the time totally makes me cringe, it just had to be scrapped about. The photo was taken almost 8 years ago during my 21st birthday party. Good times that night..lol!




Here is one I did about a month ago using all of the fun new KI memories stuff---LOVE this lace paper.



I've been in the mood for creating cards (and a tag) lately and here are a few of my favorites :)
I just love the colors of Tinkering Ink's Botanical Bliss line of papers and embellishments. I used some Stickles to add some sparkle to bird. Gotta have a wee-bit of glitter, right?!?



I used a template from Mirkwood designs to create this card, along with Tinkering Ink's "Haberdasher" line of papers and rubons and some fun May Arts ribbon.


Another card using a template from Mirkwood designs along with Tinkering Ink papers, KI memories lace paper and some Junkitz jewels. I had to alter the template a bit as the wings of the butterfly are suppose to intertwine, but I couldn't get mine to do that w/o ripping, so this is what I came up with. :) "Make it work!" Right?!?! :)


This one is just fun and colorful. A "Just because" type card. I love getting those. To create this card I hand cut the flowers from Piggy Tales new line called, "Ba, Ba black sheep" and combined it with some KI Memories paper (Did I say I loved that stuff...lol) and some ribbon and jewels.....oh, yeah and my beloved Doodlebug alphas that I am using on everything lately.



Steve and I had a great time at my parents Christmas party this weekend and my sis took a couple pics of us together. It's always nice to have new pics.

So, we wish you ALL a very wonderful holiday season!

Happy Holidays!

I am really enjoying the holidays this year. The music, the decorating, the cooking and especially family festivities. I'm really loving it all. I hope you are enjoying getting ready for your holiday with your family and making traditions new and old come alive!

Today I took pictures around the house. Since moving into our new home, a "real house" Steve and I have been so excited for the holidays... to be able to decorate and share good times with family and friends. I have to admit that I got started on my holiday decor just a wee-bit on the early side....um, like a week before Thanksgiving. In between now and then I have placed the final holiday touches on our home and it couldn't be any more lovely in my eyes. I love to wake up in the morning and come home from work at night and plug in the lights. It's truly like magic this time of year. I love everything about it :) I've been cooking so much lately. It's been a lot of fun. I have enjoyed using recipes from http://www.allrecipes.com/. I love how you can read the comments on the dish before you prepare it and take the suggestions into consideration. Steve and I laugh at the people who give 5 stars, yet the changed the entire recipe. I swear, those comments crack us both up. A lot of times they give really great ideas for making the dish even better. Last night I made a stuffed chicken with apples, cheese, cinnamon, onions, a wee-bit of brown sugar and some chicken flavored stuffing. You pound the chicken breast thin and role the mix into the center of the chicken and cook in a skillet with white wine and a bit of garlic. It was so delicious. I have been really proud to finally have something great to serve at dinner lately. Yes, Steve and I have been married 8 years, but during that time I've only cooked for him a handful of times. I feel bad about that, and for some reason lately I am really loving creating beautiful, heathly meals for the both of us. That makes me feel really good. Oh, yeah and the house smells SO good every evening :) That it's self is worth all of the effort!

Aside from the suzy-home maker duties (haha----just had to say that..lol) I've been working a lot at my LSS. It's been fun assisting customers who are picking out Christmas gifts for others and those who are making mini-books and cards for family members. Class sign ups have been really slow this month sadly. I've created 2 classes for the store this month, but both were cancelled due to the small sign ups. So, I think I'll hold off on creating anything until things pick up again. It's all good though....that's just the way it goes sometimes :)

In my scrappy-world, I received the beautiful new Tinkering Ink releases for Winter CHA and made several layouts and a mini album for them. I can't wait to be able to share the sneak peeks with you. Just when I think the lines can't get any better, they do. All I will hint is: Can we say.... color??!? I also have a new sketch up at Crop Addict for their manufacture challenge using Tinkering Ink's Beloved line. Here is the sketch if you would like to play along. (You don't have to use the beloved line, you can use any Tinkering Ink paper you have, it just has to be primarily Tinkering Ink) So, to play along...simply post your layout to Crop Addict's gallery using 70% of Tinkering Ink products to get a chance to win some great products from Tinkering Ink. My new position this year at Crop Addict is to create a sketch each month for a manufacture challenge. Crop Addict will have a new manufacture each month for this challenge. I will continue to post these sketches for you to use on my blog each month! I hope you like this :) Enjoy!

Well, I hope you all enjoy your time with your families this weekend. Here's creative vibes to get all of those holiday gifts finished, created and wrapped this weekend :) Um, am I a wee-bit ambitious??---You bet!

Much love,

Tessa Ann

tessaannwatte@gmail.com

Joy of the season online class

Boy time has just gone by so quickly this past week. I've been busily putting the finishing touches on my new album class. "Joy of the season."
This is going to be a bit different than teaching a class in person, as it will be an online class. Right at Home Scrapbooking is a wonderful scrapbooking store located in Attleboro, Massachusettes. I've been creating pages for Lisa for the last couple of years and recently we decided to give this online class a try. I'm excited and proud to give a bit of a sneak. If you are interested in taking the class, follow the link above to get more information.

Here is a little description of the class :)

"Warm scarves and mittens, hot chocolate, snow angels and holiday cheer make winter a memorable time for families world-wide.

Create a beautiful album to display your families winter traditions and memories using Tinkering Ink's "Yuletide" line of papers combined with dazzling jewels, buttons and layers of gorgeous ribbon, lace and rich textures.

Create your album to store your own family traditions or as a gift to give during the upcoming holiday months."

This kit is packed full of scrapbook goodies. You will be working with a 9x9 Bo Bunny Chipboard album, Tinkering Ink's Yuletide paper collection, transparencies, Bazzill cardstock, Heidi Swapp bling, Cosmo Cricket rub-ons, buttons, loads of ribbon, & beautiful lace, rhinestones, Heidi Swapp flowers, Imaginesce Poinsettia flowers and more.

Happy Friday and have a lovely weekend!!

:)---Tessa Ann Watte`

Hi there! I hope you all are having a great week. I just wanted to pop in really quick and post a couple of new layouts.

I am the Nov. guest for www.allabouteve.blogspot.com.
The challenge this round was to scrap what we love about our bodies. At first when I received the challenge, I was stumped. I started thinking about it and decided I would just write about my thoughts about my body.

Journaling reads:
I can’t lie.
I often wish my body was the perfect standard.
But it’s not.
I wish I could walk comfortably in a swim suit.
But I haven’t since I was a child.
I have always been told how pretty I was, but if I lost weight I would be better.
Yes, that hurts.
So through the years I’ve come to appreciate my strong features.
My green eyes, my complexion, my hair color.
What I’ve come to learn is that we all are a work in progress and I am just that.

I know! Enough already of the deep stuff! ---LOL---

I created a layout just to play this week. I scrapped a pic of my sister and I that I love. I bought the Making Memories Noteworthy papers and embellies at my LSS a few weeks back and have had them sitting by my desk patiently waiting for me to do something with them. So Tuesday night, I grabbed a glass of wine and headed up to my scrap room to play. With the music bumping, I happily started cutting, inking and layering my goodies :) It came together rather quickly. I love the soft muted tones. I know I tend to scrap wild, bright colors, but just as much as I love bright colors, I love these soft feminine tones.



Lastly, I would like to share an adorable photo of my parents adorable golden retrievers that I took on Sunday at the Park. (um, who are patiently waiting for me downstairs to take them out for a walk--always---lol) My parents are arriving home tonight, so they go home today. While I've enjoyed them being here, Steve and I realize we are just not "dog people" Man, those boys are like little kids needing constant attention. They even pout. ha! Baily will not eat his food unless you sit down next to him and coax him. P a t h e t i c. My mom has totally spoiled these dogs. But hey, they are adorable and so, so sweet :)

{Left is Baily aka: "Baily Boy" and right is Rocky aka: "Rocket Dog" lol!}



Enjoy the rest of your week!
XOXO---Tessa Ann Watte`

The sketch layouts and a RAK Winner!

How is your week going so far! Are you seeing signs of the season changing? It has been getting windy and cold here in Bend, Oregon. The fireplace has been in action, the winter coats have been brought out. I am just awaiting my favorite tea to be released......Celestial Seasonings "Candy Cane Lane." Then I will be all set for this season.

My parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary today. Happy Anniversary Dad and Mom! They flew out last night for a few days in the grand town of Vegas. They l o v e going to Vegas. My mom just loves going through the luxury hotels and seeing the shows. Uh, I think Dad likes all the pretty ladies...lol! Steve and I offered to babysit their 2 golden retrievers, Baily and Rocky while they are gone. I just adore these boys. So far Steve and I have enjoyed hitting the park with them. Yesterday we took some really cute shots of them in the park laying amoungst the golden fall leaves. There was a professional photographer waiting for her client to arrive who came up to us and asked if she could take our picture. Um, sure! So, we got a really cute shot of us all together. More pics to scrap. Yay!

Thank you everyone who played along with this sketch. It was really neat to see everyone's creations. I have created a slide show of all of the layouts linked, as I feel they need to be showcased!

I wrote each name of each entry on a strip of paper and put them into a wine class and pulled out a random name for the winner of the RAK!




And............. Dum, dum......... The winner is :

Tons of stuff to share :-)

Hey there!
I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far. Steve and I have been digging through boxes getting our holiday decorations ready. I have to admit, I am pretty eager to put the tree up and decorate our new home. We actually live in a home now that I can put lights on the outside. I've always wanted to do that, so I am pretty excited to get started. Yes, I know......it's early to be thinking about this. That's just me. I love this season :)

I have decided to extend the sketch challenge until next Sunday. I've received a few entries (that are AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS---you know who you are!) and want to give those who wanted to play along a chance to get their layouts done.

I've been creating so many pages and projects lately. And I would love to share them with you. First I'll share one of my newest creations. I bought a bunch of new goodies at my LSS and had to put them to use on this layout.


I am also excited to share my guest designer work for www.scrapmagie.com and www.myfavoritememories.com. Beware! There is a lot here..haha!

The first project here is a chipboard album about my favorite things. This album combines Tinkering Ink, Basic Grey, BamPop and Hambly. The complete instructions to create this book is on www.scrapmagie.com








Here are a couple layouts I created using this kit. Thank you, Marina. I really enjoyed working with this colorful kit!!



Here are my layouts and projects for www.myfavoritememories.net. A big thanks to Shari and Lisa for giving me this fun opportunity to work with your fab kit. It totally got me in the mood for the holiday season!






I used the Page Frames clear stars to create this Christmas album.


An altered frame:



Lastly......a couple cards and a gift bag :)






Enjoy the rest of the week!
XOXO----Tessa Ann Watte`
tessaannwatte@gmail.com

Up for a challenge?

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a great week. I think this week went by way too fast. I am still stuck back on Tuesday, I think..lol. I've been doing a lot of scrapping this week making tons of different goodies. I love those times when I feel inspired and I can just create until my hearts content.
I was invited to be the November Guest Designer for My Favorite Memories It was a huge honor for me as I totally dig their bright, colorful kits. It's just so my style. The ladies there are so kind and welcoming. Thank you Lisa and Shari for this opportunity! I am really excited share my projects next week.

As I mentioned in a previous post I am also the November guest designer for ScrapMagie.com. Yesterday afternoon I received a fabulous, funky, colorful kit that I am dying to dig into! So lots of creating going on in my end of the world :)

I also created a sketch for a challenge on another kit site, but changed my mind (LOL) and am going to create another one. I'll post a link to that one once it is up and going. I can spill that it has to do with Tinkering Ink and their lovely "Beloved" line.

So.... I wanted to post the sketch and layout here just in case you would like to give it a try. Post a link to your layout if you decide give my sketch a whirl and I will draw names for a RAK. I've never done a challenge on my blog and it's about time that I endulge someone in some scrappy goodness! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!


Well, I just want to close by saying. Have a wonderful weekend. I hope you are able to find some time to play!



Talk to you soon!
Tessa Ann Watte`
tessaannwatte@gmail.com

This and that...and some new class layouts.

What a nice day it was. Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the day in doors watching movies with the smell of yummy pumpkin spice candles and fresh brewed coffee permeating the air, the fire place crackling.......oh yeah, and scrapbooking of course LOL Well,that was me today.....totally relaxed, comfy and in complete creating mode :) Steve joined me....and Mozart.....while I was scrappin' away in my room for a few movies. For once I had my camera handy and I just thought they looked too adorable just chillin' in the big chair, coffee in hand...all cuddled up and cozy. It totally looks like he was sleeping, but nope.... just relaxed :) Oooh... look... Mozart is even watching the TV too...lol :)

Thursday night we decided to go and get some pumpkins at the store and carve them. Yes, I know……by the time Halloween comes they will be smoochy, but I couldn't’t resist. Heck, we can buy more. Right?!?!
We bought some cute templates and carved our designs carefully…um/or rather not so carefully into our pumpkins. I made the cat face design and Steve created the goofy face and the face on the smaller pumpkin. Man, I’m slow carving a pumpkin ...ha! We enjoyed some wine while we were carving and yes, that ensured a heck of a great time with the whole process, except when Steve broke the small carving knife. That totally ended my detail work.
Steve has been funny about lighting them each night. Yes, he is a bit corny, but I love that about him. He really enjoys the simple things in life. He is a great counter balance my personality. Anyway. I tried. And tried. To take a great photo of them lit at night. It just was not happening. But you get the gist of them . I suppose I really should invest in some photography classes in the near future.

Friday night I hosted a birthday party for my dad at our home. He loves chili, so I decided to make him chili from scratch along with his favorite cornbread and sweet tea. We had a great time together!

This week I created the pages and card for an upcoming class that I'll be teaching at my LSS. We are going to use 4 pieces of patterned paper and create 3 completely different looks along with a card to use up the scraps. I am incorporating a little bit of painting the background, along with lots of layering and and a dab of doodling frames. It will be fun to do, I think!

Well, I've already written a bit of a novel here. I just want to wish everyone a wonderful week. I hope all is well where ever you are :)

XOXO----Tessa Ann Watte`

tessaannwatte@gmail.com

Back home..... and a Tinkering Ink Sneak Peek!

I arrived home late Monday night after a great week in Florida. Where do I even begin?
I arrived at my hotel last Tuesday 10/2 excited for a great week. I met Dionne and Melita at the spa the next day for complete day of pampering and fluff. It was so neat to meet Dionne and Melita. They are such sweet, funny ladies and we definitely enjoyed a few laughs. I just loved their sense of humor. It was nice to hang out with Karen from Rusty Pickle. Boy, her and I talked up a storm about anything and everything. I loved visiting with her and scrapping with her. My classes went well and I had a great time showing off Tinkering Ink products. I spent a lot of time alone surprisingly. I enjoyed ordering up room service, a bottle of wine
and watching TV in the evenings. The view was beyond
gorgeous (see photo to the right)

I did spend an evening with the girls at the lounge "getting our drink on" Only those of us who were there that
night will remember (or not..lol) the couple at the bar (wink!) and the air plane convention guys. (um, losers!) It was all around fun, until the girls started sharing ghost stories and scared me out of my mind. I have to admit I didn't sleep much that night and ummm....I'll also admit, the lights and TV stayed on all night. (Go ahead, laugh at me, I am a big baby!)

The fun ended too soon and I flew home on Monday. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep, but overall it's good to be home. Home sweet home.

In closing I'm sharing the newest addition to Tinkering Ink's array of papers and goodies.
This beautiful line is perfectly called, "Beloved"





I love the combination of red, hot pink, aqua, green and black and white here with this line. Perfect for any Valentines day projects.


I'll post a few more projects over the weekend. For some reason, this was all blogger would allow me to post today :)

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
-----Tessa Ann Watte`

Brrr.....that's what I thought when I first woke this morning, as our bedroom window was completely open and the curtains were blowing in the breeze. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes I could see why it was so cold.....the sky was white and thick; no clouds in sight. I guess I didn't quite believe the weatherman on yesterday mornings news. He acutally had the nerve to forcast snow around our area of Oregon. Crazy, I tell ya! It's not even October and we might have some snow?!? Seriously? It was hard to believe because yesterday was warm and sunny and today.....completely white sky. Deep down, I do have to admit I'm a bit excited for the change in season. It has been a very hot and dry summer and while I've enjoyed the beauty of it all and being outdoors, the cooler air is much more appealing to me. Though....I think it's going to be nice to be in Florida next week to absorb one more week of nice weather. I wonder what the weather is going to be like there? I hope warm and breezy.

This week has gone by pretty quickly for me. I can never decide if that is ever a good thing or a bad thing. I worked at my beloved LSS Sunday through Wednesday and enjoyed myself as usual. I had some time to play in between customers and created a few pages that I will share below :) I had the day off yesterday, so after a lazy morning and too much coffee, I hit Barnes and Noble to get a few books for my trip. I think I scored and found 2 really good chick-flick-type books that will keep me out of pure boredom on the long flight to Florida on Tuesday. I decided to go first class on this trip, so I'm hoping they have some sort of moving playing or something to entertain me ha!. I am not someone who sits still very well for 6 hours at a time! I need music a movie....something stimulating other than watching the man next to me do business on his laptop or the stuardess trying to put on her best friendly face... Though.... I do plan on taking full advantage of a few glasses of champagne and just enjoying myself. Okay..nuff about that!

I'm excited to share that the lovely girls at a new french site called, Scrap Notes have asked me to be their very first guest designer for the grand opening of their site in October. What a cool honor! Thanks ladies!

I will also be a guest designer for http://www.scrapmagie.com/ in November. I checked out their site and the kits are amazing and the past guest designers are people like Rhonna Farrer, Karen Russell and many other amazing people.......so as you can imagine, I was quite honored to be asked to do this!

Well, my coffee cup is empty and I need to hit the shower and do some primping :) I get to open up the shop today for Suzie! I'm hoping it's a busy day and people are in the mood for shopping.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Hugs, Tessa Ann Watte`

tessaannwatte@gmail.com