My Christmas recap..... and some new projects!

I really hope that you had a very wonderful and memorable Christmas day!

Steve and I enjoyed our day so much! We arose and drove to my parents house for a Christmas breakfast of mom's yummy scrambled dishes and fresh muffins and fruit :)
Oh, yeah, don't forget the coffee.....yup gotta have the coffee!
After opening gifts from Dad and Mom we then drove to Heidi and Aaron's home for gifts there. Kind of like getting milage out of Christmas morning...haha! Well, it works for us :-) So, you guess it, then everyone came to our home to open the gifts from us. We drank hot chocolate and shared our gifts with Mom, Dad, Heidi and Aaron. I just loved seeing the expression on their faces as they opened their gifts. I think they loved everything :-)

Our family has always been all about tradition. We would always do the same thing each year. This year we decided we would all enjoy a dinner out!

And we did just that :-)



So....... my mom decided to reserve us a table at local favorite restaurant. It was nice to sit around a table together enjoying each other's company, not worring if the rolls were going to burn or if the dogs needed outside. We could *simply* focus on one another and visit. It was so nice.......................................that's until I spilled my glass of red wine in Steve's lap. Yes, I am a total clutz and that was only my 1st glass. So embarrasing. I often say that I receive my lesson in humility each day and I definitely did that day.

But, overall Christmas day was wonderful and I will remember the new traditions we shared together, the coversations we had at dinner and the experience of sharing a day together as a family. I hope we continue this for years to come!

{{{{The first picture is of our sweet family dog......Baily. He is my parents adorable Golden Retriever who is the most patient dog. Steve posed Baily with his very own doggy-santa hat. Then the 3 of us {Heidi, Dad and I} all shot pictures of him at the same time. The funny part is that he just stood stiff in that very position you see in the picture------ for--- forever it seemed...haha. }}}}






Here are a few projects I created today using the January Crop Addict Kit. I really enjoyed how bright and playful papers of the kit were this month!

My inspiration for this layout came from the photos of my sister Heidi and Baily sharing some love on Christmas morning. Too cute, huh?
This is another fun project I created today using product from the January Crop Addict kit. I received this tin as a Christmas gift from my mom. I decided to alter it into a tin to store my handmade cards.
I created tab-like dividers for the inside that display the catagories of cards >ie: Hello, Thank You, Congratulations, Get Well Soon and Happy Birthday.
Steve and I always need a card to give to someone for any occasion, so I thought this would be perfect! I think this would make a cool gift too?!!
The last layout, "LAZY" is one of those "just for fun" type layouts!

I often use my sweet cat Mozart to practice my photography on, so I usually have many photos of him.....most of them are of him sleeping..haha!

So, this layout features my sweet boy doing what he does best.........BEING LAZY!

Have a wonderful week!! Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XXOO---Tessa Ann Watte` 

A short summary of what I've been up to lately :-)

We celebrated Steve's birthday last weekend. He loves carrot cake, so I cheated (with his blessing..haha) and picked up these wonderful carrot cake cupcakes for his birthday cake. He loved this idea and we decided to dress them up with some cute snowman candles we received in a gift last year. Steve plucked some garnishments from our outside wreath to add into our holiday themed cupcakes :-) Steve received a lot of new goodies for fishing. He has been really wanting to get back into fishing every since we moved to Bend, so he was really spoiled with some wonderful fishing goodies. Oh, his mama made him the most beautiful handmade quilt that is made of the most gorgeous colors that fits our bed. As I type this I realize I should have taken photos of this lovely present and posted them to show you all, but maybe I'll just save it for my next entry :)
Here is a photo I captured of our Christmas tree fully decorated and presents are wrapped. Yeah!!! I wish I could have captured a photo that was more clear, but what-the-hey this is what I got...........and I think it looks pretty :-) I went with a "star" theme this year for my tree. My colors varied in rich reds and sparkly golds and silver accents. The presents sort-of overwhelmed our little tree this year..hehe. But, it was really good to be able have so much to give to those whome we love!
This is a shot I captured of our mantle. Decorating our mantle just as fun as decorating our tree....in my opinion :-) I love adding a collage of ornaments and garnishes to make this fun little area festive, eye-candy when you are standing near-by getting warm and cozy from the blustery winter weather!
Today, Steve mentioned that he wanted to add something personal to the gift bags he had already prepared for his co-workers. Yesterday, I suggested we buy plain white gift bags at Michaels and use up some of my existing Christmas paper to decorate and personalize gift bags to place the items he found for each co-worker. He had covered many wonderful gift ideas......all but the good stuff-----the sweets :-) And...what is better than sweet combined with salty?!? I felt inspired to create these cholate covered pretzles. I sprinked crushed candy canes on some of the pretzel sticks and dripped melted white-chocolate on some of these goodies! We were out and out about today trying to find something to wrap our treats in when Steve came up with the idea of going into a local favorite candy store and ask if they would be willing to sell some plastic wrapping? Well, Steve with this charming nature was able to score us enough to wrap all of our treats. They look so pretty in the clear wrap tied with red Christmas ribbon. Their tasty too :-)

Just a few new layouts to share :-)

I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far! I have been working like a busy bee on the holiday shopping, decor and many scrap related projects! Fun stuff :-) I attempted to make some holiday cookies, but because I am a novis in the kitchen I thought it was okay to bake them on the wax paper. It showed baked cookies on the packaging, so I *thought* it was okay. Oh, boy.....what a mess. Wax cookies... Any one want some? Didn't think so..haha! Well, I hope to give it a try again....Steve is much better in the kitchen than I am, so I'll have him supervise next time. {blushing}
Okay, so I am making one small confession............I cheated this year and didn't handmake my Christmas cards. I feel bad, but ran out of time. Anyone else skip out on the hand made cards this year?

I have a few layouts to share using Crop Addict's December kit. The first layout posted is my bosses daughter. She is so girlish and adorable and I really loved scrapping this pic! Thanks Meg :-)
The other 2 layouts I have here were created using the December Crop Addict Mid-Month kit. I can't believe it has almost been eight years since our wedding day. Yikes. Time really does fly! The sad part is....I have yet to scrap all of my wedding photos..lol. I'm working on it {wink}
One of my favorite scrapbooking subjects is my sis, Heidi. I can never run out of inspiration and things to tell stories about. Just like any sisters, we have LOTS of stories...haha!! I have been wanting to break out our younger-years photos and start telling those stories. That should be a hoot!!

Have a great afternoon!!
XXOO-Tessa 

A few new projects :-)

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I've had a lot of fun creating several scrap projects over the last few days. I recently commented that I was trying to conquer my mini-album fear.............(lol)

So?? What's the best way to conquer a fear?

Yes, that is right! To *meet* my fear face-to-face!! (haha)

So what I have done??? I've created 3 mini-albums in the last week.{yikes} I have shared 2 of them with you today, but the 3rd album I have created was made using the fun *new* Tinkering Ink papers, so I'll have to wait a bit to share that one :-)

The 1st album pictured is an album I am giving to my husband's grandparents as a Christmas gift. Steve's grandparent's have always been very supportive of my scrapbooking, so it will be neat to present them a little piece of what I have captured of the family over the years. To create this little album, I altered a 7 Gypsies chipboard book with the December Crop Addict kit.
The layout featured above is about the joy I have watching our family open gifts on Christmas day. This feeling goes all the way back to my childhood with the memories I have of my most-loved grandma Cotton. She was always the spirit of Christmas for our family. Each Christmas we would wake up early and open presents at home with Mom and Dad. After we dressed we would drive over to Grandma and Grandpa Cotton's home, for a warm Christmas day filled with joy and happiness.
The last few Christmases, I've missed that very tradition we had shared since I was a child.
I realize it's up to us now up to our family to create new traditons and joys during the holidays, and take along the traditions once we treasured because of grandma Cotton.
I do know one thing............I will always thank Grandma Cotton for the joy I feel during this holiday season. (okay, this just gave me an idea for a layout...haha!) * To create this layout I used the December Creating Inspirations kit
"Christmas Memories" is a mini album I created using products from the December Creating Inspirations Kit.

*I've had these Bazzill chipboard circles for quite some time. I had an idea to make them into a 3 page mini album.
A very small mini-album, actually....(approx. 3x3). This would be the perfect gift during the holidays, or any time, I think :-)
I chose to make mine themed to the favorite moments I captured during our Christmas day last year.
I also think this little album would work great as an extended card or just what I did, pick a few photos that made me smile and remember our Christmas day. I'm not someone who is able to stay interested in making a 6-8 page album, so I kept this album to {3} chipboard circles and {4} 2.5 x 2.5 photos. I love having all of my favorite 2005 Christmas photos in a place that's minimal in size and simply states the wonderful Christmas in 2005 that Steve and I hosted in our new home, in our new town of Bend, Oregon.

Thanks for stopping by :)
Have a great day!
Tessa Ann Watte`

The holidays are in full bloom here at the Watte' home!

On a whim last weekend, Steve and I decided to put up our Christmas tree. We have always waited until Thanksgiving day....at least. Not this year, though! I have really enjoyed having our Christmas decor up. Each morning and evening I am greeted by me a beautiful sparkling tree and the aroma of cinnamon. Ahh....I do love this time of year most!
Of course, I am a bit silly (or cheesy, what ever you want to call it..haha) and had to capture a few pics of us in the middle of our decorating session :)
Thanksgiving was wonderful! My mom cooked the most elaborate and yummy dinner! The photo above is my favorite part of the meal..haha! The table setting.. It's turned out so pretty :-)
I've been working on a lot of fun projects lately, and have decided I love to make mini-albums. I used to be so intimidated to make these little goodies, but this weekend I actually created 2! I created one using super cute papers fromTinkering Ink line of papers and 1 album for a gift using 7 Gypsies papers from the December Crop Addict kit. The layout pictured above, is of my sweet nephew, Nick. I captured this pic of him over a year ago when we were playing at a local park. I was inspired by the shape of the tire he was playing inside of for the design of this layout.
Have a wonderful week ahead!!
XXOO----Tessa Ann Watte`

My new banner :-)

Edited:
Thanks to Lucy http://www.luzinhavip.blogspot.com I now have this super neat banner to make my blog fun! I just adore her funky style and she really captured what I was looking for. She made 3 that I absolutely LOVE. I will be changing the up throughout the week.

Thank you times a million, girlie! You are so talented, Lucy!

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!! I am looking forward to a fun day with my family....which means a lot of fun photo opportunities :-) So check back later for some new fun stuff!

I'm sorry that I don't have any new layouts to post....right now. I have been busily working on projects for Tinkering Ink....Top Secret stuff...hehe. So, that is why I have nothing new here :) I can't wait until the public can see these gorgeous, fun and funky papers. I am just about finished with a fun mini-album that I am making as a Christmas gift for Steve's sweet grandparents :-)

Again....................HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!
XXXOOO----Tess

A heart warming day

The kitten you see held oh-so proudly in my sisters arms is her new baby kitten....Benjamin. Heidi and her husband Aaron called this morning to invite Steve and I out to lunch. My sister has been traveling quite a bit for her job....so it was nice to catch up! During our meal, Heidi and Aaron mentioned they wanted to adopt a second cat to keep their other cat, "Ollie" company while they were away working.
Next thing I know, following our lunch, we were headed out to our local Humane Society to look at kittens. I have to admit, I have never been to a Humane Society before------only, because of my fear of feeling heartbroken for all of the stray animals needing homes. Because of my love of animals, I was certain it would be difficult not to bring at least 10 animals home today.
Well, to my surprise I was incredibly impressed by the facility where these sweet animals waited for their homes. It was *almost* like stepping into a luxurious hotel lobby for animals. It was truly nothing like I had imagined. The cats were in beautiful, lush rooms filled with fun play toys and towers. Some were sleeping peacefully on fluffy wool beds. There were so many people there looking at these beautiful healthy cats. It was cute how the cats seemed to sort-of "work it" when you approached them.I even noticed a young girl around 9 or 10 who's mother was just quietly reading as her daughter took each cat out of their cage and took them into a playroom to play with them. Apparently she did this on a weekly bases.
It was just very sweet to know that these animals were being loved and cared for. I guess it just sort-of warmed my heart.
So.............Today my sister, Heidi and brother-in-law Aaron fell in love with the kitten pictured above.......... and in a matter of minutes this little guy was there's, to love for a lifetime. I captured the picture of Heidi with her sweet kitty cuddling together following the adoption. It was just too cute! I think Heidi was glowing! I am excited to watch this little cutie grow up into a beautiful cat :-)
Here are a couple of my most recent layouts. The first layout was inspired by the cute papers I found at my local scrap shop, "Scrapbooking Outside Of The Box". I just adored the little cups of cocoa. I just knew these papers and embellishments were a perfect fit for these fun pics of our family tradition of snowmobiling on Christmas day!
This layout is of my sister, Heidi being her usual silly self. It couldn't anymore true with this title.....she is defintely MY keeper of secrets. I used the new Piggy Tales "Goldielocks and the 3 bears" line of paper, tags and chipboard alphas for this quick and fun layout :-)

Have a wonderful rest-of-the weekend!!!
XXOO------Tessa

Okay, bad pics...BUT Winter is FINALLY here!!! YAY!

Steve and I have been so disappointed over the last couple of weeks. We have been acting like kids wishing for the snow to come. But, over the last couple of weeks, we have been under a grey cloud of gloom, a light rain at times, but mostly just a grey sky..... which is so unusual for our beautiful town. So, as you can see, I was ready to have the sparkling snow come and brighten our little town!

We were suprised this afternoon to see the smallest flakes of white snow falling from the sky. In just a matter of minutes those small flakes turned into large puffy white flakes that quickly covered our yards and streets. Steve and I quickly grabbed our snow jackets and camera and headed out to the yard for a few photos! Admititly, they didn't turn out the best.....
but, you get the point! :-)

We decided to head downtown for dinner and we were seated right next to the window where we had the perfect view of the snow falling. When we arrived home we were too excited to go indoors, so we decided to take a brisk walk around our neighborhood to view the winter wonderland at hand.

As I type, the snow continues to fall and cover our streets and homes. I can hear the snow hit my window from the strong winter storm a-brew.

I couldn't be any more excited for a season of fun that is fastly approaching us!

Enjoy your week!
XXOO---Tess
 

Welcome to my scrap room!

I love having my own scrap room. A little creative place of my very own. A place that both inspires and makes me feel happy. I love the array of color I am surrounded by and the endless possiblilities I see as I look around at all of my assortment of supplies.

Friday afternoon had I planned to come home and scrap, but instead I decided to organize my space. There is nothing more inspiring to me than a clean-fresh space. So, I cranked up my stereo and began cleaning.

So, here I present to you my little creative space!






Do you
love contests?!?!
see below for details :-)








A contest brought
to you by Piggy Tales!

Tell your Tale Contest
Here’s your chance to win CASH and an Oinker amount of Piggy TaleTales Product. Tell your tale with a mini album (no less than 6 pages) about YOU! Please use at least 50% of Piggy Tales Product. Winners will be based on use of photography, design, and creativity.

Please email a digital photo or scanned image of your project to trina@piggytales.com.For the subject of your email type: Tell your Tale Entry. Deadline forsubmissions: Midnight Pacific Time on December 1, 2006. Winners will beannounced December 15th on the Piggy Tales website at www.piggytales.com.

Prizes:
Grand Prize: $500 cash & $100 in Piggy Tales Product
1st Runner Up: $300 cash & $75 in Piggy Tales Product
2nd Runner Up: $200 cash & $50 in Piggy Tales Product
3rd Runner Up: $100 cash & $25 in Piggy Tales Product
5 Finalists: $25 worth of Piggy Tales Product

***The layout above features papers, tags, and chipboard from Piggy Tales new "Gingerbread man" line.

Have a wonderful Monday!!!!
XXOO---- Tessa

So excited for the holidays to come!

I'm one of "those" people who cannot wait to start decorating for the holidays!
I even like to start my Christmas shopping early........okay you can gag now...haha!
This is a big confession to share supporting my holiday spirit plague.............. for the last few weeks, I have had my jazzy Christmas CD in my car. I know I am a wee-bit of a dork for this...haha! But! To me.....when the air changes and the crisp air makes my nose run and cheeks rosey, I know my most treasured Holiday season is just around the corner. I have to admit though, I am sure I look pretty silly driving down the road with a big grin on my face humming along to the tunes.
Everything that goes with this holiday makes me happy; warm sweaters, hot chocolate, aromas of cinnamon, shopping the day after Thanksgiving, spending quality time with family, baking and family traditions all combined are what make this time of year so special to me.


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With this fun kit, I received a fun ornament shaped chipboard that I could alter to fit my style. Too cool, huh?!?! I decided to use the Polar Bear Press Papers from the kit along with a luscious ribbon, jeweled brads and rick-rack to alter this ornament. So fun, so easy and so, so cute!

Have a WONDERFUL day tomorrow!
XXOO Tessa

Happy Halloween!

Just wanting to wish everyone a wonderful Halloween. Steve and I are looking forward to passing out candy to the little ones tonight :)
 

I hope you enjoyed your weekend!
I did. Steve and I enjoyed our usual ventures around town, hitting our favorite shopping spots and scenic desinations. We love to go through our favorite little drive-through coffee shoppe...."Mocha Joe's" on Saturday afternoons for a 12Oz Sugar Free Caramel Breve. I have been on a low carb diet.....again..... so that is the normal drink I order. Steve also loves Breve's, but adds to the mix 2 chocolate chip cookies that is complete torture to watch him eat. I try to just observe scenery during those times...LOL!!
On a creative note it has been a very productive weekend for me.
I ended up creating 4 layouts, 1 card and 1 altered journal. I also altered a door hanger that I am not too fond of yet....it has A LOT of work yet, to be considered desireable...haha! I am sharing a few of the projects I created today. They were simple and fun. The first 2 projects feature products from...www.creatinginspirations.com The layout below features products from www.cropaddict.com kit.



Have a wonderful weekend! I look forward to hearing what you have been up to!

 

A thirst for color

Sigh...this layout was like a breath of fresh air to create. I have been inspired to create so many Fall layouts with so many neutral tones that my palette was becoming thirsty for vibrant colors. ***I used the November Creating Inspirations kit for this layout**
I captured this photo of my sister, Heidi this past weekend while visiting our local pumpkin patch. At this event there is a 40 minute cornfield maze. My entire family.....all 6 of us........ decided to make our way through this maze. Along the way we had so much fun, playing, joking and being a family. In various spots there were bridges, swings and slides. In this photo, Heidi was just getting ready to go down the slide when I had her turn around for a quick pic. I love how the color of the slide glows off of her skin and clothing. As I was thinking of my mood for this layout, it was obvious that with the vibrant colors, I had to tell the story of my sister and her "sunshine" personality. Heidi was always the one in the family to make light of any situation. Her infectious laughter and smile can brighten anyone's day.

This has been one of my most favorite projects to create....evah. :-)

This lovely little book was created using products from the November Cocoa Daisy kit.
As some of you already know, I love this season because of the rich color palette and traditions through these cozy months.
I wanted to make a festive recipe book for a gift, to share some of my Fall time favorites.

The construction of this book was quite fun and easy! In the kit, there was a lovely piece of fabric that I couldn't wait to play with. I couldn't decide if I wanted to cut out the paisleys and handstich them onto felt, and use them as embellishments....or use it as the cover. I decided on the cover... I used MODGE PODGE to adhere the fabric to the chipboard. When it dried it provided a very nice and solid surface, perfect for adding the collage of Fall themed rub-ons. For the pages of the recipe book, I was inspired to alter a note card for the Fall quote. I used Rhonna Farrer stamps in FiberScraps Tea Stain ink. I also used the FiberScraps Tintz for the water color effecton the note card. A leave and jewel were added for visual interest :)
I simply printed the quote and recipes on a plain piece of computer paper. I alredy pre-cut the papers, so I just taped the cardstock and note card right over the printed computer paper and re-printed, printing perfectly on my cardstock and note card. Gotta love that :) A last touch of rich gold ink was daubed around the edges of the book.

This would be a fun idea for any season, Summer BBQ, Christmas Favorites and so on. The possibilities are endless and I am looking forward to creating more for gifts!

**See below for more Cocoa Daisy layouts and stop by www.cocoadaisy.com!

Enjoy your weekend :-)
Tessa

More Fall layouts using Cocoa Daisy's November Kit