Scrapbooking again!

(In a singing voice......) I have been scrapbooking a lot this week and oh, boy it DOES feel GREAT!

I give total credit to the Noel Mignon "Memory Lane" kit I received a couple of weeks ago. About a month ago I was asked by Noel to be the secret September Guest Designer for her kit club. I was excited to be a part of her awesome design team for the month of September and thought this was the perfect chance to get my scrapping going again. Once I had that kit in my hands, I couldn't stop playing! It's been a little over a week since I started and I've already created 5 layouts and have a few more in the works! Ah, it feels good to be "scrappy" again :) I even sat down last night and started a page using some Heather Bailey papers with my new favorite Elles Studio line of embellishments. So, my dear friends.......this blog is getting back to normal again with layouts and projects!



Okay, I'll stop rambling and just show you a couple of the pages I've done so far. I am posting a couple each Monday to the Noel Mignon blog, so I can only share 2 today, but I have a few sneak peeks I'll share ;)

I love these photos of my grandma Ann standing before my grandpa's new cars. When I was going through their photos, I found many pictures of my pretty grandma standing before a shiny new car. These photos were the perfect inspiration for this kit :)



I got a little on the grungy side with creating this next layout. It's been ages since I've used a brown ink pad and distressed my papers. When I first started scrapbooking, this was something I did all the time, but moved to outlining my layers with a pen instead. I was mostly inspired by the lovely poppies in the SEI papers in this kit and had to cut those pretties out! Here is my *dirty* page..ha! :)


Here is a few sneak peeks of the others I've created too!

I also created these this weekend as a special order in my Etsy shop. My customer wanted pink breast cancer awareness ribbons to adhere in the center of Prima flowers. I used my polymer clay in a sweet pink pearl along with tiny little rhinestones to create these........

I've been sketching ideas for Christmas embellishments to add to my shop in the upcoming weeks and am going to start designing and creating them today. So be sure to check out my shop in the upcoming weeks for Christmas themed buttons, frames and felties!

Aside from creating, this weekend was my Grandpa's 86th Birthday Celebration. He was so surprised that so many of our relatives came to celebrate HIM! He was choked up with tears in his eyes the entire weekend. He gave out lots of hugs and kept expressing how thankful he was that we were all there. He is so sweet and I adore him. Here are some pics I took that day :)

My dad, my grandpa and my aunt Sherry.
Grandpa and Heidi...awwwwwww....
Grandpa and his cake and him getting choked up...he is such a tender heart :)

Well, I should get going for the day...but, want to say to all of those around the hurricane areas....STAY SAFE and know that I am thinking of you in this most nerve racking time. Many hugs your way.

Enjoy your labor day and say hi. I've missed hearing from so many of you!

:) Tessa Ann

Up to my elbows in buttons......

Where-oh-where has Tessa gone..... lol.

I am still here, creating like a mad women and enjoying it each day more and more. Though, it's sad, I STILL have *nothing* to share as far as scrapbooking pages go. I sit down and go through photos and I've seriously scrapped almost every photo I have. I've mentioned this problem of mine to a few others and I get a blank stare, almost like they don't believe me. Yes, maam, I have 16 books filled with pages of my family, pets, me, and Steve and I pages. I've done it all. Time for new memories, I guess!

Aside from that, I am happy to report that my Etsy shop has been keeping me so busy with filling orders and creating custom orders and designs. I've been having a blast making buttons, felted flowers and frames each day....re-thinking designs and coming up with new ones. It has been such a fun journey.

Steve has been a big help with packing up orders for me when I have several in one day. It's quite the process and he is so sweet to be there to lend a hand if needed. He's definitely a keeper!

Aside from creating and packing up orders, Steve and I have been enjoying the warm summer weather here in Bend. We rented a River Lodge at Sunriver a few weekends ago and had a relaxing, enjoyable time watching the summer concert series in the village and sitting on the back deck of our lodge suite....me sipping wine and Steve beer of course soaking in the fresh air and gorgeous view! Oh, that's right I have some pics...here they are!

The suite was gorgeous and we had access to a private spa, that was large like a pool. Because it was already hot outside I only lasted a few minutes in there..lol

All in all, it was really nice to get away for the weekend. I guess I should stop complaining about no pics to scrap and put these to use! DUH ;)


Oh, yes we can't go anywhere without the laptop in tow. Steve checking weather and stocks and me, email and other things I can totally live a weekend without, but never do. Ah, cold and refreshing. It was so hot that weekend!






I almost forgot! The following weekend Steve and I got pretty ambitious and decided to change the color scheme of our home. If you remember previously we had a lot of red accents. I was SO tired of that and wanted fresher, more inspiring colors...something more soft. Here was my inspiration. These fabrics are by Heather Bailey. I fell in love with the lime green, white and aqua colors here and decided to base my downstairs living room and kitchen around this color scheme. We even painted our previously hickory (fugly in my opinion) table white and distressed the edges to give a cool-beachy feel. While Steve repainted the table and lamp bases, I sewed new pillows. I still need to make some more using these Heather Bailey fabrics. I want to load the sofas up with lush pillows with gorgeous fabrics and textures! We bought new lamp shades and new paintings. I have always loved the Van Gogh "Starry Night" painting and I found a nice print of it at Michael's. It was perfect! Oh, and we recovered the chairs with a new black and white flourish-like fabric that matched the lamps shades perfectly.



Here are some pics of what we have done so far......lots more decor to add and create!
As you can see, we changed out the drapes from a heavy red drapery to these white linen drapes. Ahh...I love it so much. It allows so much light and makes me feel like I am staying at the beach!



Here is some of the pillows I made all piled up on our love seat. Don't' worry I'm not keeping them all there..ha!

It is still a work in progress, but so much better than the heavy red we used to don. It will be great to break out again at Christmas time, but for now....breezy aqua and greens.



One last pic of my fav's I've created for my Etsy shop. A lot of them shown in the photos have sold, but I still love them!
Well, I better wrap this long-over due post up. Steve is introducing me to his co-workers tonight at the new bank where is now working. Gosh, I'm really nervous for some odd reason. Better go get dolled up!

Have a great week!
Tessa Ann

Layouts using my Tessa Ann Originals Line YAY!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! One more day and it's Friday! I'm having to work full time at my office job filling in for the manager until the 22nd and I am so not used to these hours..lol. Plus. It's really boring. Grrr... Suzie....I miss ya! I'll be running back to work on the 23rd.

I am still working hard in my Etsy shop creating tons and tons of fun embellishments. Recently, I've had a few layouts shared with me using my product. It has been so neat to see my product in action. I thought it would be fun to share them here!

The first one I present to you is by the very talented Leslie Ashe. First off....look at all of that texture, Can we say GORGEOUS!?!! Leslie used my red/white polka dot buttons to adorn the center of her stars. You can see more of Leslie's work here on her amazing blog http://www.leslieashe.blogspot.com/ Thank you for sharing this, Leslie!

The next 2 layouts I present to you are by the sweetest, most creative, talented gal, Stephanie Garbett. Click on link to see more of her awe-inspiring work.

Stephanie used my frame and button embellishments perfectly in these most fabulous layouts of her adorable daughters:

I love the way Stephanie used the buttons in her title "Cool" what a fun idea!
Adorable photos, Stephanie and thank you so much for sharing your wonderful creations with me!

Well, I am running late this morning and need to get ready for work.



I hope you enjoyed these layouts by Stephanie and Leslie! If you have used my product and would like to share it here, please email me at tessaannwatte@gmail.com and I would LOVE to feature them!!!



Enjoy your day!

Tessa Ann

Creating so many things, but in a different way :)

Hello :)

Sorry I have been so scarce with my posts and they have been totally lack luster in pictures and inspiration. Gotta fix that, huh?!

I have been creating very few layouts lately, because I have been doing so many fun things for my Etsy shop...........which surprisingly is really taking off. When I started this fun little journey I had NO idea people would actually like what I made.

My LSS, where I work part time, Scrapbooking Outside The Box's owner Suzie Webb has kindly allowed me to merchandise my products at her store. They are resting adorabley next to the KI Memories new line Bloom. It's really fun that they whimsy frames, handmade buttons and flowers actually SELL! So cool :) The buttons and frames have been the most popular, as you can see I need to replace some of the flowers......um, those orange ones...no so popular...haha ;)

I worked all day at my LSS last Monday, so I thought I would take advantage of the down time between customers and create a few more goodies for both the sotre and my shop. Steve came by and thought he *needed* to take some pics of me creating my goodies ;)

(( disclaimer: Yes, this is not my best weight, but ah, well. We are all a work in progress, right?! I am what I am :) ))

Oh, yeah and I totally looks like I am getting ready to say something...haha :)

Here are some of my favorite goodies I make :) I love, love these fun, whimsy frames. They are the perfect size for framing a photo and perfectly dressing up a page in a funky way :) I handcut them and paint them and dot them by hand. I even added one of my handmade polymer clay buttons to the center of the flower.

These little yummy cupcakes were inspired by a custom order. I made a few extra and wanted to share them with you! Aren't they sweet!

These aqua/red/white jeweled buttons ARE by far my FAVORITE ones to date. I was totally just playing around with my clay and came up with these little gems. I have them up for sale in my shop right now, but I've got to tell ya.......these will be hard to part with. I just adore them :)

OKAY--->BACK TO SCRAPBOOKING, BECAUSE THIS *IS* A SCRAPBOOKING BLOG.... Don't worry I didn't forget..haha.

I have had the opportunity of being asked to be the guest designer for the fun new blog called, The Design Experiment. Last week Leah Fung was their guest designer......so as you can imagine this was quite an honor for me!

The challenge this week was about song lyrics. The prompt to be used as a Title and Subtitle was by the Supersonics called, Closing time. The lyric was: "Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginnings End." At first was like.............uh, what do I scrap about?!? Then I remembered I had a pic of me leaving on a plane to go on my honeymoon with Steve and thought that would be perfect for those lyrics.

Here is that page- (Yes, you totally need sunglasses to view this one *wink*)

My new HP photosmart scanner isn't working out so well. Because my layouts tend to be so thick, I can't get clear scans............so for this page I had to take a picture, and as you can see there was a glare. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get it right.

If anyone has any ideas on how to take nice pictures of layouts, I would so appreciate the suggestions!

Well, I better wrap up this post.

I hope you have a wonderful week and are able to find time to create beautiful things!

Hugs,

Tessa Ann

I'm chatting tonight at 10pm EST at Creative-Scrappers. Come and say hi if you are up!

Steve and I just came home from camping this weekend. We had such a great time. We rented a yurt at Tumalo State Park. My goodness...it was so adorable. We had bunk beds, a futon, coffee table and table and chairs. Though it was hot, it was quaint and perfect. Steve and I are not big on roughing it...so this was a perfect solution. We drank wine around the fire and visited with my family who was also camping (the real way..haha) in a near-by spot.

I will be sure to create a page..or two of the photos I got from our trip.

On a side note, I am the guest designer at Creative-Scrappers this week and I will be chatting live with the gals at Creative-Scrappers in just a few minutes. I totally should have thought about posting this earlier, but silly me here I am just about 15 minutes before letting you all know. If you are around and want to chat, stop by! I'd love to chat with you live :)

In closing here are a couple of my latest layouts. My Epson printer died a week ago *WHAAA* and so I had to go and get a new one. I purchased the HP Photosmart C5280 All-in-One photo printer and have yet to figure out how to make it scan nice like my Epson did. So sorry for the bad pics and scan jobs.

The first layout is for a blog I am going to be a part of bi-monthly.... "I Inspire Me" (I have a link to the right that takes you right to this challenge blog) challenge blog.

Our first challenge was to find something around our home that inspired us and use it as inspiration for a layout. I love my decorative pieces in my studio and the colors and textures....so that inspired this layout. Here is also a picture of my inspiration.

Well, that's it for today. I promise to come back with more layouts and pics in the next day or two.....Off to go and chat!

Tessa

WOW! So nice to see all of you here! I decided to up the winners to 5 instead of 2. Come check it out :)

*Sorry for the delay here are the winners*
It was amazing each day to see more and more of you pop in to say hi. I really enjoyed reading each and every comment. Big hugs to all of you!

I didn't expect so many comments, so I've decided it would be better to pick 5 winners instead of just 2. I randomly chose the comments below! If it was you that won a set of flowers, please email me at: tessaannwatte@gmail.com and I'll get your funky flowers out right away! I really look forward to seeing them on your layouts or projects. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did creating them for YOU!

Here YOU are!

• Amy
• De`
• the real-roxanne-
• Virginia
• Jessica

Some new layouts and a card Steve made for me for my birthday last week!

I have been really enjoying spending some time at a new site called, Creative-Scrappers. I love that it's small and you can really get to know the other board members......not getting lost. I do love my 2 peas and scrapbook.com, but this is nice and homey and I love that!

Each week they post sketch challenges...really fun ones too! I gave one of them a go and here is what I came up with. As you know, I love circles so this was a perfect one to try out!

TITLE: "Good Dogs"- I captured this shot of my my parents adorable Golden Retrievers this past November. Steve and I volunteered to babysit them while my parents were in Vegas for their 25th wedding anniversary. We really had fun taking them to the park and learned that dogs are just not our style, though quite adorable and SO lovable, they are stinky and extremely high maintenance. But...again, I love them :)



TITLE: Summer Time- This layout was an assignment for Scrapbooking & Beyond Magazine's recent Summer 08 issue. This particular layout was based on Liz Qualman's sketch article. Again, using her gorgeous sketch I created this layout of Steve and I enjoying a day on the Oregon Coast.

TITLE: *Always*- I was asked by Basic Grey to create a layout for their June 2008 Newsletter using a sketch (you see a pattern here..lol) that is featured in the newsletter along with the Pheobe line of papers. I was so honored to be asked to create this layout. It was a fun 6x12 sketch and I thought a DAD layout would be perfect in lieu of Father's Day.
My sweetie handmade me a birthday card...awww.

I celebrated my 29th birthday (eek!) last Wednesday. I had a wonderful day. Steve planned a spa day for me at a local lovely spa where I had my hair cut into a really cute short*er* style. It's kind of like a layered bob that's a bit shorter in the back. I totally love it. I then got a manicure and pedicure all the while sipping on mimosas. It was so relaxing and refreshing. I loved every minute of it. When Steve picked me up after my day there, resting on my car seat was his very own handmade card. Aww...he's so sweet. He broke out my supplies and made this sweet card just for me. And.........he even cleaned up..lol. I just had to share!

Well, I want to wish everyone a WONDERFUL weekend ahead. I plan on doing more giveaways in the near future so stay tuned!!

XOXOXO

Tessa Ann

Leave a comment to win a set of my flower embellishments (oh, yeah, and some new layouts..)

Okay, so here is the deal.

I would love to see some of my handmade felt embellishments on your pages. I lieu of setting up shoppe on Etsy, I would love to give away a set of (your choice) flowers to TWO of my readers!

So post a comment or question in my comments section and I will draw 2 winners. You can choose which set of flowers you would like by checking out my shop to the right of this post -->

I look forward to hearing from you, especially all of the lurkers out there..(wink)

Okay....now about my new pages!

As you can see, I have been playing around in my scrap room again. I stopped by Michaels last weekend just to pick up some adhesive and well....you know how that goes. I ended up with a basket full of goodies. The new Amy Butler is absolutely divine! I rushed home and found a pic to scrap and off I went creating away.

Just a little bit about the layout: The photo in this layout is one of my senior pictures. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. My entire family, horses and all, loaded up and headed out to the country side to the most picturesque ranch, where the photographer resided. We literally spent all day taking shots all over his property. It was so fun.

I can't believe 12 years has gone by since that day. Just creating this page brought back so many memories of my life back then, what I dreamed of what I wanted to be. It's amazing how you think you have it all planned out and THAT'S the only option..........only to have an entire decade pass and maybe what you've planned really played out the way you wanted or is something entirely different than you had imagined. I have always thought of life as a path in which we have hills and turns, we never quite know which path to turn on or go up........ and only if we pay attention to our intuition and our faith, we will always choose the path we are meant to travel. I hope that makes sense. I guess I am feeling all philosophical this week.lol.


Bare with me here in my extreme rambling session...

Moving right along ;)

Again, going back in time with this layout.This is my sister, Heidi and I in 1984. I can't say that I remember this day.....but, I did have a story to tell when I was choosing these photos to scrap.

The title sums up my journaling perfectly. From day one...both our appearances and our personalities were totally opposite. My mom would always call me *Day* and Heidi *Night*. Yes, we did have our sisterly quarrels, but as we've gotten older we are great friends and confidants to each other.

This was just one of those pages that was *fun* and came together quickly and I love the outcome. I had a hard time choosing what my background would be....black, white, aqua, orange???

Decisions, decisions......

I finally liked the kraft cardstock for the background. I felt it made the colors really "pop". I hand cut the adorable rainbow and flowers pattern and jazzed it up using a brown pen and Sassafrass Lass buttons. I chose to add my journaling on the rays of the rainbow. I thought that was the perfect location. I thought about writing it around the parameters of the layout, but ended up using creating a line border instead. I used my ruler and a brown micro tip pen. I used an aqua colored pencil to highlight the brown line and couldn't resist taking it just a notch further by adding 2 dots at the end and circling one of them with a white pen.

You see. Sometimes I just can't stop adding stuff.

And, um ya know....typing this blog post. Rambling.

Well, I look forward to hearing from you and sending 2 of you some goodies!

Enjoy your long holiday weekend!!
Hugs,
Tessa Ann

Sleep deprived, Rude neighbors, Views, Mom's day and Scrappage.

Oh boy, I am beat. Exuse me if I am a little on the punchy side ;)
My eyes are heavy as I type this, so forgive all of the possible typos..lol.
It was one of those sleepless nights.....again.
I have been going through a spell of not being able to stay asleep and boy does it suck ;) I even resulted to taking a natural sleeping pill called, Melatonin and even that was a no go. 3 am rolls around and I am still tossing and turning...heart is racing--that's another annoying part of it...
Go figure though, around 6 am when I finally drifted off to dream land our most *considerate* neighbor decided to let his little Yorkie out to potty and SCREAM...that's right not bark, BUT SCREAM/BARK. This has been a routine for this neighbor lately and I totally came unglued and yelled out the window..... "DO YOU MIND?!?!? HAVE SOME CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS"!!!!! Ooops...bad me. Crazy lady yelling, slamming the window shut...{blush}
So...you guessed it.....another hour to fall asleep and then the phone rang an hour later. UGH, what gives???..lol.

I am totally taking a nap today.





Okay enough whining. Sorry guys!






We had a really nice weekend. Steve and I took a beautiful scenic drive around central Oregon, where we were reminded how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. We went through our list of things we were thankful for along our drive and it was nice to just reflect, visit and most of all be together. Throughout our drive we did find something quite odd . As we passed the rolling hills of lush green grass and beautiful pastures with the most rich views of the snow- capped moutains....9/10 homes had their curtains/blinds closed. We started to joke how we wanted to stop by these closed off homes and ask why they have closed off their blinds to the most beautiful views....or check and see if they were alive or something...haha. So strange....home after home after home....windows were covered by something......no light allowed to come through. So sad. So depressing to live there. I don't know how you could live in a place where you have such beauty surrounding you and not want to see it?





We returned to Bend and I got to do a little clothes shopping. YAY! Getting new clothes always makes me feel good, fresh and inspired. I loved all of the pretty colors in this season and soft textured fabrics. I spent waaay too much (sorry, Steve) but I now feel like I have something to wear that makes me feel good about myself again. Strange how that works, huh?





Sunday, Mother's Day, I had my mom and dad, sister and bro-in-law over for a late lunch. I prepared my scrumptious lasagna and there was NONE left. It was that good ;)


We had fun laughing, visiting and playing a little Guitar Hero. I tell ya, I have turned my parents into kids again, by buying them this game for Christmas. They now have Rock Band and all of the set ups for the game. Um, yeah. They invite friends over and play together...so funny. It makes them happy and they enjoy it so much...lol. It totally cracks me up watching them.




We ended the evening by watching some movies and I scrapped a couple layouts. Here they
are :)

"BOWLING" Yet, more time with my family. It was a fun Saturday in April, where we all enjoyed an afternoon of a little friendly competiton.....my family is VERY competitive..lol. Well, mostly my Dad and Bro-in-law, Aaron.... Okay.... Me, well....I tend to be a little on the competitive side too. I used a TON of photos for this layout....7 photos. Some of them are blurry and grainy, so I turned them black and white to make them more cohesive. And...what's a bowling layout without circles? I also loved using my new Doodlebug loopy alphas. They are adorable!

"THE PINK HAT" Okay, so I really don't like this page all that much. It's sort of *goofy* in my eyes. Maybe it's that silly grin on my face in my favorite hat, or it's my wild color combination. I just sort of said...eh, it's done. I have no more ideas to put into this. I guess we all have those pages that just don't come to light the way we had hoped. Ah. well :)

Well, that's it for now. As always thanks for stopping by and saying hi! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!

Much love,

TessaAnn

New adventures, a layout and Etsy.

It's been so long since I've updated here. Each day I say to Steve, I sooo need to update my blog, but I never do. Bad Tessa!


I've been doing really well. Bend has had some lovely weather over the weekend. Saturday morning, Steve and I took a 3 mile walk along the Deschutes River and afterwards relaxed in the grass at the park soaking in the sunshine. It was so nice and refreshing.
I had my parents over for dinner Saturday night. I've been trying out a lot of new recipes and so far everything has worked well. Steve has really enjoyed having home cooked meals. This means we have to exercise twice as hard..lol. So, on Saturday I made a dish my mom loves. Steak Diane. Decadent and rich, yes it was. I also made proscuitto wrapped corn on the cob which didn't turn out as good as it looked on tv. Ah, well. You never know until you try it.


Yesterday, Sunday, I worked on the new venture I have been pondering for a while.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been researching and planning a new venture into the world of Etsy. I thought it would be fun to try out and see how it goes. I opened my shop yesterday with my first items. Fun decorative pillows. I plan on also making handmade scrapbooking embellishments like the flower on the pillow below. It's been blast sewing and doing something different. A change of pace is always good!


So here are some of the pillows I have been working on. The first one is my personal favorite. If you know me, you know I love polka dots and hot pink. I think this little pillow totally has a "scrappy-feel" to it.


<------I handmade the flower on the right corner using some felt, fabric and...of course, my beloved black and white polka dot ribbon. I plan on making similar flowers in sets and putting them in my shop. They would be adorable on mini books, cards or even layouts, don't ya think?!?








<---- This pillow was SO fun to make. I embellished the flowers with My Minds Eye orange buttons and stitched them on with aqua thread. The trim across the bottom is a vintage item that I found at a local vintage shop.
<-----This pillow called, "Lime Swirls" was definitely a labor of love. I had no idea that adding the beaded trim would be so difficult and challenging. But, after Ellen, Dr. Phil and Oprah (haha) I had it figured out and it turned out so pretty. This is a really big pillow and SO soft. Now, I know how to add trims without 3 hours of trial and error..lol. <--------I called this silky pillow, "Silky Chocolate and Flowers". This fabric is GORGEOUS and I would love to make a bead spread out of it stuffed with down. It's so rich and soft. Love it!






























On another note, I have created one page in the last month. I couldn't wait to play with the new Basic Grey Sultry line. I chose to create a page about my dear friend Rachel. I met Rachel through going to CHA with Tinkering Ink. She works for them in their office and attended the Winter shows this year and last year. We really hit it off as friends and have so much in common. She's one of those people that instantly I felt like I knew her for a lifetime. She lives in Utah, so we don't get to see each other often, but when we do get the chance to chat, we can literally talk all night. Love that girl!























Well, that's it for now. I hope you are ALL doing well. Again, thank you for your most encouraging words and taking the time to share your experiences with me. It has provided great comfort to Steve and I that we were not alone. But, for now...............moving forward. Life is good.

Loves,
Tessa Ann

Feeling inspired....and it's a good thing.

Hi all!!

I hope you are all well and having a great week! I have been having so much fun creating with all of the new lines my LSS has gotten in over the last few weeks. I have several pages to prove this..haha.

The weather in Bend has been so beautiful over the last few weeks. My parents held their first BBQ of the season. We played badminton and had a blast. It was so nice to get outside and just goof around :)

I have also made a really difficult decision over the last couple of weeks. I have decided that I want to get back to scrapping for fun and for ME.


So....I've stepped down from ALL of my design team spots and teaching at my LSS. While, I really loved being a part of the teams I was on and teaching, I just need a break from any sort of obligations and requirements. I wanted to be *free* again to scrap when I want and what I want....submit if I choose, upload to galleries if I desire........like I started out doing before the DT bug bit me and I lost myself in why I love this hobby in the first place.

So.....it was time. And you know what?

I've never felt so inspired to be free to create as I please.

It's like a breath of fresh air. I am not thinking...oooh!... I need to get this-and-this done, instructions written up for this, oh, I almost forgot I have "this" and "this" to get to "so and so"....or staying up late just to finish up a deadline.

And now I think to myself...... Why was I doing this? What for? What was in it for me? Other than all of the pretty things I got to play with for free. I don't mean to sound bratty AT ALL with this statement, I just have to be REAL and HONEST about it all.

Before I say too much more, I'll 'open my mouth and insert my foot' (blush a bit) and just post some dang layouts...hahaa.

Well, enjoy your day!
Much love,

Okay this is going to be a really long post with lots of layouts and goodies :)

Hi there! I hope everyone is well and getting a glimpse of warmer weather. It has been beautiful here in Bend over the last couple of weeks. Steve and I have enjoyed quite a few days at the part soaking in the sunshine...aaahh.. Here are a few layouts from last week when we did a little picture taking at the park :) Always fun!

Previously, I posted that the layout I created using the lovely Liz Qualman's Spring sketch was selected as the cover layout for Scrapbooking & Beyond Magazine's Spring issue. I was SO excited when Steve brought the issue up to my scrap room to show me. Although....I seriously think he was more proud and excited. Naaaah....I was jumping up and down. Being a scrapbooker, and like a lot of you....one that submits work to various publications, you can imagine what an awesome reward it was to be chosen for a cover. Okay, nuff about that here is the picture I took of the actual magazine :)

In other news.. (just had to say that as it makes me laugh when the news people say that..lol) I've been invited to be a part of the Bad Girls Kits design team. I love the girls that are on that team and feel SO at home there. The kit this month was so eclectic and inspiring. Here is what I did with it!







In closing here is a favorite layout of mine. I wanted to document our Sunday afternoon's. I usually feel like creating and watching movies and he *always* joins me (along with Mozart, our fur baby) to watch movies and sip on yummy coffee. I love that he *wants* to be there and encourages me along the way. He is always great about suggesting "what else" I should do with my work and kindly hints that maybe something I am doing is not working so well. He will get up and start opening the drawers to my supplies... looking for the perfect embellishment....saying, "What about this?" and "What if you did this..." I am really thankful that I have a sweet guy who is so receptive to my addiction...um, and someone who feeds it.ha!!!



Well.......that's it for now! Off to cook up a scrumptious dinner for my sweetie!
I hope you ALL have a wonderful week and find time to create!
XOXOX---Tessa Ann

Back in action! ( and my most embarrassing moment to date...ugh)

Wow, I realize it has been forever since I updated here. As some of you know I attended CHA with Tinkering Ink last week. It was wonderful to see everyone again and meet a few scrappers I've never met. Here is a picture someone took of our team in our adorable shirts that match one of the papers from the "Wild Woodland Line".



It was fun! We had a new shirt to match a different paper each day. Loved that :)

As always I had a wonderful time. We enjoyed nice dinners as a team in the evening at Down Town Disney and had fun chatting and taking pictures of each other. We took turns sharing our "secret talents" and our "most embarrassing moments". For the life of me I couldn't think of one....not saying that I've never had an embarassing moment---oh, yes I have. I just couldn't think of one.......That was until I was on my way home in the Seattle Airport. It was around lunch time and I decided to go and sit down at one of the restaurants, read my book and enjoy lunch and a nice glass of wine. Sounds great so far, huh? Well I had about 15 minutes until my plane borded, so I requested my bill. Again, no problem, right? I handed the lady my debit card and when she returned, she stated my card had been "reported lost". I was totally confused and had NO idea what she meant. I started digging out all of my other ID's (insurance card, drivers license, CHA badge) all the time stating "It's my card, I didn't report it lost"! She finally took me over to the computer screen to prove it and indeed it said "Card reported lost". Oh boy, I thought. I only had $11.00 in my purse because I always use my debit card and I don't carry credit cards.... The tears welled-up in my eyes. "How in the heck was I going to pay for my meal"? Totally embarrassed I explained that my husband works for the bank our card is through and that I would call him to check it out. Luckily he picked up his line right away and checked our account. Yikes. Someone had stolen our debit card number and charged $600 plus on our debit card that very morning, so the fraud department had froze our accounts to protect us. Greeaaat..... Steve said he would call the fraud department and call me right back. I explained to my waitress who due our language barrier, started yelling, "Why your husband need to call the FIRE department!!" I finally said "fradulent department" and she totally got what I meant. By this time I was panicking and had only 8 minutes before my plane left. I remember sitting there stressing..."Steve, hurry please call me back!" when I decided to just call my mom. All excited to hear from me she answers the phone, "Hi! Tess, how are you!?!" I lost it. I started sobbing (yes, this was SOOOOO damned embarrassing---I totally lost it, right in the middle of the restaurant) Sobbing, I said to her, "I am at lunch here in the airport and I can't pay for my meal!! (sob, sob)" I quickly explained what had happened with my card and she tried calming me down saying don't be embarrassed you will never see these people again. She told me to give the phone to the waitress and she would take care of it. Oh, man. I totally thought I was both missing my flight and I would be rolling up my sleeves and washing some dishes in the back. So mom to the rescue!! I paid and ran to get on my plane, which luckily was a short distance. Red faced, watery eyed I took my seat and was relieved that MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT was over.

So....I lieu of this most embarrassing moment, I challenge you to share yours here, or better yet create a layout about it....that's if you can stomach it..lol. I'll draw 2 names and RAK both of you! I dare you..lol. Yes, I can laugh about it now, but man-o-man I wanted to crawl under a rock.


Changing key here, I would like to share one of the last layouts I created for fun, just before I left for CHA. As some of you already know, I used to study opera in college and dreamed of being a famous opera singer. Um, that lasted until I met my dear love, Steve and I changed my mind completely. Do I miss it. You bet, but I wouldn't change the life I have for nothing. Here in Bend, OR we have a local opera company, so the opportunity is there if I choose. Up until last year I still worked with a vocal coach, but after much thought I stopped. I just wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go in. Going professional meant a lot of travel and being away. This was the year I was suppose to do the Met Opera Audtions. Maybe I'll change my mind before I am too old, but if I don't I am perfectly content with what memories I do have of my years singing.

This layout was about the time in my life where I worked so hard for the State competition and won "State Champion Mezzo Soprano" It was such a huge honor for me and in these pics I can't believe how young I looked..lol. My parents took these pics the day after I won the title in front of the University of Oregon Music Hall. I'll never forget that night. Sitting with my coach and other singers awaiting the placings.....3rd place goes to ____________, 2nd place goes to ___________ (honestly when I heard 2nd place, I thought there was no way I had placed.....just as I was thinking ah, bummer, but at least I tried I heard everyone in my group SCREAMING and I heard my name, "Our State Champion Mezzo Soprano goes to Miss Tessa Ann Cotton of Coos Bay, Oregon!" I barely remember running down from the balcony, down the isles on the stage to receive my award. It was so sureal and I couldn't believe I had accomplished my goal. It really taught me that if I worked really hard for something I could achieve anything.


If you have gotten to this point, thanks..lol. I meant to keep this post short, but once I get started sometimes I can't stop..haha!

Enjoy your week!
Tessa