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

 

Okay, so altered items *are* fun!

I have been really striving to try out new techniques and concepts lately with my scrapbooking. Stretching to reach my uncomfortable zone and seeing what I can come up with in the process.
I have never been much into altering, mostly because I was extremely intimidated of ruining a project. But what I have learned throughout my trials and errors.......its fun and you do make errors, and sometimes those errors fixed make the project a masterpiece......
I created this little album using a Bazzill accordian album with an altered policy envelope for the cover. I decided to try a "check book-style" format for my album.
It was funny as I was sitting writing my journaling with a pencil first, like I always do, and Steve pointed out that it looked cool just written in pencil. Well, that was pretty simple and something I had never even thought of doing. Gotta love his wonderful ideas!
I've purchased a 7 Gypsies chipboard purse to alter and even a CD tin. Yup. I think I have got bitten by the altering bug. It's fun! What have you altered lately? Post a link to your special project here!
 

I created this layout as a reminder to be kind to myself as I am learning about who I am and what makes "me" me. All products used are from Creating Inspirations October kit.
I just loved working with the awesome Cosmo Cricket papers in my October www.cropaddict.com kit. I have so many photos of when I used to show my horse that it was fun to be able to actually scrap them. This is my sweet horse, Romeo. He is just gorgeous!
I just cannot get enough of Piggy Tales' "frog prince" line. They are working so perfectly to scrap my boy pics!
I created the altered 7 Gypsies mini album to keep a few of my most favorite quotes. I used goodies from the October www.creatinginspirations.com kit. So much fun stuff in there! 

Ahh...I just love Fall!

Steve and I ventured out and about this
weekend taking "drive-by" photos of all
the gorgeous colors Bend is displaying this time of year!
It was quite fun looking like a tourist with my
head out the window taking snap-shots
driving through town..haha!
But, it was fun.........and I wanted to be able to share with
you the gorgeous Fall splendor of Bend, Oregon.
In the next month, our town will be covered in a
blanket of beautiful white winter snow.
So, it a great time to enjoy
these few warm, vibrant fall days.




{The first pic is of the big trees at Pioneer Park. This park is so lovely and located in down town Bend. People often celebrate anniversaries and weddings in their lush location.}












{Just driving down the streets of Bend, you are surrounded by rich crimson reds and rustic oranges. While it is still warm, you can feel the slight shift of the season change.}
















{This is the beautiful Deschutes River which peacefully weaves through our humble town where beautiful homes line its bountiful banks.}









{Wall street is Bend's business district. Monday through Friday the side walks are lined with men and women in crisp suits, carrying about their important business. On the weekends, Wall Street transforms in to a social place; a place where families walk hand-in-hand, window shopping through beautiful clothing and gift boutiques. People are seated outside of coffee shops and cafe's enjoying conversation with wine or coffee. It truly is such a wonderful atmosphere. The man in this photograph is a statue that is right down town on Wall street. While it does make me chuckle at the site , I wonder what the artist was thinking when creating this man.......looking into his empty wallet as the ducks observe. Too funny, but when I think of down town Bend, this guy comes right to mind!} Have a wonderful week! Tessa :-)

What a fun, yet busy this weekend was. Steve had fun on Sunday and visited a local caves with my dad and uncle. He had a lot of fun and took some fun pics that I will most definitely scrap!


For me, it is always hard to get back in the swing of things on a Monday morning. But it was a great day!
I was suprised to find a post by my sweet pal Cheryl on scrapbook.com congratulating me for layout of the day at Creating Keepsakes' site. That was a total shocker! That put a *real* big smile on my face all day :) Here is the link


Well. I would love to share a fun project I created this weekend.
Since making my Winter gift set, I have wanted to try out even more variations. When I received Teresa Collins' new Halloween line in my Creating Inspirations October Kit (www.creatinginspirations.com , I couldn't wait to dig in and put an another gift set together! Steve and I both thought I needed to photograph this in a "staged-setting" to get the full effect of the idea. So off to Michaels we went in search of a pumkin, black poster board, rafia and candy corn :)

Now.....what to do with them..lol! I think I have a few lil guys I could fill them with candy and send to...wink, wink...


Well, I have several projects in the works that I need to get working on :-)

So lots of new things to see coming up!

Be a GREAT day!!!!!

Yay, it's Friday!

Happy weekend everyone!
It has been a great week. The weather has completely changed here in Bend and Fall is in full effect! Brrr..... I love this time of year with the beautiful golden leaves and crisp Fall air. It is pure golden beauty! It just means that Winter and the gorgeous blanket of snow we get is just around the corner. I am really looking forward to warm caps, scarves and gloves.....sipping coffee or cocoa and shopping for holiday gifts.....warm cinnamon candles burning in my home and soup on the stove! I love this time of year :)

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I was beyond thrilled to be invited to be the first guest designer for Cocoa Daisy! I adore the ladies on this team and feel honored to work with such talented gals! Thank you Tricia and Emily!!!



Yes, these 2 cutie pies are my sweet nephews, Nick and Layne. I have really loved and used these pics quite a bit since taking them last year..lol. But, they worked so perfectly with these fabulous boy-ish Piggy Tales Papers. I think it is just so adorable the way they name their papers after fairy tales. So cute :) I have been scrapping all of my wedding pics so far, in black and white. I just could not find a paper that would work with the colors of my wedding. The lavenders and greens of PiggyTales' "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs Line" was just what I have been waiting for! I am thrilled to be able to scrap more of my wedding pics...in color! YAY :)


Enjoy your weekend!!!

Say hi if you have a second :) I would love hearing from all of you!!!

Here is the layout I am teaching at Scrapbook Fever in Salem, Oregon. It is a fun Junkitz Teresa Collins "Love Line" collection 2 page spread :-)