BFF Newsprint Purse

Hi There!

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite projects that I made for the convention boards. It's a paper purse I made using the Bag-a-lope idea and adding handles. I featured the Best Friends Forever set as well!

Here's the purse:


And a closup of the tag:


And a closeup of the flower:


The flower is made using the heart image in the set. Isn't that cool? There are so many things you can build with just a simple heart stamp!

I love how the colors turned out in this project- brights against the newsprint is so fun and fresh! I also love my tag- all the little details put together to create it- it was lots of fun!

I hope you've been enjoying all my Stampin' Up! convention board samples I've been posting! I had so much fun working on them- it truly was a treat!

Thanks for stopping by! And if it's still Thursday morning when you read this, please pop over and vote for me in the Paper Crafts Magazine's gallery idol contest!

-tessa

-tessa

Best Friends Forever Cards

Hi There!

Hope you are enjoying your day! I've got some more samples using the Best Friends Forever set to show you today:

Earth Tones Card:


Newsprint Card:


Four Square Card:


The images in this set are great for background stamping. I tried to show them off in different ways in each card I made for the sample boards. It's been a long time since I went for my darker colors, too so it was fun getting them out again!

If you have a minute, please vote for me in the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol Contest- voting for this round ends on Thursday at noon, mountain time. I'd LOVE to make it to the final round so please, pop over and vote today!

Thanks for stopping by!

-tessa

Easy Events are Easy to Use!

Good Morning!

Today I thought I'd share more samples from the Stampin' Up! convention display boards using the Easy Events set. This set has a little something for everyone in it- especially if you like to color! Here are a few more samples I made...

An Elegant Christmas Card:


A Fun Clock Card:


A Sparkly Birthday Card:


A Beautiful Trio of Boxes:


I think these types of sets are so easy to use- I love that each image comes with a sentiment built in.

Well, I've got a house full of kids today so I'm going to cut this short- hope you have a great day!

-tessa

Pretty Smocked Doilies Card

Hi There! Hope you all had a great weekend! I am wishing mine was a little longer... hee!

I thought I'd pop on and share my card for this week's Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest- the challenge was to use fabric in a creative way. Here is what I made:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friendly Phrases, Delicate Doilies
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo classic inks
Paper: Pink Pirouette cardstock; Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait textured cardstock
Accessories: Whisper White Baker's Twine, Flirtatious Fabric

This challenge was tricky! I can think of a bunch of great ways to use fabric on my cards but none of them were working for me this weekend... my mojo has been working in overtime so I guess it was time for a sputter out... I do like what I ended up with but boy oh boy was I stressed out over it! I ended up using smocking as my technique and it was fun to give something different a try. If you want to know how I did it, here is the tutorial I found online. Hers is much more elegant and beautiful but hey- it's probably not her first time, either! :)

If you'd like to vote for my card this week (which I would really appreciate!) just visit the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol page. Did I mention that the top prize is a cruise with Paper Crafts??? I've never been on a cruise before... :)

OK! Hope your day is going well! Thanks for all your support during this contest- I've loved getting emails, reading your comments here and at the contest page. It means a lot that you guys care enough to take some time to listen to all my ramblings and so on... Thanks!

-tessa

Scrapbook Pages of the Month

Good Morning!

I'm off to a great start- I've made it through to the top 10 in the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol contest! Thank you to everyone who voted- I'm so excited about the next round, too! Our challenge is fabric so I'll let that stew around in my brain for a few days and see what I can come up with!

I also am excited because I am heading out soon for a fun shopping trip with my sister! My sister is one of my favorite people on the planet so you know we are gonna have a great day together!

I have a class this weekend called Pages of the Month. I decided to add it to my lineup so that I could scrap more- I love to scrap but having a reason will make me get at least two pages a month more done in my scrapbook, right? Hee! This months theme is friendship and here is one of the pages we will create:


I was thinking about me and my sister when I made this scrapbook page featuring my little girls- I hope they have the same type of friendship we have when they grow up- it really is the best!

Well, hope you have a great Friday! Thanks again for voting for me in the Paper Crafts contest- this has been such a fun experience for me!

-tessa

More Raining Flowers

Good Morning! I was just thinking my week was going so fast! Then I remembered that it was only Tuesday! Hee! I think I need a little more coffee this morning!

Today I'm sharing a few more samples from the convention displays I did. These are all using the Raining Flowers set:


First, a pretty box:


I made it all white except for the bottom of the inside- I put a piece of Inky Indigo in there to darken up what you see through the vellum and really let those stamps pop.

A Sympathy Card:

This was a color combo I wouldn't usually use but I love how these colors look together. I think purples are growing on me!

Another card:

This card was prettier in my imagination when I was thinking about layering vellum over the stamped flowers. I wanted it to be a little more distressed looking but in the end, left it clean and crisp. I still like it but one of these days I'll have to try it again with the distress kit handy!

Well, since today is Tuesday, I've got a full house of kids to entertain! I see the park, riding bikes, and picnicking in the back yard in my future!

Also, if you have a minute, can you vote for my card in the PaperCrafts Magazine Gallery Idol contest? I've made the top 15 and would love to go through to the next round!

I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

-tessa

Diecut Collage Background

Hello!

Well, since I made it to the next round of PaperCrafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest, I've got another submission for you to see! This week, we were challenged to use die cuts in a innovative way. I know a lot of the girls are going to be using their electronic machines to cut out very intricate designs but I wanted to stay simple. I used my trusty Big Shot and a few of my favorite floral dies to cut out a bunch of flowers. Then I used them to create a neat, monochromatic collage background. I also built up a few flowers to serve as a focal point. Here is my card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friendly Phrases, Raining Flowers
Ink: Calypso Coral, Basic Black
Paper: Calypso Coral, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride cardstock; Calypso Coral textured cardstock
Accessories: Fun Flowers die, Leaves #2 die, Floral Fusion die, Sweet Buttons die, Scallop edge punch, linen thread

So what do you think of this idea? I love the idea of a collage background and I'm going to try it again soon with more colors and prints. It would look great on a scrapbook page, too!

This round of PaperCraft's Gallery Idol contest will run until Thursday at noon. Please pop over and vote for my card! I'd love to make it through with the top 10 designers!

I hope I've inspired you with this innovative yet easy way to use your die cuts! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

-tessa

Best Friends Forever Samples

Good Morning!

Hope you had a great weekend! I had two great classes- and lots of fun! Thank you ladies for joining me in making cards this weekend!

Today I'm sharing a few more cards from the convention sample boards... did you see them there? Hee! Here are some featuring the Best Friends Forever set:

An elegant card:


A sweet card:


And a petal cone:




This set has quite a few useful stamps. Great ones for backgrounds, especially! I love the swirly one and the simple dots...

Hope you enjoy your day! Look for a second post from me around noon with information on the next round of Gallery Idol, too!

-tessa

Easy Events Samples

Good Morning!

Friday morning, too- aren't those always the best? And I have another fun weekend planned- two fun card classes, a birthday party, and maybe (if I can sneak it in) seeing the last Harry Potter movie as well! Sounds pretty good to me!

Before I share my cards, I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me in round one of PaperCrafts magazine's Gallery Idol contest- I made it through to the next round!! I'll post my card featuring diecuts on Monday! Hee! add that to the list above of what I'm doing this weekend! lol!

OK... on to the samples! Easy Events was another set that the corporate office sent me to make samples with. It's very cute and I found it easy to work with. Here are my samples:

Tree Card:


Duckies Card:


Flowers Mini Milk Carton:


What do you think? Seem like a set you'd use a lot?

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you enjoy your weekend and I'll be back on Monday with more samples from the convention boards as well as my diecut card for the Gallery Idol contest!

-tessa

Convention Board Samples- Raining Flowers

Good morning!

Today is Thursday which means the Stampin' Up! convention should be in full swing! I'll start sharing some of the samples I created for the boards there. I have quite a few so I'll be sharing a couple every day or so. This first bunch features the Raining Flowers set:

To My Friend Card:



Purple and Red Flowers Card:



Raining Flowers Garland:




I really enjoyed working with this set! I know everyone at convention is receiving it so we should see quite a few samples popping up when the get home. I can't wait!

Also, today is the last day to vote in round 1 of PaperCrafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest. If you have a minute, please pop over and vote for my card- I'd love to go on the the next round!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

-tessa

Delicate Doilies Thank You- Anyone want to swap?

Good Morning!

Last Saturday I held my first event as a business demo! I had a kickoff party at my house to introduce all my friends to the new catalog and some of my new classes. I've never held an event like this so I didn't really know what to expect but lots of my friends showed up, ate snacks, talked about the catalog, and participated in my make-n-take. I had a great time and I think everyone else did, too! Thank you to everyone who was able to make it!

For the make-n-take, I used the pretty new Delicate Doilies set. Here it is:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Delicate Doilies, Just Believe
Ink: Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Sahara Sand classic inks; Jet Black Staz On
Paper: Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade, Whisper White cardstock; Pool Party textured cardstock; First Edition DSP
Accessories: Linen Thread, Victoria crochet trim

I wanted them to be detailed but simple for people to do. Everyone's turned out great so I think I succeeded!


I'm not going to convention this year. I went last year and had a great time! One of my favorite parts was swapping cards with everyone I met! Since I've got some extra cut from my party I thought I'd ask if anyone would like to swap through snail mail instead? I'll send you a card and you can send one of yours to me! I am open to swapping with anyone but I'd appreciate it if the card is made using SU! products so I can show it during my classes and such. Let me know if you're interested- tessamwise at gmail. com

Hope your day is off to a great start! Thanks for popping by!

-tessa

Handmade Elephant Card

After a busy weekend (I'll fill you in on that tomorrow!), I sat down last night to create a card for the PaperCrafts magazine Gallery Idol contest! Our challenge was to create our own handmade embellishment and use it on a card. I have made plenty of my own embellishments over the years but wanted to create something I had never done before. I chose this elephant mainly because of a silly conversation me and my friend Sarah Z had a long time ago- we were talking about a cute elephant stamp we saw in the store we work at and decided it needed to be colored purple cause all cute elephants are purple! lol! Can you guess what was on my desk that made me think of that conversation? The pretty purple fabric from the Flirtatious line! Hee! So yes, purple fabric must make me think of elephants, even if it's covered with doilies! lol! Thanks Sarah! Here is my card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friendly Phrases
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Paper: Confetti White, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede cardstock
Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Hemp Twine, paper piercer, Flirtatious fabric; brown embroidery thread


This little ellie was so fun to make! I freehanded my design onto the back of my fabric and cut it out. I frayed his edges to create a little texture. Next, I sewed him onto some cardstock- I stuffed him with cotton balls before I was all the way done- and then cut it out. I added his details last- his tail, french knot eye, and his ear. It was fun making something so different from my usual stuff!

If you'd like to vote for my card in the contest, please head on over to the PaperCrafts Gallery Idol page! Check out all of the awesome card everyone submitted- what a talented group of ladies!

Hope your week is off to a great start and thanks for stopping by today!

-tessa

Congratulations Banner Card

Good Morning!

I'm super excited to post today because of THIS post on the Papercraft Connection blog! Yes, you have to scroll through every single beautiful entry but there at the end is this card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Pennant Parade, Friendly Phrases
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Basic Black classic inks; Whisper White craft ink
Paper: Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Island Indigo, Sahara Sand cardstock; Calypso Coral textured paper, Brights DSP, First Edition DSP
Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Boarder punch, White bakers twine; yellow bakers twine by Pink Paislee

Yahooo! I've made Papercrafts Gallery Idol 2011 top 20!

I scrolled through the list saying to myself "oh... there is no way I would have been picked- these are SO gorgeous and way out of my league... and there's a banner card so there you go." And then lol! There it was! Hee! I am so excited to be picked among this great group of artists! Now, I hope I can keep up with them!

This is my second year playing along- I made it all the way to the final week in 2009 and had SO much fun! I can't wait to see what the challenges will be!

I made the card last weekend and it has been a favorite color scheme for me this week. I made a real banner and a scrapbook page to match! I'll share them soon- I have my open house tomorrow and I want to let my friends coming see them first! If you are near Woodbridge, VA, please don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to come!

Off to do the happy dance one more time! :)

Thanks for reading and have a great Friday!

-tessa

Scooting Through Summer...

Hello there! I thought I'd pop on and share a card real quick! It's nap time for the little guy I spend days with and my girls are busy watching their favorite Barbi movie- just a few moments of peace to myself today! Maybe if I can post real fast, I can sneak down and make a card, too! Hee!

Today's card features that cute scooter from the On the Grow set. I have always wanted a cute scooter! Especially one with a fun little basket on the back! It's not very practical for me but boy are they cute! Here is my card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: On the Grow, Friendly Words wheel
Ink: Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder, Cajun Craze, and Calypso Coral
Paper: Crumb Cake, Confetti White cardstock; Wisteria Wonder textured cardstock; Soft Subtles DSP
Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, paper piercer, 3/4" circle punch, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Aqua Painter, Glossy Accents

This has to be my favorite stamp from the summer mini- it's got plenty of character and it gives me a chance to watercolor!

OK! Gonna keep it short so hope you have a great day! Thanks for peeking!

-tessa

Raining Flowers Card

Good Morning!

I have a pretty little card for you today using a great new stamp set- Raining Flowers! It is a larger set full of pretty flowers and their outlines. Since flowers are my favorite to use when I stamp, I was thrilled to find this set in my convention stampers box! Here is my card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Raining Flowers
Ink: Poppy Parade, Pear Pizazz, Sahara Sand classic inks
Paper: Sahara Sand, Pool Party, Whisper White cardstock; First Edition DSP
Accessories: Chantilly crochet trim, Basic Pearls, paper piercer, White Signo gel pen

I love how this card turned out! The color scheme really allows the red blossoms to pop! I used one of the outline stamps on the card base to add a subtle design to the background.

I've created quite a few samples with this set- 8 for the convention boards and also a few for upcoming classes- and I still find myself reaching for it. It's easy to use and I think you'll really like it!

Also, I've been getting so many nice comments and emails lately- I just wanted to say thank you! It is so nice to hear from people every now and then and your messages bring a smile to my face every time I read one! I really do appreciate them and all of you who stop by each day to see what I've created.

Hope you are off to a good day and thanks for stopping by!

-tessa

Fun in the Sun Card

I am in full on summertime mode! I love it- warm, carefree days that hopefully won't go by too fast this year! I have a list of fun things to do with the girls this week and hanging out at the local water park is one of them. I was thinking about it while I was making this fun card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Sunny Fun, Confetti, A to Z
Ink: Whisper White craft ink; Basic Black, Pacific Point, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Blush Blossom classic inks; Jet Black Staz On
Paper: Pacific Point, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White cardstock; Brights, In Color DSP packs
Accessories: Blender Pens

This little image was so fun to color! When there are people in images I always imagine they are people I know- this ones got my girls, the little guy I babysit, and one of my nephews in it! Hee!
I used my blender pen so I could easily maneuver the tiny details. I like how they softened the coloring a little.

Hope you are off to a fabulous (short) week and that you all enjoyed your Fourth of July weekend! Thanks for popping by today!

-tessa

A great day for a new catalog!

Hello! I'm just winding down my busy day and thought I'd pop on and share a few exciting things Stampin' Up! has going on today! First, the new catalog is live and ready to shop from!!!


Check it out online when you get a chance- there are so many pretty things in it and the artwork is great! The samples are so inspiring this time around- I think they get better every year!

If you are wanting everything from the new catalog, then this next news is for you! Stampin' Up! is offering a limited time $99.00 Starter kit! It is full of great new products as well as all the perks of being a demonstrator- extra money, free stamps, demo discount! :)


It also comes with a free mini Christmas kit that looks so cute- lots of great stuff from the next Holiday mini are included, too!


If this sounds like something you're interested in, please don't hesitate to comment, email, or call for more information! I've linked my website with a better list of what's included to the picture above as well.

Hope you have a great weekend! I'll be spending it making samples for all of my July classes- I'm SO excited! Getting crafty is my favorite thing! Hopefully I'll have lots to share in the coming weeks!

Thanks for the visit today!

-tessa