Attitude of Gratitude

I am so excited to be a part of Tessa's Precocious Paper Attitude of Gratitude event. 

Attitude of Gratitude is a month-long event in November designed to encourage you to express gratitude on a daily basis. Tessa will be sharing her own thoughts on her blog, as well as uplifting quotations, stories, articles and videos, Her hope is to inspire those who participate to have a more grateful heart, and in turn, happier life.

 Last year I looked forward to Tessa's posts and I can't wait for them this month, too.  Tessa is such an inspiration, such a beautiful person.  I am thankful to call her my friend. 

This year I am going to join Tessa for her Attitude of Gratitude project.  I am going to try to blog my gratitude daily and throughout the month I am going to add to a mini gratitude journal which I will share with you along the way. 

I am going to be using Tessa's Precocious Paper Attitude of Gratitude kit:



Kit includes:

♥ Handmade Mini Album - 3 chipboard pieces, 2 distressed cardboard pieces, one metal ring, 4" by 6" finished size

♥ 2 Fabric and Felt Flowers

♥ 2 Sewing Pattern Petals

♥ 1 Denim Twist Flower

♥ 1 Blush Jersey Twist Flower

♥ 1 Full Set of Sweet Spots (10 pieces, exclusive to kit)

♥ 1 Navy Tulle Clothespin

♥ 1 Pink Raffia Clothespin

♥ 1 Green Raffia Clothespin

♥ 2 Leaves

♥ 1 Large Shipping Tag

♥ 2 Paper Sacks

♥ 1 Glassine Envelope

♥ 1 Template (for page shape, not pictured)

Let me tell you, if it's possible, this kit is even more awesome in person than in the picture above.  I am so in love with all the shaped journal pages and Tessa's flowers and Sweet Spots NEVER disappoint. 

Today I am sharing the title page for my journal:

Gratitude is the Best Attitude

Supplies Flower, Leaf, Trim, Chipboard: Precocious Paper; Stamps: Rubber Soul, Stampin Up; Ink: Ranger, Tsukineko; Paint: Delta, Liquitex, Making Memories, Plaid; Acrylic Ink: Liquitex; Decoupage Medium: Plaid; Gelatos, Pen: Faber-Castell; Mist: Lindy's Stamp Gang, Studio Calico; Other: Dictionary page, gesso

The majority of this piece is paint supported by ink.  I'm loving playing around with my Gelatos.  They have the perfect colors for creating my little girl's skin tone, pouty lips and rosy cheeks. 

My all-time favorite flowers of Tessa's are her Sewing Pattern Petals because they're just screaming out to be customized.  I went subtle on this one giving it a healthy mist of gold and brown. 

(Keep an eye out for more of "my girls" soon.  I'm hoping to get a variety of them up in my Etsy shop ASAP.) 

Please, join Tessa and me in this month-long exploration of gratitude. 

Here is how you can be a part of it:

1. Add the image above as a badge to your blog.

2. Blog your thoughts on gratitude daily (or as often as you can throughout the month).

3. Share your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter if you prefer.

4. Write your thoughts in a journal.

5. Collect your thoughts throughout the month and create a layout or mini album to display your gratitude.

Thank you for joining me today.  I am truly blessed to be able to share what I love doing with you. 

♥Heidi

Studio Calico NSD Challenge offering - Wish

I am really proud of this layout. I've submitted this for the Studio Calico (http://www.studiocalico.com/) National Scrapbook Day Challenge for hand-stitching on a layout (see Davinie's blog here http://davinie.blogspot.com/2009/04/in-honor-of-nsd-may-2-challenge.html) and to use 3 different patterned papers on a layout (this one has N-I-N-E on it!!) (see Nicole Samuels' blog for that challenge http://nicolesamuels.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/calling-all-scrappers-who-love-sc-kits/#comment-1954). My Studio Calico gallery can be found here (http://www.studiocalico.com/forums/galleries/show/9815). Be sure to take a look at all the offerings in the Member and Designer Galleries. There are some really talented people out there!!

The story behind my layout is that I've never really been a girly-girl and never had a really close relationship with a mother-figure, so my hope is that my relationship with Kins is how I think a mother-daughter relationship should be. (Basically, the ideal is my friend Kim's relationship with her daughter Jennifer.) So I hope that Kins always thinks of me as a friend but that she'll always be proud to call me Mama.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a really good shot of the awesomeness that is the patterned paper that I used for this layout. It's all from Prima Marketing Inc's The First Blush Collection. It's glossy and lightly glittery. The colors are amazing IRL. So, I've included a couple different angle pics to try to pick up on this quality of the paper but have included a flatter, "matte" version to show the overall layout. I do have to say that the two pics below best show the true colors of the layout (it's a bit more orange-y than IRL on the pic above) but I felt in the pic below I couldn't get a good overall shot of the paper, picture, and embellishments. Oh, well.

I'm really proud of my handmade flowers. They're both a series of nesting circles, clipped, and then hand-sewn together. Then I roughed and inked them up to give them dimension and character.

You know me by now...gotta have me some fussy cutting, too. I've brought forward some of the flower designs that would've disappeared behind the picture. (And, by the way, don't you just love the pic. I know I'm biased but would you look at those lips?! This girl is gonna turn some heads! Daddy better get the shotgun ready! Ha ha!)

Details: Paper: Prima Marketing Inc. The First Blush collection, VersaMark ink, Barbara Trombley's Art Glitter, Stampendous embossing powder, Cricut Storybook font, SU! circle punches, Creative Memories circle cutter, Diamond Glaze, Autumn Leaves stamp, SU! ink, and I think the chipboard corner MAY be Fancy Pants, but I can't be sure (it's been in a jar for a couple years). I'm also not sure who the ribbon belongs to...I bought it like 3 years ago.

Thanks for looking.

Heidi