A little Tess

Good morning folks ~ I hope that today finds you well.

I've been lucky enough that Betty let me borrow some of her stamps again, and this time it's Tess.  At first I really did not care for it - til I touched it.  Once I touched it I loved it!!  I love the chef from the Voilà' set too because like Tess you can paper piece it.  So you wanna see what I did with it?  Of course!

I wanted to make some easel calendars that are still good for the rest of this year, that's what these are.  The base is Garden Green that I layered with Chocolate Chip and Brocade Background DP.  I stamped the image from Tote-ally Tess and colored parts of her in, then paper pieced the rest with scraps.  I stamped off the bag and rubber stamp in her hand, colored them and cut them out and added them to the main image. 

Isn't she just adorable!!  I love to paper piece - you can get such a different look than just coloring an image.  And if you use the scraps from the papers that your using you get a matched look.

Here is another calendar made with Tote-ally Tess.  The base measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" so it will fit into a regular A2 size envelope.  I stamped the image from Tote-ally Tess and colored her in with pencils and gamsol and paper pieced the rest.  The DP is called Brocade Background from SU! but it is discontinued, sorry.  I also used River Rock, Chocolate Chip and Garden Green card stock.  The punch I used across the middle was from Martha Stewart and the Chocolate Chip layer under the image panel was cut out with my Cricut Storybook cartridge, as was the green flourish in the bottom right corner.  The paper rose I made with some Creamy Caramel paper. 

To get this size easel I took a piece of card stock that was 5 1/2" x 11" and scored it at 5 1/2" and 8 1/4".  The front panel was 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" that was decorated.  Easy Peasy......

Ok, now I will share with you something that I did and while I was doing it I thought "you dummy".  Take a peek at her bag.  Can you see all the little pieces?  I stamped her bag twice on to the DP.  One of the bags I cut the handles off of, that was used at the back of the bag.  I stamped the little images, the pen, the rubber stamp, the card and the scissors and cut them all out and placed them in her bag.  I put a piece of tape on the "back" of the bag and adhered the pieces down.  I then placed the "front" of the bag, the piece with the handles over that.  Using the "back" of the bag gave me the placement to put Tess' tools in her bag and it also gave a little dimension to the bag.  Yup, I'm

crazy!!

If you are wanting the link to the calendars I had got them off of Splitcoast Stampers.  Cat has posted each year these wonderful calendars for everyone.  The link to the rest of 2010 is HERE and if you'd like the 2011 calendar you can get those HERE.  THANK YOU Cat, these are awesome!

I'm always in need of a calendar - so I keep one at my desk, one at my craft table, one in my purse, one on the refrigerator...  So these work out great.  And best yet, they fold flat so you can mail them out to friends and family.

Hope you enjoyed my post today!  Have a super great day, and I hope to see you tomorrow.