Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Spring Cleaning Sale

You heard right...the big news is that Freehand Scraps is having it's first EVER Spring Cleaning Sale! As we make room for all of our new products here at Freehand Scraps, we are having our first ever Spring Cleaning Sale! Buy any kit at full price, including our latest April kit, and choose one of our past kits for half off!! (To be fair to everyone who wants our April kit "Serendipity" the offer doesn't apply to buying 2 of them, only to our past kits that we still have available.) Also you cannot take advantage of this offer through our website as Pay Pal cannot apply the discount on your second kit, so you must email Heidi if you are interested at heidi@freehandscraps.com. From there we will email you an invoice through Pay Pal to take care of the cost of the kits and the shipping cost as well. Remember, it only costs $1.50 extra in shipping for your second kit! Quantities are limited and this offer is available for a limited time, so make sure to take advantage of these special savings!

I am working on getting a newsletter sent out tomorrow so be checking your inbox for that! And remember that "Serendipity" our latest kit will be revealed and up for sale first thing in the morning at 8 a.m. CST! See you then!

Monday, March 30, 2009

More Peeks...

Hi all! Just stopping by quickly to share Celeste Smith's peeks of her April gallery. I am getting so excited to get to share the whole kit called "Serendipity" with all of you! I also have some exciting news to share tomorrow...something that we have never done before at Freehand Scraps! (And I am not good at keeping secrets so I will be sharing it tomorrow!) Aren't these the cutest sneak peeks? If you haven't ever been to Celeste's blog, you simply must. She always has the greatest things to share over there. Tons of fun ideas!


We had a super busy weekend with all of the birthday celebration happenings. Tanner's official birthday was Weds. but he celebrated Thurs. with his class at school. Then he had his best friend Marcus over for his first sleep over Friday night and finally his party was Saturday afternoon. I will be a happy mom the next time his birthday falls on a Saturday! I'm exhausted! LOL.
This is his most-prized Wall-E cake. He was sooo excited about it he told everyone in the restaurant...and in the store when we picked it up.

Have a great night!

Friday, March 27, 2009

B-day card!

Here is another birthday card I made using American Crafts paper and also the American Crafts alphabet is from our Oct. kit. (Notice I had used all the "e's" and so I used the number 3 turned around to look like a funky "E.") The rub-ons are Heidi Grace from the Reagan's Closet line, which are so cute, but the quality of them is not great. I was bummed because (as you can see in the photo) especially the swirls, didn't transfer well. Which is one of my biggest pet peeves! LOL. I thought the card turned out cute regardless. My little niece's birthday is the 29th! So this one is in the mail!

Hope you have a great Friday!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Little sister...

...to the best big sister in the world! I am so grateful for you Holly! Happy-Happy-Happy Birthday to you! The worst part is that I can't be there to MAKE you celebrate! LOL. I know you won't let anyone else talk you into making it into a big deal. But if I was there you would have no choice but to let me celebrate YOU! You are the best...and don't get enough credit for all you do.


Here's a list of how you make the world (and the people who love you) better!

*You are one of the kindest people on the planet (in my opinion.)

* You are loyal and trust-worthy. (If I had to be stuck in a foxhole with someone...I would pick you! I know you always have my back.)

*You are the BEST listener. (I am not the only one who knows that though!)

*You can sing just as good as the pros, and when you sing for the Lord, it gives me chills!

*You are the "perfect" wife. (Mmmm, I should take some notes for future reference...LOL!)

*You put your kids first!

*You were born to be a nurse, and are the best one around!

*You're funny and make me laugh, because you are so serious sometimes.

*We are complete opposites...and yet the best of friends. I think we compliment each other.

*You can always talk me out of spending money. And I, *sometimes*can talk you into spending some.

*You are the only person I've driven with to Indiana for the sole purpose of finding a Taco Bell drive-through...lol.

*You are very creative and have the most perfect handwriting!

*You are a "car girl" just like me. (That must be dad's influence?!)

*You like to talk...and there aren't many who can do it justice like to 2 of us! LOL.

*You care about everyone you know and they can feel it. It's from your heart.

*You are selfless.

*You were my first and last roommate. (Good times, good times.)

*You always support my dreams. (You believe in me!)


I think I could go on and on. But you must know today that I love you to pieces, and that I am celebrating you from here and wishing that I could be with you on your special day! Happy Birthday!

Somebody's 6!

I am in shock! Is it possible that my little boy could be 6 years old! He woke up extra early to let me know that it really was his big day...shouting at the top of his lungs, "It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" We had lunch at his favorite restaurant "the Chinese place" as he affectionately calls it. Ice cream for dessert. We took photo booth pictures and laughed out loud together...a LOT! He cracks me up. All day long people kept asking him how old he was...and he would always respond with a different age. Today I am 20! He told a little old lady at the shoe store, very seriously. Then he told her daughter that really he was turning 10 today. We were shopping for new shoes for him, since he is growing like a weed and pretty much needs a whole new wardrobe. The bald salesman was bent over in front of Tanner putting a shoe on his foot and Tanner says to him..."Hey you don't have any hair on your head! I mean not ANY!" sounding very shocked, like he had never seen a bald man before! I was so embarrassed, I wanted to crawl under the rug, but the salesman was a good guy and just smiled and laughed. I really should practice what to say in those totally awkward situations! After all, it was the truth, but sometimes there are things you just NEVER say!

A few things about Tanner right now. He is just a breath of fresh air to me. Always bouncing around the house singing his little songs. He loves animals (and always has!) He is quite the little artist. Everyday I have a new pile of drawings that he has made for me, or for friends and family. Here is what the easel looks like right now. You can see the alligator on the left, but the large tree (that really looks like a giant chicken to me) has a squirrel on the branch and a small tuft of leaves at the tippy top.

He is friendly, and happy, and very easy going. He is sensitive and loving and a great big brother. He amazes me, and teaches me everyday! I am looking forward to another year of having the privilege of being his momma.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sneak Peeks...

As promised here are a few peeks of my gallery. I am loving this kit, and wanting to play with it more and more!


There is so much goodness in this one!

Hope you had a great day!

Monday, March 23, 2009

A day without internet...

Is just plain frustrating! Especially on a Monday when there is a lot of catch-up from the weekend going on. So instead, we worked in the yard and pruned bushes and trees. This yard of mine is a full-time job and I am sadly lacking the time to keep it as nice as I should. Just thinking of mowing it every week in the months ahead makes my head spin. Where am I going to find that extra 4 hours every week? It's a good thing we'll have more daylight hours!

The internet magically started working again this afternoon...so I was able to get a few things accomplished. I am working hard on my gallery and will be sharing some sneak peeks this week! This was a fun kit and I am really liking the colors a lot. So "springy" (is that a word?) LOL.

I thought I would share a few things that I am loving right now. The first is a internet radio station that allows you to pick a song or artist and they create an entire radio station around that style of music. It's commercial free and free to use and is my latest obsession! I have about 5 different "stations" created around some of my favorite songs. The best part is that you can click a button saying whether you like the song they are playing or not. If you don't like it, they tell you that they will NEVER play that song again on your station. Now if only the radio stations in the car did that! Hee hee. My favorite "station" was based on the song "By Your Side" by 10th Avenue North. Check it out!

I am also loving this right now. I think I would pick either the lemon or lime. So cool that she used tinted concrete for the color inside the silver image.

Hope you have a great night! I'll be back with some gallery goodness tomorrow!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Rockin' the FS shirt!

I am in full kit mode here today...up to my eyeballs in patterned paper and embellishments! (Doesn't sound too bad huh?) So I decided I needed to rock the Freehand Scraps shirt my mom and I made. Don't you love it? My body is definitely not the best model...LOL...but I don't care I am proud to wear it! I was taking the picture telling myself "suck it in girl!" Hee hee. The camera really does add 10 pounds right? (wink)
The little badge says "brilliant." Love it! Seriously you've got to get yourself some iron-ons and make yourself a shirt. This was fun. But in my case I had better wait until my mom is in town to make another one, because she is the BEST at making a "c" into an "e" when I mess up!
And as I am "working" the kids are hard at work too. This is a shopping/jungle safari/guitar rock concert/game they made up. There are also lots of couch pillows involved! They are having fun, and that makes me smile!

Tonight I am planning on scrapbooking and working on my gallery. I am also still making b-day cards for the thousand and one March birthdays we have this month! I'll share those tomorrow! Hope you have a happy first-day-of-spring-Friday! What a good combination!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Candyland and a card...

I decided to get Tanner the game Candyland for a gift this year and we pulled it out last night to play it for the first time. I purposely waited because I know how kids can get frustrated with taking turns and not getting to win every game. The box clearly reads that it is intended for ages 3 and up, and Tanner is almost 6 (Holy Cow!) and Chloe is 4...and I was thinking that we were finally ready to play the game, and have a great time doing it! I am always looking for things we can do "together" as a family. If you have kids then you know that a lot of times when you play with one...the other gets hurt feelings because they wanted to play with you too. Only in our case, it's hard to play Barbie's and dinosaurs all at once. You have to get really creative to make it work. LOL. (Barbie is almost always very "afraid" of tyrannosaurus rex you know.)

So we start out and being the teacher that I am, I explain the entire game board and even quiz them on what the characters names are etc. I explain carefully all of the rules and then we get down to business. Of course, as luck would have it...I start winning. I couldn't think of what would be the best approach and how to handle it, besides downplaying the winning or losing part like it isn't a big deal. I was thinking...this is life, you aren't always going to win every time, but I kept telling them that the game could change and really anyone could win. Luckily the next card I drew sent me way back to the beginning of the board and Chloe ended up winning. It didn't matter who won though, because all that mattered to Tanner was that HE didn't. There were tears and then he didn't want to play again, so Chloe and I started the next game. Luckily she was winning again, but at the very end she drew a card that sent her back to the beginning. Now I was the one close to winning! She started crying because now she wasn't winning and we never finished the game. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly the "fun" evening I had planned. The more I thought about it though, it made me realize how much we try to protect our kids. We always want them to "win" in life, to never feel like they are a loser. But wouldn't it be better for them to feel like a winner whether they won or lost? That is so important to me, as a parent, to teach my kids that it doesn't matter what happens in their lives...that they are winners, and that they can choose what kind of attitude they will have whether they are winning or losing! I think your attitude determines whether you "win" in life. Even as adults...have you ever felt like you were sent back to the beginning of the game board we call life? I sure have! You work so hard to get ahead whether it's in your job, or your relationships, and the fact that it can completely change in just one split second is alarming! My attitude is that whether it appears that you're winning or losing isn't important, it's what you are learning through it that counts! (Sometimes I wish I had a little less to learn. LOL.)


I also wanted to share a little birthday card I made for my good friend Christy last night. Today is her birthday. So Happy Birthday To YOU! We love you Christy!
I mostly used scraps from our March kit "Paperweight" and added a Heidi Swapp silhouette (presents) and a few buttons and brads. It was quick and simple, but I hope she likes it!
Hope you all have a great night!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Almost spring!

Just thought I would post a few pictures from around the house today. I have been feeling like it needed some sprucing up around here. In general it needs some COLOR in my opinion...a little spring make-over so to speak. So while Hobby Lobby had a big sale on prints and art a while ago, I purchased this cute little matted print. (I think it only cost me $9.00!) And the chandelier print was also purchased there. You can't tell from the picture but the black chandelier image is actually fuzzy velvet. (This one also cost me $9.00! Such a deal.) I have it hung in the back hallway which is also my office. I have had them sitting here just waiting for me to get my act together and get them hung up. Sometimes I feel like I have so many "projects" in progress...this was one of the many! So it felt great to get it done, and it's so refreshing to have something new and spring-like to look at while I work. Very inspiring! (Oh, and the "Love what you do" plaque is from Hallmark and it's printed on a ceramic tile.)

I like to redecorate from time to time even if I don't have anything "new" to put out. I just go around the house and kind of reorganize things. Change them around, take some down, and then pull them out later as if they are brand new, even though I may have had them for years! This is a little antique wire message board that I had gotten last summer on a trip to Colorado. I had it sitting here all this time, and it was time I found it a home. I am still playing around with what I want to hang on it, but this is just what I stuck up there so far. It will definitely be changed out frequently!

And here is one more project that I have had sitting on my desk for a few weeks. It's an old EXIT sign that doesn't light up anymore, but I had envisioned maybe putting different patterned papers behind each letter? I am not quite sure what I will do with it. It needs to be cleaned up a little first. I liked it though, it was unique and only cost me $5!
Any ideas? I would love some! Hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day. I am so lame, I totally forgot to even wear green. (I didn't get pinched though!) At least the kids had it on...that was totally accidental! LOL.




Monday, March 16, 2009

Mid-Month Newsletter!

Check your inboxes! Here is the latest newsletter.

Time for another mid-month newsletter! I love this time of year, with all of the spring-like weather, the birds chirping outside the window each morning, and the latest scrapbook products! This month our “Paperweight” kit has been very popular, but if you haven’t had a chance to get yours we have a few left! Get it
HERE.
This month’s gallery is absolutely spectacular! If you want to take a peek at the rest of it you can view it here.
And now for a sneak peek of what’s to come for our April kit. Including products from the new “Penny Lane” line by My Mind’s Eye, Hambly, SEI, and a Technique Tuesday stamp by Ali Edwards. You’re going to love it!
I want to take a chance to thank you all so much for your continued support of Freehand Scraps! We have the best customers! Happy Spring!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Scrappiness...

Last night I got to go to a crop with my good friend Christie. It has been a while since I got together with anyone to scrapbook, and it was long overdue. I am starting to look at the pictures that "must" be scrapped (i.e. birthdays, Christmas) and I am starting to feel overwhelmed! So I pulled out some older pictures and went to town! I stayed up way too late, but I got a LOT accomplished.

I can't remember exactly how old this "wonder years" line by Daisy D's is, but I absolutely loved it when it came out and literally bought a sheet of every piece of paper. All of these papers are either Daisy D's or Cosmo Cricket.

These are pictures from Tanner's first year of preschool. I was going to scrapbook his first day of school and then make a separate layout of school pictures, but I combined them, and I thought it turned out pretty cute. My putting off scrapping the first day of school and waiting for all of the official school pictures at the end of the year worked to my advantage. LOL. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself.



This bar-code strip is actually a roll of packing tape that is made by Prima. Kind of fun?! This was the first time I used it on anything. And you can't go wrong with Heidi Swapp's silhouettes.

The chipboard letters are by Doodlebug Designs and they are glittery. Oh and the blue "abc" paper is by KI Memories...the black and white polka dots is by Heidi Swapp.

This layout is of his first time playing t-ball last spring/summer. He was on the Yankees and had a blast! I can't believe it's taken me this long to scrapbook this!
The main paper is by Cosmo Cricket as are the "Yankees" letters. The chipboard heart and black and white polka dot paper is Heidi Swapp, the yellow cloud is Sassafras Lass.
Ah, more of the Daisy D's paper that I am in love with! I used a transparency frame from our October kit "Chit Chat" and added the stitched rub-on border.
The alpha is by Making Memories, the heart tickets are by Jenni Bowlin and the green glossy dots are Heidi Swapp. The cute elephant journaling card is brand new and by Sassafras Lass.




This is a fun pool page of Tanner. I have always wanted to make a button frame on a page and have never done it. I think it turned out pretty cute. Most of the buttons are Creative Cafe or chipboard buttons by Love, Elsie.
The felt letters are by KI Memories.

I hope you are all having a great weekend! Now I need to go clean up the giant scrapbook mess I made...it's everywhere!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Is it the weekend yet?

What a week! Chloe was sick over the weekend, then Tanner started out the week by getting a cold, then I had food poisoning, and today it was a visit to urgent care for "Tan the man" (as we like to call him.) He woke up this morning and was in excruciating pain. Pain in his legs, with no explanation or rhyme or reason for it. He was literally shuffling around and looked like an 80 year old man. As luck would have it, it was picture day (of course, right?) at school, so he really wanted to be there for that. I dropped him off and told his teacher to call me if he wasn't doing well, and I would run back and get him. Sure enough...the call came and I was headed back to pick him up. I called the doctor and they of course immediately thought it was something serious. She told me not to "ignore it." So we prayed, and called some other people to pray, and called Autie Holly, the RN to ask her advice. Finally, since he hadn't improved by late this afternoon, we saw the doctor. I will never get used to other people poking and prodding at my kids. He was a very sweet man and just doing his job, but when he started squeezing Tanner's legs to find out where the source of the pain was coming from...Tanner let out a gasp and started bawling! If you knew Tanner, this is totally not like him at all. He NEVER cries when he gets shots, and rarely cries when he gets hurt, he is one tough kid. So he found that it's muscle pain and the doctor thinks it's just the end of a virus and nothing serious, but that I should be watching him and if it isn't much better by early next week then he will want to see him again. His prescription: orange juice, bananas, and tomato based foods like ketchup...all good sources of potassium. So Tanner's eyes light right up and he says to the doctor "you mean like McDonald's ketchup?" In Tanner's eyes, McDonald's can pretty much fix any problem, and cure any ailment. The clinic just happens to be directly next to a McDonald's. The odds were in his favor today. LOL. Hope you have a great night!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Winner...

It's nice to pull out a few things to send off to the winner of our giveaway. I have so many odds and ends laying around! It kind of qualifies as spring cleaning...right? So without anything further...
the winner is: JessicaS of live laugh create

Email me with you address and I will get your package out to you! When I headed over to your blog I was cracking up because I was listening to your play list and heard DeeLite..I haven't heard that "Groove is in the heart" song since high school. LOL. It was a great "mix" of good music. (Even the theme song from Pride & Prejudice...one of my all-time favorite movies.)


I also promised a little sneak peek today of what's to come for April...I am loving this kit. I am starting the process of getting some pictures printed for it, and am excited to work with it this weekend.
So I got food poisoning last night...yeah...fun. I spent half the day on the couch trying to recover and told myself that I was sure I wouldn't be able to eat anything for DAYS. But I just finished an English Muffin and am sipping a root beer, and I finally feel a little better. I think I needed some sugar. It's all good. Thanks Mom and Dad for praying for me. I am SO much better.

It's the worst feeling being SO sick and still being solely responsible for 2 kids...you know the kind of sick where you can't pull your head off the pillow? Luckily it came on shortly after I put them to bed! Hope you are having a great day, and congratulations to Jessica S!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Invisibles...

I had some fun this afternoon playing with a sheet of the new "invisibles" by Heidi Swapp. I used the "lovely grid" chipboard sheets. There are 2 sheets in each package and they remind me of when you write on an Easter egg with wax crayon and after you dye it, the image you drew stays white. (It's a "resist," for all of you artist out there.) So here is what it looks like fresh from the package. It is printed on a glossy surface and the image that is printed on the paper is a high gloss. They recommend using acrylic paint or watercolors, and also ink. The "invisible" image appears and stands out in contrast to the color you've chosen for your background. They also strongly suggest that you use permanent ink or pigment ink if you are stamping, so it will stick to the clear printed surface. I used Tim Holtz distress inks in "walnut stain" and "old paper" and blended...and blended some more...and then some more. I waited for some of it to dry a bit and then added another layer of pigment. It was so much fun. The best part is that you can customize the color to exactly the project you're working on! So here is the "before."
I highly recommend this blender tool by Ranger. Technically it's called and Alcohol Ink Applicator.
I tried to show how many different shades I had before I blended them all together.

Don't you love grids? Love this!
I used my exacto knife and a ruler to cut it in half, and then in half again. This gave me 2 6"X6" pages for the cover and back of my mini book.

Using my Crop-a-dile and the guide I punched holes, so that they would be the same distance from the edge of the sheet.
I pulled out some colorful embellishments from my stash and a little ribbon, and added a title using some white American Crafts thickers.
This will be a book for Tanner's birthday pictures this month...he is going to be 6!
Here is a close-up of the embellishments.
In other news...we are having WaY tOo much rain. I laughed when I got a comment from my good friend Terry who said we may need an ark soon...so true. The road down from my house is flooded out and I managed to get some pictures from the backyard this afternoon. Our property is right on a river and there is also a creek that flows into the river making for LOtS of water! Luckily it never comes past the edge of the yard.
The trees look so pretty against the overcast sky.

Okay, so don't forget to become a "follower" of the blog to be entered to win the giveaway. I will be picking a winner tomorrow evening. You know there will be some "invisibles" in there! I also will have a sneak peek of the April kit to share tomorrow! See you then, and have a great night!

 
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