I just had to share...

I couldn't help myself...I mean I really should wait to show sneak peeks...but it's just TOO cute not to share. Once again, my mom has done it again with 2 brand-new designed felt shapes for our upcoming July kit! An octopus and a little fish. Aren't they the cutest?
This one is embellished with a little aqua brad for an eye. (They will come plain for you to do your own thing with them.)

This one has a little button eye. You could also use googly eyes, sequins, sea shells, really any small trinket would be cute! Get creative! Oh, and you'll notice the "snorkel" line by Cosmo Cricket paper shown here with the felt shapes...yep...you guessed it! It's in the kit!

Get your summertime pictures ready...July is on it's way! I am headed to a crop tonight...I'll be back tomorrow to share a few layouts! Have a great Friday!

Up close...

...and personal details about my gallery this month. This is obviously the cover of my Donna Downey canvas album by Prima. I decided to try out my Maya Road mists and practiced a few times...but found out the hard way...a little goes a loooong way. LOL. It got on the gross grain ribbon border around the edges of the book and it looked terrible. So what did I do? Covered it up of course! Which wasn't as easy as I thought it would be...I whipped out the sewing machine thinking that would work best...but found there was a sticky material in between the fabrics. This meant my needle kept getting stuck. So I ended up gluing the ribbon border on the edge. Then I cut a little scalloped piece of fabric from the kit to border my photo. I also stamped with Staz-On ink a little quote next to the cute handmade tree from the kit.


I used the Fancy Pants felt 8x8 scalloped piece and hand-stitched a border around my photo.

I traced the felt onto this piece of patterned paper and then freehand cut it just a touch smaller so that you can see a little border of felt around the edges. (I love that paper!)

This book has a mixture of canvas (fabric) pages and also clear page protectors so that you have a nice mix. I decided to throw a little paint on the background of this page...then used a Heidi Swapp mask to do a few polka dots in pink. There are just a few strips of paper added and a few buttons to finish it off!

More masking of polka dots on these pages. This time I used turquoise chalk ink. The scalloped edge around Tanner's initials is one of the rub-ons trimmed in half to make it look like a "tab" and I also used my glass tooth pick holder dipped in paint to paint the larger brown rings in the left hand corner.
I like how it looks imperfect. And on another note, I used wonder tape to glue down all of the paper and photos to the fabric. That stuff is great! I almost used the entire roll!

I added the owl rub-on to a small piece of patterned paper and painted the chipboard scalloped circle cream to frame it with. The white scalloped strip is the backside of the Pink Paisley die cut paper.

I added a little white paint to the green vine paper a border and some stitching. The finishing touch were the cute little mushroom rub-ons in the corner.
The white tabbed divider is from our January kit "Spiffy" and I added a few buttons layered together. I finished it off with a little zigzag border that I cut out freehand. This page and the last were adhered to the chipboard 8x8 Fancy Pants page included in the kit.

I used the packaging from one of the fabric houses behind the photo, I am always looking for creative ways to incorporate cute packaging. Then I added the 3 tree rub-ons to the left hand corner. In some of this book the machine sewing is only one papers and not actually attached to the fabric pages. However this all is connected to the actually page. I chose a light yellow thread so that it wouldn't be a ton of contrast on the back of the page.

I used the tan cardstock (stitched around the border again with the light yellow thread) as the backdrop for my canvas house. I added a small picture in the front door and some small buttons over the window frame and even one as a doorbell. I freehand cut a few clouds and added some of the lace trim to look like rain drops. The quote on the page coordinates saying "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." I used the little mushroom rub-ons right onto the fabric house, working with fabric was just so much fun!

For the last page I used the Fancy Pants die cut paper as my background and cut out a few trees. The smallest tree is one of the Crate Paper rub-ons that I put on paper and then added to my little forest. I finished it off with another cloud and a small picture.

I had so much fun working with this album (you can get it as Scrapbook.com) but check your local scrapbook store first! I bought 2 of them...one at my LSS and one at scrapbook.com.

I spent 5 hours mowing the yard again today...and the turtle was nowhere in sight. So that was good, but I am off to bed! Hope you have a great night!

Monday...

Today I headed out to the post office with another batch of kits that needed to be sent out today. This kit is wildly popular...so if you still haven't gotten your hands on one...HURRY! LOL. Hope you all had a great weekend! Ours looked a little like this...
Clubhouse time!!

This is how it was decorated inside...with all of Tanner's drawings. I think the zebra might be my favorite...but the snail underneath him is pretty awesome too. There were also sections of Australian animals (complete with a wombat) as well as hammerhead sharks and sea anemones. He even had a whole section dedicated to robots...can you tell what his interests are? LOL.
They wrote on this box FoR-EvEr!

I'm coming back tomorrow with some explanations of my gallery this month. I had a few people ask for some more details and descriptions of what I used...so check back then. Have a great night!

Holy Cow!

Or maybe I should say Holy Turtle! This was staring into my back patio door scratching to get in the house after church today. I totally freaked out!
I was on the phone with my grandma when the dog started going crazy barking his head off, and I thought it was the dog scratching at the door. Little did I know...it was a 2 foot long turtle!!
He promply walked around the house stopping at each door scratching to get in. I can still hear him out back scratching.

I wonder why he wants to come inside so badly? Weird! The kids were thrilled of course! I got brave and stepped outside to take his picture...only because I hopefully can out run a big ol' turtle. He didn't respond to me being right next to him except for tucking his head into his shell slightly. The kids just ran outside to go hunt him down. I just hope he decides to head back down by the river before I mow the yard tomorrow! Hope you all had a great weekend!

DT Requirements...

I have been getting several emails asking for more details about our Design Team contest. So I figured this is a good place to share a little more info. I have had a lot of international girls ask if they are allowed to enter...and I *wish* I could consider them as permanent DT members, but with the time constraints of monthly kits it just isn't feasible. HOWEVER, I still would consider their entries for guest designing. So it's worth it to enter!! Another question I had asked was if you have to be a subscriber to enter. This call is open to everyone! It doesn't matter if you are well-known in the industry, or if you have never ever been published, we want to see your work! I ask that you can make a year long commitment to designing. I also ask that you don't design for any other kit clubs. (However, if you are designing for another manufacturer or a challenge blog that is perfectly fine.) I typically give designers roughly 2 weeks to work with their kit. These aren't "paid" positions. Your kit is your compensation, so you have to LOVE to scrapbook! Totally worth it, right? I cannot wait to see what you all send over!! Good luck!
So today, Tanner was being disciplined for hitting Chloe with a pencil because she was following him around...which is just what little sisters do...when will he learn? (I was the littlest sister so I remember these days well.) So after we had our little talk...he looks at me very seriously and tells me that he had "some bad news." (Mom and Dad...listen up.) So in his most somber voice he lets me know that he is going to "go to Nana and Papa's in Colorado." It was hard for me not to giggle a little. Didn't we all make those threats when we didn't get our way when we were little? LOL. I asked him how he was planning on getting there...to which he replied "I'm just going to take a lot of rides in a taxi." (Can you imagine how much that might cost to go 1,000 miles??LOL) It made me reminisce about packing up my little sack of my most important belongings which of course meant my stuffed panda and Strawberry shortcake doll, to make my big escape. After all, who needs clothes or food right? Gotta love how having kids around keeps you young! At least it reminds you of when you were young! Hope you have a great night!

Buried...

I should just pitch a tent at my local post office! Ha! I have been buried with work this week. Not just for Freehand Scraps, but also with mowing and house work and on an on and on. You know how it goes. Summer is supposed to be a time to relax a little with less "scheduled" time. So far it's just been busy! I'm sure we'll soon fall into a pattern of a new less scheduled, schedule. LOL. I am working on a newsletter today...so be checking your inbox for that today, or tomorrow! Hope your week has been less hectic than mine and that you are enjoying warm weather where you're at! This is a picture of when I was playing around taking shadow shots. It's kind of fun to try.
I am so very excited to announce another design team call here at Freehand Scraps! I love looking at every one's work, and am so excited that we get to add a few new faces to our little "family" here. I'll have some details for the contest in the newsletter. If you are interested in updating our blinkie on your blog with our new "Mayberry" kit...here is the LINK. Have a great day!

"Mayberry"

This new June kit is one of my all-time favorites! It is full of goooood stuff! If you haven't seen it all be sure to check it out HERE.
Be back with more of the gallery tomorrow! Hope you had a great night!