Freebie Friday! Christmas In July Theme

Update!

Hmmm I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seats to know who has won!!! ;-) Congratulations to the Winner: Osage Bluff Quilter!!! Please send me an email with your mailing address and I will get these out to you directly!

Hopefully I will gain some more followers soon, who are interested in my give aways. I know I am a new blogger and it will take time! So thanks for all that are listening out there and hope you have a great July. I think retailers are trying to cash in on Christmas in July as I see it all over the place. They are either hoping for better sales or are trying to keep people cooled down by reminding them of winter.

I know there have been several other blogs out there that have done a Christmas in July post so I thought I would borrow that idea.
One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to send cards out. Believe it or not (actually if you know me this isn't a stretch to imagine) I used to do a handmade small watercolor for each card I would send. Yes this took me a while however I was young, and single! Now married, with 2 kids I value sleep too much to take on that endeavor again. However I always make my own cards in some way. Last year I used the Creative Memories Storybook software to create my cards using vintage Christmas Post cards I scanned into the software.
Above are the examples of the cards I sent out (just the fronts). I used parts of each vintage postcard to create my own using the cutting tools within the software. This became quite addicting! I also loved that I could virtually cut the postcards up without having to touch the original at all.
In the spirit of Freebie Friday I have created a small tag for you to use on your own. Again please use this for your own creations and not for profit!

Since I do love giving . . .post a comment and I will use a random number generator to give that poster the set of tags pictured below. You will recieve in the mail (USA only please) a set of 6 tags (2 of each). 4 of them have glitter embelishment. These are all original creations from parts and pieces of vintage post cards. The back is blank so you could write your own message or continue embelishing if you like! I will announce the winner on Saturday! Good Luck!

Exploring Priscilla Hommon's Album

As I posted previously I am lucky enough to be going through one of my grandmother's albums. The collection isn't chronologically organized but then again some of the pages have come off the binding and it could be ordered differently than she intended it to.
I came across a small envelope that was titled "Treasures of Priscilla R. Trimmer" (see picture). I pulled out two small newspaper clippings. I found her birth announcement and another curious article. It turns out that at age two Priscilla swallowed a straight pin. So there I am holding the pin in one hand and the newspaper article in another and realized a little too late that I am holding THE pin that she swallowed!!! Ewwwwwe!!! Then rational thought took hold and I realized that probably any germs would not survive that long (and if they do please don't tell me about it)! Funny how swallowing a straight pin made the news. Funnier still is that she or someone decided to put this all in a little envelop and label it as a treasure!!
It also didn't escape me that 2 year olds no matter when they are born seem to do similar things. Seriously what must have been going through her mind to pick that straight pin up and swallow it! Hope this gives you a chuckle or at least makes you hide all your straight pins if a 2 year old happens to be in your home! I hope to post more discoveries this week!

Free Download Friday plus bonus give away!

Free Download Friday!!!!

And the winner is Brenda!

The question was is there a Hebrews 14? The answer is no, but my very first Bible study was a Beth Moore study. She talked about Hebrews being centered on people living a faith centered life and asked the question what will your Hebrews 14 look like? I loved that thought and wanted to make a t-shirt that reads Hebrews 14. You would either get people asking you what is in Hebrews 14 or others saying your t-shirt is wrong . .there is no Hebrews 14! Either way it would be a great ice breaker and allow you to share your faith story.

On another note I realized if I am going to be doing a free gift I need to make it a little more exciting so next Friday I hope to use the random generator to make the give away a little more exciting! Thanks for reading!

I am hoping my creative juices keep up with this endeavor!! I am hoping to post a free item to download and use every Friday. The good part is I think I have a pretty good stash of items to pull from in case of emergencies! For my first freebie please click here to download a pdf document that has some great tags on it!!! Use them for whatever your creative brains can think up!! (Oh and I would love to post pictures of how you used the tags just email me)!! Also if anyone has a better way to post downloads please let me know. It took the better part of an hour and many screams at my two kids for them to stop asking me questions until I figured it out. I wanted to post a sheet of the tags as a PDF and not individual images to make it easier on you. Does anyone out there in "blogosphere" know how to post PDF files easily to a blog?


I absolutely love giving and would LOVE to give away the hand made tags pictured below. The are each unique and are blank on the back for your special message. The come packaged in a bag.

The first person that posts the correct answer to the below question will be the recipient of the tags above.

In the Bible is there a Hebrews chapter 14?

I will post the winner on Saturday July 10th and tell you why I ask this question! Hope everyone is staying cool!!

Grandma's album

After purchasing some antique postcards at a wonderful shop here in Richmond VA my Mom told me she thought she had her Mom's old album. Lo and behold she brought a rich treasure over to my home a few days later! What a treasure trove of wonderful vintage valentines, old poems she wrote, photos and miscellaneous other mementos that obviously meant a great deal to her. My Grandmother's name was Priscilla Hommon (maiden name Trimmer). Above is a picture of her father, George Charles Trimmer. I will have to say this is one of my favorite photos now! I would have LOVED to have had the chance to know him, so if someone has invented that time machine sign me up on a waiting list! :-) My Mom said he was known for his humorous side and it shows completely through this photo.

Below are two more treasures I have come across and this doesn't even reach half way down page #1!! So I will share over the next few days/weeks, my finds.

I am also going to try to offer a free download of my own creation every Friday. I am hoping to have time to create this weekly but am now asking for some grace to be forwarded to me if I don't! :-)

To all of you who are now following me as a result of Karen from Sew Many Ways, I feel very blessed and uplifting. It is very inspiring and motivating when you know there is a good chance your posts will be read! Thank you and I hope to encourage some smiles along the way as you have made me smile!

Thankfulness

It is pictures of the above that makes me realize how thankful and blessed I am. I mean how can you not smile or even giggle at these faces! An attitude of gratefulness is one I strive for but seldom achieve. Knowing that I have been blessed to know and love these two kids is beyond my understanding. I look at these kids and then my husband laughing with them and know that God loves me, all of me! He has far more love and confidence in me than I do to have entrusted me with all that I have.

These pictures were taken at Myrtle Beach a couple of weeks ago. I can't even tell you what we asked both kids to get this same quirky quizzical look but am so grateful the camera captured it.

It also compels me to offer up my thanks to all the other creative bloggers out there. Up till recently I thought I was some creative freak of nature. I daily have to create and if I don't am a big "B" word. Knowing that there are others that feel as I do about creating and crafting is comforting and makes me feel loved by Him yet again. So as I write this I only have two followers one being my Mom and the other is Karen from http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ . Hopefully this post will be viewed in the future by my other followers. If I am able to inspire / share my talent with you then I am very grateful to have passed on the favor. So here forever more is my letter of Thanks to you out there in the "blogoshpere", thank you for sharing the talents that God has given you!

Creative Memories Storybook Software

I have an absolute and total love of the Creative Memories Storybook software. No I am not a consultant nor am I getting benefits for sharing this love! I have created so many cards, scrapbooks, gifts, art . . .I could go on with this software. It is easy to learn if you want to spend just a little time investment. So I wanted to share this great invitation that I made for my sweet friend's 40th birthday using the software. We decided on a lemon/lime theme since the party will be in the middle of July. I created the lemon/lime using water colors on watercolor paper (I admit this step might not be easy if you aren't an artist). Using my scanner, I scanned the image into the Creative Memories Memory Manager software (which I also love). Created my storybook using a custom size 5X7" page.

Using three colors, backgrounds from the Cottage Garden paper kit and the pink mat from the Delight Shopper Diva collection and my own art, I was able to create a unique and fun invitation!

The final product looks a little different than above. Once printed and put together I will post more. Just wanted to share this information!!! If you have any questions about how I did this please feel free to email me. This is such great software and easy to use!

Now after talking about all those lemon and limes I need a Corona!!! :-) Cheers!

Teacher Gift Contiued

So once all my cards we created I wanted to find a creative way to package the cards. I saw a smaller version of this in my stash of ideas from Better Homes and Gardens magazine years back (I will post about my idea stash later). For Thanksgiving I made 15 Apple cobblers using the Sam's club package of sliced apples. Never one to throw anything even remotely useful away, I saved the huge tin cans that were leftover. I mean come on how many times am I going to make 15 apple cobblers (I am hoping not more than once a year)! So I purchased un-sharpened #2 pencils and using my glue gun, covered the exterior of the can with pencils. I also created some decorations using my cricut machine and Creative Memories Scrapbook software.

Here is the step by step:

You need a tin can, un-sharpened pencils and a glue gun. If you want to you can use fabric to line the interior and create a bag like I did.

The first step is to line your tin can, using your choice of fabric make a tube and run a gathering edge along one side of the tube. Depending on your can will depend on the fabric you choose. Gather the end of the fabric to make a circle then using your glue gun glue this down. Don't worry about the hole, we will cover this in the next step.

Using a 3" whole punch (or any other circular cutting tool), cut a circle out of heavy card stock. Glue this down using your glue gun onto the open hole. Next start gluing your pencils to your can. A couple of pointers; use the bottom "lip" of the can to ensure the bottom edge is straight. Also stop frequently to check to ensure your pencils are going straight.

After you are finished you can glue a ribbon around the container and you have a unique Teacher container. You can fill it will just about anything! I saw this used originally to hold a bouquet of flowers.