I promised...

...and although it's late, here it is:

1. Thrifty Finds

Give me a free hour or two and I don't head to the mall. I head to the local thrift shop...and come away a few dollars more poor, but a few treasures more rich :) The guy ringing up my total said, "These are grandma things."

He was like 70.

I said, "Well I feel like an old lady trapped in a young person's body most of the time."

I don't think we either one had any idea what to say after that.

2. Instead of sneaks how about the real deal?

Meet an "Old Acquaintance"

Used a part of a chipboard flower to mask here and some recent photobooth pics of my cousin, her baby boy and I. Loved the toned down feel of this. Journaling about how I can't believe we are in this place in our lives, how blessed we are and how I wish we lived closer. The paper is Bella Blvd. as well as the paper flowers--aren't those awesome? You get one in the kit, but they has so many layers I pulled them apart for more ideas...although I also messed them up in the process ;( Guess that's how it goes!

When I saw the October Afternoon aplha in the kit it immediately made me think of all the pics I have of Aven creating. Here he is, Bumblebee Transformer costume on, painting away. My journaling talks about how he loves art and said on this day, "When I grow up I want to be an artist, but right now I'm just a little artist." Totally fine by me! I used the bottom of an old metal basket as the misting mask and some new spray ink. My stocking was filled with 8 new colors from Maya Road..guess I was on the nice list after all ;)

And this might be my most favorite project of the whole kit and it was so easy! Thrifted this frame for 50 cents and cut out some beautiful paper from Basic Grey to fit.For the life of me I can't remember where I came across this quote or who it is by. But I have always loved it and thought it could mean so many things..

*I took a deep breathe and let it go....and walked into the room to face my fears.

*I took a deep breathe and let it go...and pushed my baby into the world.

*I took a deep breathe and let it go...and chose to move beyond past disappointments.

*I took a deep breathe and let it go...and drove away for the last time.

You get the idea. Anyway, I loved how the butterflies seem to be flying away and kinda went with the quote. Plan on hanging this by my computer as a reminder that sometimes all I need to do is take a deep breathe and

let

it

go.

A couple of cards in the gallery, as well as some super inspiration form the January guest and design team. Be sure to check it all out!

3. Be my guest

There is a new prompt over at Category Stories and a new guest designer you might know ;)

The prompt was "perfect fit". Here is my interpretation:

I love that they give prompts and then you just jump off with it and create. Be sure to play along with them this month. All you have to do is link your creation to the January 1 post and/or their Flickr group (do both for a second chance to win!) The prize is determined by a random draw so you have nothing to lose and a cool new layout to gain! Please link me up if you do play along. I would love to see what you do with it :)

Hope you all had a wonderful ringing in of the new year. Wishes of the most blessed year for you and yours!

A time to "Gather"

First off..."AArrRGGgGHhhh Mateys! Me hopes ye had a frightfully fun Halloween, ya scalleywag!"

And now to time to "Gather". This kit knocked my mismatched socks right off! The buzz between designers was it's the most favorite yet and I have to agree. In fact, there *might* be a rumor floating around that I could marry this kit I love it so...*might* ;)

On to the good stuff.

Paxton's first treat: a sucker from Cookie Cutters. He ate every last sticky bite and loved it! --Although my mom claims he has had a sucker before on her watch. I guess that's what Grandma's are for ;)

Loved clustering all the embellies and paper here and as you can tell I am LOVING my new camera--those instant pics are too fun! The smiling alligator was a great touch--he already comes stitched.

I used a piece of Buzz and Bloom chipboard I already had as a mask for the mist and then sewed around it it orange--the color of the sucker :)

Glad to actually get a birthday layout done! Would you believe that I have NEVER scrapped a birthday or holiday before this one? Aven is all about super heros and that was the theme of his party a few weeks ago. The lighting at the party combined with super busy 4 year olds did not lend itself to great pictures, but he loved every minute of it and the few I got were priceless.

I realized after I finished that I didn't really leave room for journaling. Sure there was some white space that could be used or I could have wrote on the edge of the cardstock, but I felt it was busy enough sooo...

behind the clouds it goes! I've never made an "interactive" element to a page but loved doing this. And those SAWEET chipboard and cord clouds?? From Buzz and Bloom, an Australian based company and they are SUPER hard to find here in the States my friend. So if you want a chance at them this is the kit to get!

I used this title on a post awhile back and it's also the theme song on the Noggin channel for the season. I couldn't help but use it here after seeing Aven in the leaves. We have PILES AND PILES of leaves here and although most have fallen by now, a few weeks ago when I would look out leaves would falling so softly so I tried to mimic that with the leaves I cut out using the Slice.

I used the leaves as a mask before attaching and also pop-dotted a few to stand out.

Saw this twig in my craft room (yes, I had a twig in my craft room!) and decided it would be perfect to have the title falling from :)

Such an easy peasy project. Grabbed an old book and ripped off the cover. The clouds were the inspiration to find a quote I loved and wanted to display. I took the negative piece of the chipboard from the Buzz and Bloom clouds to paint with and then added the chipboard and cord clouds on top.

Used some fishing line (also found in my craft room! There could be anything in here I tell you!!) and hand-cut some raindrops to hang from the bottom. I can definitely see myself making these hanging covers for holidays and baby's rooms..all sorts of ideas :)

So there you have it. The SUPER AWESOME November kit from Freehand Scraps! Definitely take time to check out the AHhMAZInG gallery this month! All the designers are so talented and the guest was pure INSPIRATION!