Fantabulous Friday Freebie: Swirly Style Leaves Sample

Yup, you've made it through another week.  Can you believe it's November already?  I say that at the beginning of every month.  I think the only time as an adult that time drags is when you are ill or pregnant.  When we were expecting Hailey, that's about the last time I can remember thinking, "Won't November ever end?"  Now, the thought of November starting strikes fear in my heart.... less than 55 days until Christmas.  And have I started any gifts or shopping?  Nope, not a thing.  Dang.  I'm considering instituting the homemade gift rule again this year.  What do you think?

So, I've got lots of happenings for you today.

First I wanted to let you know that you can get 25% off all my Fall and Thanksgiving themed designs and collections all November long! Click HERE to shop {or click over there on that nice ad, isn't it pretty?  It just begs to be clicked on}!

Second, I've got some fun new designs in the store!  I wanted to give you a little taste so be sure to read all the way to the end to pick up a free sample.

My newest files include some fun cupcake wrappers, a couple of pretty swirly leaf sets, and well... a little late, I know, but an awesome Halloween vinyl design.  Check 'em out!

Want to know how to get some of these files absolutely FREE!  Yup!  FREE!!!!  Well first of all, you can get the Cupcake Wrappers - Thanksgiving file just for joining the November Bingo game on the VDBC forum!  Totally free, just for signing up for a game to win more stuff?  Sweet!  

Also, I've got a little BOGO deal for you on the Swirly Style Leaves designs.  Buy the Swirly Style Leaves 1 file and get the Swirly Style Leaves 2 file absolutely FREE!  You'll need to put them both in your cart to get the deal.  Plus the Swirly Style Leaves 1  file is already on sale for 25% off, so it's super duper deal!  This deal is only good through next Monday night {11/7/11}, so don't miss out!

Okay, at last, here's the little free sample.  It's one of the leaves from my Swirly Style Leaves 1 set!  These are so pretty and very easy to cut.  I'm planning to cut a whole boat load of these files for a bulletin board project this weekend.  

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

Sorry!  This download has expired!  Look for this design in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store! 


Looking for more Sam & Hailey freebies?  Check out the VDBC Newsletter!

Want the rest?  Don't miss out on this weekend's BOGO deal!

As always, if you make something with this design, feel free to post it on your blog or in the VDBC gallery and post a link down in the comments section!

One last thing!  It's VDBC Newsletter time!  You can get another free file by Sam & Hailey Designs in today's edition.  Click here to get it!

Time to get crafty, people!

Fantabulous Friday Freebie: Last Minute Halloween Decorating + Product Special

Happy Friday and Happy almost Halloween!  And for me and Victor it's Happy Anniversary! We've been married for eleven years now.  Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Or does it?  If you are like me, when you look back on 10+ years it is astounding how much has happened.  Frankly, I'm astounded by how much happened in the first year.  I remember everyone in the office thought we were cursed.  Two weeks after our wedding, Alex, my youngest step-son {11 at the time} was in a terrible car accident where the driver was killed.  He was sitting next to her in the front seat and was lucky enough only to suffer two broken legs.  It was a very, very sobering experience for the whole family.  Well, I doubt it was sobering for Alex, more like traumatic.  I'm so grateful he wasn't hurt worse.

You'd think that would be enough, but just a month or two later, Victor was in a car accident and ended up upside-down in a small river near our house.  Amazingly, he wasn't hurt at all.  Take that, curse!

We thought we were home free for a while, then just over a year later on New Years Day, 2002, at about 8:00 in the morning, our apartment complex had a terrible fire.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  The apartment next to us was completely destroyed by the fire and we found ourselves homeless.  We truly believe we were spared by Heavenly Father.  In addition to the destroyed apartment next door, the fire destroyed the attic above our apartment.  All we suffered was some minor smoke damage and some melted plastic in our storage closet on the landing.   The five of us lived in my brother's attic for the next three months while we shopped for a house.

Such experiences surely strengthened our marriage and our family.  So take that, too, curse! Some pretty awesome things have happened over the past 11 years, as well.  Two beautiful little girls were born into our family.  Samantha and Hailey have certainly changed our lives in amazing ways.  Two of our boys have gotten married and started families of their own.  Those two little granddaughters of ours are the greatest gift our boys could ever have given us.  In the meantime, we moved to Arizona.  AND I got to pursue my dream of having my own creative business.  Who could really ask for more?  Of course, I wouldn't turn down being magically skinny or large buckets of money, but hey, who would?  I'm happy with what I have though.  Life is good.

What's that annoying cliche that you see done up in vinyl a little too often?  Oh right... "All because two people fell in love."  It's super sweet, but I suppose it's true.  Maybe I'll cut it in vinyl and put it up in the house somewhere.  Hmmm.... probably not, but it was a nice thought there for a minute.

Blah, blah, blah,  blah.... enough with the chatter, Jan... you promised us a freebie, remember? Oh right!  Sorry, I got all caught up in the reminiscing.  I'll get to the freebie in a minute, I promise.  Gotta tell you about my last minute Halloween decorating first!

The other day, Victor said to me, "Are you going to carry the bat theme inside the house?"  And I said to myself, "Hmmm... why not?"  And then I made these awesome Chandelier files.  And by awesome I mean, amazing!  I'm totally in love with these things!  I've just got to show you since they are up in the store now:

Did you know that I have a special offer going on these right now?  If you buy the Swirly Style Chandelier Collection this weekend you'll get the Halloween Chandeliers for free! That's an awesome deal!  ** Remember you have to put the Halloween one in your cart when you buy the collection to get the deal.  **

I cut the Halloween Chandelier in some black wall vinyl and put it over my Halloween display. Because I only have 12" wide vinyl, I used the 1/2 chandelier and cut it twice.  The second time I mirrored it before I cut it out.  Then I just lined them up on the wall.  You can't even tell it's two pieces.  One of my piano students asked me, "Did you paint that on your wall?"  Hahahaha!

Because I wanted to continue the bat theme, I also threw some more bats on the wall to go along with the chandelier.  This time I used the bats out of my Halloween Twisted Tree file.  I think these are my favorite bats of all my designs!  Who knew that one tiny element in that whole design would be so integral to my overall decor?

I couldn't decide what to do on the shelf.  The pumpkin eventually made it's way outside by the front door.

One of the bats even made it's way onto the clock.  Here's a good creepy story for you.  The night after I put the bat on the clock, the clock stopped working..... ooooooooOOOOOooooooooohhhhh....scary!  Nah, was just a dead battery.

Okay, here's your freebie.  I know you are thinking, FINALLY!  I decided that since I liked that bat so much, I'd share the design it came from with you.  So without any further yakking:

Today I'm sharing my die-cut design:  Halloween Twisted Tree

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

Click to download your preferred file type.  This download will be available for the next 24 hours so get it while it's hot!

Sorry!  This download has expired!  Look for this design in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store!

As always, if you make something with this design, feel free to post it on your blog or in the VDBC gallery and post a link down in the comments section!

Time to get crafty, people!

Fantabulous Friday Freebie: Swirly Style Cupcake

Phew!  What a week!  There are a few days that are a bit of a blur.  Wednesday was my birthday... yippee!!  And this weekend is the VDBC Anniversary Celebration.  Lots and lots of work put into the preparations for that this week.  Top it off with my kids being out of school for Fall Break and... stick a fork in me... I'm done!

Speaking of the VDBC Anniversary Celebration, in honor of the big event, I've put all my individual designs and collections on sale for 40% off.  Get on over and go shopping, people!  Sale ends Sunday night at Midnight.

Did you get a chance to check out the fabulous challenges and games that are going on during the celebration?  There are quite a few.  I'm even hosting several myself.  Hence, the preparations I was telling you about.  If you are at all into paprcrafting {and not just my Mom reading my blog hoping for pictures of the kids} you should totally check these out.  Here, I'll even give you some links and a brief description of each:

Challenge #1 - Fill the Gallery - Just like it sounds, people.  My new gallery at VDBC was looking so pitifully empty!  Fill it with as many pictures of your projects that include my artwork and you could win big prizes!  Click that link to find out more!

Challenge #2 - Color Swatch Challenge - This one involves making a project {any project} based on one of my Color Swatch Thursday blog articles.  You totally have to check out this awesome FREE digital scrapbooking kit - Just Beachy - made by my friend and talented designer Aussie Caz.  She based it off my "Old Glass" swatch set.  What a gifted and generous person she is!  Hey, there's a prize for this challenge, too, so click to find out!

Challenge #3 - Trendwatch Challenge - This one's feeling all neglected since no one has posted anything yet.  I always root for the underdog... don't you? Check it out if you like trendy stuff and prizes!  Who doesn't like prizes, people?

Challenge #4 - Halloween Decorating Contest - If you like decorating for Halloween and you like using a digital die-cutter, then this is the challenge for you! Did I mention prizes?

Make-n-Take: Joy Fold Card - Like free stuff just for signing up?  I know I do!  All you have to do is say you want to participate on the thread in the forum and I'll send you your very own link to download an awesome free cutting design.  But wait, there's more!  If you post a completed project by Sunday night you'll qualify for another free file PLUS be put into the hat for a drawing for a huge prize pack! You just can't beat this one with a stick!  

As if all that wasn't enough, I've got a celebration freebie for you!  This one will be up all weekend long so be sure to tell your friends to jump on over and grab it.

So, what a celebration these days without cupcakes?  Here's a yummy one for you!

Today I'm sharing my die-cut design: Swirly Style Cupcake

Don't you just want to eat it up?  So cute!!!!

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

Sorry!  This download has expired!  Look for this design in the Sam & Hailey Design's Store!

As always, if you make a version of this card, feel free to post it on your blog or in the VDBC gallery and post a link down in the comments section!

Time to get crafty, people!