It’s been quite the summer - hot!!! Hope you all have had the chance to spend time to make art :) I enjoy making pages in my art journal - especially these fun lace journal pages! It takes a bit of time and patience, but the end result is just beautiful and unique. Grab your stencils, paints, and pens and make a fun lace page spread with me.
Thank you for taking a look!
Make art - because you’re worth it :)
Happy May - the sun is shining, spring is in the air and it’s time for……shopping!!! I’ve been building up my art supplies and want to share with you :). Now to use all the goodness…Check out my new fun stuff!
And…..I’m back!! Where did the summer go? I blinked and it’s September! Are you ready for the fall…pumpkin spice everything, cool mornings, and new colors in the trees. In the midst of the heat (good god it was hot this summer wasn’t it??) I spent well needed time with my friends and family, rediscovered my love of reading, taught a few classes, and making plans for more art fun! My life is full of blessings and I am so thankful for all of you that keep coming back! If you’re new to Free Heart, welcome! This is a space of love, acceptance and art. It makes me so happy to connect with each of you.
So what’s new for Free Heart? We are still in the same location! I’ve partnered with Memories Unlimited and Lindsay's Layouts to continue providing classes, shopping events, and (coming soon) crops! The space has been reimagined to include a smaller area for crafting, storage, and work areas for our businesses. Shopping and classes will be announced as they are scheduled, so keep your eyes peeled for notifications on email, Facebook, and Instagram! For now, we’re planning on staying through the end of the year.
Please enjoy this new technique video featuring Tracy Scott stamps and products from the fabulous Paperartsy!! If you’re interested in any of these products, please comment on the video or send an email to freeheartllc@gmail.com.
Make art - because YOU’RE WORTH IT!! :)
Tanya
Well it’s been a hot minute since we’ve posted anything. We had to take a few weeks to adjust based on our last announcement of our shop NOCO Crop Stop closing. Though we are sad to say goodbye to our little shop it’s a huge opportunity for change! Free Heart will be focusing on providing technique videos on YouTube and potentially online (or even LIVE!) classes, and in-person classes. We will be providing those products that you love (coming soon!) focusing on PaperArtsy, Ranger artists (Dina and Dyan!!), and we’re always looking out for new amazing artists!! Thank you for your support! It’s going to be a fun year - we’re excited for new and fun ways to connect with you.
This next video is fun - it took two weeks to film because Tanya got distracted with all the fun. Dylusions released quilting stamps and stencils - and we can’t help ourselves!! There are soooo many things you can create!! All you need is a little (or a lot) of patience, creativity and plenty of art journals. We hope you enjoy this video.
If you are interested in any products mentioned in this video (or any other products that you may need), please feel free to reach out directly at freeheartllc@gmail.com OR leave a comment here.
Thank you for your continued support.
Create art…..because you’re worth it!
Tanya
This one is going to be long…so bear with us. As we all know, the impact of COVID has changed the landscape of how business is being done all over the world. Like other businesses that have been closed and at reduced capacity for extended periods of time, the members of NOCO Crop Stop have had to greatly change how we do business. You’ve seen us doing a lot more Facebook Lives, virtual events, Zoom crops, and trying to stay connected with all of you in new and different ways. The good news is, all of us in NOCO have been successful at that in ways that are unique to the structure of our individual businesses. As we have continued down that path, it has become apparent to us that we have each outgrown the amazing co-op that is NOCO Crop Stop in it’s current form. None of us are going away, leaving, or closing. We are just transitioning to new versions that work best for our individual businesses. As such, NOCO Crop Stop will be closing its doors on Sunday, June 13th. We leave NOCO with such pride that we created an amazing co-op of three business owners who truly love and care for each other, and only want the best for each other’s individual businesses. We are also so thankful for the amazing community of crafters that we have had the privilege of hosting in our crop room, at events, and many of whom we have become life-long friends with. Crop-A-Latte, Memories Unlimited, and Free Heart will always be NOCO Crop Stop. And in the future, when it’s safe for everyone to be in a group again, we may be back at it with collaborative events and more!
From now until the June 13th, NOCO Crop Stop's hours will be Friday, Saturday & Sunday 12 noon-5 pm.
Free Heart will be transitioning to an online platform offering product bundles and highlight new products in the mixed media world - please be patient! I'll continue to update our YouTube channel with technique videos and one day offer classes and live online events via Facebook or YouTube. You may see Tanya teaching at crops or in-person events as the world starts to slowly open safely.
Keep an eye out for announcements! I appreciate your support and look forward to new ways of connecting to all of you.
Keep creating art - beause you’re worth it!
Tanya
Dylusions products has always been one of my favorites. Dyan Reaveley is an amazing artist with a quirky and creative outlook on life. She’s uniquely her and we adore her! Check out her Etsy shop DyanReaveleyArt for her classes. She also has videos available on YouTube (Dylusions Day by Dy) where she shares many of her techniques. Honestly, she is one of the artists that impacted me the most during this last year of living through the pandemic. Amazing woman! Check her out!
This video is a quick art journal page using Dyan’s bright paints, stencils and a bit of collage. Quick and easy! Thank you for watching!
Some of you may be familiar with Ali Edwards One Little Word journey where you choose a word for the year and participate in prompts every month to not only learn more about yourself but be very thoughtful and intentional about how you implement your word in your life. For the last five years, I have been involved with One Little Word for the last five years and each year is just as impactful as the last! If you haven’t heard of it, I encourage you to check it out ((https://aliedwards.com/shop/one-little-word).
My word for 2021 is ENOUGH. As with most people, 2020 was a rough year and we’re still working through the “new normal”. For me, working at home has been a challenge as I get so much energy and inspiration from people and it’s only me, my husband and my cat Nero at home! I miss my corporate life! Also, trying to change and improve the Free Heart business to join the virtual world is hard work! But alas, I am only one person and sometimes I have to believe that I am enough and no matter what I do (or don’t do), it’s good enough.
This grungy art journal page is a reminder that I am enough! No matter what. I hope you enjoy!
Make time for art - because you’re worth it!
Tanya
During our recent spring snowstorm in Denver (we had almost 2 feet of snow last weekend!!), I broke out the new 49& Market Vintage Shore collection and created not one but TWO kits!! And, I decided to film me puttin’ it all together.
If you would like to purchase the kits or any supplies mentioned in the video, please send me an email (freeheartllc@gmail.com). Kits are $25 each. Stop by NOCO Crop Stop and pick them up or I will be happy to ship to you!
Please comment on the videos and let me know what you think. We’re still new to this video thing so we would appreciate your feedback! What projects do you want to see? Do you like the fast forward action/music or would you like to hear more of me talking about the process?
Thanks for supporting Free Heart! Keep creating beautiful art!
Tanya
Get out those paints and stencils and stamps and pens……and play in that art journal! Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the planning or we’re too worried about how “perfect” your art will be. If you’re like me, you have a thousand supplies and it can be a little overwhelming what to choose. But your supplies are just sitting there waiting for you to put them to work.
Just play. Make something! Remember why you love to create in the first place. I love the process. I love seeing the colors coming together and making a mess! Even if I don’t have a plan. This video is all about not having a solid plan and playing with it all anyway. Take a look! I hope you enjoy :)
I don’t know about you but sometimes I struggle with getting my creative mojo going. I want to create something but I’m not sure what I want to do. I don’t want to get out all my paints and goopy stuff because that may take too much time (plus I’ll get distracted with all the other goodies in my craft room!) I’m overwhelmed with making a decision on colors or papers or pictures. When this happens, I grab paper, a few stamps, an ink pad (or two), and pens….and get to it!
In this YouTube video, I show you how easy it can be with a few of my favorite PaperArtsy stamps and black ink pad. Once I get a few papers done, I have to make them pretty! So out comes markers, a few paints and pens. While I’m at it - I might as well make an art journal page. Next thing you know my mojo is back and I’m ready to create!!
I hope you enjoy this video and are inspired to create something beautiful :).
Tanya
Thank you all for supporting Free Heart over the last 5 years! It is unbelievable how much we’ve gone through over the last year, much less 5 years ago. Free Heart was started to share our passion about mixed media and we continue with that goal in mind - to bring joy to people’s lives through art! We’ve been fortunate to meet so many of you through retreats and crops, classes, and events like Creativation and Scrapbooking Expo! 2020 was a tough year for everyone, especially those of us who thrive on spending creative time with people! Like everyone, we had to adapt and change the way we connect to you.
Since we can’t have crops, we at NOCO Crop Stop successfully produced two virtual crops (Rocky Mountain Crop!!) and plan on continuing to add a virtual component to future crops.
Since we can’t have in-person classes, Free Heart has launched a YouTube channel!!! We will share technique videos, product reviews, class announcements, and any other fun mixed media shenanigans!! We would love for you to watch our launch video and subscribe! Virtual classes are coming soon!!!
Kits and products are available at NOCO Crop Stop. (One day we’ll get it online!). If you do see a product featured that you’re interested in OR if you have a specific interest, please email us directly (freeheartllc@gmail.com) and we will be happy to order and/or ship to you directly!
More blogs and better email communication! Our most important 2021 goal - to improve all of our communication with YOU!
Thank you all for continuing to support Free Heart over the last five years! We are looking forward to many more years of creating with all of you!
Dear Free Heart Friends,
When news of the COVID-19/Coronavirus broke, our goal was to maintain a clean, happy place where you could retreat for crafting and creativity. But as the news and information changes quickly, we now believe it is most important to keep you and your loved ones safe and do our part to protect our most vulnerable. As such, we (Memories Unlimited, Crop-A-Latte and Free Heart), have made the difficult decision to cancel all crops, classes and events through the end of April, 2020. Beginning today, March 18, 2020, NOCO Crop Stop will remain open a reduced schedule for shopping only: Tuesday through Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
If you have already paid for April’s NOCO crop, you can transfer that payment to the May crop. And during this time of social distancing and quarantines, we will still be here to supply you with everything you need to craft with. We’ll offer curbside pickup for those who don’t want to come into the store, shipping discounts, and we’ll have gift cards available for you to purchase for a fun shopping trip later.
Also important, during this time we’ll be deep cleaning and sanitizing in the store daily.
Again, it’s time right now for us to take care of each other. Thank you for understanding. We will get through this together.
Stay healthy friends!
Kim, Linda, Tanya
Need to reach us?
NOCO Crop Stop – 970-713-2767
Kim at Memories Unlimited – 970-688-4900
Linda at Crop-A-Latte – 970-725-7150
Tanya at Free Heart – 720-677-7570
Thank you to all the ladies who stopped by NOCO Crop Stop last weekend for our Grand Opening! It's been five wonderful months since we opened up our shop and we are so thankful for all of the support and love we receive from all of YOU! We hope that you enjoy creating as much as we do. We will do our best to share our love of all things creative with new products and techniques.
Extra thanks to Kim at Memories Unlimited and Linda at Crop-A-Latte for putting up with us! Here's to years of beautiful art and laughter :)
Want to play with some cool art products and make beautiful projects? We do! And we’ll show you how. Free Heart has officially opened for business and we’ve been busy meeting new people, playing with paint, and setting up shop at our new home in Windsor, the NoCo Crop Stop!
Free Heart's little corner of Heaven at NoCo Crop Stop.
One of Free Heart's first official classes at NoCo Crop Stop - altered Prima birdcage. So cute! And how cute are Nina and Joy with Tanya?
Months ago, when Tanya and I were just in the planning stages of Free Heart, we knew a retail component to the business was something we wanted to work towards, but we had it in or long-term plans. And then in early 2016 Kim Racine and Linda Gernert, two of the business-owners of the NoCo cooperative, asked us if we would be interested in sharing a retail space in their beautiful little shop. Tanya had already been teaching classes periodically at NoCo for several months on her own, and she had cropped there many times in the past, so she knew what an amazing opportunity we had been given. We would have the perfect space to teach classes, an inspiring creative space from which to work, and a little corner of heaven to set up shop! We just knew we couldn’t pass it up so we fast-tracked the retail plan and jumped on board. We officially joined the cooperative on April 1, and we couldn't be more excited.
We’d like to invite all our friends and past students to come visit us at NoCo soon. Many of you have already been there, and I know some of you are regulars, but for those of you who haven’t yet visited, let me tell you a little about what you’ll find there:
NoCo Crop Stop has such a relaxing, creative vibe.
We're conveniently located right off of I-25 at the Windsor exit. The 1000 square-foot cropping room seats 30 to 35 people and has such a relaxing, creative vibe. You can walk-in and crop, or make private group reservations. There are also sponsored crop events and classes throughout the month with the cooperative's vendors on site to satisfy all your scrap-booking and mixed-media needs. And these ladies are creative geniuses. There's Angie of Capture Kits, Kim of Memories Unlimited, Linda of Crop-A-Latte and Tanya and yours truly of Free Heart!
We hope you can come check us out soon. In the meantime, check out the NoCo website and Facebook pages for more information.
See you soon, and happy creating!
Mindy