Warning: Long post ahead

I've been to Chicago and back, celebrated the Christmas holiday, scrapbooked, and got tagged.

And more power to you if you manage to read all about it here.

Lucy, Brittney, and I ventured to Chicago for summer CHA.

Good times were had by all.

And we even managed to order some stuff to go in the store!

My dad has this crazy love for Chicago and I have never really understood why. We have never lived there and I only remember visiting there 1 time growing up and that was for a tennis tournament so we didn't really get to spend too much time in the city.

This trip makes my 3rd time to Chicago (counting the previously mentioned excursion) and I think I now know why my dad is so infatuated. There is so much to do and see. It is completely different than any city we have lived in in the South so it is full of little adventures and new experiences. The food is great. The public transportation is good and not too intimidating for us small town folks. All that to say, I think I am developing a crush on this city too!

One of our first stops was at Gino's East for some authentic Chicago-style pizza.
Saturday night we took a break from "work" to venture out into the city.
We wanted to blend with the locals so we took the train.
All the locals carry big cameras and maps and ask 1,000 questions, right??
Thanks to Brittney and her map, we made it to and from Michigan Ave. without a hitch.
Pure goofiness...Lucy, not me, of course.
We happened upon a little wine tasting at Millenium Park.
How convenient.
It was after this that B and I told Lucy how much she had spent at the show that day.
She took it surprisingly well.
And why did we not go to the Bean the last time I was in Chicago??
This is the coolest thing ever!
So this is the Bean: And this is silly us taking our picture on the Bean:
I forget exactly what this fountain is called.
I think it is like 1,000 Faces of Chicago or something like that.
But that is a real person somewhere in Chicago.
Her face stayed up for ~5 minutes and then it will put up another person.
Very cool.
As much as I like Chicago, I do have a gripe.
What is up with the lack of Dr. Pepper in this town??!
It is a grave injustice I tell ya!
No Dr. Pepper on our plane (but I guess I should blame Delta for that).
No Dr. Pepper at any restaurant we went to.
No Dr. Pepper in the machines at our hotel.
No Dr. Pepper at CHA.
And I would have settled for Mr. Pibb but Chicago is all about the Pepsi products.
I almost didn't survive.
Until we ventured into a Walgreens because I needed a toothbrush (oh yeah, I left mine in B'ham and refused to pay the $6.50 for one out of the mini-bar since apparently Hilton no longer offers them complimentary).
In the Walgreens I found the one Dr. Pepper in all of Chicago and the surrounding areas.
And life was good again.

Since we were in Chicago for "work" I guess I should give you a brief rundown of the show.
We had tons of fun and managed to be productive at the same time.
Lucy ordered lots of good stuff for Scrap Etc.!!
Some of my favs from this show:
My Minds Eye (always)
Hambly (always so creative)
My Little Shoebox (so stinkin' cute)
Little Yellow Bicycle (this will be a new one for Scrap Etc. & it will not disappoint)
Fancy Pants (always)
Jenni Bowlin (geez, she's good)
Glitz (another new one for the store, super cool digi stuff too)
American Crafts (duh, thickers!)

October Afternoon (great fall & Christmas stuff & a cute kids line)

Scenic Route (love the reds in the new line)

OK, really, so what did I not like??!!
:)

And I got to see her and her and her and meet her and her.
It can't get much better than that.
Got to see many of my Fashionista buddies from Scrap in Style too.
And she was so cute when she won the new scraproom that Making Memories gave away.
I am only slightly jealous about that.
Got to chat with her for a little bit.
Yes, I am name dropping.

All in all, good times were had!
And I think I am still trying to catch up on my sleep!

Still reading?
Impressive.

Thank you to all who came out for Christmas in July this past weekend at Scrap Etc.
I had a blast!!
Thanks for making it such a fun day for me!

As promised in previous post, here are my layouts & a card using The Classic collection from Scrap in Style this month.
You can't go wrong with black & white and chipboard thickers and brads ever!!

Still want to hear 6 random things about me since I was tagged by Britney?
(I warned you that this was the longest post ever)


OK here goes:

1. I had a cat when I was little named Reepicheep (you know, from the Chronicles of Narnia).

2. My first car was a Mazda 323 hatchback with a stick shift, a tape deck, and roll down windows.

3. I drink Carnation Instant Breakfast (chocolate or vanilla) every morning.

4. I really could eat Mexican food for every meal.

5. I need to go to Wal-Mart right now for: computer ink (#58), dental floss, & lightbulbs.

6. I have had the same alarm clock since high school. How much longer do you think that thing will work!?

So that's me...now I will tag Katie and Virginia.

I think I have worn out my welcome here now so I'm out.

Have a great week!
gretchen

Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas (in July)!!

I am hostessing a fun little day at Scrap Etc. this Saturday and I do hope you will join me.

There will be 2 make 'n takes.

The first (10:30-12:30) will be a cute card using some new digi stuff from Glitz (hybrid cards, baby!).

The second make 'n take (1:30-3:30) is a fun door or wall hanging using Cosmo Cricket blackboard, patterned paper, and Glitz bling.

I have designed 2 Christmas page kits that will be available and Virginia has made a fabulous Christmas card kit that you can also pick up. There is a limited supply of all these though so don't wait too long!

There will also be lots of freebies and a grand prize present from Santa that you can enter when you make a purchase.

And just because I have always wanted to do this...

I will have a special something for the first 3 people who come in and say "Feliz Navidad!" to me!

Let's just call it a little thank you for those of you who bother to read my crazy ramblings.

I hope you will stop by!
Happy holidays!

gretchen

This one's for Shelley

She told me tonight to update this blog so I am.

Shelley is a friend I met through scrapbooking (see, it really is a cool hobby).

She is fabulous and can scrapbook the heck out of some pictures!

And when I first started scrapbooking I scraplifted Shelley daily!

This is one of my favorite layouts inspired by her. Shelley's layout is much better.

More layouts and a CHA review coming soon but right now it is all about Shelley.

Now go hug, kiss, call, text, email, whatever those you love.

We aren't promised tomorrow.

gretchen

Randomness

I promised you a winner from all of you that left comments about which of the new My Little Shoebox lines was your favorite.

I wanted to do a cute little post with pictures of me drawing the name out of a jar, etc. etc.

But alas, this is all you get.

I have run out of time & really should be packing for CHA anyway right now.

But I promised a winner before I left so a winner you will get!

AND

THE

WINNER

IS...

LINH!!!!!

YAY!!

And since you are local girl, Linh, I have left you a copy of this new book from Memory Makers at Scrap Etc.

Enjoy!

OK what else?

I've been making a bunch of stuff lately!

Well I was busy making stuff this past weekend rather than clean my house anyway.

But that is not really anything new...sadly.

I made some more stuff with the July kit from Scripts.

This is a little gift bag (cut with the Accucut) & then a notecard & envelope (also cut with the Accucut).

And since I was on a roll with the cards, I decided to go ahead and use the rest of the Jenni Bowlin journaling cards for a couple more.

Now on this one you have to imagine a "welcome" just to the right of the heart & above "home". Duh! I forgot to add the "welcome" before taking this picture & was just too lazy to take another picture. Sorry!

The newest collection from Scrap in Style goes on sale early next week.

I can't post my layouts yet but I thought I would at least leave you with some teasers to hopefully get you fired up about it.

Sorry, I know it is not much but I will post the entire layouts next week.

Until then, this will have to do:

And last but not least, I made this layout for the 5th week of the BHG Ultimate Summer Challenge they are doing over on their website.

The challenge was to use vacation photos and a template/sketch-thing they provided.

Well my layout made it into the top 10 this week & I need your votes to help me win this week!

I am in like last place right now so help a girl out!

Go vote here: BHG week 5 semi-finalists.
And just because I find my own journaling entertaining, the journaling reads:

Even though we love Disney, I have never considered us to be crazy Disney people like some people I know (coughcoughBSmithcoughcough). But 3 trips in 5 years of marriage & 1 more in the works does sound awfully freakish. Ready to go back!?

I am off to CHA at the crack of dawn in the morning so have a great weekend friends!

peace,

gretchen

TGIF!

Is it just me or do weeks after a holiday seem like the longest weeks ever?

Good grief!

So thank goodness its Friday (well, tomorrow anyway)!!

On a more positive note...

I have more sneaky peeks of fun new My Little Shoebox products to be released at CHA.

I am pretty sure Helen (My Little Shoebox owner and designer) saw inside my heart when she created these mini alphas!

And how fun are these:

I got on a bit of a card-making kick last night.

I just got my hands on the new Scripts kit from Scrap Etc. + I needed to make a couple of cards for a couple of friends = perfect timing!

I usually hate the cards I make but for some reason I was on a roll, whipped out these babies, & actually like them for once.

These cards are using the cardstock, Jenni Bowlin journaling cards, and Basic Grey paper and alphabets from the kit.

I used the same basic design for the first 3 cards-just turned it around and changed the paper & cardstock...easy!

(FYI: the polka dotted paper here is the packaging from the Jenni Bowlin journaling cards!)


In other very important news...
Katie
&
Virginia
are both semi-finalists in this week's challenge over at BHG Scrapbooks Etc. Ultimate Summer Challenge.
They need your votes so that 1 of them will win this week!
Go vote for them here.
Virginia's layout is the "Thanksgiving" layout.
Katie's layout is the "Gulf Shores" layout.
You can vote 1 time every day through next Tuesday.
What are you waiting for?? GO VOTE!! It will be good practice for November.


TGIF people!
gretchen

Sneaky peeks

Well it is almost CHA time again.

For those of you non-scrapbookers (of which there are probably NONE however who actually read this), this is a great fun time for those of us to do indulge in the pasttime we call scrapbooking.

It is the time of the year when new products are released to satisfy our healthy cravings for cute colorful crafting goodness.

And I have a few pictures of these said products to share with you.

These are 4 new lines from My Little Shoebox.

Please don't hate that I will have some of this in my hands any day now.

Do you have a favorite??

I think I might like Sugar High the best but Orange Marmalade is running a close 2nd.

Tell me what your favorite is & I will pick 1 winner from all those who comment & send you a box of goodies before I leave for CHA next week.

As far as these new products go, don't be jealous.

You can get some too.

Hopefully it will be coming to a scrapbook store near you very soon!

Have a great week!
gretchen

Happy July!

I really just wanted to post for 2 reasons:

1. I wanted to let you know that I made more muffins just now. Successfully. Full of blueberries!! Since I had an extra can (you know, "left over" from last time) I decided to double up on this batch. And they are yummy!

2. I want to say Happy 4th of July! I might not get a chance to blog again before the big day so I wanted to go ahead and wish you well. Enjoy the 3 day weekend! I know I will!

While I've got you here let me direct you to a fabulous (if I do say so myself) little Etsy shop.

Paper/Hanger

There you can purchase the kit to make these 3 family-themed layouts:

The kit includes everything you need to make the 2 single-page layouts and 1 double-page layout above.

Instructions & pictures of example layouts are included.

You can also find a few of these little bags at Paper/Hanger:

OK I think that is enough shameless-plugging for now!

Have a great long weekend folks!

gretchen