Just popping in

Just popping in to say hi!

**the card is missing because it is going to be in the April issue of Cards**

Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard (Fancy Pants), Bling (Heidi Swapp), Die cut title (Quickutz)

Unfortunately I have nothing fun to report.
Just been working like crazy this week because I am down a therapist {she & her son have the swine flu...lovely}.
Is it only Wednesday??

Ugh.
Anywhooo, I made this card for the challenge over on the Fancy Pants blog this week.

You know it is World Card Making Day on Saturday, right??!

So the challenge is to make a greeting card.

Easy!

So make one yourself and have a chance to win a prize!

:)
Two more days until the weekend.

Sweet!

Have a good one!
:)

gretchen

Challenge!

It is my week to put up a challenge over on the KI blog.
{scroll down past all the fabulous Wicked projects to get to today's post}
My challenge this week sounds really boring but I promise it is much more fun than it sounds!
The challenge is to "Go Non-traditional!"
{boring, I know}

But what I mean is use some traditional holiday products (like KI's new Good Tidings or Wicked lines) to create non-traditional, non-holiday projects.
Take my layout for example.
I used supplies from the fun Wicked line on this one.
Wicked is a Halloween-themed line, so you would normally use it to make Halloween decorations or scrap your pictures from Oct. 31st, right??!

Well not in this challenge!!
Instead I used the Halloween-themed products to create a layout about how I hate scary movies.

(Supplies: Patterned paper, 3D stickers, Epoxy alphabets, Rub-ons all from the new Wicked line from KI)

So what else can you do with your traditional holiday supplies??
I challenge you to use your holiday stuff differently and create something non-traditional with them!

I would love for you to play along!
{Hey, use your favorite KI holiday products but play along even if you don't have any of the new KI stuff! And link me up if you make something! I wanna see it!}

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And since we are talking challenges, here's another one...

I made this one for Jen Johner's challenge to "Think BIG!"
It's been awhile since I scrapped a big ole picture so this was fun!

(Supplies: Party paper pad, Flourish lace cardstock pack, glitter alphabets, chipboard accent, starry lace cardstock all from KI Memories)

Happy Monday!!
:)

gretchen

Interesting

My Little Shoebox + Hero Arts

This month the My Little Shoebox team got to play with some Hero Arts stamps.

I have to admit that I am not much of a stamper so this was a fun little challenge for me.

I had to knock the dust off a few ink pads and dig up the clear blocks!

I got to play with these stamps:

{and a great butterfly stamp but I cannot find a link for it}

And this is what I made...

This one was totally inspired by Katie and her mad journaling skills!

Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard letters, die cuts (My Little Shoebox), Border stamp (Hero Arts), Markers (American Crafts), Brads (KI Memories)

This is Lee and his brother on a trip they took to the Smokies earlier this summer.

Supplies: Patterned paper, die cuts, foam alphabets (My Little Shoebox), Woodgrain stamp (Hero Arts), Brads (Basic Grey)

You have seen this card before but here is that great butterfly stamp that I cannot seem to find on the Hero Arts website along with the border stamp.

Supplies: Patterned paper (My Little Shoebox), Border stamp & butterfly stamp (Hero Arts), Markers (American Crafts), Brads (KI Memories)

Be sure to check out the My Little Shoebox blog over the next few weeks to see what the rest of the team has done with other Hero Arts stamps!
And thanks for looking at mine!
Have a great weekend!
:)
gretchen

Check it out!

It is going on over the KI blog tonight!!

There will be projects with instructions to get you ready for Halloween!

Of course there will be prizes!

And the design team members will be popping in to chat during the evening!
YAY!!
I hope to see you there!

{check it out here}

4 generations

It is no secret that I have a thing for My Mind's Eye.

Their patterned papers might be my favorites ever!!

Anyways, because of my undying love I cannot resist the challenges that they have been doing over on their blog lately.

The latest challenge is to use these U2 song lyrics to create a layout:

“Every generation gets a chance to change the world”

Those lyrics made me think of this picture where there are 4 generations of family members.

{grandmother, her 3 sons, 6 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren...pretty cool, huh?!}

And here is the layout I made.

Supplies: Patterned paper, ribbon, flowers, die cut (My Mind's Eye), Bling (Heidi Swapp), Chipboard number (Basic Grey), Brads (American Crafts), Die cut title (Quickutz Spicy Chicken font), Bookplate (Junkitz)

The challenge ends on the 24th so you still have time to make a layout too!

Thanks for looking at mine!
:)

gretchen

Old pictures

I am loving old pictures lately!
Remember this layout about my grandfather & all the albums/scrapbooks he put together?

Well my grandmother let me have a few of them & I have thoroughly enjoyed looking through them.
I mean, looking at some of the outfits I tried to pull off is entertaining enough!

So you may be seeing a few layouts come from good old pictures I find in these albums.

Like this one...

Supplies: Patterned paper, transparency, alphabet stickers, die cuts (My Little Shoebox), Brads (KI Memories), Kraft cardstock (DMC, Inc.)

Check out the shorty shorts on my dad!

{hehehe}
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By the way, I survived the weekend.

It is just best that I not talk about it.

{however, the weekend wasn't a total waste because I skipped out on the Saturday night's festivies-aka dinner and oh so exciting scavenger hunt-to hang out with my great friend Brooke}

_____________________________________

And what's the deal with all the rain?

I feel like I am in Forks or something.

:)
gretchen

Thinking positively

-dinner date with Lee last night

-a good night's sleep

-7 miles this morning

-the house is clean and nearly every article of clothing we own is washed

-2 new CDs for the road

-going to learn soooooo much that is going to help me manage my clinic better
-full tank of gas and a clean car

-Alabama is going to dominate regardless of me not being able to watch & cheer them on
{seriously people! what kind of company owned & run predominately by males plans a work thing all weekend during football season?? utterly ridiculous. i bet if their wives asked them to go to a baby shower they would not go. hrmph.}

-still love this layout even though it is an old one
{it was part of my Memory Makers Masters entry last year}

Supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey-green; My Minds Eye-all other), Chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp), Bookplates & brads (Junkitz)

-looking forward to scrapbooking when I get back

-hoping you have a great weekend yourself!
:)
gretchen

{by the way, what do you think of the new look? i am playing around, not really knowing what i am doing! is it too much? less boring than before? let me know!}

Yes it is!

Supplies: Patterned paper (My Little Shoebox), Hero Arts Stamps (butterfly stamp and this border stamp), Markers (American Crafts)

It is a great day!

{And I am trying to be overly positive this week because I have to go to work "retreat" this weekend. I use "retreat" lightly because most retreats are fun. This will not be. I have to give up my weekend to go talk about work with a bunch of work-obsessed people who cannot talk about anything else. No scrapbooking for me. No watching the Alabama game. No lounging around in my jeans and tennis shoes. It sucks. I dread it every year. And after missing out on my weekend I have to go to work on Monday...and be happy about it. Ha! Bah humbug!}

So right now, it is a good day!

{but I am pretty sure Saturday is not going to be}

:)
gretchen

There's been too much talking...

...on this blog lately and not enough scrapping!

Since we were actually in town for a weekend, I got to make some stuff.
{my hands had been itching to do something crafty!}

So little talking and more scrapping on this post!__________________________________________________
I submitted this one for the Make it Yours challenge for the July/August issue of BHG.
{the challenge doesn't close until the 21st so you can make one too}
I was inspired by the layout by Shannon Zickel.

Supplies: Patterned paper (My Minds Eye), Lace cardstock (KI Memories), Brads (KI Memories), Alphabet stickers (KI Memories), Chipboard border ( My Minds Eye), Pen (American Crafts)

And I probably just jinxed them!
_______________________________________________

But this couple isn't jinxed!
37 years of marriage!

Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard letters, die cuts (My Little Shoebox "Little Lady" line)
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This is brother David on his birthday at the fancy-schmancy restaurant we ate at in New Orleans.
Supplies: Patterned paper, alphabet stickers, die cut (My Little Shoebox "Little Lady" line), Cardstock (Prism)
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And to prove that I am obsessed with this piece of brown polka-dotted paper, here is a card.

Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard letters, die cut, word stickers (My Little Shoebox "Little Lady" line), Bling (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)
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Now that I have gotten my crafty fix, my weekend is complete.
{ha!}
:)
gretchen

Leftovers

So my girl lost.

Oh well, she made an amazing run at it!

______________________________________________________
In other news, I've got a few kits leftover from classes this summer.
If you want one, they are up for grabs!

Class kit #1
{This is from the Sweet Memories Birthday Bash in Carrollton, GA}
Supplies for the following 5 layouts are included {except the silver glitter glue}.
And you get entire packs of the brown Thickers, white glitter KI Memories alphas, and tiny orange My Little Shoebox alphas.
Everything is pre-cut and color pictures of the layouts are included.
Cost is $25 {including shipping if needed}.

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Class kit #2

{This is from the Scrap in Style Live event in Nashville}

Supplies for the following 3 layouts {1 layout being a double page layout} are included {except for the red paint to paint the Thickers on the "Summer" layout}.
And you get entire packs of the brown Thickers and tiny orange My Little Shoebox alphas.
Everything is pre-cut and color pictures of the layouts are included.

Cost is $20 {including shipping if needed}.

If you want one of these class kits, email me at gretchenmcelveen@yahoo.com

:)
gretchen

Tennis anyone??

It has been a couple of years since I have played really.

My dad constantly reminds me that talent is going to waste.

But I have not really cared.

However, this little fireball makes me want to play.

If you like to watch sports and want something to get you fired up to do something, watch & cheer on this girl {Melanie Oudin} tonight at the US Open.
{6:00 CST on CBS or one of the ESPNs}

I might just have to knock the dust off the ole racket and see if I can find my {pleated} tennis skirts.

:)

Happy hump day to you.

gretchen

Please excuse me...

...for the rather short blog posts.

And allow me to recover.

I have been here all weekend.

Back to regularly scheduled programming soon.

:)
gretchen

It is worth repeating

AMEN!

It's Saturday

And it is officially football season!!

Just sayin'

Supplies: Cardstock (Coordinations), Patterned paper (My Little Shoebox), Die cut (My Little Shoebox), Brads (American Crafts)

I am excited for a looong weekend!
Anybody have any good plans??
:)
gretchen

NOLA in pictures

{with some narration of course}

Brother David turned the big 3-0 last Thursday and we pulled a little surprise on him.

He thought there was going to be a cookout for him on Saturday at my parents' house.

I had avoided his phone calls for 2 weeks so he did not know if Lee and I were going to be there at all.

Well of course we showed up Friday night for the "cookout" that was going to be on Saturday.

All the guys were going "golfing" during the day on Saturday before the "cookout".

So they drove to "play golf" Saturday morning and when Lee conveniently missed the exit for the golf course Stuart shouted at Dave, "Bro, we are going to New Orleans!"

{from my parents' house New Orleans is less than 2 hours}

Surprise, surprise!

At this point David, Stuart, Lee and Michael {friend} are all headed to New Orleans & are being closely followed by me and Joy {Stuart's girlfriend...sorry ladies}.

One last surprise was on its way though.

Randy {David's best friend} flew in from TN and Ginny {a good friend} were both meeting us at the hotel.

So this is how it went down.

Stuart: "Hey, before we check in let's get a drink at the bar."

David: "OK whatever."

And they proceed to walk around the bar and stand directly in front of where Ginny and Randy are sitting.
David notices nothing.

{maybe it is because he is wearing sunglasses inside!}

David turns around to see me poised & ready with a camera.

{yes, like all good scrapbookers would do!}

So he turns back around to see who the heck I am taking a picture of.
And he finally sees his friends.

David might be the easiest person in the world to pull a surprise on!

Now that everybody is accounted for, the fun can begin!

{me and Dave}

{Ginny, me, and Joy}

We did alot of walking around the French Quarter.
And down by the river.

Stu practically forced us to ride the ferry.

So we did.

All the way to the west bank and back.

:)

{Randy, David, Lee, Ginny, Joy, Stuart, Michael}

We decided to try out the casino for a bit so we had to get some moola.

{We lost it all}

We celebrated with a nice birthday dinner for the old man!

{happy birthday Dave!}

Like good tourists, we took a carriage ride around the French Quarter.

And checked out some other attractions in the area.

{Pat O'Brien's}

And before we left Sunday morning, we made sure to eat some beignets and have coffee at Cafe de Monde!

And good times were had by all!
{but sleep was not}
:)

gretchen

{I am really impressed if you made it all the way to the end!}