**WINNER**

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

8 

Timestamp: 2010-07-01 02:50:02 UTC
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which makes the winner:

Deanna said...

Actually 2 sinks, and 2 mirrors is the "in" thing right now. Don't you watch HGTV?! (kidding.) If we were to win, we'd fix up our bathroom(s) too. Living in a 60 yr. old house has its drawbacks.

June 28, 2010 9:18 PM
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Congrats Deanna!!
Email me!
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On a scrapbooking sidenote, I made this card for the challenge on the American Crafts blog this week.
The challenge is to use 2 or more Thickers Accents on a project.
The 2 cute birdies from Dear Lizzy = 2 Thickers Accents.
Challenge complete!
:)

Supplies: Patterned paper, ribbon, chipboard embellishments (American Crafts), Cardstock (Co'ordinations)

:)

Thanks for looking!

gretchen

Dreaming & a super cool GIVEAWAY!!

Every now and then Lee & I discuss putting our house on the market and moving into something a little bigger.

{you know, for the "future"}

But then we start thinking about all the things that we would probably need to do to the house to get it ready to sell.

And the discussion ends.

ha!

One major undertaking would be to fix up our bathroom.

It looks cheap and I painted it hideously when we moved in.

Nobody sees it but us so I can tolerate it.

But it needs work!

Ever so often I start dreaming about what I would do to get it like I like it.

I would add some vanity items & my bathroom starts to look like this...

These lights.
But I would need 2 of them.

That's one set of lights for each sink.

I am done with sharing 1 sink.

2 is a must.
:)

Those lights would go over 2 of these mirrors.

I can do that right?
2 sinks, 2 separate mirrors??
Sure I can.

It's my bathroom.

It will be a his & hers bathroom.

With "hers" getting a little extra space.

And because I am dreaming here, I want my 2 mirrors & 2 sets of lights to go over this.

Yep, that is a bathroom I could get excited about!
{after I repainted the ugly walls of course}

But I might not want to move!

ha!

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Anywhooooo, here's the deal.

CSN stores have generously donated a $60 gift card to www.justvanities.com for me to give away to one of my blog readers.

Cool, huh??!!!

Maybe you can get something to help spice up your bathroom rather than just dreaming & rambling about it!
And actually there is alot more stuff on that site besides just bathroom stuff.

For instance, someone with a little girl needs to get one of these.

This piece is sooo sweet!

And I love this scalloped mirror!
:)

So want to win the gift card??
Just leave a comment here telling me what you would get with your gift card.
I will randomly pick a winner Wednesday night!
So comment away people!
Have a great day!
:)
gretchen

I finally got a chance to use some of the new Pack Your Bags line from Little Yellow Bicycle.

This is a very cool travel line!!

The papers are in great colors and textures.
And there is a variety of fun embellishments to match.

Here are some of my favorite things from this line:

These stickers are so cool!

And I love this sheet of paper!

Anywhooooo, there is the layout I made with this line.
It's about the trip Lee & I made to GA for his grandmother's birthday party & oyster boil.

Supplies: Patterned paper, alphabet stickers, die cuts (Little Yellow Bicycle); brads & pen (American Crafts); twine

I originally planned to add my journaling in strips on the bottom of the layout.

But I had too much I wanted to write and it ended up looking busy & cluttered.

Instead I added the journaling on the back of the layout.

I put numbers on the back of the layout just like I did on the front so the journaling corresponds to the correct picture.

I've never done this before and I think I like it!
{of course it might get annoying having to pull the layout out of the page protector to read the journaling. we'll see how that goes}

Hope you are having a great Sunday!
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Check back here tomorrow for a super cool giveaway!!
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:)

gretchen

Saturday scrappin'

What do you get when you mix a soccer game on TV, a kit full of Crate Paper from Scrapbook Mania, random paper scraps that are lying around, some Pink Paislee chipboard alphas I've been hoarding but dying to use, and a little bling?

{oh, and a cold Dr. Pepper!}
Well, you get this of course!

Supplies: Patterned paper (KI Memories-red, Crate Paper-all other), Die cuts & chipboard embellies (Crate Paper), Bling (My Mind's Eye), Chipboard alphas (Pink Paislee), Brads (American Crafts)

This looks a little Kerry Lynn Yeary inspired, doesn't it??!

I am pretty sure it was!
:)
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Hope you are having a great Saturday too!

:)

gretchen

P.S.
be on the lookout for a cool giveaway here next week!

and it is not scrapbook related.

curious??

hehehe!

:)

Have you seen the Jul/Aug CK??

Because I have a layout in there!

Supplies: Patterned paper, die cuts (My Little Shoebox); Alphabet stickers (American Crafts)

FYI:
I may be a little biased because they have been so nice to publish some of my layouts in the past few issues.
But for what it is worth, I have been really impressed with Creating Keepsakes lately.
The issues are full of great layouts by a variety of different people.
I feel that they have stepped up their game.
And I am liking it!
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There is a giveaway going on on the KI blog!
Leave a comment about your summer on this post for a chance to win some goodies.

Hurry though!
The winner will be drawn by midnight tonight.
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Anywhooooo, have a great day!

TGIF!!
:)
gretchen

MME challenge

I could not resist this month's challenge over on the My Mind's Eye blog.
This sketch is right up my alley!

The theme for the challenge is "I remember..." and this is what I came up with.

Supplies: Patterned paper, alphabet stickers are all My Mind's Eye So Sophie line. The bling is My Mind's Eye Lush. And the red heart I cut out of a scrap of KI paper that just happened to be within my reach. Yes I am a lazy scrapper & do not always like to get up to fetch something else.

This layout is about my Daddy Bill who passed away just over a year ago.
This picture of him is perfect. He is right in his element.
:)
Happy day!
gretchen

Just popping in to say...

***

being published!!

be back soon!!

***

Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard letters & flowers (Crate Paper); Bling (My Mind's Eye); bakers's twine

Hope you are having a great day!
Happy hump day!
:)
gretchen

Wanna make a gift card holder with me??

Somebody emailed me a while back when I made this gift card holder to ask me if there was a template I used.

I know there are templates & die cut machines (I know Accucut has a good one) out there for gift card holders.
But really, it is very easy-no template needed!

And I will show you how to do it!

Supplies: My Mind's Eye Lush

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So here goes...

Cut a sheet of patterned paper to roughly 8 inches tall x 4.5 inches wide.
{none of the measurements here need to be exact!}

Round the top 2 corners.

Then fold!

Fold the bottom up ~1.5 to 2 inches from the top of the card.

Then fold the top part down.

This is not necessary, but I did ink the edges of the card ever so slightly.

See how easy this is?!

The card part is done & now we just need to make a little sleeve-thingy to hold it together.

Cut a strip of paper ~1.5 to 2 inches wide and ~10 inches long.

Add whatever you want to embellish this strip.

On the original project above I used brown ribbon.

On this one I added a border sticker.

Fold strip around the card holder.

Adhere it together with strong adhesive and then trim off the excess.

Now you have a little sleeve-thingy that you can slide on & off the gift card holder.

But we still need to embellish this thing a little better!

Add stickers, die cuts, flowers, punches, bling as desired to get the look you want.

This is a good place to add a sentiment too!

Supplies: Patterned paper & stickers from Crate Paper Brook Collection

Voila!

It's easy peasy and a fun way to jazz up a boring gift card!

This one is going to a couple we know getting married-Target gift card inside!

:)

Happy day!!
gretchen

It's challenge time again!!

Check out the KI blog for the challenge I put up today.

It's all about scrapping something musical.
You could do some different things with this challenge like scrap your current iPod playlist, use song lyrics as your journaling, use sheet music, or scrap concert pics like I chose to do!

Everything on this layout is KI.
The music note paper & epoxy stickers are from my Love, Elsie stash that I am still hoarding.
The other patterned paper, lace cardstock, jewels, and glitter alphas are all new KI stuff.

Here's a close up of some of the detail on the layout.
I had fun playing with this piece of lace cardstock!

Now go scrap something musical for yourself!
And link it up on the KI blog if you make something!

________________________________

:)
gretchen

I've been scrapping

Shocker, right??!!
:)
The Focus On this past Friday on the KI blog was the new KI shaped paper.

This stuff is so cute!!

I love the fun shapes and bright colors on these new papers!

So here is the layout I made with the shaped paper from the Paisley Parade line.

Supplies: Patterned paper, shaped paper, alphabet stickers, lace cardstock (flowers), bling are all KI Memories

Check out the KI blog to see more fun layouts!

Thanks for looking at mine!
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And here is one I just did for fun!
It's a little "life update" layout for right now.

Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard hearts, corner stickers (Crate Paper); border sticker, alphabet stickers (Doodlebug); pen (American Crafts); yellow label sticker (Bella Blvd)

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NEWSFLASH

Looks like I am going to be teaching some classes again here soon!
It's been awhile & I've missed it.
Got some ideas swirling in my head.
{if you are in the B'ham area & are interested in classes, feel free to leave me some suggestions here about classes you would want to take}

More on that later.
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Happy Sunday!

and happy father's day!!
:)
gretchen

MLS winner!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

37 

Timestamp: 2010-06-19 19:29:12 UTC
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which makes the winner:

CherrieScraps said...

awesome cards - that cupcake card is just the cutest eva!!!

June 18, 2010 12:19 PM
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YAY Cherrie!!

Email me at gretchenmcelveen (at) yahoo (dot) com & I will get your prize out to you ASAP.

Thanks for playing along everybody!!

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Have a great Saturday!

:)

gretchen

Blog Hop!

The My Little Shoebox team is doing a blog hop today to say good bye to outgoing team members (I am one of them!) and celebrate the new team (YAY!!).

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heeeeey to all of you who got here from Tanisha's blog!
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The "old" team has created all kinds of fun projects to share today!
And it would not be a blog hop without prizes of course!!

So you need to check out all of our blogs & leave a comment on each one.

The more blogs you comment on, the greater your chances of winning.

When it is over, the powers-that-be at My Little Shoebox are going to draw 5 winners from all the comments at the end.
And the winners will get a big ole MLS prize pack!!

And there are separate prizes being given away by some team members which means even more chances of winning!

Fabulous!!

So make sure you follow along the blog hop and check out all the blogs!

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So here are my last "official" My Little Shoebox projects...

{*sniff*}

I couldn't resist!
:)

Those pears are from the Lil Critters line.

I did not get the chance to make anything with the Imaginary Friends line before now, but I have been itching to use that line to make a card like this...

I punched a hole in the card so that you can see this little guy peeking out from inside.

And one more!

I can't get enough of these cupcakes in the "Just Add Butter" line!
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OK I am going to draw a separate winner from all the comments left just on this blog and send the winner some MLS goodies!
So comment away here people and then hop on over to Heather's blog next!!!
And for sure do not forget to check out the
My Little Shoebox blog and leave a comment there too!

Have fun!

Happy Friday people!!

:)

gretchen

come back tomorrow!

because the My Little Shoebox team is doing a blog hop!
there will be prizes of course!

and i will show you the rest of this card + a couple more.
see you tomorrow i hope!

psssst!

I have a layout featured in this month's Bella Blvd newsletter!

You can download the June issue here if you want to check it out!
{and i think you should}
:)
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Shout out to all the new My Little Shoebox girls!

CONGRATS!!
{yay Deanna!}

Check out the new design team announcement here.

P.S.
We are going to do a blog hop on Friday to celebrate the new girls & say goodbye to the outgoing ones.

So check back here and on the My Little Shoebox blog on Friday for all the details!
:)

happy hump day!
gretchen

Don't forget!

It's Father's Day this coming Sunday!

And it's not too late to get a card in the mail!

Supplies: Patterned paper, stickers (Bella Blvd's "Man of the House" line), staples, & twine
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Have a great day!
:)
gretchen

This looks cool!!

You know I am a sucker for a contest!
However, I am just a tiny bit too old for this one.

But I bet there is a lot of undiscovered talent out there that needs to enter!!

Do you know any teenagers with mad scrapbooking skills?

Make them enter this contest!

For details on how to enter & the official rules check out the CK website here.

Entries are due August 31!

Fun stuff!!

Let me know if you (or anyone you know) is going to enter!

I love a good contest and want to cheer you on!

:)

gretchen

Yesterday in pictures

{with narration for your entertainment of course}

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It started with a half marathon in MS.

That's my mom & I.

And this is David, my dad, and me.
It is way too early in the morning at this point so sleepy eyes are allowed.

It was 84 degrees at the 6 AM start.

And humid.

At about mile 5 this weird fan came out of the crowd & ran with me.

But he was struggling so he didn't make it very far.

:)
Plus there was some redhead that he was more interested in anyway.

And then he emerged again at mile 12!!

This time the heat had gotten to him and he was acting a fool!
And I need a tan.

I was aiming for under 2 hours but I gave it all I had so I am satisfied.

I will say I have redeemed myself.

{for now}

You would think these things would get easier.
I am still waiting for that.

Ah, the best part of the morning!!
This is Stu, me, Dave, and the redhead {aka Ginny}.

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Then I jumped in the car and headed home because I had a date with Lee to the Carrie Underwood concert in Birmingham.

2nd row seats were not a bad deal at all.

She has some pipes!

So you are telling me that without American Idol, she would just be some random chick in Oklahoma working a regular job and singing in church??!
No way.

She is absolutely gorgeous.

And puts on a heck of a concert!

I am not sure who likes her more...me or Lee!!
I am pretty sure those 2nd row seats weren't just coincidence.
:)

It was a long day but it was a good one for sure!!
Have a great rest of your weekend!
:)

gretchen