New favorite

Christmas in July

For the first time ever in my whole long life, I bought a Christmas present early!

2 of them actually.

I stumbled upon a good deal this past weekend and picked up a couple of items for my dear ole dad.

I am usually a wait-until-the-last-minute-because-certainly-there-will-be-better-deals-or-i-will-surely-find-the-perfect-gift-if-i-just-keep-looking-fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-Christmas-shopper.

Well maybe, just maybe, I am turning a over a new leaf in my thirty-second year of life!

{now the hard part is going to be remembering what i did with gifts purchased early once December rolls around!}

This deserves a celebration!

Hang the mistletoe!

Sip on the eggnog!

Don't drop the ornaments!
Here's to Christmas!
{scrapbooking style of course}

Christmas '07
That was a good Christmas.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Making Memories-red; Basic Grey-off white, My Mind's Eye-green, Fancy Pants-brown), Chipboard (American Crafts), Brads (American Crafts), Journaling block (Jenni Bowlin), Die cut title (Quickutz Spicy Chicken font), Pen (American Crafts), Chipboard star (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

Supplies: Patterned paper, ribbon, Sheer Delight (KI Memories); Flair, chipboard embellishment (American Crafts); Bling (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

Supplies: Patterned paper, border stickers, stickers (KI Memories)

Supplies: Patterned paper, brads, stickers (KI Memories); Bling (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

Supplies: Patterned paper, ribbon, sticker (KI Memories)

Christmas '09.

That was another good Christmas.

{you do NOT want to know about Christmas '08}

I submitted this page to CK for their sketch in the upcoming December issue.

{obviously it did not get picked up}

I like the layout nonetheless.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Making Memories-green, My Mind's Eye-all other), Chipboard letters (American Crafts), Tiny glitter stickers (Making Memories), Snowflakes (Making Memories), Die cuts (My Mind's Eye), Border sticker (KI Memories), Bling (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

Well Merry Christmas {in July} yall!!

and Feliz Navidad!
:)

gretchen

KI "mini" challenge

Jennifer Pebbles put up a challenge on the KI blog a couple of weeks ago to make something "mini".

With having a new baby its hard for her to find the time to make full-sized layouts like she used to.

But by making smaller pages & mini home decor items she can get more accomplished!

This is kind of the direction I was going with the 6x6 mini album of my 1/2 marathons.

I was hoping to run so many that I would never have time to scrap full pages for all of them!

bwhahahahaha!!

yeah right!
However, I did use Jennifer's challenge as an excuse to make another page for my album!

Supplies: Patterned paper, glitter stickers, jewels (all KI Memories!)
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By the way, I am really trying to distract myself this week & pretend that I am content to be at home & working as usual instead of up in Chicago where all the fun is being had!
_________________________________________
But hey, at least today is Tuesday and not Monday, right??!!
:)
gretchen

AC challenge

Aw look at me trying to go all simple & graphic.

I tried so hard!

:)

This is for the challenge on the American Crafts blog this week.

The challenge is to be inspired by the world wide web to create a layout.

So I scrapped my favorite Facebook wall post...

Supplies: Kraft cardstock (DMC Inc.); Patterned paper, foam Thickers, Pen (American Crafts)

And, yes, of course I applied for their design team.

I mean, didn't you??!
That one is a no-brainer!
:)

Happy Monday!!
gretchen

giveaway WINNER!! + some entertainment

OK so not as many people were interested in my KI stash as I thought might be.

{yall are just holding out for the new stuff, aren't ya!!??}

Oh well, better chance for those that do want some!

AND

THE

WINNER

IS...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

7 

Timestamp: 2010-07-25 14:24:21 UTC

owliecupcake said...

I love the pockets, calendars, and the quick strips. Those calendar pages would be perfect for Addie's first year pages (or Reagan's or Tressie's for that matter, since I still haven't done them all the way. Bad mommy!)

July 23, 2010 8:18 PM

YAY!!

Christina, email me and I will get your goodies out to you!
______________________

And for your entertainment...
{an added bonus because these silly pics really do not need to be the focus of an entire blog post!}
Last night I did the Retro Run 5k with the running buddies & about 500 other crazies!
I was feeling kind of rad last night & Kristin was feelin' more groovy!
{this gray line is bugging me but i can't get it off of here!}

B was feeling retro circa 2009!

And sweet Lee {who never let on one bit just how embarassed of me he really was} came out to cheer us on. Want to know who won the costume contest??
Uh, this guy of course... Now are you thoroughly entertained??!
{or are your eyes just burning??}
I thought you might be!
:)
Happy Sunday!
gretchen

13.1

I've been making some progress on my
half marathon album.
I am filling a 6x6 Mod album from American Crafts with a layout about each half that I run.
Each layout ends up being a 6x12 page which Virginia cleverly pointed out is half the size of a normal layout.

Yeah, duh, I was totally meaning to do that!!
{ha!}

Anywhooooo...

This one is from the Mercedes half this past February.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd-blue & striped; Crate Paper-brown; American Crafts-scalloped; KI Memories-stars), Alphas (Doodlebug), Rub-ons & Pen (American Crafts), Bling (Heidi Swapp)

This one is from the Talladega half last year.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd-blue & brown patterned; Sassafras-yellow border; KI Memories-stars), Chipboard numbers (Sassafra); Pen (American Crafts)

And this is from my most recent one {and last one for a while}.

Supplies: Patterned paper (American Crafts-scallops; KI Memories-all other}, Chipboard numbers (American Crafts), Pen (American Crafts)

These all look similar don't they??
That's what happens when I make a bunch of stuff in a small amount of time!

It all comes out looking the same!
{ha!}
Now I am going to run {literally}!
:)
gretchen

P.S. the KI giveaway below is still going on!

WOAH!!!

Stop the presses!!

Did you see the full sneak peek from KI??

WOW!!

I just saw it and I am pumped!

{yes, i get very excited about new scrapbooking supplies! i know all of you non-scrapbookers-who-i-found-out-recently-have-for-some-reason-been-reading-this-blog think i am weird & need help. yes, i am and i probably do. but it could be worse. i could be addicted to crack. well, the real crack-not the M&M pretzel crack that Virg has me hooked on now. i am beyond fixin' there.}

Well if you haven't seen it yet, go check it out here.

Then I want to know what you think!
Leave me a comment here & I will draw a random winner this week & send a package of KI goodness out to them!
{ok so i won't be sending any of this new KI stuff since i don't even have any myself yet. BUT i promise to send good stuff. i pride myself on good giveaways!}

:)

So tell me what you think!
gretchen

The newest issue of
CK's Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks: Tools & Techniques
went on sale today.

And I have a fun project in there!
They asked me to make my own album with some kind of interesting binding to hold it all together.

This is what I made.

Supplies: Patterned paper (KI Memories, Making Memories), Chipboard numbers (Prima), Chipboard embellishments (KI Memories), Ribbon (American Crafts), Die cut scalloped square (Making Memories Slice), Crackle paint (Ranger), Corner rounder (Zutter), Hole punch (Crop-a-dile from We R Memory Keepers), Misc (small jump rings, raw chipboard sheets)

I am really quite simple-minded when it comes to scrapbooking.

I don't use a lot of fancy techniques or anything.
If it takes much time & effort, I am probably not going to do it.

Simple-minded is a nice way to put it.

Really I am just lazy!
{ha!}

That being said, you should not be surprised that this album is very simple.

I just painted some raw chipboard with Tim Holtz crackle paint, punched holes
in it with my Crop-a-dile,
and then tied some ribbon through it.

Voila!

Check your local scrapbook store or places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, & Joann's for raw chipboard sheets.
Most of the scrapbooking paper they sell probably comes with a sheet of raw chipboard on the bottom.
Alot of times they just throw this stuff away and may give it to you for free.

They don't know how valuable it can be!
:)

I used my handy dandy Slice to cut the scalloped square for my title.

I covered the inside of both front and back covers with patterned paper.

Supplies: Patterned paper (KI Memories)

The inside is filled with 8 1/2 x 11 page protectors.
And I used tiny jump rings to hang some chipboard tags & embellishments from the bow.

Want to see a layout in the album??
OK, twist my arm...

Supplies: Patterned paper (My Mind's Eye-background, October Afternoon-flowers, SEI-"sand", Basic Grey-"leaves", Crate Paper-"coconuts"), Chipboard alphabet (KI Memories), Alphabet stickers (KI Memories), Bling (Little Yellow Bicycle), Pen (American Crafts), Misc (corrugated cardboard)

That layout did not make it into the magazine so bonus for actually reading all the way to the end of this post!!

Now go get a copy of the magazine for yourself!
:)

Tomorrow is my Friday.

boo-yah!!

:)
gretchen

MME challenge

I made a layout for this month's challenge on the My Mind's Eye blog.

The challenge is to do a layout based on this sketch using "hope" as the theme of the page.

And this is what I made!

Supplies: Patterned paper, die cuts, bling (all My Mind's Eye)

You have until Thursday July 22nd to do a layout for the challenge too.

See this post on the MME blog for all the details.

OK, that's all I've got!
Happy Monday!
:)
gretchen

love like crazy

i like this one

which means i might need to do a layout about it.

well whataya know...

:)

Supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey-background; American Crafts-all other), Foam alphas (American Crafts), Rub-ons (American Crafts), Pen (American Crafts), Jeweled brad (American Crafts)

happy Saturday!
:)
gretchen

LOOKY LOOKY!!

Check out the sneak peek of the new product from KI Memories!!

And take a look at the blog for more!
:)

SO FUN!!!

{i dig this time of year!!}

Tribute to *the peeps*

I caught the scrapping bug late last night.

Stayed up way too late.

Will probably pay for it today.

But I made this.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey-blue, Bella Blvd-all other), Chipboard alphas (American Crafts), Alphabet stickers (Doodlebug), Ribbon (American Crafts), "Friends" sticker (American Crafts), Brads (American Crafts & KI Memories), Pen (American Crafts)

Yes, this picture was from yesterday.
That is what I mean by "I caught the scrapping bug".

Brittney emailed me the picture last night.

I had been wanting to do a layout like this for awhile.

This was a near perfect picture for the page I had in mind {minus 1 important person though}.

And BAM! It's midnight but I can't resist pulling out the scrappy supplies!

:)
Now I'm off to round up some caffeine!
Happy Sunday!
gretchen

Was his hair really that long??

Wow!

Check out the locks on my hubby!
How much has changed in 2 short years!

Supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey-blue, Scenic Route-striped), Chipboard letters (American Crafts), Brads (American Crafts), Journaling rub-on (Jenni Bowlin), Pen (American Crafts)
And this is why I scrapbook.

So that when he is old & bald, we can prove to our grandkids that, yes kiddos, Pawpaw did in fact have very good hair back in the old days!
________________________________
I had totally forgotten about this layout until I got it back today along with a copy of this book that it is in.

I have already looked through it quickly once and it full of great ideas!
It has all kinds of ideas and layout inspiration for scrapping those events that happen every year: holidays, seasons, occasions (like birthdays & graduation), etc etc.

It's a very cool idea!
{you can get a copy on sale here}
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Now I am going to see if I can talk Lee into growing his hair out again.

Ha!
:)
gretchen

Proud to be

Today is my day to do a "Celebrate America" post over on the KI blog.
Here is the layout I made.

Supplies: Patterned papers, bling, glitter alphas, cardstock (all KI Memories)

But you still need to go over to the KI blog to see the comment prompt for the day so you can win something!

The winner will be picked tomorrow & there is a winner everyday this week!
:)
Happy Monday to you!
{i mean Tuesday}

:)

gretchen

Halloween in July??

I mean, Christmas in July is pretty common.

But Halloween??

No way!

hehe

Oh I crack myself up sometimes!

Anyway, it is kind of like Halloween in July with these new Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers.
{i am new to all things Graphic 45 & i have to say that i am impressed!}
I made this layout for Scrapbook Mania using some of these cool papers!

Supplies: Patterned papers (Graphic 45), Ribbon & Chipboard letters (American Crafts)

Scrapbook Mania has all these papers and even more from this cool line.
Get them while you can!

And happy Halloween!!
:)
gretchen

P.S.
don't forget to be checking the KI blog this week as we celebrate America!

{of course there are prizes!}

I'd thank my lucky stars,

to be livin' here today.

‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,

and they can't take that away.

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I wont forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,

next to you and defend her still today.

‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,

God bless the USA.
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Happy 4th of July yall!
______________________________________

KI is celebrating America all week long on their blog!
Check the blog daily for new layouts and projects as well as a chance to win a KI prize pack everyday!
______________________________________
Have an awesome holiday!
:)
gretchen

fun

no design team stuff.

no assignments.

no contests.

no challenges.

but just for fun!

Supplies: Patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket-background, Bella Blvd-all other), Stickers (Bella Blvd), Bling (KI Memories), Pen (American Crafts), Tools (corner rounder & circle punch)

believe me, i love all that stuff.

but i really love just scrapbooking the most.

don't you??!
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happy 4th of July weekend!
:)
gretchen