lucky mistake

I told you I made a bunch of stuff this past weekend!
This one is using some fun new Bella Blvd
{Happy Sunny Skies line}

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd), Alphas & stickers (Bella Blvd), Bling (Me & My Big Ideas), Brads (Basic Grey)

Happy day!
Have a good one!!
:)
gretchen

Update

Anybody remember this layout from a few years ago??

Well I thought it was time for an update...

Supplies: Patterned paper, stickers (Little Yellow Bicyle), Brads (American Crafts)

Journaling reads:

I did a layout in 2006 titled "Daddy's Little Girl" about Shada & Lee. I wrote on the layout about how Shada cowers if Lee disciplines her but she basically ignores me if I try. She greets him energetically at the door but she might not know I exist. I mentioned how she comes a running if he calls her but she plays deaf with me. Since 4 years have passed since that previous layout, I figure it is time for an update. So here's the update: there is no update! Refer back to previous layout. My status has not changed & Shada is still very much her Daddy's little girl. Maybe things will eventually change...ha!
as of 2010
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Hope your Monday was a good one!

:)
gretchen

My crazy weekend was productive at least.

Got some cute pictures with Mom...

...and a much needed new headshot {see above on right}!

{thank you Carolyn!!}

And of course I scrapbooked!

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill), Patterned paper (Sassafras), Stickers (Sassafras), Bling (KI Memories), Glitter alphas (Making Memories), Orange Thickers (American Crafts)

I did that one pretty late at night & I was bordering on delirious, so I would like a little credit for my mad poetry skills!
There are 2 rhymes on that page-can you find them??
_________________________________________
I made alot more stuff this weekend.

But what fun would it be if I showed everything all at once!??

Plus I've got a bit of a scrapbooking hangover & my eyes are starting to cross from self-induced sleep deprivation.

I will be much better after a good night of sleep!
:)
gretchen

crazy weekend!!

10 years ago "crazy weekend" would have meant something entirely different.

Now it means a couple of days off,

a road trip with Mom,

meeting up with friends,

making new ones,

scrapbooking until the wee hours of the morning,

taking pictures,

getting some education about how to fight off dogs & treat spider bites

{neither actually happened but if they do, i am ready!},

and concluding that pineapple-upside-down cake is in fact a fruit & cannot be counted into my daily dessert total.

And the weekend is not over so it might get crazier!

I hope yours is just as fun!
:)
gretchen

more *FREE* stuff!

Go to this post on the KI blog and leave a comment for a chance to win some fun lace cardstock!

5 winners will be drawn on Friday so hurry!

Your chances are good!!

Don't you want some fun lace cardstock to play with too??!!
:)
gretchen

Save the date!!

I am teaching another class at Scrapbook Mania on Saturday, September 11th!

Still working on the details but here are some hints: 2-pagers, summer, Bella Blvd, glittery stuff!

Curious?

Good!

Come to the class!

More info to come!

:)

gretchen

FYI

Bella Blvd is doing a giveaway every day this week on their blog!!
Check it out here!

{how is that for some added excitement to this blog!!}

Well this blog is booooring!

I mean I know that iPod story
was so interesting & all, but I have had a lack of fun projects to post lately.

Don't worry, I've been scrapping!

It's just stuff I can't really share right now.

And I did teach a class at Scrapbook Mania that kept me a little busy.

{and I am working on another one!}

While that is all fun for me, it leaves this ole blog quite dull.

Hopefully this will be solved this weekend when I take an extended weekend with my mom to meet up with some friends to scrapbook!

__________________________

On the to do list:

1) Finish this mini that I started a
loooong time ago.
I started this one not long after I did my first marathon (well it was the first of 2).
And I ran that one in 2008...January 2008.

It's so old I had to wipe dust off of it when I got it off the shelf!

2) Play with these new Bella Blvd goodies!

3) Come up with a challenge for the KI blog.

My day is September 6th...Labor Day!

I think a "working" challenge may be in order.

________________________________

After that, who knows what I will do!

But I've got a stack of pictures printed so there will hopefully be more interesting blog material coming soon!

{please do not hold your breath though!}

________________________________

Happy Monday good people!
:)
gretchen

It still works!

It's a technology miracle!

So I left my ipod Shuffle + earphones on top of my car after running at the park.

I heard them slide off the car after turning onto busy road at rush hour.

Frantically I turned around & drove back only to watch several cars drive over them.

I said to heck with it, turned back around & headed home.

But I thought about it a minute & figured that surely it was not smart to leave $75 laying in the middle of the road without at least trying to save it.

{plus it was a gift from Lee}

So I turned around again.

I saw more cars drive right over my pretty pink Shuffle.

I parked my car in a lot next to the busy road full of cars.

I waited all sweaty on the side of the road for a break in traffic.

I watched more cars run over the pretty pink Shuffle.

As soon as a break in traffic came, I darted into road.

I grabbed my Shuffle.

The earphones were farther away & flattened for sure.

There was no saving them.

The Shuffle looked a little battered but not flattened.

I tried a different pair of earphones.

And it still works like a charm!

{photo in road for visual effects only. i might be a crazy scrapbooker but i am not dumb enough to risk my life in traffic to get my Shuffle AND take a picture of that. no way jose! i just took this one in the road by my house. you know, perfectly safe!
kids: do not try this at home.}

It was a sure sign that this weekend is going to be fabulous!
I hope yours is also!
:)
gretchen

*****
THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO CAME OUT FOR MY CLASS THIS AFTERNOON AT SCRAPBOOK MANIA!!

IT WAS FUN!!
*****

Shutterfly winners!!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random integers, generated with replacement:

 8
10
 5

Timestamp: 2010-08-18 03:46:30 UTC
__________________________________________
Which makes these fabulous girls the winners of some free Shutterfly cards:

gimmegodiva said...

well, I had to go back several posts... I had missed them! So you are not a blogger slacker.... it is just not updating!
anyway! I have used sf for 4x6 pics and have always been pleased!
so pick me! :)

August 12, 2010 6:25 PM

Anonymous said...

I love Shutterfly Studio. The collages are great for scrapping. Should I be lucky enough to win your giveaway, I may have to create some cards introducing my new grandson and re-introducing his big sister. Carolyn Bertram :)

August 17, 2010 8:26 PM

Michele said...

With baby Nick's arrival coming VERY SOON, I could definitely use some announcements from Shutterfly! :)

August 14, 2010 10:58 AM

____________________________________________________

YAY!!

So Carol, Carolyn, & Michele please email me and I will give you the super secret code for your 12 free 5x7 cards!

Thanks for playing along everybody!!

:)

gretchen

All about the pockets

I am loving these new pockets from KI!

They were the Focus On this past Friday on
the KI blog.

Of course I had to make something!

Supplies: Pocket page, border sticker, patterned paper, black glitter paper, & "scribbles" are all NEW KI Memories!!

Mickey punch: EK Success

I used one of the 12x12 pocket pages to hold a bunch of memorabilia from the 2008 Disney marathon that I had kept stashed away in a shoebox.

I like it scrapped rather than all hidden in a box under my bed!

I think I am going to need some more of these pocket pages!
________________________________________
I will close the Shutterfly giveaway Tuesday night so make sure to comment for a chance to win!
________________________________________
That's all I've got!

:)
gretchen

Birmingham peeps...

What are you doing next Saturday (8/21)??
Wanna come hang out at Scrapbook Mania & take a class or two?

There is a Back to School Party going on from 11:00 until the store closes.

Christine is teaching a cards class at 11:00.

I am teaching a layout class at 1:00.

And then we will be partying after that class until India kicks us out!
____________________________
My class is "Playing with your Circle Punch"!
We are going to make 2 layouts and learn a couple of fun techniques that you can do with your circle punch.
We will also be doing a couple of other fun techniques too!

Here are couple of teasers for ya!

_____________________________
So who is coming?!?!!
I hope to see some familiar faces!
:)
gretchen

Good try

I just got a copy of the September issue of Creating Keepsakes.

{the layout on the front is way cute!}

When I got to the sketch section I realized that I had submitted a layout for that sketch & never shared it here.

I am quite the fan of sketches so I always try to submit something!

This one, my friends, was not my best attempt.

But I love the sketch!

But my layout, eh...
Let's just say that I have done better. Supplies: Patterned paper (My Mind's Eye-red, striped & Jenni Bowlin-stars), Die cut stars (My Mind's Eye), Alphabets/number stickers (KI Memories-"13.1", Making Memories-"Blues"), Chipboard bracket (KI Memories), Die cut alphabet (Making Memories Slice-"MS"), Pen (American Crafts), Bling (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

The layouts in the magazine are much better!
Mine was a good try & at least I got this event scrapbooked!
Better luck time!
{pssst...guess what??!!...next month i do have a layout in the sketch section of CK!}

TGIF people!

I am going to celebrate Lee's 33rd birthday!

The Shutterfly giveaway below is still going on & I will draw a winner next week.

Have a great weekend!
:)
gretchen

Shutterfly rocks {& a great giveaway}!!

Now that I have something to celebrate {see this post}, I think I want to do a party for the happy couple!!

I've never been much of a party planner but I am excited about this!

{I have big plans in my head but I probably need to be brought back down to earth}

First step: INVITATIONS!!

I originally thought I could make the invitations.

But in order to simplify the process so I can focus on more fun stuff like decorations & food, I turn to the invitation masters: SHUTTERFLY!!
I mean, why should I spend time making invites when Shutterfly has so many cute ones to choose from already!

And there are plenty more to choose from where those came from {see here}!
________________________________

{heck these cards are so cool I am even
considering doing Christmas cards for once!!}
________________________________
Now here is the good part for you...

I don't want to be the only one having fun making cards on Shutterfly!

Shutterfly is letting me give away {3} sets of cards to you!
{3 winners will get 12 free 5x7 flat stationary cards}

YIPPEE!!

So all you need to do for a chance to win is leave a comment here telling me about a great experience you have had with Shutterfly or the cards you would get if you win!

Now get to commenting!!

{I will draw a winner on Wednesday August 18th}

Have a great day!
:)

gretchen

Woo hoo!!

I have been needing a product like this!
Thank you KI for making it happen!

POCKETS!!

I save ticket stubs, programs, and other memorabilia.

But I don't always like to include these things on a layout {you know, it might not match my patterned paper or something & i just can't have that!}

Pockets are the perfect solution!

KI has a bunch of fun new ones in lots of sizes & colors!

I used one of them here.
This is another page for my 1/2 marathon album.

This was the first half I ever did back in 2002.

I am pretty sure these pictures were taken with a little disposable camera so I am about 1/4 inch tall in each picture.
I did not really want to use any of those pictures on my layout because of that.

But of course I want to save them!
{even if you do need a magnifying glass to see me}

I used one of the 5x5 inch pockets & tucked the pictures in the pocket.

Perfect!

Other supplies: Patterned paper (Pink Paislee-green & dotted; KI Memories-striped), "believe" glitter sticker (KI Memories), Die cut journaling block (Jenni Bowlin), Glitter numbers (Making Memories)

FYI: that fun swirly "believe" sticker is another new product from KI Memories!!

:)
Happy hump day!
gretchen

Another piece of good news

Do you remember meeting my new friend Ginny back last August?

Then do you remember my sneaky (in order to not provoke any jinxes) layout about Ginny & my brother David?

Well it worked!

I did not jinx anybody this time!
They are engaged!!

This deserves another WHOO to the HOOO!!
{it's just a shame that their children are going to be sooooo ugly!!}
:)
Congrats David & Ginny!!

love,

gretchen

**GOOD NEWS**

I AM ONE OF THEM!!

WHOO to the HOOOOOOOOO!!

You can see the official announcement here on the Bella blog.

It looks like a great group of girls!!

YAY!!

I am pumped!
This is a good way to start off the week!
Happy Monday to you too!
:)

gretchen

sew cute!!

That's what these new calendar papers from KI are called.

{appropriately named i think}

I made a little "daily routine" layout using one of them.

And you can see more layouts with these new calendar papers on the KI blog.

These are just some of the fun new products that KI has come out with this summer!
They also have these great pockets & pocket pages that I am hoping to make something with tonight.

I love new stuff!
:)
Happy Saturday!
Hope you are having a great one!
:)
gretchen

Confession

Sometimes I choose to do certain things knowing in the back of my mind that I have the perfect scrapbook paper back home to use to document the occasion.
For example, I never ever would have run this 5k or dressed a fool like this if I did not have a stash of the Free Spirit line from Little Yellow Bicycle that I was anxious to use!!

Supplies: Patterned paper, rub-ons, stickers, alphabet (all Little Yellow Bicycle Free Spirit), Bling (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)
{anybody believing me??}
:)
_____________________________
That's all I've got!
Is it Friday yet??
:)
happy day!!
gretchen

Playing with some new stuff!

Well it is not brand new stuff, but it is pretty darn close!

I made a couple of layouts for Scrapbook Mania using the Like Father, Like Son line from Fancy Pants.
This is a great masculine line and of course I dig the stars!!

Supplies: Patterned paper & "Sunday" stickers (Fancy Pants), brads (KI Memories), tiny alpha stickers (Making Memories), chipboard stars (Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

Supplies: Patterned paper, "Cousins" stickers (Fancy Pants), bling (K & Co.)

Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 21st.

There is going to be a little shin-dig at Scrapbook Mania that you will not want to miss!
Christine is going to teach class & I will be teaching a layout class too (cost = $15).
Festivities start at 11:oo AM with Christine's class!
My class is at 1:00.
{more details coming soon}
Yippee!
Hope to see you there!
:)
Happy Monday!
gretchen