Saturday Sketches {New Year's Eve edition}

Happy New Year's Eve good people!!
I know I said no more Christmas cards, but I forgot about one!
One more!
Just one more!
:)
This Saturday's sketch is up on the Bella Blvd blog today.

Cool sketch, huh??!
Well I made a card out of it!

Once again I am loving the sheet of Cute Cuts from Bella Blvd.

I mean, how cute are the little penguins (pun intended!)?!
Cut them out of the patterned paper, attach them using foam adhesive, and you have a simple embellishment that adds some nice dimension to your project!

OK that should be the last Christmas card from me!
I promise!
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Happy New Year folks!
Have fun and be safe!
See you next year!
{I wear that joke out this time of year!}

:)

gretchen

*WINNER*

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

12

Timestamp: 2011-12-28 04:45:55 UTC
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And that makes the winner:

Abby L said...
I love your cards and layouts, they're all so cute and colorful! I've found a ton of inspiration on your blog. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas :)Abby
December 26, 2011 7:43 AM
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Yay Abby!
Merry Christmas!
Email me at gretchenmcelveen(at)yahoo(dot)com
and I will get your goodies out to you ASAP!!
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We are finishing up Christmas happenings around here.
Be back soon with scrappy stuff!
Hope you had a great Christmas!
love,

gretchen

Christmas cards galore (and a GIVEAWAY!!)

I know, I know...I have shared like 1900 Christmas cards this week!
Bored yet??!
Because I have a few more.
:)
I made a couple for the Bella Blvd blog today.
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I just love Bella Blvd's Cute Cuts patterned papers!
I have yet to meet a sheet that I do not love!

So I used the Cute Cuts sheet from "Christmas Wishes" to knock out 2 more Christmas cards!

As a little thank you for putting up with all my Christmas cards this season,
how about a little giveaway??!
I've got some of Bella Blvd's Christmas Wishes line to give to somebody.
It includes a sheet of the Cute Cuts!
:)
And it will be perfect for scrapping your pics from this Christmas!
Just leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner after Christmas!
Merry Christmas!!
:)
gretchen

More Christmas cards!

It is Holiday Cards Week over on the Pebbles blog.
And I have a few to share!!
Like I mentioned earlier this week,it is not too late to send out some Christmas cards!
{heck, you could even be a little different & send out New Year's cards!}

Since time is of the essence, simplicity is key!
Make simple cards that are easy to reproduce so you can send out as many as you can.
To make these 3 cards, I just grabbed some of my favorite Welcome Christmas papers from Pebbles along with the pack of Dimensional Phrases & Icon Stickers, a pack of rub-ons, a handful of brads, a couple of bookplates, and some string.
Voila!
Here are 3 different cards made in no time at all!

Check out the Pebbles blog this week for more great ideas for holiday cards!

Merry Christmas yall!
:)

gretchen

It's not too late!!

It's not too late to send out a few Christmas cards!
But make it quick and keep them simple!
I made a couple with the Mistletoe & Holly kit from Noel Mignon.

See??
Simple but effective!
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Now go make some yourself!!
And have a great day while you are at it!
:)
gretchen

Birthday blog hop!

Today is a big day!!
It is Stephanie's birthday!

Yall know Stephanie.
She is the super cute and

uber-creative force behind Bella Blvd!
Well today is her birthday so let's celebrate!!

Come along with us on a fun little blog hop, check out the cards we have made for Stephanie using the fabulous Bella Blvd products she designed, and celebrate with us wishing her a very happy birthday!!
If you want to start at the beginning, head over to the Bella Blvd blog.
If you landed here from Katherine McElvain's blog, you are on the right track!
And your next stop is over at Wendy Morris's blog!
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HAPPY

BIRTHDAY
Stephanie!!
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Bella Newsletter!!

The December newsletter from Bella Blvd is available today!

YAY!

If you want to get a ton of great inspiration, click {here}!
And if that link doesn't work for ya, check the Bella Blvd blog {here}.
P.S.
there is a giveaway announcement in there!

:)
gretchen

Fav{e}

OK I have a new favorite card!

It is based on this cool inspiration piece that is up on the Bella Blvd blog.
Neat, huh!!?

And this is the card I made!

(made with the Christmas Wishes line from Bella Blvd)

It's my new fav{e}!!

:)

gretchen

Real tree or artificial??

A real tree it is for us!
Every year!

Both Lee and I grew up with artificial Christmas trees.

When we got married and could make our own decisions, artificial trees were no longer allowed in our house!

:)

I used the Mistletoe & Holly kit from Noel Mignon to make this layout about getting this year's tree.

So what about you??
Artificial or real??
:)

While I was gone...

While I was gone, this good lookin' guy and I celebrated 9 whole years of marriage!

{old layout...just wanted to share}

We made our traditional trip up to Gatlinburg
for a weekend away.

Other than the trip getting off to a rocky start when the transmission in Lee's car went out while we were passing through Chattanooga, it was a fabulous weekend!

(guess what Lee is getting for our anniversary!)

:)

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While I was gone, these fun cards were posted over on the Bella Blvd blog.

During this time of year I always need Christmas cards (of course) and thank you notes!
So I am getting a jump on both!

While I was gone, I have been a bad blogger!
I promise to do better.

:)
gretchen

Make your own gift card holders!

We are focusing on holiday gift-giving ideas over on the Pebbles blog this week.

Since I am giving a few gift cards for Christmas this year, I thought I would make something cute to put them in.
I must confess...I am too cheap to pay extra and actually buy gift card holders.
It is super easy to just make something myself!

So I used the classic Welcome Christmas line from Pebbles to make these.

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Now I just need to go and actually get the gift cards!

:)
Make sure to check out the Pebbles blog this week for more fun gift ideas!
*****Hope your holiday season is going well!
gretchen

Have a holly jolly Christmas!

Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas!!
Feliz Navidad!

It is starting to look a lot like Christmas up in here!
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Be sure to check out the Noel Mignon message board for so many incredible ideas for Christmas!
I made a few Christmas cards using the new Mistletoe & Holly kit from Noel Mignon!

I love the mix of "vintage" with fun, bright colors that are in this kit.

It is not too late for you to make your own cards.

There are still plenty of days left to get them in the mail!
Hop to it!
:)

gretchen

Holly Jolly Week

Come join us over at Noel Mignon this week for loads of Christmas stuff!!
There will be great ideas for cards, home decor, your December daily, etc.!!

I bet there will even be a few prizes given away!!
:)
Hope to see you there!!
gretchen

There are perks

I love my job.
{well most of the time}

I do love being able to help people & seeing them get better.
And I love all the treats that our patients bring us!
:)

I made this one with the fabulous With Love line from Pebbles.
I am totally digging the pinks & reds mixed with the kraft in this line!
Want some of it for yourself??
Sure you do!
Go leave a comment on {this post} over on the Pebbles blog for a chance to win some!

And while you are there, check out the new look of the Pebbles blog.
It's pretty cool!!
:)
Have a great weekend folks!
gretchen

Inspiration

Twice a month there is a cool piece of inspiration put up over on the Bella Blvd blog.

This is the inspiration that was put up this week.

Cool, right??!
I took that inspiration and made this!
I was inspired by the soft colors.
I also like how the "text" enclosed the other items and I tried to do something similiar on my card.
I even dug dug deep into my stash of Bella products to find the cool text paper from the Estate Sale line.
It is such a cool piece of paper (I almost hated to use it! ha!)!

Check out the Bella Blvd blog for more great ideas using this piece of inspiration!
:)
gretchen

Yep, that's me!
I am officially a "hunter's widow" now that deer season is in full swing here in Alabama.

But don't worry, I am making the most of it!
This layout is an account of my weekend happenings during the first weekend of gun season.
;)

I made this one with the fabulous Hudson Valley kit from Noel Mignon and a couple bits of ephemera I collected over the weekend.

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I hope yall had a great Thanksgiving!
Have an even better week!
:)
gretchen

Happy {belated} Thanksgiving!

Oopsy!

Thought I had scheduled this post!

Oh well...

Now it is a very happy {belated} Thanksgiving to ya!!

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For the occasion I made a couple of cards using the gorgeous
Finally Fall line from Bella Blvd.

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My belated-ness isn't all bad I guess.

It gives me a chance to tell you about a fun giveaway over on the Pebbles blog!!

Leave a comment on this post {here} for a chance to win some goodies!!
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And I guess this is appropriate now too!

:)
gretchen

Have you defrosted your turkey yet??

Well it is not too late!

Sure Thanksgiving officially starts in like an hour and you will probably be stuffing your face in 12-18 hours from now.

But if you have a bathtub you can still get that turkey thawed!

Trust me...

{this is actually an older layout I made with last year's Christmas kit from Noel Mignon but I thought it was kind of appropriate for right about now!}

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Speaking of Christmas kits from Noel Mignon, this year's kit is up for pre-order and they are shipping out Monday!!

You can get yours {here}

:)

Happy Thanksgiving (a wee bit early)!!

gretchen

Midnight Rooster + Crate Paper = GIVEAWAY

Midnight Rooster is the guest blogger over at Crate Paper today!

It is only fitting since the new kit from Midnight Rooster

{the November kit is called "A Random Story"}

is stocked full of the awesome "Random" line from Crate Paper!

How fun!
The best part is that Midnight Rooster is giving away 2 {yep, 2!!}of the November kits!
Wanna win??
Go to the Crate Paper blog and leave a comment {here} for one chance to win!
Then go to the Midnight Rooster blog and leave a comment {here} for your 2nd chance to win!

It could be a very good early Christmas for you!
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In other news, tonight I begin my fast in preparation for Thursday's feasting!

Bring on the casseroles!

:)

gretchen

Sharing a card

I was watching football on Saturday when I made the layout I shared on the post below.

I had so much fun cutting those flowers out of a sheet of Crate Paper that I just kept going!

And so they didn't go to waste, I made this card...
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{all supplies from the "Hudson Valley" kit from Noel Mignon}
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That's all I've got!
Have a great day!!
:)
gretchen

Thankful

I thought a layout like this one would be appropriate this week!

So much to be thankful for...

I used the gorgeous "Hudson Valley" kit from Noel Mignon to make this layout.

{there are still some available}

Have a great week!
:)

gretchen

Saturday Sketch

Twice a month there is a cool sketch posted on the Bella Blvd blog.

And I got to make a card with the sketch that went up yesterday!

We are not going to see my side of the family on Thanksgiving this year.
I pulled out some Finally Fall to make a card to send home saying that we are sorry we can't be there.
I think I am going to use the journaling spot on the inside of the card to write, "But we sure are looking forward to Christmas!"

Head over to the Bella Blvd blog to see the sketch and the incredible layouts & cards that some of the other Bella designers made!
{they made some seriously great layouts!}

:)
gretchen

Midnight Rooster NOVEMBER!!

Whoop whoop!!
The November kit from Midnight Rooster is up for sale!

This one is called "A Random Story" and it is a good lookin' kit!

It's got a fun mix of Crate Paper, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, and more!

And the layouts I made with it are some of my favorites to date!
Wanna see??

:)
This one is about my fun, new bike-riding hobby with my lov-ah!
(aka the husband)

This next one is for my sweet friend Lindsay.
I got on a heart kick with this kit!
:)

And this last one is just a fun one!
I used a bunch of scraps to frame the big collage of pictures.

The fun flags are pre-made embellishments in the kit!
{you get 3 in the kit!}

You gotta love the special touches that Tobi adds to her kits!

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I made a card too of course!

I am sure you are shocked to see that I used another heart.
:)

OK go get your kit while there are still some available!!

{click here}

And have a great weekend while you are at it!
:)

gretchen

Check this out!!

Head over to the Bella Blvd blog today to get your hands on some fabulous stuff!!

There are some great FREE printables you can download!

And Stephanie has put together an incredible tutorial to show you how to make a 5x7 Thanksgiving-themed mini album using them.

Go ahead and get a jump on your Thanksgiving scrapping!

Awesome!!

Happy Friday to you!

:)

Scrap your Christmas cards!

Do you know that there are only 37 days left until Christmas?

This tutorial was up on the Pebbles blog back in September and I figured it was a good time to {finally}share it here too!

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It's time to get started on those holiday preparations!

For instance, do you know what you are going to do with all the Christmas cards you are going get once Christmas is over??
I finally took down the 2010 Christmas cards on the side of my refrigerator in September!
I hate taking them down.
They are so fun to look at through the year!
And I surely could never throw them away!
For the longest time I just kept all the Christmas cards I had collected over the years somewhat organized in a couple of shoeboxes.
Then a couple of years ago I discovered a way to scrapbook them.
And today I am going to show you how to do it!

What you will need:
cardstock
patterned paper

strong adhesive

embellishments
{I have used the "Welcome Christmas" line from Pebbles to create this layout}

OK let's get started!
Use a piece of cardstock as the base of your layout
Don't "waste" a piece of patterned paper when you are going to end up covering it up anyway!
For the first & top pocket on the layout, cut a piece of patterned paper or cardstock 12 inches wide x 4 inches tall.

Adhere this piece of paper across the cardstock about 3 inches down from the top of the layout.

Remember that we are making a pocket, so only apply your adhesive along the bottom and sides of the piece of paper.
No adhesive should go across the top!
And make sure to use strong adhesive!

This will let you slip your Christmas cards inside the "pocket" you have created.

For the second and middle pocket on the layout, cut another piece of patterned paper or cardstock 12 inches wide x 4 inches tall.
Once again, don't use your favorite piece of patterned paepr as a lot of this paper will end up being cover by cards.
Adhere this piece of paper across the layout about 6 inches down from the top of the layouts so you are creating another pocket under the first one.

Remember: adhesive only along the bottom & sides of the piece of paper.

No adhesive across the top so you create a pocket!

Tip: if you use cardstock for this pocket, embellish it by using a border sticker!

Now do use a pretty piece of patterned paper for the bottom pocket on your layout.
This piece will actually be seen!
Cut this piece of patterned paper so that it also measures 12 inches wide x 3 inches tall.
Adhere this piece of paper across the bottom of the layout.

Remember: adhesive only along the bottom & sides of the piece of paper.

No adhesive across the top!

Now embellish the bottom pocket!
I used another border sticker here, a fun dimensional sticker, and cute toothpick flags on my layout.
Don't forget to add a date to your layout so you can remember when you got all these cards!

Tuck your Christmas cards into the pockets and you are done!
{you could always turn this into a 2-page layout if you have more cards you can fit into a single-page layout}

I hope this gives you an idea for what to do with all those Christmas cards you are going to get this year!
And, hey, a layout like this would work for birthday cards, Mother's Day cards, or any cards you get for that matter!
And Merry (early) Christmas!
:)
gretchen