Birthday cards

OK I am in need of a couple new birthday cards to send to friends here in the near future.

So I went to back to my Primrose Lane kit from Noel Mignon!

The 12x12 sheet of Crate Paper stickers in the kit is perfect for sentiments for birthday cards!

And viola!

Here are a couple of fun birthday cards!

These cards aren't too "theme-y" or "cute-sy" so these will make for great "grown up" birthday greetings!

So there you have it!

A couple of easy, fun birthday cards!

Have a great day!

:)

gretchen

Hot dog!

Halloween in April!!??
Yep!!

And with a fabulous very non-Halloween-y kit too!

Crazy, huh??!

OK so last Halloween my husband and I found this super cute hot dog costume for dogs at Target.

It was too fun to pass up!

Well our dog does not like to have anything on her (like she even hates her collar!), so she basically kept the costume on just long enough for me to snap a few pictures.

I printed these pictures out a while ago thinking that I would find some fun Halloween paper to scrap them with.

But these pictures don't really go well with traditional Halloween color schemes so I never got around to scrapping them.
Until now!

The reds and yellows in the Primrose Lane kit from Noel Mignon jumped out at me and I thought I finally had something to work with!

Now I did grab some extra red cardstock and the black stickers accents and yellow journaling blocks are from my Bella Blvd stash.

(I did want to make it a little bit "Halloween-y")

The red and yellow patterned papers, the circle patterned paper, Thickers, and Jenni Bowlin round alpha stickers are all from the Primrose Lane kit.

Yep!
Halloween in April!

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Thanks for stopping by today!
:)
gretchen

Newsletter layout

Hey!
The Bella Blvd newsletter went out last week and
and I want to share the layout I got to make for this one!
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The fabulous Megan Stinson and I were issued a challenge.

The challenge was to combine the new Sunshine and Happiness line with the Spring Fling and Easter Things line to make a Mom-related layout
Honestly, this was not much of a "challenge"!
:)
The Sunshine and Happiness and Spring Fling and Easter Things lines go so well together anyway and I have been meaning to do a layout about how much I am like my mom for a while now!
So here is "I got it honest"...
 

Here are a couple close up pics of the layout...

I am still quite obsessed with hand-cutting all the flowers in the Sunshine and Happiness line patterned papers!
:)
So that you have it!
That was the layout I had in the newsletter.
:)
Have a great day!
gretchen

*Warehouse sale!!*

Boxes are limited and will all ship on or before May 11th.
Want to order one?
Here's how:
Email the folks at Bella Blvd at: sales@bellablvd.net, using the subject line: BOX SALE + (YOUR FIRST & LAST NAME).
Include how many boxes you would like to order and the shipping address.

In addition, list a phone number so they can contact you for payment.
For more information regarding contents of the boxes, shipping charges, and more download the informational flyer {here}.
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How fun would it be to get one of these boxes??!!
:)

Oh my goodness, I stamped!

It is shocking I know.
I actually had to go search for a "juicy" ink pad!
But this Bella Blvd stamp is so cute and I had fun making a couple of cards with it!

I used a mix of different Bella Blvd papers and embellishments to make these cards...

Look!
I even pulled out some markers to color in the stamped image.
Are you proud of me!?!
{you better be...that required great effort on my part!}
:)

OK now do you want to have one of these cute stamps for yourself??
Sure you do!
So go leave a comment on {this post} over on the Bella Blvd blog for a chance to win one!!

Good luck!
:)
Thanks for stopping by today!
gretchen

New Bella Blvd Newsletter!

The April newsletter is available!
And it is a good one!!

Check it out here!
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And I have a layout in it!

So please check it out and tell me what you think!
:)
Have a great day!
gretchen

QUICK!! HURRY!!

Go leave a comment on this post over on the Bella Blvd blog for a chance to win some of these goodies!!
But do it NOW because the winners are going to be picked on Tuesday!!

And then while you are at it, go leave a comment over on this post on the Pebbles blog for a chance to win some of their loot!

That giveaway ends tonight at midnight so hurry up!!
Don't miss your chance to win free stuff!
:)
Happy Monday!!
gretchen

Whip it up Wednesday

I know, I know...
it's not Wednesday!
But yesterday was!
:)
And it was "Whip it up Wednesday" over on the Pebbles blog!
That means you have to whip up a project in less than 30 minutes.
Challenge accepted!

I think what takes me the longest when I am scrapping a layout is printing out all the pictures.
And that is my least favorite part of the process!
One thing that has saved me a lot of time recently is printing out my pictures in a fun collage.
I love my collages!
I use my local Walgreens to print mine, but I am sure there is a feature you could use in your photo editing software (if you are more computer-savvy than I am!).
Once I have my collage ready to go, it is just a matter of adding it to my background paper and decorating around it!
I can easily make a layout in 30 minutes or less this way!
Like this one...

{all supplies are Pebbles}
:)
Happy THURSDAY folks!!
gretchen

Bringing tearing back

OK now sing that to the tune of
Justin Timberlake's
"Bringing Sexy Back".
:)
I used to do a lot of paper tearing.
I think I liked using that technique so much because I have trouble cutting straight lines.
But with paper tearing you get to celebrate messiness!
:)
I did a little tearing on this layout using the fabulous Primrose Lane kit from Noel Mignon!

So what do you think??!
Can we bring tearing back?!
:)
Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!
gretchen

Cards!!

Did you know that Bella Blvd makes buttons now?!

And what fun buttons they are!
There are all kinds of shapes and patterns and sizes!
I made a couple of cards using some of the wooden buttons.

My favorite thing to do with buttons is to use them as a fun center for a flower like I did on this card...

I used the buttons a little differently on this next card.
I cut several flowers out of the "Petal Power" sheet of patterned paper from the Sunshine & Happiness line.
Then I used the flowers as well as a few wooden buttons and some small stickers to make a fun border across this card.

Over on the Bella Blvd blog today there is a Product Spotlight on the fun new buttons.
Check it out (here) for more great projects using these buttons!
Thanks for stopping by!
:)
gretchen

6x6

Good morning and happy Monday!
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A couple years ago I started a 6x6 mini album for some of my running stuff.
It is a 2-ring MOD album from American Crafts with page protectors so I can keep adding to it as I do more races.
Well I ran a half marathon here in town back in February and I need to add to the album.

So I used my Primrose Lane kit from Noel Mignon to make this layout...
Voila!
Another easy page to add to my album!
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Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day!
:)
gretchen

My very own Easter egg hunt!

It's all about Easter this week over on the Pebbles blog!
Pebbles does not have a specific Easter-themed line, but with fun array of colors, patterns, and embellishments that they do make it is easy to find things to make it work!

So I made this 2-pager... Last year Lee had to be out of town over the Easter weekend.
When I got home from work on the Friday before Easter (Lee had left early that morning) I found tons of eggs hidden around the house.
He had left me my very own Easter egg hunt!
And he had filled the eggs with good candy too!
I left this layout pretty simple since my pictures are so busy and colorful.
I didn't want the pictures to get lost under lots of patterned paper and embellishments!
Make sure to check out the Pebbles blog this week for all kind of great Easter inspiration.
Thanks for looking at mine!
Happy Easter!
:)
gretchen

Easter cards

It is all about Easter cards over on the Bella Blvd blog today!
And I've made a couple myself!
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Of course Bella's Spring Flings and Easter Things line is perfect for Easter cards.
But I even managed to sneak the pink side of the "Blizzard" sheet from the Winter Wonder line onto both of these cards!
And apparently I was digging the scallops when I made these also. I've got scalloped circles and scalloped borders on both cards!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my cards!
There are a bunch more Easter cards over on the Bella Blvd blog too!
Happy day!
:)
gretchen

April PageMaps

Hi!
I was lucky enough to be one of the Bella Blvd team members who got to work with one of Becky Fleck's PageMaps this month.
I love her sketches!
Check out Becky's PageMaps site {here} to see all the sketches this month.
Here is the sketch that I got to work with...

And here is what I made with it!
I didn't end up using the large butterfly in the background, but I went with a simple square background instead.
And I didn't use the hearts either but I did use the stars.

Other than those things, I stayed pretty close to the sketch!
{all products are Bella Blvd}
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Make sure to check out all the fabulous sketches and layouts Becky has up this month!
And you can see what the other Bella Blvd team members made too!
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Thanks for stopping by!
:)
gretchen

All about the journaling

Good morning good people!
Did anybody fall for any April Fool's jokes yesterday??
I did NOT!
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Well I got to dig into my new Primrose Lane kit from Noel Mignon last week!
When I saw these jumbo Pink Paislee numbers in the kit I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them.

I wanted to make this layout...
This layout may look a bit busy but it is really very simple.
I started off with this piece of My Mind's Eye patterned paper (in the Primrose Lane kit of course).
I matted the picture on a piece of patterned paper and adhered it to the left side of the layout.
I added the numbers/title under the picture.
Then I journaled (a bunch!) around the picture and title.
The last thing I did was embellish around the top and right edges of the layout with these rub-ons.I almost used the whole pack!
Then it was done!
YAY!
And with plenty of Primrose Lane left to play with (well minus a pack of rub-ons!)!
:)
Have a great day!!
gretchen

Show Me Your Chevron!

That is the new theme over at Paper Issues!
"Show Me Your Chevron!"
Chevrons are oh so popular right now in the paper crafting world.
And we want to see what you have made with them!
So link up your projects {HERE}.

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Link up your projects for a chance to win a Jenni Bowlin mini kit and your projects might even be featured on the site!
You can also win a Jenni kit by leaving comments along the small blog hop starting {HERE}.

So get to linking and get to hopping!
(no fooling!)
I am linking up these 2 cards that I made with Bella Blvd products!
Lovin' the chevrons!!
:)

Have a great Sunday!!
:)
gretchen