Class kit anyone?? **SOLD**

I have 1 kit left over from my class this past weekend.

Anybody want it?

The kit has supplies to make 2 double-page layouts and a card.

And you will have extra stickers and chipboard to use as you want! 

Everything is pre-cut for you and it comes with color pictures of the completed layouts and card. 

$22 and I will ship it to you for that!

For weird "intellectual property" reasons I am not going to share the full layouts here but here are some sneaks of the projects.

If you are interested, though, email me and I will show you the completed layouts and card.

{gretchenmcelveen@yahoo.com}

Email me!
:)

gretchen

a big ole thank you!

{made with the Summer Wind kit from Noel Mignon}
*****
All good things must come to an end.
**sniff**
This marks the end of my time on the Noel Mignon design team. 

Time to move on and I do not want to over stay my welcome.
:)

**sniff**
And, besides, Noel has a fabulous team lined up to take over starting in July.

I have loooooved being a part of that team!

Noel is a sweetheart and her kits are the best in the biz if you ask me!

She is great at keeping her store stocked with the latest & greatest too.

I love the community over there and I do not plan on going away.

They can't get rid of me that easily!
{evil laugh}

So thank you so much Noel for letting me a part of the team for so long!!

I have loved every minute of it!

love,

gretchen

More Bella Blvd + Core'dinations

I used the soft yellow sheets of Jillian Dot Spotted cardstock from Core'dinations as the background for this baby layout.

I love how the subtle dots make the background cardstock so much more interesting.

I also pulled out the purple sheet of Jillian Dot Spotted cardstock and then combined the yellow and purple with Bella Blvd's "Baby Girl" line.

The colors go perfectly together!

I used the purple cardstock as the background for my title and punched a few hearts out of it also.

Then I sanded the purple cardstock to bring out the white underneath to create a fun polka-dotted look for the title and hearts!

Here is a better look at each side of the layout.

(left side)

(right side)

Here are a couple of close up pics too.

 

And here I go on my purple kick again!

And the purple cardstock in the Jillian Dot Spotted cardstock pack from Core'dinations matches perfectly with the purple in the "Baby Girl" line.

I sanded the cardstock to create a fun polka-dotted background for the card. I love how this dotted cardstock can jazz up a background so easily!

Be sure to be checking the Bella Blvd and Core'dinations blogs for the giveaways going on!!
*****
TGIF!
:)
gretchen

Already scrapping Father's Day!

Other than having fun, new scrapping products to use, I think I am most inspired by good pictures.
And that is why I could not wait to scrap pictures from this past weekend!
Yes, there are many other events and pictures that I still need to scrap and get into my albums.

But I really wanted to scrap stuff from Father's Day!
{stomping feet and pouting}So I grabbed my "Summer Wind" kit from Noel Mignon and got to scrapping!

Speaking of Bella Blvd...

Here is another sneak peek of my class on Saturday!

Loooots of Bella Blvd we will be using to make 2 double-page layouts and a card.
Let me know if you want to come

and I will give you all the info!
{p.s. I have lots of free stuff to give away!}

And the June newsletter is available!

{follow this link for all kinds of fabulous inspiration!}

{p.s. there is a giveaway at the end of newsletter!}

Happy Wednesday folks!!
:)
gretchen

Bella Blvd + Core'dinations

Bella Blvd and Core'dinations have teamed up this week!
Check out the Bella Blvd blog for all kinds of great projects combining Bella Blvd products with the fabulous cardstock from Core'dinations!
*****
I wanted to use a lot of red and black with this picture of me and 2 of my favorite bike-riding friends.

I ended up digging a bunch of "Making the Team" and the Alpha + Bits "Family Dynamix" stickers out of my Bella Blvd stash and pairing them up with the red and black sheets from the pack of Jillian Dot Spotted cardstock from Core'dinations to get the look I wanted.

I sanded the dotted cardstock to create a fun, subtle polka-dotted background.

I added the flower from the "Making the Team" Just Write Journaling Stickers to help keep this layout girly even though I used some pretty strong colors!

And I made a card!

I actually made this card with leftovers from that "Biker Chicks" layout.

Who knew that the "Family Dynamix" and "Making the Team" lines would go so well together?!

And the red and black scraps of the Jillian Dot Spotted cardstock from Core'dinations I had leftover made for the perfect background for this card!
*****
I've made some more stuff too...but those projects will have to wait until another post!
Be sure to be checking the Bella Blvd and Core'dinations blogs because there will be giveaways!!
:)
Have a great day!
gretchen

Summer Pebbles layout

It is "Summertime Week" over on the Pebbles blog!

Yay for summer! 

I am such a fan of warm weather! 

{it's a good thing too, since it gets HOT in Alabama!}

And at our house summer means it is time for fruits, vegetables, and flowers to start growing in the backyard!

I won't take any credit for any of this, though.

It is totally Lee's doing and he does a great job!

 This year he cut back a little bit and besides flowers, is only growing blueberries, a variety of tomatoes, and peppers.

For "Summertime Week" I decided to do a layout about the fruits of his labor.

 The fun, new Sunnyside line went perfectly with some of the pictures I took from our backyard the other day.

And since they coordinate so well, I mixed in the clear stickers from the Country Picnic line for the title. 

Yay for summer!

Thanks for looking!
gretchen

Bella Blvd + Core'dinations!

This is going to be a fun week!
Check out the Bella Blvd & the Core'dinations blogs for some incredible projects all week!!

And, duh, of course there will be giveaways!!

Happy Monday!

A bunch of stuff you should know...

So what are you doing next Saturday the 23rd??
Well if you are local, you should totally come out to Scrapbook Mania's Scrap Camp!

It is next Saturday at the Lake Crest Clubhouse.

There are 3 classes you can take and I am teaching one of them!

Woo hoooo!

We are going to make 2 double-page layouts and a card with the scraps using the Sunshine & Happiness line from Bella Blvd!
This is a bright, cheery line so we are going to make fun, summery layouts!

Here are a couple sneaky peeks for ya!

We are going to be playing with fun patterned papers, chipboard, washi tape, flags, and stickers!
I am excited about this class!
These might be my favorite layouts that I have taught yet!

Email India at chefindia@bellsouth.net

to sign up!

I hope to see some familar faces!!
I've missed yall!

*****

Go check out the My Mind's Eye blog today.

Guess who is in the spotlight??!

Fun!

Go check out {this post} over on the My Mind's Eye blog and leave a comment for a chance to win $25 to spend in the Noel Mignon store!

*****

Did you see that Pebbles Inc. is having their design team call for the 2012-13 team?!

Go check out {this post} on the Pebbles blog to get all the details.

Applications are due by June 29th so get on it!!

You never know until you try for it!
:)
*****
Have a great weekend!

gretchen

Father's Day cards

Father's day is this Sunday!

You still have time to make a card and get it in the mail!

Or make a card and take it with you when you go see your dad!

*****
Today was all about Father's Day cards over on the Bella Blvd blog.So I made a couple!
 You know, sometimes it is hard to make a manly card that won't make a guy cringe! 

:) 

Naturally I wanted to use pink & purple flowers on these cards!
Instead, I reached for the "Making the Team" line when I started these Father's Day cards.

 With lots of reds, blues, and greens in this line, surely I could come up with something masculine!

Throw in some stars (my go-to manly embellishment for sure!) and I was set! 

On both of these cards I used Bazzill's Card Shoppe cardstock as the base of the card.
Also I added a greeting on the inside of both to coordinate with the outside of each card.

I dug a little deeper into my Bella Blvd stash to make this next card.
I pulled out one of Bella Blvd's first "boyish" lines called "Super Stud".
It's an oldie but goodie!
And I thought the "anybody can be cool but awesome takes practice" sticker would make for a fun masculine card.
 My dad would surely chuckle at that!

Now hurry up!

Go make a card!!

:)

gretchen

Orange X thingys

I remember going to my very first crop like 8 or 9 years ago.
It was in Birmingham and I went with my mom.
I even remember seeing the flyer for it at a local scrapbook store in Trussville that I drove 45 minutes to get to because I needed to feed my habit.

**Bama Scrap Blast**

"36 hours of Non-Stop Cropping!"

{that is where I met this crazy chick}

Anywhoooo the crop started on Friday and went through Saturday evening.
We didn't get there until Friday evening because for some reason I did not take off work.

We were the last people to get there dangit!!

:)

As we sat there for a little while we noticed that everybody had these orange X thingys on their tables.

They were everywhere!
But not on our table!

We decided that this must have been a freebie we missed out on because we arrived so late.

So my mom, always on the look out for a deal, proceeds to ask the nice crop director {bless her} about the orange X thingys that everyone seemed to have but us.

I don't know for sure what she said to my mom, but I am pretty sure she nicely told her that she was crazy, go get your own orange X thingy at Wal-Mart, and leave me alone because I have some wacky crop games to play!

And then the nice crop director proceeded to demonstrate how the mysterious orange X thingy was, in fact, a super neat sticker maker and all cool kids have them.
We couldn't wait to get one!
Sooooo we proceeded to scrap as late as we could stay awake.

Then we stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home at ~3:00 in the morning to purchase our very own orange X thingys!

When we got back to the crop the next morning after very little sleep, we were totally in the IN crowd with our brand new orange X thingys!

*****
Now that story was all a lead in to this layout.
{and if you are still reading this, bless you!}

I still have that orange X thingy we bought at Wal-Mart that night.

And, yep, I still use it!

So I thought I should make a layout to preserve that fun memory!

I used my "Summer Wind" kit from Noel Mignon to make this...

Thank you for reading my super-long post!
Happy Wednesday folks!!
:)
gretchen

On newsstands now!!

The July/August issue of Creating Keepsakes hits newsstands today.

And I have a layout in there!
Oh you should totally go get a copy!
:)

Sketchy Thursday (on Friday) !

Sketchy Thursday...on Friday!
:)
For this week's edition of "Sketchy Thursday" over on the Pebbles blog, I got to create a project based on this fabulous sketch by Becky Fleck!

This is such a cool sketch and I tried to stay pretty close it!

 These pictures are from a cruise we took last summer with my sister and brother in law.

I like the flags and pennants on this layout because I thought they were very "cruise-y".

I even made my own toothpick flags (on the right side of layout) using the Hip Hip Hooray Flag Banner Kit.

Instead of using the string in the kit, I wrapped a few of the stickers around toothpicks I had at home already and voila!

I made cute, glittery toothpick flags!

*****
Happy Friday folks!
And have a great weekend!
:)
gretchen

Product Spotlight: Designer Tapes

There was a Product Spotlight on the new Bella Blvd tapes over on the Bella blog earlier this week.

And I love these new tapes!!

The colors and patterns are delicious!

So I made a card and just tried to use all of them!
:)

 I used the tapes to create a colorful "rainbow" background for this card.

Then I just added a chipboard flower (embellished with a button center) and a simple sentiment to complete the card!

If you check out this post over on the Bella Blvd blog, you can see more cool ways to use the new tapes!
:)
Have a great day!!

gretchen

Bazzill Card Shoppe giveaway WINNER!!

Yall thought I had forgotten, didn't ya?!

{well i kind of did!}

:)

*****
Drumroll please!
Here is the winner of the pack of Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

20

Timestamp: 2012-06-06 12:48:09 UTC

_________________________

which means the winner is:

CJ said...

What a great giveaway! I've made more cards and tags lately than scrappy pages ... and I share my space *and supplies* with a little 9-year-old that's all about card making! Hope you're doing well - and congrats on your 2nd place win!
June 5, 2012 12:48 PM

_________________________

Oh Carolyn!

I need your address!

CONGRATS!!

email me!

Come join us!!

We are having a fun crop to kick off the summer over at Noel Mignon this week!

There are challenges and games and prizes (of course!) and all kinds of fun inspiration to jump start your creativity!

Come join us!

Scrapping the Music

This month the girls over at Noel Mignon got to team up with the folks over at Scrapping the Music!

Have you checked out this blog before??

It is a fun site dedicated to inspiring you through music and challenging you to get creative using songs, lyrics, song titles, etc.

Fun stuff!!
*****
Check out this post at Scrapping the Music to see the inspiration and challenges for June.

Now the challenge that I worked with is this:

Is there a song you once shared or currently share with a special someone as "your song" together?

Why, yes there is!

:)

Our wedding was simple and very traditional.

Nothing hokey or crazy.

Except that we walked back down the aisle to music from Star Wars!

hehehe

I've meant to do a layout about that before but have never gotten around to it until now!
I used the Summer Wind kit from Noel Mignon to make this layout...

Can you tell I am loving my heart punch lately??
OK so if you would like to play along with this fun challenge and have a chance to win a $20 gift card to the Noel Mignon store, check out the challenges at Scrapping the Music and link up your layouts at the end of this post {here}.

You have until June 12th!

Get to scrapping!!
:)
gretchen

Stamper System WINNER!!

OK!
The lucky winner of the new Stamper System and all these fun stamps from Creative Memories is....

*****

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

 

25

Timestamp: 2012-06-04 20:18:49 UTC
*****

So that makes Whitney M the winner!!

__________________________________
Whitney M said...

I would love to try these! How cool!

May 30, 2012 6:14 PM

__________________________________

YAY!!

Happy Monday to you!
Email me your address and I will get your prize out to you ASAP!

{gretchenmcelveen at yahoo dot com}

*****

Now don't fret if you didn't win the Stamper System...

you can still win the Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock!

Go leave a comment on this post {here} and I will pick a winner tomorrow evening!

:)

gretchen

More cards & you still have time to win!

Well, well, I lived!
And took 2nd place!

After I got over the urge to puke and cry at the same time at the starting line, it turned out to be a lot of fun!
*****

I got a little wrapped up in the events this weekend and never got around to posting more cards that I made using the new Creative Memories Stamper System!

I used the gorgeous Divine line from Creative Memories along with the "For Her" stamp set to make these 2 cards!

I love how easy these stamps are to use!

And they really do stamp nice and crisp!
*****

You still have time to try to win this entire system (including the 4 stamps sets shown above plus some extra ink pads)!
I am giving it away to one lucky blog reader!
Check out the original post {here} and leave a comment for your chance to win!

But hurry, I am picking a winner later today!:)

Good luck!

Happy Monday!

gretchen

FYI

Just warning you...

this might be my last post.

See I am about to start a mountain biking race.

Yes, it's a race, not a ride.

Me and my clumsy self are going to be racing against other people on a bike without training wheels over rocks and roots, up hills and down hills around a 9 mile course.

I think I have lost my mind.

So if you don't hear from me...

it did not go well!

:)

Lovebirds

OK I am going to brag on my parents for a minute.

Those 2 goofballs have been married for 39 years.

It will be a 40 whopping years this coming December!
And they still like each other!

That is quite impressive these days!

I snapped a sweet picture of them dancing at a family wedding this past December.

And I pulled out my gorgeous Summer Wind kit from Noel Mignon to scrap it!

Don't forget to check the 2 posts below for chances to win a Stamper System from Creative Memories

and a pack of Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock made especially for cards!

Happy Friday!!
:)
gretchen