Cards & a chance to win a Silhouette!!

Can you believe that I did not go to one single wedding in 2012??!

Nope, not a one!
However that's not going to be the case in 2013.
There are already 3 on my calendar!

And it's barely March so who knows how many other people might get engaged soon!
:)

I have been a big gift card giver lately so with the help of Bella Blvd's new wedding line I am knocking out some cards for the brides & grooms!

I tried to make this next card a little less girly. 

And I used lots of little stickers!
:)

Bring on wedding season!
I am ready!
:)

*****
OK this is something you do not want to miss:

Ever wanted to own a Silhouette??!
Well right now Silhouette is doing a promotion through March 8th where you can get one for a discount. 

It's a good discount too!
Like you can get one of their machines for $60-70 off regular price!!
AND Bella Blvd is giving one away!!
Go leave a comment on {this post} over on the Bella Blvd blog for a chance to win one. 

Make sure to check out the Silhouette site too and check out the awesome promotion!
:)
Tootles,

gretchen

Another one + chances to win some stuff!

I've got one more layout in the March/April issue of Creating Keepsakes to share!

This is a 2-page layout in the
"Sporty Ideas to Scrap your Athletes"
section.
It's all about a fun mountain biking trip I took with some friends last May. 

Here's a little bit bigger look at the left side of the layout. 

And here is the right side. 

The title & embellishments make this side a bit more fun than the left side!

And here are a couple close up shots of the page too. 

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd, Fancy Pants), Chipboard (Bella Blvd), Jewels (KI Memories), Stickers (Bella Blvd, Doodlebug), Die cut bicycle (Pink Paislee), Brads (Echo Park)

*****

OK now here are a couple different chances for you to win some free stuff:

How about a copy of the March/April issue for yourself??
Then go leave a comment on {this post} over on the Creating Keepsakes blog for a chance to win one!

And how about some new products to make stuff with??!

Go leave a comment on {this post} over on the Creating Keepsakes blog for a chance to win some cool stuff from the Farmhouse Paper Company. 

Thanks for stopping by today!
Have an awesome day!

:)

gretchen

New issue!

The March/April issue of Creating Keepsakes goes on sale today!

I've got a couple layouts in there and I thought I would share one here today. 

One of the articles is all about the different ways to use "negatives" on a layout. 

I used a Silhouette to die cut film strip "negatives" and used them to frame the pictures on this layout. 

I strategically used my adhesive on the pictures and the negatives to create a pocket that I could use to tuck in some memorabilia from the concert. 

And here is one more close up of the layout.
I used lots of foam adhesive to give this layout some fun dimension. 

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd, Making Memories, Lilybee), Stickers (Bella Blvd), Die cut film strip (Silhouette), Die cut journaling spot (Elle's Studio), Corner rounder (Creative Memories), Adhesive (Creative Memories), Pen (Creative Memories)

*****
Thanks for stopping by today!

Now go get a copy of the newest Creating Keepsakes!
:)

gretchen

Colorful group

 A group of friends and I did the Warrior Dash back in November. Just for fun we all wore crazy, colorful socks.
Even the guys got into it!
I took this picture after the race. 

Even though we were a muddy mess, I thought this picture of all our wild socks turned out pretty cool! 

And of course I couldn't wait to scrap it!
:)

The colors in the "Flashback" line from KI Memories were perfect for this picture. 

I printed the picture big!
It was too cool a pic not to make it huge!

Then I just decorated around it. 

Here are a couple of close ups...

And just for fun here are a few more pictures from the run!

That was great fun!
*****

Happy Wednesday y'all!
:)

gretchen

Bella Blvd + Epiphany Crafts

Bella Blvd and Epiphany Crafts are teaming up for a week full of inspiration! 

Some of us Bella designers have mixed Epiphany Crafts' fun punches, epoxy shapes, and charms into our projects. 

And the Epiphany Crafts' designers have been busy mixing Bella's collections and embellishments into their projects.

Fun stuff!!

Want to see what I made??!

I got to play with Epiphany Crafts Round 14 Custom Shape Making Tool with Bubble Caps and Brad Settings. 

I used those things to make epoxy brads with scraps of Bella Blvd paper to add to the corners of the layout. 

So cool!

{sorry for the somewhat wonky pic of the layout. my scanner does not like lumpy things on my pages and I stink at taking pics of my layouts!}
*****

Here are a few close-ups of the layout and the fun brads I was able to make...

I love that you can make your own brads to match your project! 

And for good measure...I made a couple of cards too!

Y'all know I love my brads so this little tool is perfect for me!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Make sure to check out the Bella Blvd and Epiphany Crafts blogs all week for some cool projects and great inspiration!

:)

Have a good one!
gretchen

a couple FYIs for you!

Want to win some stuff??

Go to {this post} on the CK blog and leave a comment there for a chance to win all this loot!
It's goodies from Prima, Carta Bella Paper, Graphic 45, and The Crafter's Workshop!

And the February newsletter from Bella Blvd is available now!

Get yours {here}!
:)
Happy Saturday!
gretchen

Last day!

It's the last day for the
Hampton Art & Core'dinations team up!

You can still leave a comment on my post {here} from Wednesday and make sure to check out the Core'dinations and Hampton Art blogs to see more projects and who is being featured today.

And make sure to leave lots of comments for a better chance to win some stuff!!
:)
Happy Friday y'all!
:)
gretchen

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought this card would be appropriate for today!

Pink and red and lots of hearts!
:)

And I stamped again!
Yeah I did!

I used {these stamps} and {these too} from
My Favorite Things and the uber-talented
Laina Lamb!

I stamped the grid background and the "smile" sentiment on this card. 

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill), Chipboard (Bella Blvd), Ink (Hampton Art), Stamps (My Favorite Things)

*****
Thanks for stopping by today!
And have a great Valentine's Day!

hugs & kisses, 

gretchen

Hampton Art + Core'dinations BLOG HOP!!

Welcome to my stop along the
Hampton Art & Core'dinations blog hop!

I am kind of the KI Memories leg of this hop.

I got to pair the "Flashback" line from KI Memories with the cool cardstock from Core'dinations!

I did a lot of punching and sanding with the Core'dinations cardstock.

Love!!

This hop is going on all week so make sure to check out the Hampton Art and Core'dinations blogs every day for a list of the day's blogs.

There are different paper crafters along the hop every day.
Leave lots of comments too!
The more blogs you visit and the more comments you leave along the way, the greater your chances to win prizes!!

*****

Here is a list of today's blogs:

Core'dinations
 Gretchen McElveen (you are here! yay!)

Nina Yang  

Lydia Jackson 
Leica Forrest 
Hampton Art

*****

OK now get to hopping!

Have fun and have a great day!
:)
gretchen

Check this out

This is going on all week!

Check out the Core'dinations and Hampton Art blogs to get started along the blog hop!

My day is Wednesday so I definitely hope you will come back then!

Happy Monday!

:)

gretchen

Give it a whirl!

OK I have to share this here. 

The uber-talented Beth Gerlach single-handedly made this life-sized wedding dress for the Bella Blvd booth at CHA. 

Are you freaking kidding me??!

How incredible is this thing?!?

I wouldn't even know where to start on something this creative!

I can't imagine how long it took to make!

Geez.

She said she used 161 sheets of paper and 219 glue sticks to make it. 

The back of the dress is made up of lots and lots of 2" hearts.
Lots of them!

There is a little game going on over on the Bella Blvd blog.

You have to try to guess how many 2" hearts make up the back of the dress.

And trust me, it is a bunch!

So you should give it a whirl!
How many do you think there are??

Go to {this post} on the Bella Blvd blog, check out more pictures of this beautiful creation, and leave a comment with your guess.

You might win the entire new "Love & Marriage" collection from Bella Blvd.
Happy Friday!
Have a great weekend!
:)
gretchen

Oh here is another one!

Go leave a comment on {this post} over on the Creating Keepsakes blog for a chance to win some fun stuff from Close to My Heart!

:)

FYI

Aren't these stamps adorable??!!

 

Well if you head over to the Creating Keepsakes blog and leave a comment on {this post} you will have a chance to win some for yourself!
Just in time for Valentine's Day!

Go leave a comment!!

:)

gretchen

A closer look

Whoops!
Found this post hanging out in "draft" status.
Better late than never, I suppose!
*****

I want to share a little closer look at one of my layouts in the
January/February issue of Creating Keepsakes. 

It's a lovey-dovey 2-pager!
:) 

As seen in the January/February 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Copyright Creative Crafts Group.
Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

*****
Here's a bigger view of the
left side of the layout.

And here is the right-hand page. 

Supplies: Patterned paper (Pebbles Inc. & My Mind's Eye), Chipboard (American Crafts), Journaling cards (My Mind's Eye), Heart punch (The Paper Studio), Double heart border punch (Creative Memories), Corner rounder (Creative Memories)
*****

Secret:
This started out as a 1-page layout but then I was asked to make it into a 2-pager.
But who can tell??!
:)

*****

I did A LOT of punching on this page. 

I punched some heart borders with the
Creative Memories Border Maker System.
And then I punched slightly bigger hearts with a punch from The Paper Studio (I got it at Hobby Lobby) and added them on top of the heart border with foam adhesive.  

 I saved all the cute little negative hearts that were left over from the heart borders. 

And I scattered them around the layout!

They were too cute not to use!

I also saved the negative spaces from the heart punches,
cut a square-ish shapes around them, added patterned paper & cardstock behind the hearts, & used them as embellishments!
Waste nothing!

 Okie dokie!

Enough rambling on from me!

Thanks for making it to the end of this post.

And thanks for stopping by today!

Have an awesome day!

:)

gretchen