Happy birthday!

Hmmmm, what are the chances somebody who reads this blog is actually having a birthday today??! 

Because I have a birthday card just for them!

;)

I made this one with some new KI Memories.
All these products are from KI's "Mini Celebrations" line. 

Very fun!

OK short and sweet from me today!
:)

TGIF!

Have an awesome weekend!

gretchen

Win it ALL!!

Go to the Bella Blvd blog to find out how you can win ALL of the new stuff that debuted at CHA this week!!

Happy Friday!

:)
gretchen

All About Albums

This is the newest special issue from Creating Keepsakes!

It's got great inspiration for mini albums, 12x12 and 8.5x11 albums, Project Life albums, and more!

And you can win a copy!

Go to {this post} over on the Creating Keepsakes blog & leave a comment.

Good luck!

:)

gretchen

So pretty

Good morning!

Every month over at Noel Mignon, design team member Julie Bonner makes a new sketch to share with us. 

Her sketches are super cool! 

And who doesn't love a good sketch!??!

Here is her sketch for this month...

I pulled out my Beach Blvd kit from Noel Mignon and used that sketch to make this layout...

A very sweet patient of mine sent me flowers after he was done with his therapy. 

The flowers were really pretty and they came at a time when I was pretty frustrated with some stuff at work. 

So I thought I would scrap them!

*****

I normally kind of stink at layering papers, but this sketch made me do it!

:)

I put my journaling & title in a little bit different places than Julie did on her sketch. 

And I stamped! 

Please take note of that!

What want credit for it!

{in case you don't know, I hardly ever stamp; it's not that i don't like it...it just seems like a lot of work!:) }

I created a "pocket" behind one of the layers of patterned paper so that I could save the card that came with the flowers. 

I made a simple "pull" tab to put on the card. 

Then I was able to tuck the card behind picture & papers for safe keeping!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a great day!

Higher Place

Good morning and happy Monday!

I've got another layout to share with you from the July/August issue of Creating Keepsakes!

This layout is in the "Music of Summer" article that features all kinds of music-inspired pages. 

This layout is about a spring break trip my husband took with some friends in college.

"Higher Place" is a Tom Petty song that kind of became the theme song for their trip. 

So it became the title for my layout!

{click to enlarge}

As seen in the July/August 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Copyright Creative Crafts Group.
Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Here's the left side of the 2-page layout...

And here is the right side...

Since this is supposed to be a "manly" layout I tried not to get too fancy with the embellishing!

But I did use some chipboard leaves and brads to add a little interest to the layout. 

And I hand-stitched a border around the title & journaling block. 

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd, 7gypsies, Basic Grey), Chipboard (Bella Blvd, Cosmo Cricket), Stickers (Bella Blvd), Die cut photo corners (Sizzix), Brads (Basic Grey)

*****

Have a great day!

:)

gretchen

Confession time

Hey!

My post for Summer Camp over on the CK blog is up today.

I've copied the post below but make sure to check out the CK blog because there is also a challenge, a free font, a sketch, and a chance to win a mini album from Basic Grey!

*****

Don’t throw tomatoes at me, but I don’t do Project Life or the pocket scrapbooking that is all the rage right now. 

That is shocking, I know! 

Confession: I have started a couple of times but didn't make it longer than a month. 

Fail! 

:) 

I am doing something a little bit different. 

Instead of having a huge Project Life album (or several) for the year, I am doing something much smaller. 

I have created a mini-album titled "Bits & Pieces of Life". 

This is a cool burlap album from Little Yellow Bicycle! 

I am including some of my favorite pictures from throughout the year. Instead of trying to document every day or every week, I am using this album to highlight some specific moments/events/happenings from the year. 

This I can do! 

:)

So here is a page from the album. 

A few weekends ago we made a road trip up to Chattanooga to hang out with friends and ride mountain bikes. 

This is a weekend I wanted to highlight! 

{click to enlarge}

Along the right side of the 2-page spread, I created a border using a cute bicycle stamp from Bo Bunny Press. 

I stamped the bicyles with brown ink and then added a little bling to the bicycle tires to jazz up the image a bit. 

Supplies: 

Mini album (Little Yellow Bicycle)

Cover: Patterned paper (Simple Stories), Cardstock (Bazzill), Flair (Simple Stories), Ribbon (My Mind's Eye)

Inside spread: Patterned paper (Simple Stories), Die cut tag (Chic Tags), Bling (Bo Bunny), Stamp (Bo Bunny), Flair (A Flair for Buttons, Etsy), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Pen (American Crafts)

*****

Have a great day!

:)

gretchen

Win it before you can buy it!!

The new "Trick or Treat" line from Bella Blvd has been revealed over on their blog today. 

And you can win it before you can buy it if you go leave a comment on {this post}.
Be sure to check out the cuteness of the whole collection!

Yesterday the new "Playdate" collection was revealed!

Go to {this post} over on the blog, check out this fun line, & leave a comment there for a chance to win that line too!

And a happy Wednesday to ya!

:)

gretchen

Good morning! 

I've got another layout to share with you using the Beach Blvd kit from Noel Mignon. 

This one is all about an evening out at the symphony. 

My husband got us tickets to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra's performance of the music of John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., etc). 

I knew my dad would love something like this! 

I called them and on short notice they were able to come into town and go with us. 

It was a grown up double date for us! 

I was trying to channel my inner Virginia when I making this. 

How did I do?? 

:)

To go with the theme of the page, I pulled out some sheet music from my stash and mixed it in with paper and embellies from the Beach Blvd kit. 

This was the first time I had played with the fabric tape from Maya Road in the kit. 

It's really fun! 

And I like the messy, ruffled look you can do with it. 

OK that's all I've got!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

:)

gretchen

Fun happenings!!

A couple of fun FYIs for ya...

Summer Camp has started over on the Creating Keepsakes blog!!

There are all kinds of challenges & contests & giveaways & projects to {hopefully since I made one of them} inspire you. 

The fun will take place all week!

Check out {this post} to get all the details!

*****

And another thing...

Bella Blvd is revealing all of their new releases debuting this week at CHA. 

You can see all the new lines over on the blog and of course there are chances to win all the new stuff before you can even buy it!!

Today the awesome new "Snapshots" line is revealed.

  

I am pretty excited about this new line!!

Go check it out {here}.

:)

Happy day!

gretchen

YAY for new Bella Blvd!!

It's that time of year again!!

NEW SCRAPBOOKING PRODUCTS!!

Summer CHA is next week so companies are debuting their new products. 

Bella Blvd shared a little peek of what they have in the works over on their blog this week. 

Check this out...

And it look like there are some new holidays lines too!

WHOOP WHOOP!!

Check out {this post} over on the Bella Blvd blog for more on the  new lines.

And next week you are going to have all kinds of chances to win the new stuff before you can even buy it!

Happy Friday!

:)

gretchen

Gift card holder

Good morning!

There is a sweet girl at work (let's call her Sally) who is pregnant with her first girl and we are having a baby shower for her on Friday. 

There are a few of us who are going in together to get her a gift card. 

And of course I need a cute card to put it in!

:)
Beach Blvd kit from Noel Mignon to the rescue!

I pulled out a lot of the pink from the kit and made this...

That butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

It's an old one but I love it still!

On the inside of the card, I used the sweet little bag in the kit (from Webster's Pages) as the holder for the gift card. 

Then I realized that I didn't leave much room to write on the card!

Oops!!

To remedy that problem, I cut strips of white cardstock and tucked them in the bag. 

Then we can use the strips to write messages to Sally and put them back in the bag along with the gift card. 

*note to self: GO GET THE GIFT CARD!!*

:)

*****
Thanks for stopping by today!

:)

gretchen

Who says you can't go to summer camp as an adult??!

Oh it can happen!
:)

Join us on the Creating Keepsakes blog for a week of challenges, prizes, merit badges, and lots of inspiration from the CK Dream Team.It all starts at 8:00 am (Mountain Standard Time)
on Monday, July 15, 2013.Hope to see you there!
:)
gretchen

A Day in Mexico

Hi!

And good morning!

I've got another layout to share from the 

July/August issue of Creating Keepsakes. 

{now available!}

This is the cool sketch from this issue's "CK Sketches" article.

I love a good sketch! 

And this is the layout I made...

As seen in the July/August 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. 

Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Here is a bigger view of the left page of the layout...

And a bigger view of the right side...

I used lots of little stickers on this one. 

And how cute is this chipboard sun??!

I couldn't resist!

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd, Creative Memories), Cardstock (Creative Memories), Chipboard (American Crafts, Bella Blvd), Stickers (Bella Blvd)

*****

Hmmm, I  kind of wish I was spending a day in Mexico today!

:)

Have a good one wherever you are!

gretchen

Summer of the 5k

Good morning! 

And happy Monday!

The July/August issue of Creating Keepsakes is available now!

One of the layouts I have in this issue is this one...

As seen in the July/August 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. 

Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

A couple summers ago I was a 5k running machine!
It seemed like every weekend I was running something with my peeps.

So I decided to do a layout about it and combine pictures from a few of the runs all onto 1 layout. 

*****
Here is a better view of the left side of the layout.

And here is the right side of the layout. 

This layout was in the "Simple Solutions for Fast Pages" article. 

I kept this layout pretty simple by  putting all the pictures on 1 side of the layout and left the other side for the title, journaling, & embellishing.

This was simpler than trying to arrange the pictures across both pages in between the title and journaling. 

One page was for pictures. 

One page was for everything else. 

Simple solution!

:)
Here are a couple close up shots of the right side of the layout where put the title and did all my journaling & embellishing. 

Supplies: Patterned paper (Bella Blvd), Stickers (Bella Blvd), Chipboard (Bella Blvd, Basic Grey), Tape (Bella Blvd), Die cuts (Pink Paislee), Corner rounder (Creative Memories)

*****

Thanks for stopping by today!
Have a great Monday!

:)

gretchen