Countdown to National Scrapbooking Day!

To kick-off  National Scrapbooking Day this Saturday {May 4} the Dream Team, Contributing Writers, & Contributing Editors at CK will be dropping by the Creating Keepsakes blog all week to share some scrap-lifted inspiration. 
The May/June 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes is full of great scrapbook pages!
 Everybody looked through the issue and designed a new layout using a technique or design principle based off one of the layouts that inspired us.
*****
I was inspired by Hanna Long's "Love this Life" layout in the Simple Solutions for Fast Pages article on page 23.

{geez I hate how small 2-page layouts look on here! click to see if you can make it bigger!}

I love how much hand-written journaling she was able to get on her 2-page layout. 

I only wanted to make a 1-page layout, but I did want to dedicate a lot of the page to journaling too. 

I grabbed a sheet of lined patterned paper (from Glitz!) to use as the background of my page. 

It made for easy journaling! 

I added a little patterned paper, a few stickers, and some die cuts to the top half of the layout. 

Then I added the title and picture. 

The rest of the layout I saved for all my journaling. 

Supplies:

Patterned paper: Close to my Heart, Fancy Pants, Glitz

Stickers: Bella Blvd, Fancy Pants

Die Cuts: Elle's Studio

Chipboard: Echo Park

Pen: American Crafts

Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives (3L Adhesives)

Thanks, Hanna, for the inspiration!

Make sure to stop by the CK blog all week for all kinds of fun scraplifts and inspiration!

Have an awesome day!

:)

gretchen

My first experience with "Clings"

I have to admit that I am not a really experienced stamper and the new Bella Blvd "clings" stamps from Hampton Art kind of scared me at first. 

How the heck are things supposed to work??! 

After a little help from "Google" I quickly learned that they work just like acrylic stamps (you use a clear block and they "cling" to it!) but have that good ole rubber stamp quality. 

Very cool! 

On this card I used the heart stamp from the Bella Blvd "Love & Marriage" set. 

I stamped the heart on a couple different patterned papers and then cut out the hearts to make a fun border across the card.

On this next card, I stamped the wedding dress image from the "Love and Marriage" set onto a sheet of patterned paper and then cut it out. 

I used it as an embellishment for this card by adhering it with foam adhesive to a scalloped sticker and adhering the scalloped sticker to the card also with foam adhesive. 

I dressed up the card a little bit by adding a few pieces of bling to the stamped dress, to dot the "i", and along the scalloped border sticker. 

Hope you've had a great weekend!

:)

gretchen

CK Ed Board meeting

I had the great pleasure of making a trip out to Utah last week for the annual Creating Keepsakes Editorial Board meeting.

at the CK office

L to R: Stacy Cohen, Jana Morton, me, Joannie McBride, Jing-Jing Nickel, Autumn Baldwin, Laina Lamb

love these girls!!

It was a fun few days!

We "worked" a lot to plan articles, features, & special issues for the rest of 2013 and 2014. 

{you are going to love what's to come...if i do say so myself!}

And all of our hard work was rewarded with some time to play!

First stop: Stampin' Up! headquarters

L to R: Jing-Jing Nickel, Stacy Cohen, Laina Lamb, Autumn Baldwin, me, Jana Morton

Let me just tell you, Stampin' Up! is gorgeous! 

Totally not what I was expecting in a manufacturing "warehouse". 

I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the outside of the building to share with you!

We got to tour the facility and see how they operate. 

Then we got to play!
And we got messy!
:)

But you know we had fun!
:)

L to R: Jing-Jing, Laina, Kerri Russell, Jennifer Schaerer, Stacy, Megan Hoeppner

Next stop: American Crafts!

I was only slightly excited about that. 

HA!

L to R: me, Jana, Jing-Jing, Stacy, Laina, Autumn

it sure was windy...check out my awesome hair!

We got to watch them whip up some pens. 

Very cool!

And don't be jealous, but they had a lot of Thickers there!

All good things must come to an end.

I was nervous before I went. 

I didn't really know anybody.

I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into.

But I am so glad I went!

I met some awesome girls.

I enjoyed being a part of the process. 

And I am stoked about the next year!

L to R: Jana, Laina, Jing-Jing, me

Happy Wednesday to ya!

:)

gretchen

Hampton Art + Echo Park

There's a fun blog hop going on for a few days!

Start the hop {here} on the Hampton Art blog.
Hop along and make sure to leave comments along the way for a chance to win some cool prizes!!

And prepare to be inspired!

:)

Have an awesome day!

gretchen

Win some Amy Tan loot!

Ooooh this is good stuff!!

Go to {this post} on the CK blog & leave a comment for a chance to win some of Amy Tan's uber-cool Sketchbook line.

Happy Monday!!

:)

gretchen

Queen & Co.

Happy Friday!

I have another giveaway you need to go enter!

Well you need to enter if you love fun, cute embellishments that is!

Check out this cool stuff from Queen & Co...

These are called "Twinkle Blooms".

There are pinwheels too!!
Soooo cute!

These are called "Stylish Stix".

Don't they look like so much fun!?!

And WASHI TAPE!!!

swooooon!!

Isn't this stuff great!?!

OK well there is a giveaway over on the CK blog for a chance to win some of this fabulous stuff!

Go to {this post} and leave a comment for a chance to win.

But hurry!

The contest closes on Monday!

:)
TGIF!

gretchen

Spring cards!

There are all kinds of fun, spring-y cards over on the Bella Blvd blog today!

And I've got a couple to share!

When I think of Spring I think pretty, colorful flowers! 

So I cut out several flowers from the Bella Blvd "Sand & Surf" line to use on this thank you card. 

And I used a red flower button as a fun center for one of the flowers.

 For this next card, I was really inspired by Laura Vegas's "Poolside" layout on this month's free Project Sheet from Bella Blvd. 

If you have not see it yet, check it out here: http://bellablvd.typepad.com/bella_blvd/2013/04/step-by-step-monthly-project-sheet-sand-surf.html

I love the big sun she created on her layout & I totally copied that idea on this card!

 I cut the sentiment out of the "Sand & Surf" Borders sheet and used a punch to add a few butterflies. 

I finished off the card with a couple of flags and buttons. 

Thanks for looking and thanks for stopping by today!
Happy Spring!
:)

gretchen