So pretty

Good morning!

It's Gretchen & I've got my take on Julie's cool sketch to share with you today. 

As a reminder, here is her sketch...

I pulled out my Beach Blvd kit and made 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!

Gift card holder

Hi there and 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 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 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 the blog today!

P.S. 

Come back later...I will be sharing a bit about my scrap space!

:)

gretchen

Happy Wednesday

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

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

The other 2 layouts I have done with this kit have been pretty girly. 

So I decided to change it up a bit and make something a bit more masculine. 

AND I don't know if my brother would appreciate me putting flowers & hearts all over a layout with his picture on it!

:)

I made this layout about the 1/2 marathon we ran back in February. 

Here are a few close up shots of the page...

To keep it manly, I've got lots of yellow and blue going on here.

And I pulled out the ole stapler!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
And have a very happy 4th of July tomorrow!

:)

Celebrating

Hi there and happy Thursday! 

Gretchen here with another layout to share using the Beach Blvd kit.

I know this is a bright, summer-y kit, but I've managed to pull off 2 wedding layouts with it! 

This layout is all about the makeshift bridal shower we had at work for my friend Melody. 

It's also about the shower that almost got us all fired because we did not get it "approved" first. 

Oh lordy!

That's another story for another day!
:)

But here is the layout that I hope you "approve" of!

Here are a couple close up shots...

I reeeeeally love the cute Basic Grey candy buttons!

Of course, I still love brads so certainly I would also love these!

Every now and then I like to go a little vertical with my titles.

:)

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Have a great one!
:)

gretchen

The Sweetest

Hi everyone, Diane here with my very last post as a design team member at Noel Mignon! If you've been paying attention you know I like to use banners...A LOT! :) So, I thought it would be fitting to go out with a banner layout and a little tutorial on how you can make your very own paper chain, like the ones you received in the Beach Blvd kit.

Here is how I made my homemade banner:

You can make your banner/paper chain with any shape you want. I decided to make my banner using the Crate Paper hexagon paper (Love!).

 Using the lines on each hexagon, I cut them apart into triangles.

Next, I set my sewing machine at the longest stitch, leaving a long tail, I fed the first pieces under the foot. After it goes all the way through stitch 2-3 more times (or more). The more stitches you leave in between the bigger the gap between each paper piece.

This is how each piece looked when finished. For a little variety, I also added in a couple die cut tags that coordinated with the Crate Paper collection that was included in the Beach Blvd kit.

If you like stitching on your layouts, you can adjust the width and length of your stitches for more variety. This little sample below shows a zig zag stitch done at different widths and lengths on my machine.

Pretty cool, don't you think? Here are a few more ideas for stitching:

• Use stitching to add a decorative element to corners
• Stitch on top of a photo
• Did you know you can stitch over chipboard? Yes you can, just take it slow with your speed
• Use stitching as a form of adhesive (think transparencies and vellum)

Don't be afraid to experiment with your stitching, test it out on a piece of scrap paper first if you are unsure. If you have any stitching questions, leave a comment here on this post and I'll do my best to answer them.

Thank you so much to Noel and Virginia for having me on the team and to all of you for the friendships and sweet words. It has been a fabulous year!

Using the pinwheels!

Hi there!
Gretchen here again and I've been playing with my Beach Blvd kit!

Don't you just love the fun and cheerful pinwheels from Crate Paper in the kit??

I made a couple of cards with the sole purpose of using the pinwheels!

The design of these cards is pretty similar. I do this a lot on my cards. I will use the same basic design and just change the papers and embellishments...I can make more cards in less time using that strategy!

I cut up this sheet of Crate Paper to use as part of the background for each card.

Then I made sure the pinwheels were front and center!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Have an awesome day!

:)

gretchen

The Terrific 2's

Hi everyone! I'm up with another Beach Blvd layout.

This picture says it all with that look on my daughter's face and me holding her hand back from the candles and cupcake...she's going to be an explorer. I thought it would be fun to showcase the photo with the title "Terrific 2's" instead of "Terrible 2's." 

Here are a few close-ups.

In hindsight, the 2's were terrific. It was fun watching her learn and grow and she really wasn't all that terrible, in fact she was a lover, rather sweet most of the time. :)

All supplies are from the Beach Blvd kit, with the exception of the die cut envelope which is from the February, Lasting Love kit.

2 For 1 Monday - Part 2

HI everyone! Happy Monday!
I'm back this week with another episode of 2 for 1 Monday :D

Funny story - when I was creating this weekend, I grabbed the past 2
kits (Country Lane & Beach Blvd) to combine some things together.
I got up to let my pups out & just completely had a brain spasm because...
I started working on my layout and realizing...wait. this is the Country Lane
kit by itself! I was almost done. SO instead of combining like I planned...
you get 2 layouts for the price of 1. ha!

So here you go...here's the first layout I did using Country Lane:
"What A Hipster"

I just LOVE the Hipster line by Basic Grey. So much so that
part of the packaging went on my page. The chipboard packaging
behind my son's photo is the BG pkg. I LOVE it! I wanted to use
it as my title - so I incorporated it somewhat. I thought it was perfect
for my son's SR. photo's. I'm still scrapping them - I have SO many!
He graduated in 2010 - plus I had the BEST photographer ever.
(photo by:  Andie Smith of Andie Mae Photography)

here's some closer shots:

and for my 2nd layout  I used the Beach Blvd. kit:
"Like A Boss"

I about DIED (laughing) one day when I looked under my scrap
desk to see Bandit, our 13 year old mixed terrier in our pup's (Lilly Pulitzer's)
bed. Hilarious! I had to snap the picture.
I used the new app by Elsie #ABeautifulMess to create the words
on my photo, then printed it out and here it is on this page.
Bandit...he still acts like a puppy! I love that boy.

Here's some closer shots:

Hope you've enjoyed 2 For 1 Monday!

Have a great day,
~Leslie

Project Life with Beach Blvd.

Last week I showed y'all the beginning of my Project Life album, and I wanted to show you my "first week" in it. Because I'm starting it in the summer time, my first week is all about the beach trip my husband and I chaperoned with the youth group from church. That means a LOT of pictures and notes! I didn't worry about limiting it to a certain amount of pages- I just wanted to make sure I documented what I wanted to from that week. 

I am really loving doing a mix of page sizes, especially because of the actual size of my album making it feel almost like a "mini album" project. 

I also don't really feel hemmed in by making sure that I have all the pictures oriented the same way. If I don't have the right protector/pocket at the time, just make it work! 

I was really pleased with this little card below and how it turned out. It's a layer of a card, stamping, vellum, and the top of another card. Just fun, simple layering. 

I included my notes from our Bible study sessions inside of the pocket on the top right. 

One of the traditions from the youth beach trip is this big wall of envelopes... everyone writes notes throughout the weeks and puts them in the envelopes. On the way home, you get to read all your notes and it's a sweet way to end the week. Leaders are not excluded from this, so I popped all of our special notes into a pocket page. 

Another thing I'm loving about this size is the ability to customize it- and put things on the outside of the page protectors! Y'all know I love texture and dimension, and this is a great way to add it in without making it over-complicated. 

I loved how perfect this kit was for documenting this week! And now Noel is offering Project Life kits, made just for your Project Life albums! I'll be sharing more about that with you guys very soon!