Hi!
I want to share my layout from the Masterpieces article in the July/August issues.
The theme we were given was "Life Changes".
I was on a college retreat in Gatlinburg my sophomore year when I met my husband.
That was a huge life change for me and that is what my layout is all about!

Supply list: Patterned paper (KI Memories, Fancy Pants), Brads (KI Memories), Chipboard accents (KI Memories), Lace cardstock (KI Memories), Alphabets (American Crafts, Making Memories, Basic Grey)

Journaling reads:

So this is how it all went down:
It was Campus Outreach Christmas Conference in Gatlinburg, TN over the Christmas break of 1997-98.
I went with a bunch of Chi Os-Brooke, Melissa Rosenbaum, Renee Dabbs, Shanna Steele, Summer Sisk, etc. We praised & worshipped, played flag football in the snow, ate pancakes, stayed up late, got tricked into thinking Third Day was playing in town, had a snowball fight, etc. 
I was hanging out with Michelle Petty on the last night of the conference & for some reason we ended up in a room with a bunch of guys including this Lee guy.
We were up late talking & goofing off.
Then this Lee character busts out with these card tricks.
And I was mesmerized.
After awhile I end up walking downstairs with Lee to get drinks for everybody.
He pointed out how the ice on the coke machine looks like a woman lying on the can. Oh what a sucker I was!The next day the conference ended & everybody went their separate ways until school started again in a few weeks.
I was going to Shanna’s house to celebrate the New Year & I remember hoping so much that Lee would end up coming.
But he did not and it was going to be a long few weeks until I might see him again at school.
And he did not have my phone number. I really thought whatever we had started might never get past whatever it was.
Little did I know that Lee ended up going back home & telling Adam that he was about to start dating a girl named Gretchen.
It was not long after we got back to school that Lee called me. 
All because I was a sucker for some silly card tricks and the ice lady on the coke machine.
How is that for happily ever after?!!

And if you read all that, I am impressed!
Thanks for looking!
Have a great week!
gretchen

Sometimes when I am feeling "creatively challenged" I like to do some reorganizing. This usually gives me the creative boost I need. So while doing some blog hopping the other day I was inspired to try sorting my papers by color. I have toyed with the idea of sorting all my paper by color before, but to be honest the idea really scared me - I mean what about all the multi-colored papers?? I thought I would take the baby steps approach and sort all my buttons by color first.

Here is a picture of my buttons about half way through the sorting process.

And here they are all lined up, aren't they pretty!

I was feeling pretty good about it all after the buttons, it just really seemed to make sense, so I decided to dive into my papers. As I started sorting I realized that when you look at most papers you really do see a predominate color and the whole process of sorting them went rather smoothly. I ended up with not to big pile of multi colored papers (which was mostly stripes).

Here is what my basement floor looked like for a day and a half as I waded through my stash of patterned paper

They are now all filed in my closet in nice stacks by color! The whole process has really gotten my creative mojo going and I can't wait to start scrapping tomorrow! So the next time you need a little creative boost switch things up, try a new way of doing things, it just may give you a whole new perspective.

Have a great rest of the week, Christine

I have been all about making cards and doing challenges lately!
If you are interested, American Crafts has a fun, easy challenge up on their blog this week.
The challenge is to make a birthday card using some Thickers.
Easy!
You can check it out here.
Here is the card I made:

And a little close up peek:

All supplies (paper, brads, chipboard Thicker, rub-ons, butterflies) are American Crafts.

Thanks for looking!
gretchen

The theme for the Masters pieces in the latest issue of Memory Makers was "life challenges". I didn't feel comfortable creating a layout about challenges that I went through that involved other members of my family, i.e. my father's cancer. So I created a layout that was more about a hard time in my life, a time of discovery I guess, growing as a person, finding my own way.

Have a great week everyone! Christine

I got my copy yesterday!
{I am sooooo sad that this is the next to last issue}
I thought I would share one my layouts from this issue.
This layout is in Staci Etheridge's article "7 Trends to Try" & the trend featured here is using animals on your scrapbook projects.
How fun!
I got to play with some great products from My Little Yellow Bicycle's Baby Safari line to make this layout.
Also check out Sassafras Lass's line called Bungle Jungle and Imaginisce's Wild Things line for more fun animal products!

Supplies: Cardstock (kraft-DMC, Inc), Patterned paper (My Little Yellow Bicycle), Die cuts (circles & title-Quickutz), Chipboard embellishments (My Little Yellow Bicycle, KI Memories)

Thanks for looking!
Have a great holiday weekend!
gretchen

I love rub-ons.  They add the perfect little accents to almost any page.  But sometimes they need a little umpf. 



You will need some paint, some chipboard, & some rub-ons.



Paint the chipboard with a color of your choice.  Here I am using cream.  Let it dry completely.



Rub-on the designs onto the painted chipboard. 



Cut them out and now you have these cute little accents.



and here is the final page with a couple more rub-on accents. 

Supplies: All Fancy Pants Designs except Delta Cermacoat Paint

Love always
Ronda

C'mon readers - we know you're out there!  Even with the sad news of the mag closing, we're still here, the bloggers who are working hard to keep it creative and inspirational for you!  We'd love to hear from you, hear some comments on what you've been up to in your creative space. 

Here's a fun (barely) hybrid layout done using some great American Crafts Avery rubon alphas and Dolce Fabric Chipboard alphas.  Know the Dixie Chicks song, Ready to Run, that goes, "Ready, ready, ready to run!  All I want to do is have some f-u-u-u-u-un...  What's all this talk about loooooooooove?!"  That's where this LO title idea came from...  DD had a GREAT timem sliding this day, as she does pretty much every slide day! :)

I received this pretty little letterpress card with my June Cocoa Daisy kit. I loved the simplicity of it and didn't want to add to much to it. So I used my colored pencils to add a touch of color to the leaves and branch, a bit of ribbon and a little tag.

The next time you are in a card or stationary store look for some letterpress cards and add your own touch to them

Have a great week everyone! Christine

Granted it has been raining around here for about 7 days straight!
{I might be exaggerating that just a little bit}
But I still love this time of year!
Flowers are blooming.
Plants are growing.
I love the smell of freshly cut grass.
It is warm but not hot.
I want to be outside all the time!
{except when it is crazy raining}

Supplies: Patterned paper, alphabet stickers, brads (American Crafts), die cut papers (Jenni Bowlin Studios)

I hope you are enjoying your spring also!
gretchen

We all have photos that tell a story but do not capture some of our "prettier" moments. So what do you do with these photos? Well I say scrap them! What is really more important, that your hair and makeup is not just right or that you leave a written memory for your family? To be honest our families have seen us at our worst, and more than likely think our "bad" photos are just fine.

I created this layout with the above thought in mind. There are A LOT of things that I do not like about this photo, but it is the only photo I have of me at the end of my pregnancy with Zach. I wanted to scrap about how I feel knowing that Zach will be turning 4 soon and that he is my last baby. This photo fit the story I wanted to tell so I used it. Zach isn't going to care that I really needed to see my hair dresser, or that I look like I swallowed a beach ball, all he is going to care about is that he has a picture and thoughts from me when I was pregnant with him. So please, the next time you are about to pass up an opportunity to scrap a memory because the picture is not the most flattering - don't! Scrap that memory anyway, you will be glad you did and so will your family!

Have a great week everyone!