Monday, September 29, 2008

my monday ramblings...

Happy Monday! I am happy to report that I finally got everything crossed off my weekend list (new list for today, lol!)...what a great feeling!!!! The wedding countdown is on! 5 more days!!!!! I have been on a sleep deprived, caffeine, stress ride for the past 2 weeks...and it may sound crazy, but I have been pretty hyper, lol! I am looking forward to the day and having fun! I know things will come up and not go as planned, but I want to have great memories of the day...not a stressful perfect day.

Saturday night I had a few hours and thought I would stamp, but I was just not in the mood...and I knew nothing good would come from that. So I decided to edit some pictures I took two weeks ago for Operation Christmas Child. I am heading up this ministry at our church for the second year in a row. It is one that is dear to my heart, since my love language if gifts. Our family has participated in OCC for over 8 years.

I was making a display for OCC and wanted to pack a couple of boxes to use as an example...I decided to photograph them for the old blog;D of course my cat "Kitty" had to investigate.

Please email of leave a comment for me if you are interested in blessing a child with a shoebox gift.

Thanks for visiting! Enjoy today!!!!

Friday, September 26, 2008

cupcake birthday...

Happy Friday!
Another quick post for today...still crazy busy!!! The slide show is almost finished...yippee!!! And Ashley and I are going to start decorating the reception hall on Tuesday night...wow! Things are moving really fast! Okay enough wedding talk!

My niece Gillian's birthday was yesterday *Happy Birthday Gillian!!* I wanted to make her a cupcake card :D I used the same layout as my card from Monday's post...I really like this layout. I used some Aqua Mist cardstock and Aqua Mist polka dotted ribbon from Papertrey ink (another favorite color of mine).

I hope she liked it!

Have a great weekend!!!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Birthdays are the Best (SU!)/cupcake (Michael's $1 stamp)
Cardstock: Whisper White/Basic Black (SU!)/Aqua Mist (PTI)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!)
Markers: Bashful Blue/Pretty in Pink/Barely Banana (SU!)
Ribbon: Aqua Mist polka dot satin ribbon (PTI)
Circle Punch (SU!)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

a simple thank you...


Happy Wednesday everyone!

Another quick post today...I am hopefully finishing my final wedding task today...yippee! I am putting together a slide show of Ashley and Nate. I am hopeful it will go smoothly;D I am a little nervous about adding the music into the program...but I am going to think positive. Then I have some yard work to do, grocery shopping, write a recommendation letter, send out some thank you cards and go into work for a few hours (I have unrealistic expectations of myself, huh?).

Here is a card I made for Linday's (Ashley's MOH) mom, Liz. She outdid herself for Ashley's shower, it was such a nice day! This was another card from my un-creative Saturday card making session, lol! I love my floral frenzy set and this new pure poppy paper/ribbon from Papertrey, definitely some of my fav's.

Have a super day!! Thanks for stopping by!!!!

Supplies used...
Stamps: Floral Frenzy (PTI)
Cardstock: Pure Poppy (PTI)/Chocolate Chip/Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Pure Poppy (PTI)/Chocolate Chip/Mellow Moss (SU!)
Ribbon: Chocolate Chip Grosgrain (SU!)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

a tired tuesday...

Howdy...
This will be a quick post...I am exhausted, and I still have a week and a half to go. I am really looking forward to the sigh of relief on 10.4.08 when I can sit back and enjoy myself (I hope). By then anything that didn't get done, won't matter!

I needed a thank you card and I made this one on Saturday. Since my creativity wasn't happening, it isn't too fancy, lol! I pulled out my butterfly kisses stamp set from Papertrey Ink, and used one of my favorite color combos...pink and brown.
Have a terrific Tuesday! Thanks for visiting!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly Kisses/Rustic Branches (PTI)
Cardstock: Sweet Blush (PTI)/Whisper White/Close to Cocoa (both SU!)
Ink: Sweet Blush (PTI)/Close to Cocoa (SU!)
Ribbon: Sweet Blush (PTI) Scallop Punch (SU!)

Monday, September 22, 2008

weekend ramblings....

Happy Monday...
busy, busy, busy is what I have been! Ashley and I made great progress, so I feel pretty good about that! I don't want to have a nervous breakdown next weekend, lol! I think we have most of the little ends all tied up, I was really thankful for Lindsay (Ashley's MOH), who flew in from Texas again this weekend to help us! The only thing I didn't complete was the slide show...which will hopefully be done on Wednesday! I cannot believe that the "big day" is less than two weeks away!!! I am ready for life to get back to normal...whatever normal is...Then Christmas stuff will start...*sigh* can't a girl catch a break, ha ha! Okay, enough wedding chatter!

Josh's girlfriend, Sharon celebrated her birthday on Saturday...so Sunday after church, we had to have the Clark family birthday celebration. I made teriyaki steak kabobs, oven roasted potatoes and cesar salad...finished off with a little help from Sara Lee, strawberry cheesecake...yum! Here is the card I made for Sharon. I have not been in my stamp room for weeks! So when I got in there...I sat there for a good 10-15 minutes (stressing), not feeling creative at all. I decided to pull out some of my favorite colors, one of my favorite stamp sets, and just use a layout I have used before. I had 4 cards to make, and did get them completed...which was a good feeling! I decided to make a little tag to attach to this cute bag I put Sharon's gift card in (from Target's $1 spot). I think it came out pretty cute;D It was a fun day of celebrating Sharon's big day!
Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful day!


Supplies used...

Stamps: Floral Frenzy/Paper Tray (PTI)

Paper: Berry Sorbet/Pure Poppy (PTI) Whisper White (SU!)

Ink: Berry Sorbet/Pure Poppy (PTI)

Ribbon: Berry Sorbet (PTI)

Punch: 1 3/8 circle (SU)

Tag: same supplies as on card and Oval Nestabiliteis dies

Friday, September 19, 2008

the weekend is here!

Happy Friday...are you ready for the weekend?

I have lots to do, but am hopeful to have some "me time" sometime over the weekend! I have several thank you cards to make and a couple of birthday cards.

Wedding stuff is in full gear now...I hope to get the majority crossed off my list!!! I have to make a slide show for the wedding (hope that isn't too difficult), type and print the programs & name cards (and our printer is being wonky again...arrgh!), bring Josh and Mike's tuxes to the dry cleaners, and I think that is it for this weekend...hope I don't get too stressed, lol!

Here is the page I made for Lesson 2 in my type+writer class...it was kind of weird doing a page about me...because, I am usually the one behind the camera. Ashley took this picture of me during our "senior picture" photo shoot on Saturday. Of course I edited it a bit, lol! Wish that would work irl!

Have a fabulous weekend! Thanks for visiting!!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

senior picture moments...

Hi everyone....
I missed a day...I think that may be happening more frequently over the next few weeks, so please be patient with me;D
Tuesday night our church kicked off it's new women's ministry. We are concentrating on relationship building, which is really great! I am looking forward to getting to know all the ladies in the group on a more personal level. Cindy Cain is leading the group and has had tons of experience, and our church will be blessed by her. I know she will do a great job...you can check out her blog here.
On Saturday, while Ashley and I were waiting to drive to Lindsay's house for her shower...we had about a half an hour to kill and of course we didn't do anything productive, lol! I wanted to take some pictures to practice some of my new skills...I guess you could call it "senior picture moments" I took lots of pictures of her and she snapped a few of me...we had a good laugh! I think we needed some down time! Anyway this one was my favorite!!! I did a little editing, and added the contra pop action, which you can find here. Actions...I LOVE them!!!! I am just warning you, once you start using them, you will run them on all your photos. You can download some free ones here (note these work in Photoshop Elements and higher versions of Photoshop).
I finished another digi page from my type+writer class...which I will post on Friday (it includes one of the "senior picture moments" Ashley snapped of me, which I had to edit a bit, lol!).
Enjoy today! Thanks for visiting!!!
Gretchen

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

the final tally....

Hi all!
I hope your Tuesday is off to a great start! I wanted to post my digi page from Lesson 1 of my Type+Writer class. I have to say, it is a little harder than I expected (the journaling part, that is)...it is probably due to the fact that I don't have much (extra) time these days, lol! I decided to do a page about Ashley choosing "the" dress. It sure feels good to have a page scrapped!

I have some exciting news...while checking out Nichole's blog yesterday for the new releases from Papertrey...I noticed that my card was chosen as an honorable mention (about half way down the post)...what a surprise it was to see that...can I just say that I love (LOVE) Papertrey! The stamps, Paper and RIBBON!!!!

Last night was wedding favor assembling...so nice to get one more thing crossed off the list!

Have a Fantastic day! Thanks for visiting!!!

Monday, September 15, 2008

my weekend recap...

Happy Monday everyone...lots of pic's for the family today.

This past Saturday was Ashley's bridal shower...we had such a fun time!! Her friend/maid of honor, Lindsay, threw a Mexican themed shower (since Ashley and Nate are going on a cruise of the Mexican Riviera). She did an absolutely FABULOUS job (thanks Lindsay and Liz!!!). The food and decorations were awesome, and Ashley had a lot of fun. My niece, Gillian also made Ashley a slide show on DVD of highlights of Ashley from birth to present...and she did a AWESOME job! It was so nice to watch it at the shower (especially to see all my crazy hairstyles...it was the 80's you know!).

After the shower Ashley and I went to her future apartment (Nate is living there now), and unloaded all her stuff, and put most of it away, then we were off to clean the church for Mike since he has been working 6 12 hour shifts (not including the commute). We got home at 7:30 but it felt like midnight, lol! I was not too tired to upload my 99 pictures from the day (and watch them on a slide show twice). Plus my friend Cindy (hi Cindy!), took 50 pictures which she is sending to me...I LOVE pictures!!!! I am sure she got some good ones...because she is my "camera question person" and I consider her an expert!

It is hard to believe that the wedding is less than 3 weeks away...can you say STRESS! I think almost everything is done, except for the last minute stuff...I cannot wait until the big day when I can breath a sigh of RELIEF! and enjoy the fruits of our labors;D

I have a digi page to share tomorrow...can you believe I had a few moments on Friday to finish my Lesson 1 page from my type+writer class (Lesson 8 is today), I am a little behind, lol!

And don't forget to check out Papertrey's new releases today.

Enjoy your Monday and thanks for stopping by!!!!



Friday, September 12, 2008

remembering...

TGIF!
Sorry for the lack of post yesterday...my life is getting a little busy these days.

I cannot believe that it has been 7 years since 9/11! I will never forget that day, We had just moved to Phoenix, and the clock radio was playing (I was trying to wake up), when I heard the announcement. I thought I heard it wrong, so decided to go downstairs and turn on the TV...Mike and I were glued to the television for hours. Such a sad day for so many people! May we never forget! While driving to work yesterday...the street leading to my office is lined with American flags (they have done this every year since 9/11), and the radio station was playing a tribute...it was such a solemn drive into work! I am so proud to be an American!

For today's card I used one of my go-to sets from SU! Always (I love that bird), and paired it with some of my hoarded patterned paper; then I cut out the bird image an popped it up with a SU! dimensional. And the sentiment is so perfect for today's post.

Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for stopping by!!
Gretchen

Supplies:
Stamps: Always (SU!)
Paper: Whisper White/Kraft/Designer series p.paper (all SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip/Old Olive/Soft Sky (SU!)
Ribbon: Old Olive Grosgrain (SU!)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

a simple card...


It is the half way point...
I am gearing up for a busy weekend (I think my weekends will be busy up until the big day, 10/4). Ashley's friend, Lindsay, is hosting a bridal shower for her on Saturday, of course I will take my camera to post our fun time;D It is hard to believe that the wedding is about 3 weeks away...yikes! So much to do so little time.

Can you believe that Christmas is right around the corner (not by the temps here in Phoenix). I am in charge of Operation Christmas Child at our church again this year. We started promoting it last week. Check out the website here for more info. It is such a great ministry! If you want to donate a shoebox...email me and I will get you hooked up. I am excited to see how many kids will be blessed this year!

Today's card is a quick and easy one...my favorite kind! I just love pink and brown together...another one of my favorite color combos. Of course I used my Papertrey stamps. Oh yeah...check out the sneak peak today...right here.

Hope your Wednesday is Wonderful! Thanks for visiting!!
Supplies used:
Stamps: Text Box (PTI)
Cardstock: Sweet Blush (PTI)/Whisper White (SU!)/Close to Cocoa (SU!)
Ink: Sweet Blush (PTI)/Close to Cocoa (SU!)
Ribbon: Sweet Blush (PTI)

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

september desktop...

Did you make it through Monday okay?
I am happy to report that our Direct TV was installed and working. My hubby is so happy, lots of football in our future (good thing I have lots of hobbies, lol!). It is kind of hard learning a new thing...I think there are 800 channels on that thing and of course they are not the same to our Cox Cable. It took me about a half an hour to find one of my favorite networks TLC...channel 280, btw, I was happy to watch my favorite show last night. I guess change is a good thing.

Here is my desktop calendar for September...you can download one here. I took these pictures of Ashley and Josh about a month ago. Ashley had just purchased these gigantic cards from the Goodwill store (my kids love that place). They were having fun, and of course I had to snap some photos (especially when they are being goofy and don't mind me snapping away).

Yesterday was my first day in my Type Writer class...I think I will be challenged, since journaling does not come easy to me...I always start out with good intentions (and new notebooks, lol!), and then it just fizzles out. Liv & Jessica are great teachers and I am hoping to become more disciplined in this area.
Have a great day and thanks for visiting!

Monday, September 8, 2008

a card for fall...

Hi all...
I cannot believe it is Monday! On Friday, I remember thinking..."ah the whole weekend ahead of me" I procrastinated on some stuff and now Monday is here...oh well...my bad.

Saturday Ashley & Nate moved all of Nate's stuff into their new apartment...Ashley will be moving in after the wedding. I helped her move things around and get things unpacked (believe me I have tons of experience...I have moved way too much). when I left on Saturday afternoon, things were pretty much in their place and I think we made it feel like "home". It is starting to hit me that Ashley will be moving out for good this time...I guess that is a good thing...but I will sure miss having her around all the time!

While procrastinating to clean my upstairs bathrooms, I did get some stamping in...Priorities I tell ya, lol! I pulled out my Text Box stamp set and decided to make my own background paper. I think this came out pretty fall'ish looking (even though it is still 100 degrees here in Phoenix).

I am excited to start my Type Writer class today...Mike has the Direct TV people coming to install a dish on our house (so he can get the NFL channel), so I have to leave work a little early to let them in...so that will give me time to watch my video and hopefully get a jump on my homework...hope to share more about my class this week.

*note: I have had several comments regarding my wedding invites...if you would like me to send you the supply list/directions please email me (link at the right) with your email address, or leave it in a post. For some reason I cannot get the email info from the posts (does anyone know how to change that on the Blogger set up?).

supplies used (SU! unless noted):
stamps: Text Box (PTI)
paper: Chocolate Chip/Whisper White/Old Olive/More Mustard
ink: Chocolate Chip/Old Olive/More Mustard
accessories: Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon

Friday, September 5, 2008

so glad the weekend is here!


TGIF...
This short week sure felt long to me! It has been pretty busy at work. I am just glad I have the whole weekend ahead of me...I may even get to stamp. I have been reading this book (which has some good photo tips, btw), and hope to get some pictures of my family over the weekend (not an easy task!)...maybe I can bribe them, lol!
For today's card I used one of my favorite colors, Aqua Mist by Papertrey Ink. This is one of Ashley's wedding colors, so I have been seeing and using it quite a bit (to say the least), and I still love it! I added some of the coordinating paper (also from PTI), and had to add some scallops too, lol! I am a less is more kinda gal, so this one fits the bill.
Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for visiting!!
Supplies used: Sage Advice (SU!) stamp set; Aqua Mist (PTI)/Whisper White (SU!)/Certainly Celery (SU!) cardstock; Papertrey patterned paper; Certainly Celery (SU!) ink; Scallop Punch (SU!); Aqua Mist grosgrain ribbon (PTI)

Thursday, September 4, 2008

a thanks, some great blogs and a card...

Lorri nominated me for this blog award (thanks Lorri). I am so honored that people actually read my blog!

I have been so busy with wedding planning, I almost forgot to post this honor. Normally you nominate 7 other bloggers with the award, but I am going to link you to 7 of my (many) daily blog reads (which is hard to narrow down...because I have several that I visit daily). I don't know what I did before blogs...aren't they addicting?

Here they are in no particular order...Dawn Mcvey, Janet Phillips , Pioneer Woman, Kristina Werner, Jen Wolff, Julie Desper, Donna Boucher. I hope you enjoy visiting them...I know I do;D
Here is a card I made for one of my nieces. I used my Butterfly Kisses and the sentiment from my Little Lady stamp set from you guessed it, Papertrey (I love those stamps!). I manipulated the sentiment stamp to look like the butterfly's trail. This card started out really different and changed along the way (do you ever have cards like that?), I just kept changing stuff. Ashley finally said "mom...leave it alone, it looks fine" I guess it was good to quit while I was ahead, lol! Of course I had to add some "bling" to the wings with stardust stickles.
I hope your Thursday is Awesome! Thanks so much for stopping by!


Supplies used (SU! unless noted): Butterfly Kisses/Little Lady stamp sets; Whisper White/Certainly Celery/Basic Black cardstock; Basic Black/Certainly Celery/White (craft) ink; Black Grosgrain ribbon (Michael's); Stardust Stickles


Wednesday, September 3, 2008

blue lady...


Happy Wednesday...

Did everyone survive their day back at work on Tuesday? Since I work in a doctor's office, the day after holidays are kind of busy...lots of refills and phone calls that had to wait over the weekend plus an extra day...I don't mind too much, because the day goes fast that way. I was glad I had put dinner in the crock pot before I left for work in the morning...love that thing, it is so nice to have dinner ready when you come home from work.

I am also excited to be in Jessica Sprague's upcoming class Type Writer...it is a class on journaling on your scrapbook pages (which starts 9/8). I really debated about this class, due to the timing, with Ashley's wedding Oct 4th, but I just love her classes and decided to just jump in. Hopefully I won't be too overwhelmed with everything else going on. So be on the lookout for some digi scrapping in the next few weeks;D

Today's card uses my Little Lady set. I bought some wide navy ribbon at Michael's over the weekend (while I was shopping with Ashley). I wanted to make a navy card, since I had some new ribbon (my favorite accessory). Thought I would try a blue lady bug...what do you think?
Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping in!

signature final

supplies used (all SU! unless noted): Little Lady (PTI); Bashful Blue/Night of Navy/Whisper White cardstock; Bashful Blue/Night of Navy ink; Navy Grosgrain ribbon (Michael's)/Light Blue grosgrain ribbon (unknown)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

berry and poppy....


Happy Tuesday...are you ready for the week? I hope you all had a relaxing long weekend. We did get our yard cleaned up, that was a good feeling, but it looks kind of funny without our cactus. I suppose we will get used to it.

Ashley and I made lots of progress on the wedding list this weekend...that sure was a good feeling! We took care of place cards, programs, centerpiece items, and she made a good dent in the wedding favors. I also came up with a large list of things for her to go over (she likes lists like me, so I am sure she appreciated it). We did watch a few movies together as a family, which was nice too! I did get some stuff done on my list, but my hubby always discourages me from overdoing it on holiday weekends...I just don't like to have things hanging over my head.

On Monday, while I showed Ashley how to assemble her wedding favors, I got to stamp a few cards...it was nice to just stamp for fun, but it did take me a while to get the creative juices flowing. I wanted to try using Pure Poppy and Berry Sorbet together from Papertrey, I really like those two colors together...kind of reminds me of sherbet ice cream...yum!

Have a great day! Thanks for visiting!!
signature

supplies used (PTI unless noted): Floral Frenzy stamp set/Whisper White (SU!)/Berry Sorbet/Pure Poppy cardstock; Berry Sorbet/Pure Poppy ink; Berry Sorbet grosgrain ribbon