New Pages

As I’m about to post these layouts I realized that the majority of my scrapbook pages are of my sister-in-law and her children. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my family but I’m starting to feel like they’re taking over my albums! 🙂 I am making a resolution to get more of my OWN life into my albums.

In the mean time, enjoy these pages of my extended family! 🙂

LO’s from 12/20/08

With most of our traveling out of the way I finally have time to post the layouts I did before Christmas. 🙂

New Layouts

These layouts are some layouts I did two weekends ago. Wow, was it that long ago? Geesh, how times flies! Actually I did everything but the journaling when I went out with my friend Brie and scrapbooked at Scrap, Scribble, and Stick in Kentwood at their new store. I didn’t sit down to writing my journaling until last night before going to bed which might explain my lateness is posting the pages. I think this was probably NOT the best time to journal since I noticed this morning as I photograhed my layouts that my writing is 1) sloppy and 2) has mistakes. Just don’t hold it against me, folks!

On a side note, I’ve been having so much fun scrapbooking with my friend Brie! We’re both getting a lot done and it’s great hanging out together! When we headed our separate ways last Saturday we said that we would start doing the same thing every other weekend. I’m looking forward to it but it occurs to me now that those plans may have to be on hold during the holidays.

Ok, on to the layouts!

Video: Crafter’s Workshop – Templates and Stencils

I probably visit scrapbook.com about 5 times a day on the weekends. If you’ve never visited their site (what? you need to go – as soon as you finish reading this post!) the site is fantastic. Lots of ideas and inspiration for layouts, home decor using your scrabpook supplies, and tons of tutorials, interviews, and videos. Now I don’ t usually watch the videos because 1)I don’t normally have the sound on my laptop turned on so I as to not disturb hubby while he’s watching tv or working on his own laptop, 2)sometimes the videos aren’t about products I don’t own and they make me want to go out and buy the things they’re demonstrating. The last point is particularly important because because I am on a self-imposed hiatus from buying big-ticket items so that I can actually USE the things I already own. 🙂

Anywho, today I was at Scrapbook.com and decided to look at their new set of videos and saw this one for Crafter’s Workshop Templates. I have some of these templates and they ROCK! They’re affordable and aweseome and now I want the ones this wonderful lady has shown in her video. *sigh*

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Pages from Saturday

My friend Brie and I hung out this weekend and cropped at a local sb store. I had so much fun hanging out together outside of work. Looks like we’re going to get to do it more often since she doesn’t work with me any longer – but that’s another story!

The following are the pages I did while we were together! Enjoy!

Layouts, layouts, layouts …

I was in a pretty creative mood this past week. I make 3 pages and 2 cards. That’s a lot for me. Enjoy the pages. 🙂

LO: Autumn Afternoon

I started this layout last weekend but just finished up the journaling yesterday. These photos of my niece, Katie, were taken by me Thanksgiving weekend in 2006. I’ve been hoarding these fall leaves brads for longer than I’ve had the photos – ahem – so I figured this was the perfect layout to use them. 🙂

Enjoy!

Who Am I?

One of my favorite bloggers, Emilie Ahern, posted the other day a list of things about herself. I loved this list. The list was like a sneak peak into her life and her believes. As I read through her post inspiration struck and the next time I sat down to scrapbook this page was created

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Here’s my answer to Emilie’s list (due to spacing limits not all of these made it onto my final layout):

I am: Gretchen, red-head extraordinaire.

I think: that Barack Obama is going to be our next president.

I know: that nothing is more important than family.

I want: to go back to school.

I have: wicked communication skills.

I dislike: people who are happy in their ignorance.

I miss: the simpler times of being a college student and having less financial responsibilities.

I fear: that I will never have children.

I feel: like some days I’m just spinning my wheels and not making any progress in my life’s journey.

I hear: that if you do what you love then you’ll never work a day in your life. If that’s true, I need to figure out what I love to do so that I never have to “work” again.

I smell: coffee and oatmeal from my morning breakfast.

I crave: a better life.

I cry: every time I watch the tv show Ghost Whisperer. When the spirits finally leave this world for the afterlife it gets me. I had to stop watching the show because of it.

I usually: print my own photos because I love having control of the printing process.

I search: for ways to make myself a more patient person.

I wonder: what we’re going to do when my parents visit us next weekend.

I regret: some of the hurtful things I’ve said because I didn’t think before I spoke.

I wish: that I could figure out why I have such a hard time losing weight.

I love: scrapbooking, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

I care: more about what others think about me than I probably should.

I always: drink coffee in the morning. It’s my favorite morning wake-up.

I worry: about the big picture but I try not to let the small things get to me. Usually I’m pretty laid back.

I am not: sure why it’s taking us so long to make a trip to Chicago to see our new nephew. I’m anxious to see the new little guy in person!

I remember: how important it is to say “I love you” every night to Eric before we go to bed.

I believe: that scrapbooking is an important way to share myself and my life with future generation.

I sing: usually when I’m alone but if the mood strikes me I’ll sing in public.

I don’t always: wash my hair in the shower. It’s my secret. I’ll condition each time I take a shower but I don’t always use shampoo.

I argue: very infrequently but when I do you can be damn sure i t’s either something I’m passionate about OR you’ve really irritated the hell out of me.

I write: from my heart and about things that matter to me, in a style that’s like the way I speak. Yes, I really talk like this. If you met me in person, this is pretty much my conversational voice.

I win: most of the time when I play trivia games.

I loose: a lot of self-confidence when I have to spend time with women who are thinner and have more money than me.

I listen: to what people are saying so that I can tell what they’re feeling.

I am happy: because I am surrounded by l ove.

Some recent pages

Ok, where did Summer go?

It’s already almost Fall – my favorite time of year. Time to bust out the sweaters, jackets, and boots. Ahhhh … The leaves start changing colors, the air gets cooler, and everything is beautiful. All my excitement about the coming season inspired me to create some more pages.

Enjoy!

Another One for the Wish List

I get a newsletter from MyCraftivity.com. I’m not sure exactly why I get this newsletter to be honest but I enjoy it for the most part. I suppose one day I visited their site and signed up but I really don’t remember. But I digress …

Today I got my newsletter and there was a link for an interview with an author to a book about scrapbooking that I’d never heard of. I followed the links in said newsletter and found that MyCraftivity’s website has a whole shopping section full of stuff – including books. They have quite a selection of scrapbooking/paper crafting books.

Below are a few of the more interesting looking books I found while browsing: