Busy Bee!

Today I was busy making preparations for a baby shower I am hosting next week.

• I made a nursing cover for the momma to be.

the terrycloth corner

the pocket

• A diaper wreath for the front door

close-up of the top half

close-up of the bottom half

• I remembered to take a picture of the topiaries I adjusted

they had orange-ish blossoms that I removed and replaced with pink blossoms

And breathed in all the baby-smelling goodness! Mmmmmm!!

Delivery!

Today I received an email telling me that a yard of this

has been shipped and is on its way to my house! I'm so excited! I found it on sale at reprodepot.com Yea for fabric! :) I thought it was too cute to pass up. I also have some fabric (including some canvas I'm really excited about!) coming my way from jcaroline. Stay tuned for pictures when it arrives. :) Only 3 whole days and 3 half days until school is out and I can DO something with this fabric!

Cake Update

Well, I learned Fimo/Sculpey isn't quite as easy to work with in miniature as I thought. So, the cakes are not *exact* replicas. But, I hope they are close enough that you can tell they are "inspired" by the bride's cake and groom's cake, and I reallllllly hope the bride and groom like them. I can't decide if I should leave them as is, or if I should put some small hook in the top to make them Christmas ornaments (my original idea), or.... something else? Any ideas or opinions?

Without further ado, here they are...

Bride's cake (actual)

Bride's cake (sculpture)





Groom's cake (actual)



Groom's cake (sculpture)


What do you think--honestly?!?

I could maybe paint more card suits (club, spade, heart, diamond) onto the bottom layer of the groom's cake. And should I add some white "piping" to the bottom of each layer like the actual cake has? Also, for the bride's cake I could add more "dots" to the layers like the actual cake has, but I'm afraid it would become too busy at that point since it *is* in miniature.

Latest Projects

I finished the first step of some Fimo/Sculpey projects this afternoon. I am trying to recreate the wedding cakes from wedding in the previous post. I saw a neat idea to make Christmas ornaments out replicating wedding cakes as a special remembrance for the bride and groom. I loved the idea and was determined to take several pictures of the cakes at Ruthie & Eric's wedding to try it out as part of their wedding gift.

So far, I have made a base "sculpture" onto which I'll add a finishing layer and the embellishments. The hexagon shape was tricky for the bride's cake, but the groom's wasn't too bad. I baked them this afternoon, and then later this weekend I hope to add the details.



I also made the parts for a giraffe and elephant to be cake toppers for the baby shower in 2 weeks. The parents-to-be chose a nursery decor called "Jungle Luv" that features giraffes, an elephant, a rhino, and a little jungle bird. Again, I made the basic body shape, and then I'll go back and add the colored, decorative layer and details. I hope she likes them and that they come out resembling the nursery decor!

the giraffe does have legs.... I just haven't attached them yet

We are VERY glad for a long weekend down here in FL. We have both been working a lot, but especially Matt has. Today marked a big step "checked off" for Matt's project and the last full week of school for me (next week is 4 days, and the following week is 4 days--three of which are early release). Whew! Time is flying, but we're trying to still have fun!

Hope you have a great long weekend, and I'll keep you posted on any Memorial Day crafting endeavors. :)

Mr. and Mrs.

This weekend we had the blessing of traveling home for a dear friend's wedding. While I am swamped now catching up from having a sub for three days (and that within the last month of school!), it was more than worth it (MORE THAN). ;) Here are some shots from the wedding and preparations. :)

My birthday twin (the bride) and me

Isn't her gown gorgeous? And don't you just love the JOY all over her face??

The back/train of the gown

Twirling with her niece (flower girl)

The "princesses" dancing :)

Needing a bite to eat before she goes to see her man. :)
Her sister fed her, I held the water bottle, and that's our former Bible study leader holding the towel and pretending to wait for a bite, too. :)

Her brother walking her down to see her groom.

Look at these beautiful ladies! This is the bride's sister (matron of honor), 3 close friends (bridesmaids), and mom.

The bride's cake

The groom's cake.

Cutting the cake

A cake kiss :)

The Mrs. dancing :)

Dancing with her husband

Removing the garter

Walking out to the getaway car

Slow/Fast Times

I'm sorry I haven't updated more this week. School is flying by quickly (less than a month left), so blogging is going slow! There's so much to do at the end of the year, plus we have some traveling coming up for a wedding. It makes for a full plate of good things, but not much room for good crafting on the side. Just wait til school is out! Then I really do want to try my pj pants and try the wonky cabin quilt. I'm really looking forward to some good crafting this summer. I'm trying to take it a lot easier than last summer, which should afford me down time for creativity I have to squeeze in during the school year. I'm also really looking forward to stamping some this summer after making Jamie's shower invitations. I have missed stamping a lot!

So, in honor of this post and being a tad early for tomorrow, I shall do a "Thursday Thirteen" on the topic of "How I (hope to) Spend My Summer Vacation."

How I (hope to) Spend My Summer Vacation

1. Sleep in
2. Make my hubby's lunch more frequently (he took over lunch-packing duty for both of us most of this school year, amazing hubby that he is!)
3. Visit family
4. Make my owl pj pants
5. Start the wonky cabin quilt
6. Rebuild my rubber-stamped, ready to send card stash
7. Paint the master bathroom
8. Paint the laundry room
9. Keep asking Matt about painting a dining room accent wall :)
10. Visit family
11. Sew some things yet to be determined
12. Get my embroidery machine (that will be towards the end of the summer)!!
13. Finish touch-ups needed in remodeled family room
14. (BONUS) Visit family!!!!!!

Can you tell I am excited to spend time with family (and friends!) this summer?! :) And as I said, after school winds down, I hope to be posting crafty accomplishments more frequently! Thanks for hanging with me in the mean time, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on baby shower updates. Right now I'm contemplating making Fimo or Marzipan (Homestar Runner, anyone?) figures that match the mother-to-be's nursery decor for the top of the cake. :)

Finished Invitations

They are in the mail! This morning when I woke up, I got right to work on the invitations for Jamie's baby shower. My goal was to mail them today--and I made that goal! :)

Here is a picture of the final design.

I ended up extending the white paper the full length of the invitation. I liked the look better. I also stamped the pink edges, as you an see. I think they make it look more "finished." Lastly, I used some 3-D tape to make the pink circle at the top "pop" of the paper just a little. Now, on to food and decor!

Baby Shower Invites

I worked on the baby shower invitations this evening. They still need to be assembled and embellished (I'm thinking some light pink or Versamark stamping), but here is the general idea! :)

you can click the picture to see it larger

I "whited out" the mother-to-be's last name and other personal contact info for the host. ;) But I hope she likes the finished product! I realize things aren't perfectly centered (or glued down) here yet; these are just mock-ups. I'm hoping to finish these tomorrow and get them mailed by Saturday. Baby shower, here we come!

Think PINK!

Sweet friends of ours who live in ATL are having a baby girl in August! I used to teach with her at my school, and we were in a Bible study with them. We are thrilled for them that this new one will be joining their family before we know it. Even though they live far(ish) away now, I really wanted to do something for them down here in FL with their "old" friends. So, I am hosting a baby shower in June! I am really excited and trying to just be organized and not too perfectionistic about it. :) It's the first shower I'm hosting by myself, and I think my biggest thing will be to pace myself and not feel like I have to use ALL my shower ideas in one shot.

I had to mail some bills, so I thought I'd sweep through JoAnn's and see what they might have to offer for decor. I ended up finding these for 50% off.

They look a lot better in person, I promise!

I am really excited about them! The peach blossoms and fake bigger green leaves attached to berries aren't my fav. Uhhh, then why did you buy it, Becca? I plan to remove the blossoms I don't like (I tried, it's very doable), and instead place sweet PINK blossoms in the styrofoam. A lady from our church has some topiary bases with real oasis at the tops, and she always uses them for parties and showers--covering each oasis with real greenery and roses that coordinate with the party colors. I *thought* about rigging that up, but I decided not to for 2 reasons. One, I didn't see any bases I liked at JoAnn's.... and there aren't *that* many other places to try down here. And secondly, I only have 5 weeks of school left before this shower. I need to be realistic on the level of DIY I can handle right now. :) I think it'll turn out sweetly, and later on down the road, I could plug in blue or yellow blossoms for a baby boy shower. Or white for a bridal shower. And I'll probably change the raffia bows to a color-coordinated ribbon. ;)

Secondly, I browsed for fabric to make J (the mom-to-be) a nursing cover. I ALMOST got the same Kleo fabric as I used for my last one. They did not have the coordinating Necco, but they DID have a coordinating "dots" pattern. But somehow, it just didn't seem to fit right for J. It was a little too froo-froo for her.... all the pink and such. I LOVE the combo of the two fabrics, and I'm not saying they are in-and-of-themselves froo-froo, but I felt like they were too much for J. So, instead I found this rich, red, gold, and green fabric, and a fun yellow polka-dot for the back. I haven't decided if I'll use red ribbon for the neck or fabric straps yet.... we'll see.



Next, I bought a yard of the Sage Kleo and Dots just because. My stash really NEEEEEDED them. :)



Lastly, I bought some pink paper (on sale 5 sheets--even 12x12 size--for $1, so I spent $2 total) and some pink ribbon for invitation materials. I hope to get started on them tonight.



I also need to decide on the menu. I'm gathering ideas. I'm thinking "brunch," so maybe fruit salsa with the cinnamon flour tortilla chips, the fix-it-and-forget-it souffle Ariana had at Samuel's dedication brunch, some kind of yummy sweet bread or something (?), coffee, juice, water.... any other suggestions? Oh, and I've been really wanting to try to make a fruit bouquet or veggie tree.

Aren't they amazing?

And as much as I'd love to pull out my cake stuff I got for Christmas, I think I'll have one made. We'll see how the time goes though with the end of school. I might do a small diaper cake as well, I haven't decided. Ohhh, so many decisions, and I just want it to be fun, beautiful, and most of all a blessing to our sweet friends. :)

Stay tuned!