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!

Budget Busters

My sister-in-law, Joy, tagged me to post 5 things that bust my budget. :) Soooo.... here we go! I actually am pretty much a stickler for budgeting, but if I were to allow myself to indulge...

1. Well, yes, I suppose it would have to be fabric. Sometimes you see a pattern you just KNOW would be perfect someday for SOME project. And sometimes that happens many days in a row. ;) And then that can lead to coordinating trim, etc. It's a vicious, but delightful, cycle. ;)

2. Books. I think I could definitely blow the budget on books. Self-control is needed (and used) here. Fruits of a Spirit are a good(y) thing. :)

3. Stationery. I love all things personalized, and personalized notecards and notepads are right at the top of that list. Monograms galore!

4. Home decor. This would be a big one. I'll try to justify it by saying it goes back to my innate, God-given desire as a woman to create beauty around me, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep it in check either. I'm forever walking around (Target, TJ Maxx/Homegoods, Pottery Barn) and thinking, "Oh that would be JUST RIGHT for _____ room/corner/wall in our house!!" The budget could be blown eye-blink fast for this category. Hubby helps me toe the line. ;)

5. Hmmmm, I guess having a hard time coming up with something is a good thing, right? I guess I would have to say I have been known to swoon over baby/children's items for my niece(s--there's one on the way!) and nephews. I can only imagine if/when, Lord willing, God gives us children of our own. Temptation, temptation. :)

**I guess this is one way living in the town I do has been a blessing. Shopping is, shall we say, a tad lacking here. We are a not a shopping mecca.... not even close. This makes my hometown seem like big city shopping. When you don't have the opportunity (much) to blow the budget, it's a lot easier to stay in line! We also only recently began subscribing to the Sunday paper (for coupons.... I'm trying to make this CVS ECB thing work to my advantage.... I haven't quite figured that one out yet), but I've noticed a lot more, "I want that!" in my heart since we began receiving the Sunday ads along with those coupons. The power of suggestion is a mighty thing! I try to limit myself to the JoAnn's and Michael's ads on Sundays. Or just tell myself, "You don't need that." :)

I tag... Erin and Susanna.

Two Keller Quotes...

...that caught my eye.

Our pastor posted these two on his blog...

"The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less."


“If Jesus is your center and Lord and you fail him, he will forgive you. Your career can’t die for your sins. You might say, ‘If I were a Christian I’d be going around pursued by guilt all the time!’ But we all are being pursued by guilt because we must have an identity and there must be some standard to live up to by which we get that identity. Whatever you base your life on - you have to life up to that. Jesus is the one Lord you can live for who died for you - who breathed his last breath for you. Does that sound oppressive?”

-Tim Keller, The Reason for God

Next Sewing Endeavors...

Sorry for the absence this past week. Report cards have gone home, April is winding down, and most especially it was an ADJUSTMENT to return to "everyday" life after a week of relaxing at the beach with family. Ugh. I need to look at it as making me THANKFUL for the times I DO get to see them, instead of so sad THIS isn't one of those times.... and I'll see them in a month. ;)

But I digress, I think I am maybe, just maybe, ready to take on two types of projects I've been too intimidated to try until now. I really want to try some garments, and I really want to try a quilt.

The minky I used for the baby quilts was not the easiest thing in the world to keep straight and neat. It kind of scared me off from quilts (how do you ever manage to keep 1/4" seams??). But I think I found JUST the quilt for a first-timer (basically), AND I think I am ready to try some clothes.

For the quilt, I will be making a "wonky cabin quilt" for which I found a tutorial at the Tallgrass Prairie Studio blog (via Sew, Mama, Sew's tutorial contest).

I think it's SOOO cute! And the method looks *rather* forgiving for someone new to quilting. I even have some JoAnn's gift cards (and new bookmarks for some online fabric stores) just itching to be used.... quilt fabric, anyone?

Secondly, I've had a pattern for some pajamas for awhile. I've just been building up the nerve to try it. Well, now I have my "Whooooo's Sleepy" snuggle flannel (thanks to my WONDERFUL husband on Valentine's Day), and I want my owl pj pants!

I think I will try it with some random extra fabric I have first, but then I hope to have comfy owly pajamas very soon. :)

I will keep you updated on my progress. I've also been asked about tutorials for the baby quilt and nursing cover, so I'll be working on those soon too.

Thanks for everyone's encouragement with the projects I've undertaken and as I embark into the land of quilts and garments!

More Pictures

These are mostly some of the more "artsy" pictures I took while we were at Hilton Head. They are completely untouched as of yet--though some editing will probably come along when I have a little more time. I am definitely a photography amateur, but a digital SLR is helping me play around without having to pay to develop every shot. :) And speaking of developing pictures, you can get 15 FREE prints from Walgreens if you order online by 11:59 tonight and use the code TAXDAY. I'm planning to get some beach pictures printed. :)

I must start off with pics of the kiddos. Unfortunately, my brother Matt, his wife, and son had to head home before we got out to Sea Pines, so superstar Sam isn't featured in these. :-(

CA being pushed on the swing by Uncle Ox (my hubby)

MD

palm tree at Sea Pines

flowering shrub at the beach house

I love little beach birds

my shadow

we always take a picture of our feet together at the beach

we found a hermit crab!

Harbour Town at Sea Pines

It's just so peaceful!

Sneak Peek

I LOVE these people...

and especially this person...

BEACH!!

Just a little note to let you know I'll be here


on Hilton Head Island this week for spring break. I cannot wait!! As much fun as it would be, I'm not packing the sewing machine. ;) I am taking a cross-stitch I started back in December (or maybe even earlier.... yikes) and will be exited to show you my progress (and maybe even finished product) when we return! And I just might have some pictures of the beach to share as well. :)

Have a wonderful week! Whether you're crafting, working, caring for family or friends, relaxing, or whatever have you, may our eyes be open to the Glory and Love of God!

Baby Shower gift, II

The baby shower project is finished!

Today was the shower, and the gift was well-received. Several teachers said they now want to get married or have a baby just so I will sew them something. :) I still feel like such a beginner, but I appreciate their encouragement. :)

As I was sewing along, I did add the terry cloth corner and a pocket. I also did use the D rings and make a strap out of the fabric like I wanted to try. :) I used the Kleo (front fabric) for the strap and the Nekko (back fabric) for the loop holding the rings.

Here are some pictures! :)

(if you look closely, you can see the pocket in the picture above)