couples shower

I got an order for 25 couples shower invites. For some reason this kinda threw me for a loop. I can do shower cards sure, but for a couple...as in masculine friendly?...yikes! Me and masculine don't get along sometimes.

  So after agonizing over the design for awhile I hit some of my favorite blogs for inspiration. I ended up getting an idea while browsing Mish's blog. Michelle Wooderson, aka Mish, is well known for her mix and match powers. So I went to my paper and searched for anything in the wedding colors (white and green with blue and orange accents) I choose a few greens with subtle textures and Knew I would use a white base and then drew in a little bit of blue as well. I printed my sentiment on white card stock and cut that into strips as well. I started by cutting some strips of my chosen paper and die cut a few of the edges as well.

 I still wasn't quite sure where this was all going. So I laid the strips out and moved them around till I was happy with the result. It was missing something though. That's when I decided to go with machine stitching. A bit of an undertaking for 25 cards, but I just love the affect if gives. I still had blue thread on my machine from my last project so that made for an easy decision there. :)

I am really happy with the end result. Just a quick tip about sewing on cards. I like to make a card front and stitch everything on then attach that to my card base. Main reason, I am not an expert and my sewing more often then not looks like a disaster on the back. No problem, it is all hidden when you attach it to the base. This also means you don't have to worry about tying of stitches or back stitching to keep it from unraveling, just use tape to hold the stitches in place.

bridal shower

We had a wedding shower for my cousin's fiancee this past week. She is such a sweet girl and so adorable. Her favorite color is yellow so I went with some bright cheery cards for her.

 This first card, I made for my Mom to use. I had to use my new apron lace punch. Love the look of it.

 I purchased kitchen items from her registry so I decided to make her an apron card.

 Her wedding colors are green and yellow, so when I saw this adorable tote in the grocery store I knew it would be perfect for wrapping her gift in.

you're invited

More shower invitations for the same bride, different family. Her favorite color is yellow so I wanted to stick with that, but make a different looking invitation.

I think I like the vertical stack of circles the best. Bit more fun and polished look. Especially with the rounded corners on the other side.

April showers/ Wedding showers

I just love the fresh clean earthy smell after a good thunderstorm. :) That and I always sleep good when it is raining. I found this cute umbrella paper at Hobby Lobby and thought it would make a cute wedding shower invite.

A clean and simple shower card for my cousin to preview. So what do you think Nicole?

the wedding

It was a gorgeous day for a wedding last Friday. I can't wait to get all the photos back. I took most of the photos with my parents camera, but my husband did get a few shots during the ceremony with my camera.

I can't believe my brother is married now. Everything was gorgeous! My SIL's dress was amazing! The setting was beautiful, everything just came out perfect.
All of the bridesmaid dressed were different and the colors were different as well. It was so cool to see them all together. I am on the end and my sister is in front of me.
My boys were the ring bearers and boy were they adorable in thier tuxes. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them with my camera.
These were the programs that we made.

last shower

Last night we had my future sister in laws final (of 4) showers. We have had a lot of fun at these showers but it will be nice to be done with them, as my schedule is pretty hectic right now.

I made her a set of thank you cards in the wedding colors.

Then I packaged them up into clear card boxes from Papertrey Ink. I needed to use 2 of the boxes to fit them all.
I wrapped them in a blue paper lunch bag which I altered with more of the matching paper and a stamped tag.
And this is the card I made to go with it. I used my new cuttlebug folder, Stylized Flowers.
I thought I would share a pic of the inside too since I made it all cutesie as well. Just more of the pp and embossing on the left side of the white layer. I used a Sakura souffle pen for the matching ink.
The wedding is getting so close, I just can't believe it. Next week we are getting together to finish programs, place cards, and favors. I will probably wait till after the wedding to share those.
Soon I will be able to share the fun stuff I made for the bachelorette party. hehe!

Wedding invitations

Here are the invitations that we made for my brother's wedding.We came up with the final design by mixing the look of an invitation they liked at a print shop, and adding the elements they wanted to include. My future SIL wanted to include a grapevine (which was harder to find that I thought it would be) So we used 2 individual Stampin' Up stamps to create our vine.
The bride loved the end result, and I loved that she got so many people together to help make them. :)

Purse card

I made this card for a bridal shower. The rhinestone love and heart charm where both found in the bridal section at M's. The card was made from my new favorite cardstock core'dinations. I then ran it through my cuttlebug with the the textiles embossing folder and sanded it to reveal the teal color. The purse is held closed with an adhesive velcro (I am definitely addicted to using the velcro on my cards lately.)

Bride and Groom to be

For my future SIL's first shower we got a gift for her and also a gift for my brother. So I decided to go with his and her style cards.

Perfect Pair

As promised I am sharing the favors from the bridal shower. I took this idea from Nicole Heady of Papertrey Ink. Directions and a template for the boxes are on her blog. The sentiment stamp is from PTI as well. I made 25 of them, and well they took me awhile to make they really were easy.

Bon Appetit

ETA: my brother called me and let me know that he loved the recipe box. I think he is hoping Julie will start cooking his favorite foods for him. :)

My brother proposed to his girlfriend back in February. They asked me and my 2 boys to be in the wedding, which is coming up on September 18. That is one of the reasons I have been so busy. Today I thought I would share some shower items I made.
Tuesday we had another bridal shower. (that is the 3rd, one more to go) I am really happy with how the gift turned out for this one.
A while back I purchased a recipe box, recipe cards and a matching magnetic meal planner in Micheal's dollar bins. I altered the box with DCWV "Nanna's kitchen" stack. The paper is really fun and has lots of glitter. I also made matching dividers for the recipe box. My mom then copied a bunch of my brothers favorite recipes on the cards. I think this is a gift my brother will really enjoy too. :)After I finished the recipe box I wanted a fun way to wrap it all. I had bought some hat box style boxes on clearance after the 4th of July. They were red with flags and patriotic sayings on them. I altered them with ribbon and paper to match the gifts colors.
I then made a card to matchSuch a fun set I think. Tomorrow I will share the favors I made for the shower. (I told you I was busy)

a wedding

life is busy. Obviously I've been MIA for awhile. Honestly I just don't know if I have time in my life to blog right now. But I miss having a place to share my work. (I also miss all the blog hopping, lol) So I can't say that I will start blogging regularly, but hey this is for me, right?! I'll just blog when I feel like it.
I have lots of stuff to share, but I guess I will start with the most recent. We went to my cousin's wedding on Saturday. It was supposed to be outside, and although it rained, the room was all windows overlooking the water. The couple was still able to take their boat "limo" ride after the ceremony though.

The wedding had a beautiful seaside theme.

Along with the beautiful cake was the groom's cake. The bride surprised her new husband with a cake that was made to look like his guitar. She also had portraits taken of herself in her wedding dress with his guitar. It turned out beautiful and he loved the surprise.
This is the card I made for the wedding. I just love the concept of an all white wedding card, but it sure was difficult to photograph.

Congratulations Josh and Stephanie. It was a beautiful wedding and I was so happy to witness your special day. Many blessings on your new life together.

bridal shower

My cousin has not sent out all the wedding invites yet, so I will hold off on posting that for now. So today I am going to post the towel cake that I made for her bridal shower. I love the cakestand. It is from Target's Easter line. I also made the tag to go with it. I forgot to get a photo of the soaps I made for the top of the cake. oops!

Let's eat cake

I made this 2 layer cake for me cousins bridal shower this week. Oh boy did it take forever to make, but I am absolutely in love with the end result. :) I filled them with candies, and it was a big hit.
I used Fiskars texture plate for the base of the cake (I ran it through my cuttlebug using a spellbinders embossing mat) I also added stickles to give it some bling.
She has sent out her wedding invitations that we made, so I will probably post those tomorrow or Monday.

shower invites

Oh hi, March. Where did you come from? This year just seems to be speeding by doesn't it?! I made these invites for my cousins bridal shower. Her wedding colors are pink and yellow so I went with that. Pink cardstock is Bazzil bling, and I used the cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder. It says you're invited in white on the front, but unfortunately that didn't show up too well on the photo. I also made the wedding invitations for her, but I completely forgot to take photos. Duh! So I have to wait to get mine in the mail before I can post it. :)