Show and Tell

Janelle UPDATE

Good Evening, today is Wednesday April 18th, this is Ken, this has been a long day.....

If you are reading this, you are part of our extended family that we appreciate very much.  You also deserve to be kept up to date on our journey.  Today was not great news.  I will provide that info to you below.  

First, this is only Wednesday and the blessings just continue to flow.  Sunday, dinner arrived for us mid afternoon from some of our church family (thank you Phil / Susan).  Monday, Nora (along with Mom Maria and brother Hayden) came by for a hug and to deliver a paper flower arrangement made by Nora's class at the school (Thank you Mrs. Clary & Class).  Also on Monday our personal hair stylist showed up to clean up the hair (which is starting to grow back, thank you Cathy).  Tuesday, home from Scan, Dinner on the front porch (thank you Fourqurean's), close girlfriends Mary/Debbie came by for a brief visit, another dinner, cupcakes and flowers.  Came home today from treatment, flowers on the front porch (thank you Talluri Family).  I may have forgotten something/someone and if I did, my apologies.  Every visit and act of kindness is so appreciated.  Have I told you lately that we are very blessed with a community of friends who take care of us?

A little more fun.  I just got this from Britt.  Jackie Freeman (her other MOM) will be participating in a Relay for Life event that the school she works at (Southeastern Community College) hosts every year in Columbus County, North Carolina.  Apparently there is some freedom in the uniform you wear...check out these shirts..........Thank you Jackie for keeping us and this disease right out there for people to see.  

So, our news today was not very good.  The tumor we have been fighting appears to have not grown very much however there were new spots, closer to the brain stem and the indication is that they are growing very fast and furious and are why Janelle's general quality as declined a bit over the last few weeks.  The Dr. believes that the continued sickness and other issues are being caused by this as much as by the impact of the chemo.  We do have some decisions to make so please do keep us in your prayers tomorrow as we decide how to move forward.  There are additional treatment options, side effects can be a bit brutal.  Other options would focus more on enjoying some quality of life even if for only a short season.

Finally, and this is very much on my mind, while it is our responsibility to pray and ask for specific results, we have to always remember that prayers sometimes get answered in different ways.  None of us are promised tomorrow but all of us who believe are promised forever.....We covet your prayers as we make decisions on which path to continue this journey on.  I plan to be back on Sunday for sure, earlier if I am so led/inclined.

 

Ken (& Janelle) Hayes

hello little baby

Today is Wednesday, October 19. I've been to work, taken a nap, and eaten lunch. Pretty productive for it being just 1:30 in the afternoon! And now I'm trying to get an early start on the blog post so that maybe I won't still be writing when I should be eating dinner. Hopefully that will work out well.

Well, two hours have passed — so maybe my plan to get this done early will not be realized. However, I've had great visits with precious friends this afternoon. One brought me four hats that she crocheted. Of course, pictures will be forthcoming. The other was one of preschool teachers who dropped off a meal and stayed for a nice visit. So — I'm kind of behind for the day (again) but connecting with people is so important, too. My natural tendency is to just hole-up and be by myself. I really like my own company and need my own space. But if I just stay by in my own little world all the time, I find that I get very selfish and ONLY want to be with me... and that is definitely not good. I don't know if that makes any sense at all... I'm just kind of rambling here... but I do so appreciate the visits, the gifts, the food and goodies... it can all be a bit overwhelming, but I'm so thankful for my many friends — both the real life ones and the virtual ones. :)

Since blog posts are more interesting with photos, here are a couple from this week.

Mom hadn't seen Ian's apartment so — since he had cleaned it up and painted an accent wall (!) — we were invited to pay him a visit.

And we also got to check out his big new TV — which I didn't take a picture of, but you can see that it is being enjoyed. :)

Since Ian's apartment is very close to Pinkberry it was a mandatory stop.

That was my out of sorts day and I even ordered in a crazy way for me... chocolate and peanut butter yogurt topped with almond slices and coconut. It was fine, but not my favorite and I left kind of wondering what I had been thinking. But, hey!...it was frozen yogurt so I'm not really complaining. I'll just order differently next time. :) (Which will probably be next Thursday after my oncologist appointment. Gotta have something to look forward to, you know?)

 

Today I am taking inspiration from the Psalms.

Psalm 89:1-2

"I will sing of the Lord's unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens."

I'm not sure when the last time it was that I just focused on some words of praise, but it sure seems like a long time. So, this is way overdue. 

The Lord's love is unfailing. No matter what is going on in my life, I know that the Lord loves me faithfully. And He will love me forever! He is entirely faithful and there is no one who compares to Him. He is more awesome than any heavenly being. They all stand in awe at His power. No one is as mighty as He. And He is entirely faithful. Oh, Lord, You rule all of creation. "Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand!" (v. 13)

I find it so reasuring to know that the Lord is in control of all of creation. Even when things seem to be spinning out of control, I have faith that the Lord has it all in His hands. Nothing gets past Him. He is faithful and His love for us is constant. Make sure that your children know, too... both young and old need to hear of the Lord's faithfulness! And, remember — His faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens. You don't have to worry about it expiring... it lasts forever. That's something to think about, isn't it?  

 

I have a baby card for you today. It's rather non-traditional, but sometimes I like it that way.

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We have a new little baby girl on our street and that meant an opportunity to do something fun. I used a sort of bright palette and grounded it with gray paper. All the embellishments were leftovers from other projects. It always feels good to use up some of those bit of paper! 

AND TELL:  stamps are from Stampin' Up (Fox & Friends, Sweet Little Sentiments); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Stampers Select White); patterned paper is Bo Bunny Back to Basics plus some miscellaneous scraps; ink is SU (Orchid Opulence, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight) and PTI (True Black); also used SU dies (Embosslit Beautiful Wings, Floral Fusion, Little Leaves, Lots of Tags Label 1), an SU punch (1-1/4" circle punch), bakers twine is Divine Twine (Cotton Candy), and a miscellaneous gemstone. 

Well, so much for getting done early today. Oh, well. I'll have to try again tomorrow. :) Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit. As always, I love hearing from you. Sending you big hugs today!

One Layer, Baby!

Since Susan is taking a break from her One Layer Wednesday challenges, I have a chance to catch up. This card is for OLW 16, which was to make a scene. Oh. haha. Let's rephrase that. The challenge was to stamp a scene — a simple scene — using just stamps, ink, and cardstock in one layer.

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For some reason I guess I'm in a baby mood. I knew immediately which stamp set I would use, and some how came out with a card for a baby girl. Now I just need someone on my street to have one so that I can use it as kind of a "welcome to the neighborhood, little one" card. Any takers?

AND TELL:  stamps are from Stampin' Up (Good Neighbors, Fun Phrases); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Rustic White); ink is SU (Melon Mambo, Positively Pink, Pink Passion, Marina Mist); also used my Scor-Pal to score a couple lines at the bottom to ground the houses and frame the sentiment.

Oh, my. When I went back to link Susan's blog, I discovered that someone else is hosting the One Layer Wednesday challenges for the rest of October. {Sigh.} Guess I have more work to do and catching up may not be quite so fast. That's OK, though. I love a good one-layer challenge! So — guess I'll be back before Wednesday with a one-layer Christmas card linked to this post on Jennifer Styles' blog!

Hope you're having a fabulous Saturday! Time to get back to work on catching-up with my household chores. (Do you detect a theme? Yes, I always seem to be in catch-up mode!) Thanks so much for stopping by and see you again soon!

Welcome, Robby!

We have a new baby on the cul-de-sac. How exciting!

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This card was inspired by one we made at stamp club earlier this month — designed by Judy, our fearless leader. The idea is a cozy quilt and Stampin' Up's Square Lattice embossing folder really helps the quilt block design look warm and puffy.

 

I used a scrap of the patterned paper to bring a little color to the inside of the card.

And to the back, too. Since the card was light on stamping, I used a block of paper with my initials instead of the usual small stamp.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Classics, Vintage Picnic Sentiments); cardstock is PTI (Rustic White) and Stampin' Up (Bashful Blue, Early Espresso); patterned paper is some old Making Memories paper from my stash; ink is SU (Real Red); button is PTI (Spring Rain); twine is PTI (Rustic Jute); also used SU's Lots of Tags Label 1 die.

So — do you have big weekend plans? I hope to get some stuff done around the house. It's been badly neglected. And — since I've reached my 1000 Curves visits and since the Panthers have a bye this week — I'm thinking that I can just spend the weekend puttering around here, leaving the house only for church Sunday morning. Sounds like just about the perfect weekend to me.

I hope to carve out a little time to craft and blog, too. We'll see. In any case, thanks so much for dropping by today; your visits mean a lot to me. Hopefully we'll have some time together over the weekend, too. Have a great one!

 

 

Water Bottles & The Oregon Coast

Water bottles first. This is the project that I had in mind several days ago when I entitled an entry "Perfection is the Enemy of Good Enough." Since my neighbor Maria & I first began talking details for the baby shower, we weren't planning on doing any fancy beverages — just bottles of water and coffee. Nice and easy. But in my mind, I was going to do labels for the water bottles kind of like I've seen on the Blonde Designs Blog. But then I was running out of time the night before and just went to bed thinking... "no big deal. Who's gonna know?" And then a few hours later I woke up thinking... "plain old water bottles is going to look tacky, like you were too lazy to make punch or something. Just do it." So... I did.

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OK — I know that plain old water bottles would've been good enough and probably no one would have grabbed one to drink and thought, "How tacky can you get?!" But — you have to agree this is way more impressive... and fun.

And it didn't take all that long. The morning of the shower I woke up, hurriedly printed the text from my computer using the same font I had used for the invitation.  I cut the new labels the same width as the brand labels that were on the water bottles, stamped them, and used packing tape to adhere them to the bottles where the real labels had been — following the recommendations here.

Now — I don't recommend doing this the morning of an event. Since I was working quickly the morning of... well, there were a few stray ink marks from the stamping, but I don't think anyone noticed. Just me. :) There was also a bit of a learning curve for getting the labels on without wrinkles — and some were v-e-r-y wrinkly — but about halfway through the process I was getting pretty good at it. So — if you try it, give yourself time. Or keep repeating to yourself, "Perfection is the enemy of good enough..."

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf) and Stampin' Up (Berry Christmas); ink is SU (Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise); also used regular old computer paper, a cool font, and clear packing tape. 

That is it for the baby shower. And I think that was enough. Remind me the next time I'm hosting an event that I don't have to incorporate everything that I've ever seen and have been wanting to try! Actually, that probably won't do much good. Sometimes I just love to go overboard. This was one of those times, I guess.

Now — I'll share some pictures from another wonderful day in Oregon, back at the beginning of August. {happy sigh} It was a gorgeous sunny Sunday. I went to church with my mom...

at Willamette Community Church which occupies the old Albany High School — where my dad graduated from. It's also where his packed memorial service was held 8-1/2 years ago. Tell me. Do you ever get over losing your dad?

After church my brother, our mom, and myself hopped in the car and headed out...

to the beautiful Oregon coast...

(yes... you're getting some literal "pictures from the road" today)

We drove a bit north up the coast

to our first destination

Tidal Raves restaurant in Depoe Bay. Above is the view from the restaurant. Does it get any better?

Yes, it does.

Seahawk Bread for an appetizer:  baguette toasted with smoked salmon, cream cheese, havarti, shrimp, and onion.

The House Salad with Shrimp:  organic baby greens, curried almonds, dried cranberries, and white balsamic dressing.

The day's special:  Coconut-crusted Halibut with Rice, Grilled Vegetables, and some sort of sweet-spicy sauce. (Should've written it all down. It was yummy, yummy, yummy!)

And, of course, dessert.

Peach Sorbet with Hazelnut Shortbreads served on Raspberry-Citrus Sauce. Mmmm. Heavenly. And the perfect ending to a meal. Also perfectly portioned for the three of us to share.

I have so many more pictures of that day at the coast to share, but I think you'll like it better if I stop here for now. There are 162 pictures in my file of photos taken that beautiful Sunday and I initially narrowed it down to... 43 (!) that I wanted to share with you. Think I better take another look at them — but I know how you like the food pictures, so those had to make the cut! :) Seriously, though, if you ever make it to the Oregon Coast, Tidal Raves is well worth the stop. Stick it on your list of places to go. You won't be sorry.

Now, I better get a few things done around here. We'll be going to the Carolina Panthers' third preseason game tonight... hopefully it'll be better than the last one, which was pretty ugly. I'll be back tomorrow with a card to share. And it has nothing to do with babies or baby showers. Finally, it's time to move on. See you then!

(Sorry for the wacky font size changes in a couple places. I'm having issues and I have no clue as to what's going on... grrr.)

  

Shower Favor Bookmarks

I'm getting tired of all these baby shower posts — and probably you are, too. Just a couple more... I promise. Then I'll move on to something else. Not sure what, but definitely something else.

I wanted everyone to have a little something to take home with them after the shower that would be useful and would remind them of Teri — but not something too "baby". Most of us there were way beyond the baby years.

So, what I finally decided on was a bookmark using the same colors as — well... as everything else — and using the same theme with a bit of a garden reference, as Teri & Rob have wonderful raised-bed gardens in their backyard.

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I placed all the bookmarks on a pewter tray and everyone took one as they were leaving.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf, All Booked Up); cardstock is whatever dark brown I could find as I kept running out (PTI Dark Chocolate, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and Early Espresso) and some turquoise glitter cardstock that I picked up at Paper Source; ink is SU (Craft White) and Versamark; embossing powder is Stamp Stuff (Detail White); buttons and twine are PTI (Pure Poppy, Rustic Jute); also used SU's Merry Details die and the bookmark die from PTI.

I thought maybe you'd like to see what I made for Teri, too. I'd been wanting to make these since I first saw them on Dawn McVey's blog, I don't know — maybe a couple years ago.

Fancy burp cloths. I haven't sewn for a long time, so I picked up the diapers and fabric when I was in Oregon and sewed them there with my home ec teacher mom at the ready should I have an emergency (like having to refill the bobbin...). I made six, mixing and matching the fabrics, and they were fun and easy. Here is a link to the ones that Dawn made and here is a link to Susan Weinroth's instructions on the Fiskars website (and here are some others made by Susan).

So, I guess I should also show you my "hurry up the guests will be here soon" gift presentation. Yep. A plain kraft gift bag and a simply stamped kraft tag. Doesn't get much easier than that. The bag was so stuffed that there was no room for tissue paper — what you see is what you get with me!

 
There is also a set a bottles from her gift registry tucked down in there. I love a themed gift. :) Oh, who are we kidding. I just love a theme... period.

So, I was feeling pretty good about my sewing skills after completing my little project. And then Teri unwrapped this...

a crib bumper pad made by her mom. Can you tell that it's appliqued on both sides?! Wow. I'm in awe. And not feeling quite so skilled. :) Can't wait to see the baby's room all set up. 

And here are just a few more pictures from high school reunion day — my third day in Oregon — back at the beginning of August.

The main street of my hometown.

We used to ride our bikes "uptown" when we were kids, and I was pleased to see a few elementary school aged kids that were still allowed to do so.

The house I grew up in.

My mom designed the house and it had built-in storage galore. Of course, as a kid I didn't think that much about that, but now as an adult... well, I'd love to live in such a well thought out house!

After the tour of the newly remodeled high school, the reunion continued with a big picnic during the afternoon at a park in Salem.

My mom and my brother were both there, but I really hung with a couple of my BFF's from high school.

 
We were in each other's weddings and have remained in touch over the past 30+ years. Even though we aren't in daily or even weekly or monthly (more like yearly) contact, it's still just like picking up where we left off. Don't you love friends like that?

My friend Sylvia lives close enough that the three of us went back to her house before the evening festivities began at the Elk's Lodge.

And, yes... it's about as small town and sketchy as it looks in this picture. We were mostly on the back patio and it was crowded and it was loud and it was smoky and... well, not really my usual scene. But, it was fun to see some of the people who hadn't been at the earlier events during the day.   

And that's it for reunion day pictures and that's almost it for baby shower stuff. We'll finish the baby shower up tomorrow. Whew. I'm ready. I'm also ready for a Saturday. This working five days a week has really cut into my crafting time — so I'm hoping to be able to create something (anything!) tomorrow. Have a great rest of your day!  

Words of Wisdom

Not that I have any... that's just what I ended up calling this little project that I created for our neighbor's baby shower.

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Using small envelopes from Paper Source, cardstock, and a few other supplies, I created little tags on which everyone could write some brief words of wisdom regarding parenting or words of advice or a blessing or encouragement or something funny or whatever. These were given to Teri at the end of the shower, but during the shower, as the guests finished writing, the tags were tied onto a "tree" that helped to decorate the sideboard in the dining room.

Sure could've used more rocks in my container to hold the "tree" upright, but sometimes you just have to work with what you have, right? 
AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf; Boxes, Bags, & Tags); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White) and Stampin' Up (Sahara Sand, Tempting Turquoise); ink is SU (Tempting Turquoise) and VersaMark; embossing powder is Stamp Stuff (Detail White); ribbon is from Michael's; twine is PTI (Rustic Jute); also used SU's Merry Details Sizzlit die and 1-1/4" circle punch. 

Now for the cake. First of all — make no mistake... I do not bake cakes that look like this. Mine are very ordinary. But, my co-host for the shower has a friend that does beautiful cakes (another of her cakes is seen in this post) and we just knew that we needed a Mandie cake to make this occasion extra special. Unfortunately, my picture isn't crystal clear and isn't going to do the cake justice — but here it is anyway and it was just perfect.

Working from a photo of the invitation (here), Mandy duplicated the colors and theme right down to the shape of the bird and the style of the font. She even took the bottom of the Mat Stack 3 focal point and turned it into a diaper shape which you can see part of on the left side of the cake. And that isn't all that's special about this cake. Our neighbor Teri was diagnosed with celiac disease as a child and maintains a gluten-free diet — so the top layer was a gluten-free chocolate cake. It would've been a crime to have a cake this pretty that the guest of honor couldn't taste! The bottom layer was an almond white cake. Mmmm. So, so tasty.

And now, since I'm still trying to get through the Oregon pictures, I thought I'd show you a few from the morning of my third day there. That was high school reunion day. The day started with a tour of our high school.

Now — my high school looked nothing like this when I went to school there. Back in the day it was a one-story stucco building shaped kind of like a squared-off "O" with a courtyard in the center.

It certainly didn't look anything like this inside.

And — it surely didn't take advantage of any views. (I just love looking out a window and seeing the foothills or mountains on the horizon.)

We didn't even have our own football field. We played our games at the stadium on the local college campus.

 
But — while we didn't have lots of the fancy-schmancy amenities that this newly remodeled building has — we did still have fun. And we made some good memories. Like winning the state basketball tournament. Now... that was fun with a capital F-U-N!

So — the tour was a chance to relive some of those memories. To reconnect with old classmates. And even some old teachers. Like the one in the turquoise jacket above. Oh... wait... that's my mom. Actually, she was one of my teachers, too. :)

And here we three are... my mom, me, and my brother.

 
And the guy in the background on the left? That's Armando. He spent two years worth of choir classes trying to teach me to wink from across the room. And I still can't wink. I think I'm hopeless... Oh, just a minute...

;) 

haha. I guess a virtual wink is as good as it'll get from me!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and listening to my rambling. I've still got a couple more baby shower posts to do... and lots more Oregon pictures. Sure hope you're not tired of all that yet, because I plan to be back with more of it tomorrow. See you then!

Baby Banner & Retraction

Let's do the retraction first... really, more of a clarification... so the entire family is not confused... or maybe so they can confirm in their minds that I'm always the confused one. Well, guess what. Yesterday was not my mother-in-law's birthday. In my haste to not be late, I was... you guessed it... early. By a day. Today is her birthday. So — everything else I said yesterday is still true. I love and adore my mother-in-law. Now — maybe by being the first to wish her a happy birthday I've secured the spot as favorite daughter-in-law. Haha. Just kidding. That spot's already secure... I'm the only daughter-in-law. :) So — Happy Birthday again, Mom Hayes!

Now, let's go back to baby shower stuff. Another of my inspirations for shower decorations came from Kelly Lunceford. She makes beautiful banners for her home and I simple followed her tutorial (here) to make one with the baby's name. I hung it between the bookshelves in my living room — over the area where we were putting the gifts.

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It's kind of hard to see here, as it just blends in with the colors on the painting. (Nice of Teri to choose colors for the nursery that match my house so well, wasn't it?) Here's a closer picture.

This was quite fun to make; Kelly's instructions made it so easy. 

And here's an "action shot" from the shower.

What I really can't wait to show you is the cake. But I'm saving it for another day. You won't be disappointed... :)

AND TELL:  patterned papers from my stash; glittery chipboard letters are from K&Company (Twinkle Type 2-1/2"); buttons are from Papertrey Ink (Ocean Tides, Dark Chocolate); large eyelets are from Making Memories; ribbon is from Michaels; also used a Martha Stewart bird punch with a scrap of turquoise cardstock.

Now — how about a few more Oregon pictures? Here are some more of my mom's yard. (Click on them if you want to see them bigger.)

I don't know how she keeps it so nice when she's surrounded by wheat and grass fields. Especially when harvest begins...

 
because it is a dusty, dirty business...

And, one more picture — just because I love it... the neighbor's horses in the fields with the Coast Range in the background.

 
Ahhh — I feel peaceful just looking at it.  

Well, that's it for today. I have a few more days worth of baby shower projects and a few more days of Oregon pictures... plus tomorrow is the monthly Papertrey Ink Blog Hop that I'd like to participate in if I get the chance to whip up a paper bag project of some kind (this month's theme). So — thanks so much for stopping by... hope you're having a great day! 

Perfection is the Enemy of Good Enough

That is what kept going through my head all Saturday morning as I was getting ready for the baby shower that my neighbor to the left & I hosted for my neighbor to the right.

I have real perfectionistic tendencies. But I do things at the last minute. But I like things to be perfect. But I don't like to do things over. How in the world can I live with myself? (haha!)

Anyway, the shower turned out really well.  So — instead of a card or other papercraft project today, how would you like to see some party decorations? (Hopefully you're cheering, cuz that's what you're getting!)

I showed you the invitations earlier (here). They were designed with the baby's nursery in mind. It has a chocolate brown accent wall embellished with a white tree decal and turquoise birds. I patterned the whole shower theme around the nursery decor, adding in red for a little pizzazz.

Remember the spray painted items that I showed you in the previous post? Well, one was pretty obviously a frame. Here's what it looked like when I bought it.

And, I didn't actually buy it... I found it on the clearance shelf at Tuesday Morning. It looked just like you see here — no glass, no backing — which was perfect for what I wanted, but it had no price tag on it. I found another frame that wasn't quite what I wanted but was marked down to 99 cents. When I took both to the cash register she charged me the 99 cents for the one frame and then just gave me this one for free — all the while cautioning me that it was on the "last chance" table so I wouldn't be able to bring either frame back for a refund. Like I would drive all the way over there to get $1 back. Not likely. I was pretty happy to get the two wood frames for $1.07!

Unfortunately my picture isn't very good, but after a little sanding, priming, and spray painting, I fashioned a wreath of sorts to hang on my front door on the day of the shower. (Next job may be to spray paint the magnetic hook with black so that it blends in with the door better...)

Since I couldn't seem to get the invitation to hang in the center of the frame (and I didn't have a lot of time to mess with it), I just used my Cricut to cut a flying bird from blue glittery cardstock in an attempt to balance out the design. The bird was adhered with temporary glue dots. After the shower I untied the bow, removed the invitation and the glittery bird, and tucked the frame away until the next party. I'm thinking that for awhile anyway, I'll use it to showcase party invitations on the front door — that way guests will always know they're at the right house!

My other spray painting project involved army men. You see, when the nursery idea was starting to come together, the baby's father was concerned that it was going to be too girl-y for his little boy. So — I decided I should add something that completely says "macho boy" to the party decorations. I wanted a bag of plastic monster trucks or something with big tires since the dad used to participate in some kind of driving thing in vehicles with big tires and 4-wheel drive, but I guess my dollar store doesn't sell those by the bag — so army men were the next best thing. 

Of course, they had to fit the color scheme, though. :) They were a real hit staging battles down the middle of my tables. And the cardstock polka dots were the idea of my California sister-in-law who just so happened to call me as I was in Lowe's pondering spray paint. Great idea, Kris!

In my last post I also showed you a photo of some sorry looking origami paper cranes. I made them out of cheap gift wrap that I had cut myself — um... apparently not quite square. I almost didn't use them, but then decided to string them together and...

I think they look pretty cute suspended between my kitchen and dining room.

Another sneak peak type photo that I showed you was of tissue paper poms. I made these from the directions on Martha Stewart's website (here). My tissue paper did not have the same dimensions as hers (silly me, thinking that tissue paper must be a standard size), so my largest poms need a little more "poof", I think. But they worked fine. Here they are inside, flanking the area where we put the gifts.

And here are some outside, giving further indication that this is — without a doubt — the party house.

 
I have a lot more shower pictures that I'll show you over the next several days. In fact, it may just be baby shower week here on the ol' blog. At least all of that stuff is already made and photographed. Because — I must say, I'm exhausted.

But, I hope that between getting ready for a new school year and conquering some of the messes that I've made over the past week while obsessing about baby shower decorations... well, I hope that I'll have some time to make some new things. Maybe some cards. Maybe I'll even get to do some challenges. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

And for you, I'm hoping for a week filled with all the things you love to do. Enjoy!  

Baby Shower Invitation

 
My neighbors to the right are expecting their first baby and my neighbor to the left and I are hosting a baby shower. I was in charge of invitations.

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The colors and motifs were inspired by the mama-to-be's description of the baby's nursery — and, just to show you that a finished card can end up looking nothing like a card that it is used as inspiration — I patterned the design somewhat after this letterpress card.

Since I wanted to print the party information directly onto cardstock, I used brown for the cover and white for the inside/back.

I was fortunate to find a free font that was sort of similar to the font Dawn used in her Scattered Showers stamps set. Well, I guess the main similarity is that the bottom hump of the B is smaller than the top — but that was enough for me. I found it here.

And, I did sign the back of the invitations, too. Just in case you were wondering. 

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf, All Booked Up, Round & Round, Scattered Showers, Through the Trees) and Stampin' Up (Berry Christmas); cardstock is PTI (Dark Chocolate, Stampers Select White) and SU (Tempting Turquoise); ink is SU (Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Craft White); also used PTI's Mat Stack 3 die, SU's Merry Details die and 1-3/4" circle punch, DMC embroidery floss #3845, and Stampin' Stuff Detail White embossing powder.

I've been taking a ton of pictures while I'm here visiting my mom and brother in Oregon — but since there are so many and since I'm in a bit of a time crunch here (gotta get ready to go to the Monday night concert in the park), I'll just show you a snippet from today.

There was work to be done — and I volunteered to do it.

It's a messy job.

 
And one thing about this kind of work — it begets more work...

But, I have a feeling the rewards will be sweet. Pie? Cobbler? Jam? Time will tell. :)

Now I've gotta dash. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to talk to you again soon!