Mid-Summer Catch Up

Here are some things keeping me busy this summer...
1) Making things, per usual :) One reason I love summer is because of wedding/baby shower season! Scott's Mom and I hosted a bridal shower for his cousin. I was responsible for the card box:

And I got to make 1/2 of a scrapbook for the bride (Teresa made the other 1/2). There is something really inspiring to me about a stack of scrapbook pages:

And here are the actual pages (for the pictures of the bridal shower. Her color theme is teal and purple.) My big thing right now is embroidery- I can't get enough. I've been embroidering anything I can get my hands on. :)

Yesterday was my dear friend Val's bridal shower. I got her some gifts off of her registry, but also embroidered a wedding cake and their initials with their wedding date.

2) Trying to TRY to garden. I successfully kept beautiful lillies alive! (ok, so that doesn't take a WHOLE lot of effort). :) I have like 6 tomato plants outside that may or may not make it. We've had a rough time together. :)

I had to post this picture because of Sugar looking through the window. She's so cute and funny :)

3) Losing weight. I'm trying really hard. The most I've tried in a while. I am starting to tell a difference, and that's one of the greatest feelings in the world. Usually I'm against full body shots, but here is one that I don't totally hate. Part II of this should be that I'm also trying to "find my style" again. I used to feel super hip and cute all the time and had an ample wardrobe with plenty of options. Times have changed and I hardly ever feel like I have the style that I used to. But this outfit was an exception to that. I loved it! Also, I made the necklace that I'm wearing. :)

4)LOTS of photography! In the next few weeks I get to take engagement pictures for two sets of cute couples! I'm excited. I'm going to download a free trial of photoshop elements to see how I feel about it. :) I also got to be the photographer at a graduation event we had at work.

*food photographs appear to be my favorite.

We're having a great summer. How about you?

RIP, RIP.

For those of you that don't know, I grew up dancing and taught dance lessons for several years as well. Dancing, up until recently, has always been a huge part of my life, and this is largely in part to seeing Michael Jackson videos at a young age. My heart feels very sad today after finding out of his passing. He was truly a musical genius and an inspiration to not only me, but millions of others. Thank you, Michael for thinking out of the box, for taking dancing, as it was known, in a whole new direction and for your inspiration that lead to a passion in my life. RIP.

I can't even tell you the emotions I felt when I saw these for the first time...

Custom Invitations!

Hi friends! I got to make A LOT (see above!) of invitations for an upcoming bridal shower my MIL is throwing. I love how they turned out. I'm always up for custom assignments- if you need invitations for an upcoming party, let me know! :)

Word of the day: SIMPLE!

Whenever Laura and I hang out, we do a "word of the day" as a joke. But this, my friends, is no joke. :)

After being inspired by a card by a famous card company which makes nothing but beautiful cards, I came up with a very similar design that I could make at home. I made this card in probably...15 minutes. Cards usually take me a looooong time and I'm typically not happy with the outcome AFTER that looooong time.

Here was the process that took 15 minutes:

1) Cut all paper to size.

2) Print sentiments on cardstock.

3) Adhere all paper together (the only thing I would change next time would be NOT using this glitter paper OR using a stronger adhesive - which I didn't have available!)

4) Stamp using 2 colors of ink over sentiment.

5) Add stickles (very thin puffy paint) wherever you please.

When I showed Scott this card he said, "that looks so professional that it looks like you bought it." What a compliment! Scott's mom, when we gave it to her, said "Did you MAKE this? It's so professional!" All of the above...made my day!

Without further ado, here is the card :)

Promises, promises.

I had a wonderful scrap session with Laura today! Her work is a-mazing. Unfortunately, I got a little hung up on certain details (which is EXACTLY my personality! :)), and so I didn't get much done at all. I was on a mad quest for red letter stickers, every kind that I have (and every store within a 30 mile radius had) didn't work, but a lot of my time was filled with that little adventure.

I brought my pages home to work on them more, feeling ok about that lack of red stickers. Then I realized, halfway through, of course, that I was out of pop dots. So only half the title is done on my Christmas Surp(rise) page. :) At that point, I felt d.o.n.e. This page is very much NOT finished, but I promised to try to post, so I'm doing it. Hopefully I'll have the finished project completed in the near future, and then I'll post that, too.

The other page is even MORE undone, the picture isn't even adhered to the page at this point. But again, I wanted to show you what I got done...even if that amount is teeny tiny. The fun is in the process!

Thanks Laura, for spending the day with me and being a constant inspiration!

FINALLY.

I got my camera to upload this morning. I only have one layout to show you, but, that's a start. I'm off to have a mini-craft day with Laura, so I'll show you my final products when I get home :)

Here's a layout I finished...umm....2 weeks (+) ago...

MORE TO COME! I promise. At least, I try to promise!

I want to show you pictures.

I really, really do. But just when I actually try uploading the photos, my computer won't do it. I don't know what's going on, I'll have to have my trusty husband take a look later.

In other news, I've been miserably sick all weekend, and am finally (thankfully!) starting to feel better. I feel like I missed out on, what could've been, such a fun weekend. The weather was perfect, there were lots of fun things going on and I was stuck at home in the bed or on the couch. But alas, some weekends we must slow down and let nature run its course.

I've come across some beautiful blogs and websites over the last few weeks that I'll share with you now. For a ridiculous dose of inspiration, go here:

http://creativetherapy.wordpress.com/
http://retrospection.typepad.com/
http://lialuvsblythes.blogspot.com/

I hope they inspire you like they've inspired me. I can't wait til the next time I get to spend creating. Today is not going to be that day, I feel my first nap coming on...