Amber's Bridal Shower

First off, I'm back posting this so that it falls in line with the appropriate date since it's now December.  Secondly, this shower was by far my favorite shower I've hosted so far!  It was beautiful and since the weather was fairly nice, we did it outside.  The guest list wasn't huge, so a sit-down garden party was perfect!  Everything turned out gorgeous!  I must add that Parker and I returned from our trip to the Dominican Republic assuming that my brother had stopped by the house to water the flowers since it was a garden party and it was in the middle of summer… However, Weston had spent the week in the hospital with a round of pancreatitis and our flowers were dead as a doorknob when we got home two days before the shower.  The day before the shower, it poured cats and dogs, so the morning of, Parker and I made a mad dash to Lowes and bought a few flowers to plant last minute.  Talk about a time crunch!  Eek!

Amber and Jarrett's wedding color was cobalt blue, so I designed the decor and invitations to incorporate the blue, plus I added pink and flowers since it was a garden party.  Amanda co-hosted and made a bunch of the food… plus she arrived way early to help me pull everything off.  I think it turned out beautifully, so enjoy the pics below!

Father's Day Pictures

I know I suck at blogging but I've been working 3 jobs - my regular teaching job (which I'm finally on summer break as of yesterday!), a job the state's contracted me for, and a job the county has contracted me for… and while the experience and extra moo-la is nice, it is kicking. my. butt.  Throw in my favorite job of being a mom and a wife, and planning a non-profit gala + church stuff, and well, there's not a lot of free time.

Anyways, I'll talk more about all that life stuff later.

I wanted to show you the Father's Day gifts Ava Kate I made for Parker and our dads!

Well, first, let me just say there is like a 100+ heat index in eastern NC every day of June and that means it is bloody hot.  But we pressed on my friends, we pressed on.

We persevered through the blistering heat even when there were tears from this little diva model and the inspiration for these precious gifts.  And I mean lots of tears… or maybe just sweat.  I can't say for sure.

But throughout it all, we kept our focus on our goal of just 1 good picture for Daddy and 1 good picture for our Granddaddies.  Through all the fifty something pictures we took, we kept waiting for that one smiling face looking at the camera.

At some point we just settled for looking at the camera and not eating the cardboard.

Or maybe even just looking at the camera would be good enough.

Aww.  There!  Just like that!  Hold the pose while I flip the cardboard over to the granddaddy side.

Oh I mean, you could throw it down and turn around and scratch your butt if you'd rather.  That's cute.  Make sure to hike up your dress to get the best scratching technique.  Daddy'll love that.

Oh?  We should do it for our granddaddies' pose too?

Eh, or you know, just sit on it.  That'll work.

PS.  Here's our final products:

Mother's Day Crafts

I have never fully appreciated hand-made, child-crafted, precious gifts until becoming a mommy.  I had no idea how much I'd cherish a baby's silhouette or a little hand print until recently!  I mean that sweet little hand!  So tiny!  The thought of those little fingers wrapped around mine!  Oh gosh.  I am now one of those moms.  I want all the little children's crafts that Ava Kate could possibly make!

Ok, enough sap.

For Mother's Day, we got crafty and made cards and flower pots for some of the sweet momma's in our lives.  They turned out so cute and I'm smitten over them!

Our Date Jar

Since Ava Kate was born, Parker and I have made it a priority to have a date night out at least once a month.  I know once a month doesn't sound like much, but we have plenty of other "dates" together at home or out as a family.  For a while now, I've been wanting to make a date jar and with some left over stuff from Candice's shower, I finally got around to making one!

Making it obviously isn't hard, but coming up with a list of dates was pretty fun!  We divided the dates into 3 categories - date nights out, date nights at home, and family dates.  We color coded the categories and stuffed them in a jar for random picking!  I can't wait to see what we draw first!

Here's a list of our dates:

Date Nights at Home:

• Watch the sunrise.
• Create a bucket list together.
• Do a Pinterest project together.
• Watch our wedding video and look at our wedding pictures together.
• Have a hot chocolate/sparkling grape juice toast.
• Dance on the deck.
• Star gaze.
• Use the fire pit to make s'mores.
• Put together a puzzle.
• Eat pizza in our PJs.
• Play a board game.
• Eat dinner by candle light.
• Give each other good, long massages.

Date Nights Out:

• Dine on the Waterfront in Washington.
• Go to Coffee Shack for live music & dessert.
• Paint pottery at Painted Peacock.
• Recreate our first date by going to get ice cream!
• Go to dinner and a movie.
• Grab a bite at Great Harvest Bread Company.
• Dress up and go out to dinner.
• Try a new place for dinner.
• Go bowling with friends.
• Test drive cars.
• Explore at River Park North.
• Go to a show (i.e. concert, play, etc.)

Family Dates:

• Walk on the Greenway.
• Fly a kite.
• Have fun on a playground.
• Go to a museum.
• Check out the farmer's market.
• Have a picnic.
• Take a trip to the beach.
• Go fishing.
• Make a fort.
• Make homemade ice-cream sundaes.
• Go to the local creamery.
• Go to Yoder's for breakfast.
• Stroll around ECU's campus.
• Go to the library and check out books.
• Attend a sporting event.

What ideas do you have to add?

52 Crafts: #1-12

I thought I'd give you and update on how my "52 crafts in a year" goal is going.  I knew I'd never do one craft a week, and that some weeks I'd do way more than one craft... so I just made it a bucket list of 52 total crafts in a year.  Currently, I'm on #12, but I know with Ava Kate's birthday party, my friend Amber's bridal shower, and Christmas, I'll hopefully have no problem reaching 40 more in the next 8 months!

1.  DIY Candlesticks for the mantel
2.  Homemade Valentine's day cards
3.  Ava Kate's silhouette
4.  Our floating shelves

5.  Fabric banners for Candice's shower (I made 2)
6.  Ribbon garland for Candice's shower (I made 2)
7.  Tissue paper tassel garland for Candice's shower (I made 2)
8.  Paper garland for Candice's shower (I made a total of 16)

9.  Cake banner for Candice's shower
10. Tissue paper poms for Candice's shower (I made 6)
11. Stained our TV chest
12. Get Well Soon card we made for my Grandma after she had a tumor removed from her lung

I have a lot more crafts on my to do list, so I'll update you once I've done more! :)

DIY Silhouette

I want to re-do our gallery wall in our living room, so I've been thinking about some ideas.  One idea that kept coming to mind was a silhouette of Ava Kate.  I really wanted one, so of course, I did-it-myself!

First, find or take a picture to use for your silhouette.  I used one of AK's newborn photos that my awesome friend, Nicki took.

Then, cut out the the head and upper body, and trace it onto black paper.

Lastly, cut out the silhouette on the black paper and frame it against a white background.  Taa-daa!!

As if you actually needed a tutorial to do that... but just to show how easy it was! :)

This is posted on Hope Studio's link party Tutorial Tuesday!  Go check out other tutorials on this cold, snowy day! :)

How to Cut Out Perfect Letters

Do you find yourself wondering how people cut out the most perfectly made letters?  Don't have time to waste stenciling out and cutting up words?  Don't have the right size stencils?  Let me blow your mind.

Before I do, I have to give all the credit to my friend and mentor Nicki.  She taught me how to do this and I'm waiting on her to start a blog... but until she does, let me help you transform your life.  Okay, maybe it's not that serious... but you will be snipping away and creating letters in no time.

First, you need to find the color paper you want.  Then, cut your paper into equally sized rectangles... this is the key to making your letters all the same size.

Now, almost every letter is either vertically or horizontally symmetrical.  You will fold your rectangle appropriately, and then cut away the negative space.

To make round letters look even, fold them in half and cut round corners.

This method will work for every letter except F, G, J, L, N, P, Q, R, S, Z.  Ok, so that's a lot... but most of those are pretty easy to do... 

• Make your F like an E and then cut off the bottom.
• Make your G like a C... but add in the middle part.
• Round off your J at the bottom by folding it hotdog style and then cut away the rest.
• An L is easy.  You can figure it out ;-)
• For P & R just fold the top half in half and pretend you're making the top of a B
• Z & N are a little tougher, but just cut away the negative space without folding it.
• Fold S in half and round off your corners, so they look even.  Then cut away the negative space without it being folded.

Here are some step-by-step visuals:

Cutting out letters like an A, an E, and an I are pretty basic.

Cutting out letters like P is a little trickier, but it's still follows the symmetry principle.  Just fold the top half in half and do your thang.  :)

Some letters don't really follow the symmetry principle... Like an "N."  Don't sweat it though, just cut away the negative space without folding it in half.

Some letters require you to use the symmetry principle to round the corners first, and then cut away the negative space without folding.  Check out the G and the S.

  

Now, get to practicing!  You know you want to! :)  Can't wait to see what you do!

PS.  I joined in with Hope Studios' link party!  Check it out!