Bridal Shower Favors

I had come across this post about making your own bags. I thought it was a marvelous idea and experimented with it a bit before the shower came about.

We had discussed a lot of things about the favors we'd like to give, but it almost always came down to lotions or something like that ... so we found a large bottle of liquid hand soap for a good price and decided to go with it. We could have just wrapped some ribbon around the pump handle and handed them out, but I thought of the gift bags and how we could stamp them to match our invitations ... and we went with it. About half-way through I realized I was crazy and we had undertaken a huge project, but we persevered and I think the end result was worth it. I hope the people in attendance appreciated the HOURS we spent slaving over these!

First, the dimensions from the original design needed to be modified to fit the tall and narrow liquid soap containers. These bags were made with one piece of 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock. I scored the 11" side at 1" for the inside flap and then made the sides 2.5" for a square bag. The bottom flap (scored on the 8 1/2" side was approx. 1.5")


After scoring and folding the paper, we stamped the outside and the top of the inside (visible when looking in the bag) with the CTMH Friendship Blessing flowers that we used for the invitiations. We used coordinating colors.

After the bags were stamped, we put silver eyelets in for the ribbons and assembled the bags using strong adhesive.

We stamped tags and put a matted mini photo of the happy couple with their names and the year on it.

Coordinating ribbon (from Walmart) was cut and attached, soaps and tissue papers inserted and we were done!

Bridal Shower Invitations

As promised, here are more details about the bridal shower projects (you may want to check previous posts for more information).

Once again, I can only put 5 photos in one post, so let me know if you have any questions as I'll be doing several posts instead of one long one. I also didn't take as many photos as I would have liked if I were to create a tutorial ... but it's too late to go back :)

We'll start off with the invitations.

First, I cut and 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of white cardstock in half making a 4 1/4 x 11" strip. I then scored at the 1" and 5" mark resulting in this tri-fold design:
Then, I scalloped the edges of the flap.

I printed out the text of the invite on bright colored cardstock and cut matching photo mats.

I had created this image of Beth and Ben by erasing the background from a photo, increasing the contrast and brightness and decreasing the saturation. I then layered several bubbly hearts in different colors and put the 'You are invited' text over it all with a drop shadow to make it pop. These were printed out at my local Walmart in 4x6 size and trimmed square.


We then set up a huge assembly line of bridesmaids with two of us stamping the white shells and the other two putting all of the pieces together, punching holes, cutting ribbon and tying them closed.

The end result:


Gorgeous custom invitations in bright, vibrant colors!

Products used: white cardstock, bright cs from Walmart, big scalloped scissors from Dollar Tree, CTMH ink in Watermelon, Bubblegum, Sunflower, Citrus Leaf, Ocean, Hydrangea and Sunny Yellow, CTMH acrylic stamps: Friendship Blessings, Autumn Leaves stamps: Swirls I, misc. ribbon.

Wedding!!!

My sister is now married to the man of her dreams. The wedding was BEAUTIFUL! Beth chose a fantastic location, the flowers were so beautiful and the attitude was elegant, yet relaxed. Those two really love each other and their friends couldn't be happier for them!

Here is a wallpaper I created for my laptop (click to enlarge):
It's also a way to display more pictures here on my blog :) If you don't know, that's my family. From Left to Right: my youngest sister, my brother, my son, my mom, my dad, my sister (the bride), my new brother-in-law, my daughter, myself, my son, my hubby, my sister.

Imagine the family gatherings when everybody is married with children ... we'll have to rent a hall!

So, now the wedding is over and maybe things will settle down ... or not. We're gearing up for the holidays!

My Favorite Things

Hello All!
We've been dealing with illness in our household, but it looks like we're over the hump.

Before I post the details of the things I created for the wedding shower, I'd like to share a digital layout (or wallpaper) that I created.
I've been following the Page Maps Blog by Becky Fleck and she posted this challenge.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to do an actual layout - especially since this isn't my normal size, but it was perfect for a new computer desktop wallpaper. So, this is what I whipped up:It's currently brightening up my desktop at this moment :)
I've considering entering the wonderful world of digital scrapbooking, but haven't gotten there yet. All of the elements used here were created by me. I made the background by layering several stock images (blue painted brick wall, lace fabric, sheet music, parchment paper), adding photos (Alien Skin Splat Edges - dots on large black and white photo) and text elements. The fonts used are Baby Kruffy, Croobie, CK_Ali's_Handwriting and Algerian for the brackets.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer :)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It makes me happy!

Bridal Shower Bliss

My sister is getting married!

Things have been very busy around here. The wedding is only six weeks away. My future brother-in-law, his friends, my dad and my hubby have been working feverishly to prepare their future home. My mother and sister are busy with wedding preparations. My other two sisters and a close family friend are the bridesmaids. We've been working very hard on the shower for the last few weeks and yesterday it went better than I had hoped.


We did a lot of handcrafted items.

We made all the invitations by hand:
We had a bright theme. The invitations were stamped pink, yellow, orange, green, purple and turquoise. I'll post some more pictures of these later - they only allow me five pictures per post :)
On to the favors:

We made paper bags hand-stamped with the same colorful flower stamp. Each one had a matching stamped tag with a mini picture of Beth and Ben. Inside was a bottle of hand soap.

These are matching photo mini-booklet cards. They are so cool! I will definitely have to post more details later. As you can see, they match the stamps of the invitations and the favors.
I gave one to Beth and have plans for the others ... gifts for bridesmaids, mother, mother-in-law, grandma, etc.

Hope you enjoyed the few pictures :) Now it's time for wedding crafts!

Page Maps Contest

Here's my entry for the Page Maps Blog challenge. I have almost zero hope of winning, but I wanted to do it anyway. It's often nice to have a boost to create something.

Here's the inspiration sketch:



And here's my take:
I love this picture. It's of hubby dearest being playful with some wisteria.
The green paper is from Making Memories Travel collection. I used my Autumn Leaves Swirls stamps, CTMH Big Paper Flowers, K&Co Fabric Brad, CTMH jewel flower, green ribbon and an assortment of alphas including Basic Grey, Making Memories mailbox letters, MME Bohemia Chipboard and Making Memories tiny stickers (so cute).

You can't really tell by the picture, but the texture is pretty cool. I have the textured cardstock, the flowers and jeweled brad and plenty of 3-D stickers. I created a pretty cool effect on the 'U'. It now has a felt-like texture. I inked the original brown letter with green ink. I put a little white ink in the embossed areas and then distressed it while the ink was still wet. This rubbing created a unique feel.

I know it's simple, but I like it that way. Right now it's on my fridge, but I think I'll attach a ribbon hanger and put it on my wall. I like it just that much :) I hope you enjoy it too!

P.S. I plan on posting the next few days about my sister's shower. She's getting married and we did a lot of crafting. I was super inspired.

Baby Book - Page 52 & 53

Well, I was wrong. Here's the latest layout I've done for Justin's album.
It's based off of one of Suzy's sketches.
I used Miss Elizabeth papers, flowers from Joann's, ribbon from Walmart, brads from CTMHy and my favorite metal letters :)

Baby Book - Page 51

Hello all,
I've had several computer challenges and a very busy summer, but I'm back :)

See how big baby Andrew has gotten? He's 3 months now. I'm thinking I might want to start his album even though I haven't finished Justin's or started Samantha's because I don't want to forget these precious moments. I love him :)

This is my last post for Justin's baby book and then I'll start posting some other projects I've finished or are in progress.

Here's the last layout I've done for Justin's book. Just some misc. photos that I like :)

Baby Book - page 50

Lil' Dude
These pictures are from Halloween night 2004. The church had a hoedown themed costume party (notice all the plaid).

I used textured cardstock and patterned paper from Keeping Memories (at Joanne's). I sanded and distressed for the various looks you see.

The cardstock stickers are Me and My Big Ideas and I used a Creative Memories red journaling pen.

The sketch is a variation of one from www.PageMaps.com.

Baby Book - Page 48 and 49

Bathing and Eating - Two things baby's must do :)

These two layouts were designed to coordinate with each other in colors scheme, but that's about it.

Bath time! So much fun. Daddy was able to give Justin almost all of his baths so that they could have special time together.
I didn't have much bath themed things, but I did find this Soft Spoken sticker set from Me and My Big Memories. Some Miss Elizabeth paper I had matched perfectly.

For this page, I was trying to find a way to use all the different pictures I had of Justin eating. They were all good, but I didn't want to create a million layouts of the same thing. So, 13 pictures were cropped and laid out in what I hope was an artistic manner. I journaled around the edges.
The paper in the background is Basic Grey and CTMH. Scrap Metal

Baby Book - page 47

ExploreWalking around the lake with our cute little son :)

Leaf paper that I found at LSS that matched this Basic Grey paper perfectly.
Basic Grey bookplate, rubons and K&Co. glitter chipboard title.

Baby Book - pages 46 & 47

Relay 4 Life

I was part of the local cable channel's filming crew that taped the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in 2004. Justin and his lovely aunt accompanied me :)

I used CTMH paper and stickers.

Baby Book - pages 44 & 45

I love it when u laugh & smile

I absolutely love this layout. I had it floating around in my head for a while and it just came together so beautifully!

It took me a while to find the right paper. I had a look in mind and couldn't find the right thing! Who knew you can't find navy paper with medium sized green polka dots? So, I found this awesome blue print from My Mind's Eye at my LLS. The dark blue and green distressed-look paper is from my Close to My Heart Autumn Harvest B&T paper pack and the striped accent paper is the other side of said CTMH papers.

I came up with the sketch all by myself :) I loved these pictures so much that I wanted to really make them pop and the large prints do that.

For the title, I used Making Memories rub-on alphas, jelly-stickers from Wamart (when) and a K&Co. glitter chipboard word (laugh).

You can't see it very well in the photos, but I made circles using brads. I used several colors of blue and green.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Baby Book - pages 42 & 43

Merrily we Glide AlongJustin never really crawled - he glided. He'd much rather stand holding onto something than crawl.

This is CTMH paper, CTMH stickease stickers and a CTMH Cherish layout (slightly altered). I love how the paper has all the colors of Justin's outfits. It's not easy to find light blue and red.
The letter stickers are also CTMH, but the 'Glide' letters are Provo Craft.

Baby Book - pages 40 and 41

Time to Play
Back to posting :) Hopefully I'll have some time to do some actual scrapbooking soon and not just chase after my three kids :)

This layout is of Justin playing before he could walk. Kids are so cute at this age and so easy to photograph :)

I used Basic Grey Color Me Silly paper - retired PP.
I used my Creative Memories Cutting System to cut several circles out of black cardstock in varying sizes.
I was all excited about a Adirondack Paint Dabber in White that I had just got, so I tried to get a specific aged and rustic look on the edges of the photos and some of the paper blocks. It didn't turn out the way I wanted, but it doesn't look too bad.
The arrow journaling block is from Maya Road.

That's it for now. Check back soon because I only have a few more layouts to post from the baby book. Then I'll show you some of the really neat projects I've worked on recently :)

Just to prove I had a good excuse for not posting lately ...

Andrew Timothy was born happy and healthy on Wednesday, May 7th at 8 lbs. 14 ozs.We're thrilled and loving the new baby!

Baby Book - pages 38 and 39

Buell's Orchard 2004

My family has been going for years to a local orchard, Buell's, for their Columbus Day activities. Hayrides, donuts, apples and fun :)
This layout is of Justin's first time.

I used Daisy D's Gypsy Harvest paper.
The layout is based on a sketch from Suzanne Powell.
I used silk leaves from Walmart ($1 a bag) as accents
'buell's' is spelled out using chipboard letters from Making Memories and Basic Grey. I inked them a purple color and then covered them with CTMH liquid glass for the shine. I used a metallic gold marker to add some highlights.
I stamped the other words using my CTMH Doodle Alphabet stamp set and purple ink.
I used two antique embellishments to accent the date and the word, 'fun'.
Add my special pictures and I love this layout!!!

Baby Book - Page 37

Baby DedicationMy sister did this layout.
This is one of the first pages we ever did in September of '04.
I've been tempted to redo the earlier ones, but this is special because she did it - back when we were very new and very bad :) It's her first page ever.

Baby Book - page 36

Page 36
Grandparents

This is Justin being held by some very important people in his life.
Top Left is Kevin's Dad.
Top Right is Kevin's Mom.
Center is my Grandma (Dad's side).
Bottom Left is my Grandpa (Dad's side).
Bottom Right is my Grandma (Mom's Side).
(yes, they're technically great-grandparents ... )
I wanted to highlight these photos since we don't have many pictures of them. The only person still alive that is missing is Kevin's Grandma and I have a picture of her and Justin at Christmastime.

I used some scrap paper I had from the CTMH Heritage collection.
The letters are a bronze color with scroll work. I love them, but Joann's doesn't carry them any more. If you look closely, I didn't have enough 'Rs' so I used a 'P' and drew in the leg with a metallic marker and used liquid glass to add dimension. It's an imperfect fix, but I love these letters!

Baby book - pages 34 and 35

I really like this one.
This is Justin meeting Kevin's family and his cousins for the first time.
Since it involved other people, I was able to go a bit more girly.

The paper is from Basic Grey with some Bazzill cardstock.
The flowers, rhinestones, brads, accessories, etc are from CTMH.
The letters are Scrap Metal with a Basic Grey silver rub-on (can't see it very well).
The ribbon is from Walmart.