A Girly Grad

Obviously tough enough to play volleyball for her high school, this beautiful grad is also a girly girl. Her mom knew she would want something totally feminine for her graduation announcement instead of the classic, order-from-the-school type. Not bound by the high school's colors, I decided to go with the flow of the pink, black and white volleyball in the photo and the mom approved. The shimmer of the soft pink paper and kitsch paper topped with the vellum made it fun with a touch of elegance.

The Graduates

A sea of graduation announcements have arrived in our mailbox. More than any other year I can remember. High school grads, college grads with their bachelor degrees and master's degrees, and all of them deserving of a celebration. Well, you know me, I think a party should be planned because the sun broke through the fog before 10 am!

Our niece is one of the high school grads this season and her mom asked if I could whip up a simple invitation for the post commencement gathering. I'm partial to the school colors of red, black and gold so it's no surprise I had these yummy red Envelopments envelopes on hand. And a feminine and fun font matches Laura's personality. Congrats to her and all The Graduates!

Quack

He sees me. She's taking a dip. He sees her. She's done swimmin'.

She's getting her feathers in order. He's after her. She's had enough. "Where'd she go?"

Today she showed up! For the past two weeks a male mallard has come to visit but he's always been alone. Less duck poop, that's for sure, but I've wondered about where his lady might be. Hiding out with her ducklings? Trying to stay safe from the coyotes and other varmints? Is she injured? Oh I pondered. Okay, I worried! I was so happy to see her today that I nabbed the camera and tried to be a stealth photographer. Now that I know she's okay they can leave for good. Messy, messy.

Linger Over Lavender

A remembrance of a party. A favor. And this one lingers for a long time and is quite useful. The dried lavender inside the sachet keeps bugs at bay and the quotes of love, life, friendship can inspire. Your closet never looked and smelled so good!

She's Moved Again

It's actually kind of fun to move our daughter even though it's a lot of work. She's got "stuff", that's for sure. And I don't believe she ever dusted the tops of picture frames in the two years she lived in Idaho. But we got to hang out with her A LOT so the clean up, packing and unpacking was worth it. And once again I was able to create a fun "I've Moved" card for her. One of her favorite colors is a golden yellow so when I saw some chrome yellow vellum envelopes in the bargain bin at the paper store I had to buy them and design a card that would be a fun peek-a-boo.

Fiesta!

There are lots of reasons for a party and this particular one is for attaining a Masters Degree in Kinesiology. Congratulations Heather! I'm impressed and proud, and I love her mom's theme to celebrate. I went for a more sophisticated fiesta feel, because it's her MASTER'S for goodness sakes, but the colors are bright just like Heather!

Gone Fishing

This party really tempts me to attend and I'd have to buy an airline ticket to do so. I think it might be worth it though. Out in the country for some afternoon trout fishing, followed by dinner, with some networking thrown into the mix. Maybe the invitation that I created will tempt the invitees to attend. I think it's one of my best yet. Thanks to Paper-Source for the great Lokta Fish paper!

AWOL

Definitely absent with out leave! The past month has flown by and a big chunk of it had me busy doing this ~ packing a U-Haul van.

And this ~ "one last visit" to some favorites haunts of The Daughter.



















And just like when we moved her to Idaho, it was snowing when we moved her to Washington, but not near as bad.

And now I get to work on her "I've Moved" cards! Yeah!

Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back!

Waaaaayyy after high school they re-met. I don't have the details but I want to know them. All I do know is they dated back then, they are in love now, they're getting married, and I got to be the designer of an invitation to celebrate it! What a kick!

david vs. GOLIATH

A party with a theme is almost a must. I'm a sucker for any party, but when it has a theme it really sucks me in completely! And it is a delight to work with people that think the same way I do in that regard. Of course working with someone that lets me create a theme is pretty darn fun too.

David vs. Goliath, a splurge wine tasting. I think this is a fabulous theme, and for an auction item at a Catholic School's fundraiser what theme could be better? Well maybe Let's Turn Water into Wine would be an option but I don't think they'd find much success. They will be blind tasting well-known, good and reasonably priced wines with some that are two to three times the price. I don't get to go to the party but I did get to create the invitation for it. And that was fun.

Tools of the Wire-Hanger Trade

The other day someone asked me if I made these cute little hangers myself. Why yes! I do. And since I'm normally behind a computer creating instead of twisting wire I wasn't sure just what I had around the house that would help me with this new creation. So this is it... aluminum wire, wire-cutters (at least I think that's what they are), needle-nose pliers, a shot glass from the San Diego Zoo, a chopstick, and rockin' in the background I've got Keith Urban's latest Defying Gravity. Man he's good! But a shot glass from the San Diego Zoo you ask? Weird, I know, but when the daughter turned five years old we went to the zoo and in one of the many gift shops we said, "You can pick one item under $5." and that is what she picked. Whatever! It works for me now.

Quote Freak

I love quotes. For the past 10 years I have included a special quote or scripture in our Christmas card. Even for the Boot Scootin' 2007 card I found a horsey quote from Winston Churchill that I felt fit just right. Other people say the smartest things, so I quote their quotes. Brilliant, eh?

I've been pleased with the interest in my sachets on a cute (if I do say so myself) wire hanger so my latest is quotes. Of course. I did have to change "Stop and smell the roses" to "lavender" because it is filled with dried lavender for goodness sake. So Sieze the Day, One Day at a Time!

I Heart Sachets

Hang a little fragrance in your closet! A dried lavender filled envelope, ribbon-tied to a handmade mini hanger is my latest creation. Great gift for bridesmaids, a bridal shower favor, or a baby shower favor with a different quote. But since Valentine's Day is just around the corner it's all about the LOVE! Oh yes, and Michele's chocolate truffles too!

Pick a Plum

Purple and burnt orange. What a unique combination! I had to see this for myself so I perused one of my favorite web sites Style Me Pretty to see what they had there. Why? I got an order for a slew of purple hangers and the bride requested a rust/orange color ribbon. I tried to picture it but just couldn't. Then I imagined the underside of a magnolia leaf and took a gamble that would be right.

I combined a color board and a few French floral trends together with the hangers to make my own sample of this interesting combination of colors. What a striking wedding this will be!

Red Baby, Red

A fun custom order came my way! The baby shower will be a red and white polka dot theme so the request was for me to make the invitations in red and white, which is so fun and different. The paper lanterns and the plates were shared with me by my client and then my mind started to imagine what the rest of the party details might be. Red gerbera daises came to mind and then I saw this photo of red velvet cupcakes. Oooooh! I bet there is a yummy wine with a perfect red & white wine label and black cherry sodas that will look perfect on the bar too. I'm in that mood again!