Backyard Scrabble Game DIY

start big with a "Z"

the beginning of taping

almost done, just the final white lines

my girlfriends. I forced them to play.

the key to scoring!

the colors of the board match the furniture we have on the patio, duh!

Just taking a break from posting invitations because finally a game was played on my giant Scrabble board and I'm still giddy! When I saw a Scrabble board in a concrete patio while perusing Pinterest I knew my husband wouldn't go for it, but I also knew I needed to figure out how to make this happen in our backyard. Another peruse through Pinterest and I discovered that folks are painting on canvas drop cloths to create rugs. Well surely I can paint a Scrabble board on a painters drop cloth! 

It took me forever. Measuring... taping... painting. Waiting for paint to dry. Taping and painting again. Then stenciling the letters and their point value on 4" wood squares. A friend came up with the idea for the letter trays made of a 36" length of wood with an angled groove down the center of it. Perfect! The tuffets? I found those at Home Depot and they are extremely lightweight. When it's time to clean up just fold up the board with the trays wrapped inside, put the letters in their bag and wait for another nice day to bring it out again.

Thanks girlfriends for playing the inaugural game with me!

Again with the Pumpkin Scarring

The color changed from a light yellow to this lovely orange

This guy is my favorite!

Three years ago I became fascinated with pumpkin scarring. So much so that the next spring I planted my own little pumpkin patch and scarred some of my own. I've learned a few things along the way, and I'm still learning. I've included photos of the day I scarred some of them to give you an idea of how small they are and what color they are at that time on the vine. Fairy tales, Cinderellas, Luminas and Musquee de Provence are a few of the varieties that I planted. I already have seeds to plant for next spring!

Cheers to Father's Day!

My husband is the best father I know. Seriously. He is thoughtful in a way that tells you he has pondered someone's need.  He's incredibly generous with his time and his wallet. He shows his wisdom by what he does and the way he does it. He makes me proud. Cheers to you my sweet Jim!

Thanksgiving Flowers

my first attempt at a chalkboard lettering 'how to' i found on pinterest. love pinterest!

one of my scarred pumpkins

a vintage fire board with chalkboard paint on the back resides on my kitchen island. usually it has my grocery list on it!

My favorite part of a gathering is setting the scene. Food comes in a distant second. Even on Thanksgiving when it's supposed to be all about the food. I am blessed to live where flower markets and growers are plentiful. I spent $45 on flowers, went out in my yard and snipped from our trees and wild grasses in the neighborhood and made three arrangements. And with the addition of the pumpkins from my garden I think it will feel like Thanksgiving at our house. Except for the 70 degree weather!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Scarring, Year Two

Last year was my first attempt at scarring pumpkins and the outcome was pretty darn good, if I say so myself! So I decided to try it again this year with a variety of pumpkins; fairytale, yellow Cinderellas, green as well as traditional orange jack o' lantern type. Oh my scarring was going to be soooo much better and I was going to sell them and make a million dollars. Well, maybe not quite that much. I purchased and planted my seeds and waited and waited for some serious vines to start growing. It seemed like it took forever but flowers did begin to bloom. Flower after flower came and went and no cute little pumpkins. Okay, so there were some but not near as many as last year and I had 3 times as many plants. Apparently I'm still learning how to be a farmer. My meager results from Pumpkin Scarring Year Two are proudly pictured below.

The tiny orange guy in the middle says "seriously?"

This guy is my favorite. A sneaky snail tried to do some scarring of it's own on the back side of it but it survived.

Just after scarring

About a month later. Sadly this little one started to rot within a week of clipping it from the dying vine.

Our Vintage Wedding Invitation... that looks so current!

1981 screen printed invitations!

cocktail napkins and the wedding program too!

this is the front of the invitation

I still love the handmade paper that was used as the 'tissue'

This is a poem from a card that my husband gave to me. We had it included in the program.

Over 30 years ago I laid eyes on the creative works of two women that were acquaintances of my mom and I was completely inspired. I remember wanting to do what Mrs. Pace and Mrs.Campbell did. They combined their talents of graphic design, calligraphy and screen printing and made calendars and invitations and other paper goods that were truly works of art. 

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. As I gaze upon my little box of memories of that long ago day I am more in awe of how fabulous our invitations, made by Mrs. Pace and Mrs. Campbell, were then and still are today. They were ahead of their time! As a young twenty-something I remember being a bit nervous because they weren't engraved, which of course was the proper thing. What would people say? But I knew I loved them.

People often ask me, "When looking back at your own wedding, what would you do differently?" And my answer always is "I'd marry the same man and have the same invitations but I'd change everything else."

Father of the Bride BBQ - The Real Thing

Can I generalize here? Men love barbecue. No wonder George Banks (played by Steve Martin) the father in "Father of the Bride" dreamed of a barbecue for his daughter's wedding reception. My husband settled for the night before event to be a barbecue at our daughter's destination wedding weekend at Sunriver Resort in Oregon. When I was in the planning stage of this event  I put up this post last summer.

The bride saw a yellow and white check tablecloth and the theme was set. I decided it would pop with black and we rolled with it. I think everyone had a ball playing ladder golf and cornhole, chatting it up about the day's activities, eating good food! I have a wonderful son in law who was thoughtful enough to wear black while I wore yellow and my daughter wore white. She is the bride after all!  My husband? Well, he just chose a shirt he feels good in!

All these photos are from our fabulous photographer Braedon Flynn

And the delightful twiggy basket florals are by Allison at Mint Floral

The buttons were a real hit so if you are considering doing something like that for a party of your own I say 'do it'!

 
This girlfriend worked with the bride, lived in the same cities in Idaho and Washington too.

And this guy was a college school friend from California.

I made the cornhole beanbags, stenciling the burlap with the bride and groom's initials.

The photographer caught the "B" beanbag in midair!

These lawn games were great because players can still hold a beverage and toss!