Alison Bridal Shower Invitation

The goal with these invitations was to create something simple that was quick and easy to put together since I needed to assemble a large number of them (originally the number was 50, it's now down to 39 - but I plan on making 45 to allow for error.)

After much toying around, I came up with a simple layered look using faux flowers to tie it together (I hate glue - so messy - and this allows the design to have some motion.) Here it is:


*Disclaimer: When I'm trying to come up with a concept I don't measure, use a ruler, take my time making sure stamps are inked correctly and don't smudge, etc. so know that these pictures are not representative of the quality of the final product!

So then I thought I'd reverse the colors and see what happened:


Now to me, the green flower looks weird. I mean, there are green flowers out there, and they are beautiful - I know that Alison was investigating some for her bouquet and such. But here, on this invitation, it looks weird to me.

I never like one group of invitations to be identical - I think it's fun to create a set that you can mix and match components so that every one is a little different. I'm having trouble with the green flowers though - and I don't know if it's legit, or if I've just been staring at them for too long.

So I'm turning to you (my readership of 4!) to help me. I've put together some layered flowers below using both green and pink. You'll have to envision them on the invitations above, but let me know which ones look good - and which are just, well, a little odd!

Cute Photo Display

Per Martha Stewart - her original design for this display was in the February edition of LIVING, but I couldn't find it online to link to it. She used portrait oriented photos, but I had mostly landscape 4x6's floating around so I used the same design length-ways. Worked well to take care of all of those extra prints I had laying around and cover up some bare wall-space in my craft room. Fun!

Getting Started

I thought the best way to start this blog would be to give you a brief run down of the projects I'm currently working on. Many may say that you should focus on one project at a time - but that's not how I function in any aspect of my life! I like to have many projects (sometimes too many!) going at once, that way if I get stuck in a rut I can turn to something else. I'll provide updates on each of these projects as I go along, and I'm sure many new things will crop up along the way as well.


My dear friend Alison is getting married in April, and I'm making the invitations for the shower. Since there needs to be 50+ invites, I'll be playing around with simple ideas that are easy and quick to mass-produce. Her colors are raspberry and lime green, which are really fun to experiment with!


I got married back in June. It was THE most incredible day of my life - with the days leading up to it and the honeymoon afterwards being close behind. To this day, I have ONE page done of my wedding scrapbook. It's pathetic really, I don't think I can talk about it any more... : )


I've been a fan of origami since I worked in school-age child care. Kids, boys and girls, totally dug folding pieces of paper - and as I researched origami projects for them I became a little hooked as well. These are 3D origami hearts - and yes, I know they are black. These are for a special little project I'm working on -- more details in a post coming soon.


Travis and I love our dog. Seriously love her. She can be a royal pain in the ass, but she's like our kid, you know? We got her right after we got married - and I'm obsessed with taking photos of her. I have a mini-scrapbook I'm putting together of her, which probably makes me a big dork, but it's fun all the same.


This project is a little unusual. It's a pinata for Alison's wedding. There will be lots of kids there, and Alison is incorporating different subtle Mexican cultural elements. We thought a pinata would be a great way to occupy the kids. So... I'll be experimenting with paper mache and tissue paper - a lot! Above is a picture of one Alison found that she liked, so I plan to work on a variation of that. We'll see how similar, or completely different, it turns out!

So wish me luck - I look forward to sharing my crafty adventures - and learning about yours as well!