One of my very best friends is expecting her first baby and although I can't attend the shower I wanted to help plan a little bit. I had received an invite like this a few years ago and have since wanted to copy it. I used this tutorial to help, but they were really easy!
By far the hardest part is getting all the text lined up on the inside. I did that step first and then followed with all the cutting. I was able to cut two invites from each 12x12 cardstock. The last step was stamping the front and adding the little brads!
A very close friend is getting married in just three weeks! I am so happy for her and wanted to get her the perfect shower gift. I followed Homemade by Jill's example and got a little something from the registry and made the rest.
I know Lainey likes to use cloth napkins so I made her a set of four and included my favorite bread recipes to use with the loaf pan from Crate and Barrel.
The recipe cards were made using picnik and this tutorial. You can print them out as 4x6 pictures if you want...
i just made a few burp cloths, appliqued the onesie, knit my fav baby hat, and made a little brag book. these brag books are my new favorite craft. they are kind of like oragami made into a little book.
here it is all opened up...you can see it folded up in the first picture. its kind of confusing to see how it works just in pictures, but you basically fold paper so that it folds all up nice and neat. then you can decorate your book and give it away so someone can add pictures!
this is the back side... see the covers on the ends?? if you all are interested it could probably put a tutorial together someday. its not my own idea...my mom learned about it from a friend and taught me... but i think i can still show you, right??
It has been a ridiculously long time since I've been over here - life has been insane the past few months! Just three more weeks of school and life should be a little more bearable. In the midst of it all I saw this project on Oh Happy Day (one of my favs) and had to do it.
There are three dads between the two of us and I always struggle to decide what to send as a gift, but this was so easy with such a cute impact I went for it. Two of three made it to Portland in one piece, but all were happily received - my step-dad even sent a hero themed thank you note!
can't you just picture the little baby heads in these? OMG its too much...even G said we need a baby to put in there! that man loves him a beanie...doesn't matter if he has to admit he wants a baby to express his beanie love!
the un-umbilical cord hats are for girl twins due to one of my professors. i am SO excited for her. we surprised her with a mini shower this week and it made her so happy. love things like that.
i tried to embellish them with knit flowers...what a pain in the ass. seriously - i won't try that one again! they are cute enough without - love the swirl at the top!
then i had a 12 hour clinical shift on labor and delivery with only 1 delivery - a c-section =(...so i spent the day knitting up the third TRUE umbilical cord hat. that one is going to a sweet baby boy...hope it fits!
and back to my wonky stitches...you just can't deny how wonky these are! what the F? it is DRIVING.ME.INSANE. i think i need to go to the local knitting shop after finals and figure out a solution to my tension issue. switching to continental might be the solution, but it kind of frightens me.
lastly i made this little card for our professor so we could all share our congratulations. my buggy shape leaves something to be desired, but for how annoyed i was getting trying to get my thread tension right i think it turned out ok. i found it here, which linked to here, which was originally created here. whew! that is how blog land will suck you in and you won't come out for three days!
i made these a few months ago and forgot i had never posted about them! now i can't remember how i got to the tutorial for this project, but somehow i found it and knew it would be perfect for Baby M's nursery.
it was really easy to make the little animals. you just print out the template, cut it out, and paint it. you can be sort of sloppy as long as you get the paint all the way to the edges and have a scrap piece of paper underneath. once they dry the edges curl a little, but if you put them in the middler of a heavy book for several hours they flatten out.
the hard part for me was writing straight and in french no less! it took me and my perfectionist self MANY times to be sort of satisfied and that was with giving in and doing one in english. so much easier to write fluidly in a language you know! after i was satisfied i glued the animals on with rubber cement - my all time favorite adhesive! i just love it.
from what i hear they have been successfully framed and hung in the nursery. easy, unique, inexpensive art - awesome!
i was almost successful with my goal of a 100% handmade christmas, but not quite. the last few gifts i didn't even start, let alone finish! it worked out fine though.
Here is a smattering of what i made...
a few needle keepers using one of jenni's as a pattern
**************************************************************************** PS - we made it safely to omaha and are spending some much needed time with jon and jess. i'm still sick, but hoping it subsides soon!!
i mean she didn't like say my name or link to me, BUT she does link to my post on Elizabeth Anne Designs and there is this a PICTURE of grant and I that we used for our thank you postcards!!!!!!!
i heart pictures. i mean i REALLY heart pictures. so i wanted to include pictures of our relationship somehow, but a big slideshow didn't feel right to me. it would have been logistically difficult in our venue and i just didn't feel comfortable.
as an alternative i thought i would make a scrapbook for each of the 19! tables. i felt this was cool on a multitude of fronts (1) people could look at them at their leisure and if they didnt care to look they didn't have to (2) it allowed me another craft project (3) family and friends could take them home.
they were quite basic - cardstock for the covers, on the front cover - machine stitched a flower from our wedding fabric (which i am no longer in love with and would have chosen something COMPLETELY different by the time the wedding came around...), used brads to secure the dates, 4x6 pictures rubber cemented to scrapbook paper.
everything was bound using a technique i learned in 5th grade and kept meaning to use again - its called japanese book binding. i used this link to refresh my memory. it is a very simple way to bind pages, but i would recommend getting an awl to punch the holes. i couldnt find one at michaels and used just a needle instead. my fingers hurt SOOO bad for DAYS. (side note: i saw an awl at joann's this weekend near the sewing stuff - seam rippers and the like - i will purchase it soon!)
here is a little (and kind of embarrassing/weird) video i made to send to my far away bridesmaids so they could see the new crafty addition to the wedding. shows you more details than i have pictures of...
these were a big hit with our people. we ended up just getting to keep one and i'm not even sure who all they went to!
... about the programs. but i'm kind of proud of us (jon and me). style me pretty had three judges for the DIY contest and our program was in the top three for two of the judges. and one judge, Grace from Design*Sponge, voted us number one!
we didn't win - my style is a little, shall we say, rough around the edges, compared to the winner (who's stuff is beautiful)... but i'm still pretty dang proud of us!
now that the invites are out i want to unveil them on the blog.
i LOVE them. i hate kinkos and USPS but i LOVE LOVE LOVE them.
Jon designed them for us and did an amazing job - its just what we (i) wanted. THANK YOU!
they read...
Together with their families Nicole Patrice Miller & Grant Hannigan Simmons invite you to share in a celebration of love, laughter, and friendship as they are joined in marriage.
Then there are instructions to RSVP online...i heart mywedding.com and you must do it, even if i know you are/aren't coming, because i like to get the little email telling me someone RSVPed and leave a comment, k?
i LOVE getting mail and today was awesome because I got my second of two invites to parties for me AND our first wedding gift came. we are so spoiled!
lindsey! you've really outdone yourself this time!
these are the invites she made for my bridal shower and bachlorette party! i love them both. But the stitched one holds a special place since I just made my first stitched cards last weekend. i love that the rings are white gold! too cute!
the bridal shower instructs guests to bring their favorite recipe to share with me! yay! those of you out there who can't make my shower can send me your favorite recipes too *wink*wink* i'm so suzy homemaker-esque these days...
We have three dads between the two of us...I made these cards to tell them how important they are to us. I used a technique Jenni posted about a while ago (can't find the actual post) and got the tie pattern from here. I also used a book binding technique discussed here to make little coupon books (i got the templates from martha here), which is kind of juvenile, but i thought they were too cute!
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