Just a normal Thanksgiving...nothing unusual here!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! I know it's been a while since my last post, but things have been rather crazy with me starting a new job and all. Anyway, this Thanksgiving, I wanted to share what I am most thankful for.

I'm grateful for wonderful friends and family, for my amazing Evan, Cali and Mercedes. I'm grateful for a roof over my head and good food to eat. I'm grateful for Pinterest. It has actually become something of an addiction for me and I'm not sure if it's a good thing. I'm also grateful for this:

Nothing unusual here. Just some Martha Stewart craft supplies, a boring Thursday afternoon, a little love sprinkled in there, and...oh SNAP, WHAT'S THAT?!

IT'S AN ENGAGEMENT RING! That's right! We're getting MARRIED!!

I hope you're all ready to be completely annoyed by all the fun things I'm doing for our wedding. I can't begin to tell you how excited we are! Stay tuned!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Eat up!

And the Award Goes To...

Forgive the blurred aspects.
Trying to respect anonymity if I can! 

Finally I get to post the pics of Gen's FABULOUS baby shower invites! As you can see, it's a Hollywood themed baby shower. A little unconventional, you say? I say, pshaw! Genesis loves Hollywood and celebrities and I must admit, I join her in this love! ANYWAY...Here's what I did:

Supplies!!!

• Textured Cardstock in White and Red (I recommend getting thicker stuff...I didn't do this as I was in a time-crunch and I was pretty bummed it didn't work the way I wanted it to)
• Red Envelopes
• Paper Cutter
• Scissors
• Laser Printer
• Glue Stick
• Photo Corners in Gold
• Crazy Mad Photoshop skills
• Oh yeah, a fat, happy cat!

Mercedes LOVES bags...

 Ok, design your piece. Go on Photoshop and set up the paper size as A2 Folded. (I'll add the dimensions tomorrow. I'm a little jet-lagged from my cross-country trip this weekend! Yeah, met the boy's mom...so awesome! But that's another story entirely!) I downloaded some free photoshop brushes (also will add the proper credits for those tomorrow as I enjoy giving credit where credit is due) of film strips to use as the background. I also downloaded the official Oscar statue (not sure if this is legal though, but they have it up there for anyone to download...) and tweaked it a tad to make the tickets and the front. The background of the ticket includes a bunch of words about Genesis and her hubby and Hollywood all wrapped up into one. When deciding on text, make sure you include:

• Honoree's name
• Date, Time and Address of the shower
• Names of all those hosting
• Where the parents-to-be are registered
• A way for guests to RSVP (and possibly a date by which they should do so)
• Any special instructions for attire, gifts or directions

And printers...

Now print, my dears! Print away!

Cut out the "tickets" and use a hole puncher on either side to create that "ticket" look. Then glue onto red background and attach adhesive photo corners to use as a frame for the inside of the card.

Front of Card Detail

Inside and Front

 Now insert into envelopes, address and send...oh don't forget stamps!

New Year, New Crafts

I've been told I'm slightly crafty. And I often lose myself in projects (and Michael's/Hobby Lobby/Jo Ann's). Over the past year I've made everything from ruffled shower curtains and wedding shower invitations to Christmas pajamas for kids and a super secret project from Santa (that's right, kids...I've got a direct line to Santa and he commissions projects from me).

I've done so much stuff over the past couple years that I've literally lost track. My friend suggested I start a blog to keep up with all of my crafts and sewing projects and, with some hesitation, I decided it might be a good idea.

As I like to bake, I feel like everything in life works best when you have a recipe to use and my "recipe for success" in the craft corner is just this:

1. A great (and by great, I generally mean AWFUL) Lifetime movie or "My Fair Wedding" with David Tuttera (if anyone knows him...please introduce me. I seriously need to be his friend)

2. A challenging idea (I never do anything the easy way...ha)

3. A lot of time or a lot of wine, although the latter usually makes for some interesting end results

and, finally...

4. My big fat cat to sit on whatever I'm working on. (don't worry, all finished products are de-cat-hairified.)

Meet Mercedes. She likes to get all up in my business.

With all these things in place, I'm ready to sew. Or paint. Or glue. Or whatever!

I'm really excited to share all of this with all of you! I hope everyone enjoys the stuff I'm working on and that you send any great ideas you have my way! I'm always up for a challenge! :)

Come back soon see what I've got in the works for my newest (almost) nephew, Jett Crowder! Can't wait to meet you little man! (but make sure you wait til I've got this stuff finished! haha!)