splash!

Well, that was a super fantastic weekend and truly awesome class with Tim Holtz! I'm still recovering. I will be able to tell you more about it later this week.

For now I'd like to share a layout that I did last year. I'm linking it up over at Paper Issues and want to share it with my fabulous readers!

BoBunny's Sunkissed collection was used in this layout and it was produced for a challenge over at ScrapFit while I was a part of their design team. I was a little out of my comfort zone for this, but I pushed myself and came up with this:

The photo of my little guy was taken on a camping trip when he was about 2 years old. Oh how I miss those days...

more life is sweet

I'm linking up another project over at Paper Issues for their Life is Sweet party.

For this project I painted an unfinished wooden plaque light blue and then added chocolate brown stripes.

Banners are a favorite of mine right now, so this project simply could not be complete without a few of those. Buttons are another obsession -- these are antique buttons that I scored at a great little shop on Main St.

Crafty Secrets has some wonderful vintage images. The little girl and cupcake are cut from one of their Heartwarming Vintage sheets. I made the crown out of some old Sassafras papers, a Prima flower, and puffy little circle sticker. The whole thing was spritzed with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and protected with Mod Podge. I finished off the project with some seam binding that I dyed to match the rest of the creation.

There are more than 100 projects linked up at this party so far! You should join in on the fun!

Here are a few more of my favorites:

A juicy round watermelon card over at The Polka Cabana

A fantastic rainbow card by Mandy

Some sweet tags by Carol over at The Answer is Chocolate

This fabulous card by Diana



This adorable card by Peggy

These are just a few of my favorites. Hop on over to Paper Issues to see more fabulous-ness!

buzz on over for a honey of a baby shower

Like my play on words? Yeah... I thought so.

In the middle of March my beautiful new nephew was born.

He is the third boy blessing of my brother's. He and his wife have been trying for a girl and have had a girl name picked out since their first boy was born nearly 10 years ago. Their first boy was mistaken for a girl during an ultrasound... and ever since then, they've had their hearts set on a girl. Not that they don't feel lucky to have their three boys!

Baby JJ was born a little early, and we were lucky to have thrown a shower just one week prior.

goodie bags

My mom and I had a lot of fun putting together this little shindig and I think the guests had a lot of fun, too! It wasn't a shower just for women; entire families were invited and even kids were allowed to participate in our food tasting contests, relays, and races. I was uber-busy playing hostess, so I wasn't able to take photos of the guests making fools of themselves playing games, but I assure you... it was a lot of fun!

gift table

My mom made the arrangement in the photo above. They are actually pens altered with silk flowers. This was a huge hit -- the arrangement was supposed to be a gift for the mom-to-be, however the other guests decided they liked them too much to allow that.

food table

I don't know if any of you have ever had Filipino food. If not, you sure are missing out on some yummy goodness. My mom made pretty much all the food at the party. We were all in Heaven.

close up bee hive cake

There is a delicious Italian bakery that we frequently visit and always get our party cakes at. They created this gorgeous Bee Hive head cake especially for us. Some of the guests couldn't believe that it was a real cake. It didn't take long to convince them, though. Especially once we cut into it!

favors

These adorable little favor boxes were made from the Tucked Away template and all contained gourmet chocolate. I used some Basic Grey patterned paper, Martha Stewart beehive brads, and doilies that I purchased at Miniature Sweet. To finish them off I wrapped them in baker's twine and yellow ric-rac. And of course, these little gifts would not be complete without tags.

favor box close up

It's very difficult for me to complete any project without sewing on it somewhere.

cloth diaper cake

I didn't realize this until I was going through my photos on my computer at home: I didn't get a good photo of the cloth diaper cakes that I made. I made two of these and they were both different from each other. Both of my kiddos were cloth diapered and I finally converted a family member to use cloth -- so happy about this.

Hopefully we'll have more opportunities to throw baby showers... maybe even a girl-y one? (My daughter is the only grand-daughter on my side, so another girl would be welcomed!)