Wine, Cheese & Chatter - party invite

My friend Sue is having a Wine and Cheese Tasting Party at her house and of course I jumped at the chance to help out. I had a few ideas in mind for the invitations and she let me run with the idea of something simple like an invitation that looks like swiss cheese. I love the simple look of the invitation because it speaks to the sophisticated type of party that she is trying to create. The invitation sets the stage for the party and I think the simple black and merlot colored font is the icing on the cake. All we need are merlot colored envelopes and they are all set to go off in the mail.

To create the swiss cheese look, I used two different sized punches including the standard paper punch and then a 1/2 inch punch. My hand got quite the exercise with punching, and punching, and punching a few more holes in the invitea. Not only did I get the invitations done, I also have a big pile of confetti too. Hmmm......what could I do with that?

Rock - A - Bye - Baby Card Creation

It's kind of unusual for me but I've been lovin making cards more than scrapbooking lately. Is it a phase? Am I just growing bored? Or is it that it seems that most of my pictures are already in scrapbooks? Well, ok, not all of my pictures but darn close it seems. I think we need to go on vacation so I can do another album?!?! (Hint, hint - honey)

We are having a surprise baby shower for one of the girls in my department at work who is about to have 'Irish twins'. Yup, 2 babies in 11 months, after a long battle of getting pregnant with the first one! It's funny how things can happen but I'm so very happy for her. When making plans for the shower, I jumped at the chance to make the card from the department. I had a lot of fun making the card and I hope she really enjoys it.

Supplies Used:

• Stamps - Nursery Necessities
• Paper - bashful blue, chocolate chip, so saffron, patterned paper (SU)
• Ink - chocolate chip
• Other - bazzill ribbon, round punches, star punch, chalk ink, glitter pen

Note: Most supplies/products used are Stampin Up.

Bedroom Decor Inspiration

One of my favorite websites to visit for decorating inspiration for our home is http://www.hgtv.com/ and in particular the Rate My Space section of the website. I really enjoy cruising through and looking at how others decorate the various rooms in their house and you can leave feedback and rate their rooms as well. It's also a great way to ask others for their opinions and they are not shy about providing it! I've posted pictures of our basement/family room, bathroom, and living room. I've gotten good ratings on the basement and bathroom but not so much on the living room. While I got lots of feedback I could use, others I think just like to be negative and they typically are the one's that aren't brave enough to post pictures of their own rooms - go figure.

I've been working on our bedroom and most recently found the perfect lamps for the nightstands at Homegoods and hung curtains and artwork. The last step is really to find the perfect bedding, which I still haven't been able to manage and then some last minute accessorizing. My criteria is simple - needs to be affordable (not easy), washable (for Tanner), and have a pattern that I love (nothing frilly), and still on the neutral side with a small punch of color.

Since I'm in the "finish that bedroom" mode, I thought I would share a few (ok-16) bedrooms that I really like for different reasons. I hope you find them inspiring too.

Look at that ceiling - breathtaking.

Love the bedspread with the ruching and I already have that circle pillow.

Headboard is beutiful and almost as good as my DIY headboard!

Simple and well balanced.

I love everything in this room. The bedding, chandelier, headboard, lamps, bench, and monogramed pillow.

The ceiling - need I say more? Oh look at that view!

I like the neutral colors and the black. Very pulled together but not too matchy/matchy.

Ok, I LOVE this bedding which he purchased at Dillard's. I searched the website high and low and couldn't find it. I really like the Damask design and it's light blue - exactly what I want. Any suggestions on where to get something similar?

The touch of green in the pillows and artwork I really like. Subtle....

This picture doesn't give the room justice - the other pictures show the details and this gentlemen (yes men sure can decorate) changes the room every season.

Did you notice the lighting under the bed? They used rope lighting and attached it with x-mas light hangers and you have instance lighting ambience.

Like the punch of green.

Love the bed - way out of my cheapskate price range. Also the comforter is perfect once again.

Stripes on the wall and crown molding.

Love the rug, throw blanket and artwork.

Leather bed, beautiful lamps, and punch of blue elegance.

Another well balanced room about the same size as ours.

I hope you enjoyed my tour de bedrooms courtesy of Rate My Space. And if your interested in checking out some of the rooms I posted just click here. I hope your bedroom is a relaxing retreat for you but if not, dive in and look for some inspiration to get you started.

Night night.

Dirty Dancing and Patrick Swayze

I remember when the movie Dirty Dancing hit the big screen. My friends and I ran to the movie theatre and there wasn't an empty seat in the entire theatre. This movie made me think that I too could dance (maybe even fall in love) and I quickly learned every word to every song in that movie. We even attempted to learn the dance moves from the movie in my basement but the "lift" move didn't go so well - let's just leave it at that.

While I am grateful that Patrick is no longer suffering, we will all miss seeing him on the big screen. RIP, Patrick Swayze.

P.S. If you are looking to remember that final dance, just click here.

Viva Las Vegas

I'm heading out of town for the week for work so I won't be around until the weekend. I won't forget you while I'm away and I hope you don't forget about me. Check back soon..... unless of course I hit the jackpot in which case the blog will be on an extended vacation as will I.

Remembering September 11th

What are you doing right now?

What were you doing on 9/11/01?

Have you forgotten?

It wasn't very long ago......

that you received a wake up call.

Do you think the wound has healed?

We will always remember all of the men, women, and children that tragically died on 9/11. Hold your loved one's extra tight before you go to sleep tonight and never forget 9/11.....

Blogs I Adore - Just A Girl

Chris from Just A Girl is like the girl next door that you just love to be around and her blog is plump full of fun things to try yourself. What I love about Chris is that she blogs about projects and stuff that in real life that we often struggle with. For example, I was rolling on the floor laughing when she posted pictures of her husband trying to fix the washing machine - he took the pieces apart and ultimately Chris ended up with a new washer. I thought for a moment that it was my hubby in those pictures, take it apart, and pray it gets reassembled properly without too much damage.

In addition to blogging about life, Chris blogs about DIY projects, shares others creative talents with her readers, is very organized (love it), and is thrifty to top it off. Were we separated at birth? We really have similar styles and I feel at home when I read her blog each day regularly. (Cool I just had to try this new strikethrough feature and it really worked). 

Here's a few projects that you may enjoy.

Look at this armoire that Chris refurbished. If you are wondering how she made this go from out-dated to chic, then check out her blog for details here. Here grandparents were kind enough to let her take a few things from their home and I love how this family treasure can look at home in her more modern house.

Don't you love the new hardware? Those drawer pulls are gorgeous.

Then when she organized craft supplies for her kids, I thought wow - she can make recycling soup cans even better by using them to hold pencils, markers, and paint brushes. I love how it's all in one place. I like the idea for my scraproom.

I love this very orderly area of the house where the organization station resides. The vinyl calendar that she purchased from SayItWithStyle on Etsy has me very interested in making my very first Etsy purchase (hard to believe I know). How perfect especially since I constantly am erasing and crossing out things on the calendar as things change.

In addition to the calendar, she has baskets for all of those school papers, library books, and miscellaneous receipts that need a home when you come in and/or out of the house and don't want to forget anything. I just love this and only wish I had a mudroom or larger entry way so I could have a command center organization station.

Last but not least, isn't that artwork soothing and gorgeous for a bathroom? I love it and can you believe that she made it herself? I love how simple artwork can be if you branch out a little bit. Stop buying artwork, especially if you change your mind a lot like me, and put your creativity to work. It's so much more meaningful to look at art you created versus purchasing it.

I hope you visit Just A Girl's blog, I can guarantee you fill find something to tickle your fancy.

Another Birthday Card Creation for Mom

A month ago my mother turned 60 years old and we threw a party for her with family and friends to celebrate. Life was a little crazy at that time so I wasn't able to create a birthday card for her and I just couldn't buy a card from Hallmark for her (she would have been disappointed). So the last few weeks have been spent catching up and getting ahead with my card-making.

This is the card I created for my mother. This was a bit different for me because it mostly was made with cutting of paper and not so much stamping. She loves purple and likes bold designs so when I came up with this idea I knew she would love it.

Can you see the butterflies are 3-dimensional? It's hard to see in the picture but I cut clear acrylic paper and used it to add some dimension. Unfortunately because it's clear it's not getting picked up in the picture but you get the idea.

Another Day at the Ballpark

Dave and I celebrated Labor Day at Miller Park in Milwaukee and watched the Cardinals beat the Brewers 3-0. We had fantastic seats and the new camera lens allowed us to really get some close photos of my hubby's man crush, Pujols. As you can see, we got tons of pictures of him and I can see why Dave likes him so much, he is one talented man!

Dave sporting his Cardinals gear.

You can't see it well but David got me this Cardinals shirt a while ago and I finally got to wear it.

Beautiful stadium.

Batting practice is the place to go. Dave only wished that was him on the field with Pujols!

I liked this view as well :)

He is concentrating after a few swings.

Finally, Holliday was nice enough to come over to give some autographs, could we be any closer? Too bad we forgot the Sharpie but we let the kids get the autographs to avoid getting mobbed by all of the kids - they are serious about autographs!

Finally some action, we were in the 9th row next to 1st base so lots of pictures of Pujols once again.

Another one of Pujols (sorry but hubby loves him).

Last but not least this is when some runs were finally scored. We were so excited that we weren't able to keep the camera steady and the anti-shake lens didn't help on this shot but you get the picture. It was an awesome day spent with the hubby.

Cardinals 3

Brewers 0

CrossTown Classic

On Thursday my department at work headed downtown to watch the CrossTown Classic from the rooftops. While I am neither a Cubs or Sox fan, it was a great day with perfect weather, a breathtaking view, and time with my favorite peeps. We got to bring a guest so my hubby came along and also I was able to bring two of our friends, Josh & Michelle too. I've never watched a game from the rooftops but it was a lot of fun and the food was fantastic.

Me & My Baby
Jeff and his Kids

Josh & Michelle

Sarah

Susan and her Son

Cherly and her Hubby

Sue & Kris

Me & Michelle

David & Josh