A few nights ago I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my friend and her new baby boy. I love these types of celebrations!
Some party details:
Of course the only photo I took of the food table was before all the food was on it. (I would do something like that – maybe because a half an hour before guests arrived I was in the shower haha). We had the most delicious cheesecake ever (thanks, Amy!!), lemon bars, and chocolate cupcakes filled with whipped cream. Plus, we had Vietnamese Salad Rolls (thanks, Tricia!!) which are so yummy, artichoke-spinach dip, fresh strawberries, fresh clementines, and fresh veggies. Lemon water and Izzes to drink.
(love my Kroger flowers?!)
I made the garland out of craft paper and string. A matching one hung on the mantle.
The food was all labeled with these cute signs. I’m working on making this into a free download for you – I’ll let you know when it’s ready.
I don’t believe any party guest should leave empty handed so everyone took a “glad you came” cookie for the road. (These labels will also be available soon for download)
And, of course, there were candy munchies a plenty (everyone needs buckets of m&ms!)
So that’s what I’ve been up to. I’ve also had a bunch of custom book orders lately – keep them coming! I love custom orders. I’ll post pics soon.
First up is the Valentine’s Day Stripe. I don’t know about you, but my family is a house full of boys and none of them get real exited about pink things. So I designed this one with the boys in mind. The inside is bright yellow. As usual, my sister, Jes, helped me write the inside of this one. Awesome, right? It’s bright, fun, happy and the perfect way to give a gift card or movie tickets or special coupon or a love note or something. I know you have a good idea.
Second is the Valentine’s Day Pink. The inside is putty brown card stock with a coordinating cross hatch pocket. I have limited quantities of each of these so snatch yours up before it’s too late.
My husband and I had our portraits taken at Justin’s studio last summer and the thing that I loved most was for the first 20 minutes of the session, Justin sat with us and just chatted. Not only that, he took notes! I really felt like he wanted to get to know us. So now, the tables turn and we get to know a little about Justin.
Tell us about what you do.
I am a wedding and portrait photographer and I work in the the tradition of a documentary photographer. I don’t photograph landscapes or puppies in a fruit basket. I photograph people.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
When I started, there were a number of photographers that really resonated with me. Gary Winnogrand, Elliott Erwitt, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus. I still love their work and go back to it again and again. It never gets old. I’m also inspired by music and really, anyone that is performing at the top of their game. I love to see work of any kind that is fresh and original and unlike anything else.
What motivates you to keep at it?
I honestly don’t know what it is inside me that compels me to make photographs. I’ve tried to analyze it, and come up with a reason why I do this rather than playing the guitar or write poems, because I’d like to do those things, too. But I don’t. I make pictures, and I love doing it. It never gets old for me and while I’ve thought about this a lot, I’ve never been able to come up with a reason why I do it. I moved by it. That’s all I know.
What is one thing you are looking forward to?
One thing that I always love, is to go into somebody’s house, and see my work hanging on the walls. It’s nice, because I feel like they are getting enjoyment and pleasure from something I created. So I’m looking forward to more of that as the years go by.
Are there other talents/skills/hobbies you hope to add to your repertoire?
One of these days, I will learn to play the piano. Mark my words.
Hooray for Tutorial Tuesday! Still January = still posting tutorials about letter writing.
When I was in elementary school, I did some kind of summer class at the library and that is where I learned how to write with invisible ink. Thankfully, I tested out my memory of how to do this and it worked. So I can pass it on to you.
I did this with my almost-four-year-old yesterday afternoon and it was right up his alley. He drew monsters for a few his friends. I’m thinking all of my valentines will have invisible messages this year. Think of it: a hidden love letter!!
SUPPLIES:
+ paper (the lighter colored, the better. The red construction paper pictured here didn’t work as well as the light yellow. Test your paper before doing your whole project)
+ lemon juice
+ q-tips
+ something hot (candle, match, 150-watt lightbulb, iron)
1. Write your message.Dip the q-tip in the lemon juice and draw on the paper. You can draw or write a message or both.
2. Let it dry completely.The message will totally disappear. Cool, right?!
3. Heat it up. Using your hot source (I used a candle) heat the paper and the message will slowly start to appear.
So if you are using this to send to someone, stop after step #2 and mail it with directions for the recipient to heat it up. A cute little valentines idea would be to send it with some yummy smelling candle as the gift. I’m thinking I will make a bunch of magic hearts with messages on it and package it up with candles to send out.
Cub Scout Pinewood Derby is this weekend and I am on the decorations committee. I’ll post pics soon. Can’t wait for this!
I’m working on landscape sketches for our side and back yards. Now that the sprinkler system is complete, we can lay the rock path and get the bushes planted. Hooray!
My inspiration board for our master bath is almost complete. I’m itching to get that project finished.
I spent all morning cleaning the kitchen (the kind where I sent the boys outside and they were not invited back in until I was finished). The sparkling clean didn’t last long – we decorated sugar cookies for our Family Night treat. Icing and sprinkles everywhere. Oh well.
One reason I love Valentine’s Day is for all the love letter writing. I think every holiday should include love letters. But then again, you know how much I love letters. So, in honor of our January Letter Writing Tutorial Month, here is a simple folded heart card I thought up yesterday afternoon. The possibilities seem endless with this project – so take it as a template and then add your own touch. As with most of my projects, the papers and supplies can vary from what I use in the tutorial to meet your needs. I usually just use what I have in the studio…
Enjoy!
SUPPLIES
+ 1 piece solid color construction paper (I used 9″ by 12″)
+ card stock (I used brown kraft paper)
+ decorative paper (I used a 12″ square piece of scrapbooking paper)
+ double sided tape or glue
+ scissors
+ pencil
+ xacto knife and ruler
+ bone folder
HOW TO MAKE A FOLDED HEART CARD
PART ONE: The Inside
1. Fold the construction paper in half. Crease with bone folder.
2. Fold in half again. Crease with bone folder.
3. Open up the 2nd fold. Take the left top corner and line up the fold with the center crease from the 1st fold. Repeat on the right side. (Should look like a hat, sort of)
4. Open up the paper and refold to the hat shape, this time reversing the folds so they all go inside (this sounds more complicated than it is… follow the pics)
5. Fold in half again.
6. Use your ruler to measure out how big you want your card to be. Mine is 3.5″.
7. Draw a heart shape.
8. Cut through all the layers. When you open it up, there should be 4 hearts.
PART TWO: The Covers
9. Use your folded hearts to measure and cut 2 squares from your card stock to be the covers. If you want to use the card stock as is for the covers skip down to PART THREE. I wanted to cover mine in decorative paper.
10. Glue or tape (I used my trusty tape dispenser for this project so I wouldn’t have to wait for it to dry) each bit of card stock to the wrong side of the decorative paper. Trim around the edges leaving about 3/4″ around the card stock. Fold over and secure the edges to the card stock (this step is a simpler version of step #3 in the accordion book tutorial)
11. Cut 2 squares from the decorative paper that are 1/4″ smaller than the covers. Tape these to the covers so all the card stock is hidden.
PART THREE: Insert the folded heart into the covers
12. Fold up the hearts and cover one side in double sided tape. Center it on one of the covers and press. Do the same to the other side. (NOTE: When I’m attaching the back cover, I put tape on the heart and then I line up the back cover with the front cover – that’s easier than moving the cover that already has the heart attached to it)
13. Write a love note in it and send it off!
I’ll post a few more pics tomorrow of ways you can personalize this. Leave a comment if you are confused or having trouble with this. You can also leave a comment if you think it is awesome and your life will never be the same. Haha. Just kidding.
And new for The Lightbulb Lab’s Tutorial Tuesday, I have created a very printer friendly PDF of this tutorial you can download (for free!) and save for easier folded heart card making. (I know, you love me)
This is a sneak peek for Britten who ordered one of my handmade wedding guest books from PersonalizeYourWedding.com (my website). She chose a chocolate brown silk cover with butterscotch colored waxed linen thread binding. I added a title page at the front with a photo and their names, wedding date, and location. It turned out beautifully! I used my favorite paper – Frankfurt white – on the inside. It has the most luxurious texture. Really beautiful.
One surprise came Friday when I was ready to ship it off. I was all out of the cellophane bags I typically package my guest books in. Since I was going out of town for the weekend, I really wanted to get it shipped off before I left. I scrounged through my supplies to find something – anything – to make it beautiful.
[Confession: I often spend more time packaging my products than I do making them!]
Then I found it. Muslin. Ha! I made a little pouch for the guest book out of muslin and tied it up with jute twine. Not bad, eh? I’m thinking I should do this from now on. Forget the plastic bags! The muslin pouch really completed the look.
Thanks for the order Britten! Wishing you the best on your wedding day!
Introducing The Lightbulb Lab’s first ever artist spotlight. I am inspired by so many people and I want to share more of them with you. So every week or so I will shine the spotlight on an artist who has influenced me.
I am a calligrapher and my business is called Neither Snow. The types of projects I do really vary. In the last few months I’ve calligraphed words for a greeting card company, wedding invitations, a doctor’s office holiday card, logos, a website, editorial work, envelopes for a fashion house and tattoos (!!!). I also specialize in tracking down vintage stamps and postal stationery for customers (and myself– see tutorial!)
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
In the broadest sense I draw inspiration from the physical, literary and epistolary worlds, which means just about anything. I am consistently enthralled by Joseph Cornell’s artwork, Wislawa Szymborska’s poetry, StoryCorps’ audio documentaries and old letters from other countries.
What motivates you to keep at it?
The feeling of getting something in the mail is inimitable, and it makes me feel good knowing that I can help to inspire that.
Are there other talents/skills/hobbies you hope to add to your repertoire?
The list is long, and includes crewel embroidery, keeping plants alive, canning preserves, basic plumbing and auto repair skills, doing a careful study of apple varieties next fall and learning the Latin names of every plant in our garden.
Hi, I'm Sarah and this is where I showcase my custom wedding guest books, introduce new Book Bound Bindery products and share bits of inspiration. Enjoy!
All photos on this website are mine (Sarah Nielsen) unless otherwise noted.
(love my Kroger flowers?!)
