You're Invited...

I was chatting with Alice Golden this weekend about how much our "papercrafting for family" skills have waned over the years. Where we would once create elaborate ensembles for a birthday party, we're now lucky to get a proper invitation off.

It reminded me of my last-minute birthday party invitation I whipped up for Savannah's 12th birthday last year. I went to look at it, in my invite file (yes, I have one) and found a few others I took the time to scan and save. Thought I'd share them with you this morning.


We were going to see "Horton Hears a Who" for Savannah's birthday, so I grabbed some images from the HHAW website and created this very quickly on Photoshop. I added a little Ranger Glitter glue to the flower puffs (my only little 'touch') and I was done.



Here's another quick invite (I think they almost always are 'quick'. This is a few years old, but again, found a cute picture of a baby boy, did most of this on the computer, but did punch out a star and staple a little jute to the top. Sometimes my laziness amazes me :).



Another 'oldie'. This was another birthday party for Savannah, Hawaiian style. Both of these images are rubber stamps...way easy. I'm thinking now it would have been fun for Savannah to color in the surf boards, but if I remember correctly, it was pretty last-minute...again. Seeing a pattern here?


This was intented to be an email invite, so I created this in Photoshop. This is my handsome brother, Andy!




I love the story behind this invitation. One of Steve's co-workers was giving his wife a surprise trip to New York for Christmas and asked me to create a fun card to enclose the tickets in. Maybe I should make one for me and leave it on Steve's desk as a hint?



For a while, a few years back, I had a business making custom invitations & other papercrafting items. This was a very custom ensemble I made for a couple from Texas celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows. The ensemble included a save-the-date card, an invitation, a thank you tag (for the favor), knapkin holders (the wreath) and a memory album.



I made this pocket invitation for my son's wedding in 2005. We had a really short planning window, so I had to keep it pretty simple.


My sister-in-law had a bridal shower for Tiffany, but I offered to make the invites.



Lastly, I created a wedding announcement/invitation for my nephew. I did most of the work in Photoshop, but wow, with such gorgeous pictures it was pretty easy.

So, Alice, now that I've reviewed a few of my personal (non-published) creations, I realize that maybe I've haven't been quite so neglectful. Then again, I could always take it up a notch. Savannah's 13th birthday is less than 2 months away, so I'd better get started. Those notches always a lot of work!

Eat, Drink & Be Scary

What is it about HALLOWEEN that is so irresistible?
· It brings out the kid in me.
· Colors! Combos you just don’t see any other time of the year.
· Don’t we all like to be scared silly sometimes?
· Candy, candy, candy
· Walking on crisp, dark evenings with crunchy leaves underfoot.
· PARTIES

I have had the BEST Halloween parties over the years (although, I will admit it’s been awhile). One of my most memorable was a scavenger hunt. As I was making out the list of items for teams to gather, assigning a point value to each, I decided, for fun, to add a few funny , but obviously impossible items to the list with outrageous point values. Among other things, I added A DEAD BLACK CAT.

So, you can imagine how horrified I was when later in the evening, as the teams started to file in the house, one of our guests (he will remain NAMELESS) was holding a bag up and everyone was shouting “WE FOUND A CAT!”. The first thing I said (being the cat lover that I am) was “LET IT GO!” And they replied “IT’S DEAD!” Oh, My, Heavens. Yes. They literally found a dead black cat on the side of the road (poor thing!) and were audacious enough to pick it up (ewwwww!) and put it in a bag.

Needless to say, they won.

Here’s an invitation I made last year in the hopes I would actually have one. Yup, you guessed it. Never happened and with my October schedule, I’m afraid it won’t this year. Although, maybe I’ll be super impulsive and just do it!

I used this awesome flourish skull stamp by INKADINKADO (which actually happens to be on sale right now!), embossed it and fussy cut it. I sponged yellow ink behind it so it looks like it’s glowing. The rest is printed on my computer and assembled. Super easy really, except for some fussy-cutting.

Would love to hear about your favorite Halloween party experience OR what you have planned for this year. Maybe you’ll inspire me!

Happy Halloweeny, Sue