What I have been up to

Without a doubt, this has been the busiest 6 months I have ever had. If you follow me on facebook then you saw the following post after my last event –

“Final tally since January – 2 Weddings, 2 Bridal Showers, 1 Bachelorette Party, 2 Rehearsal dinners, 3 Baby showers, 3 family vacations, 3 birthday parties, 1 funeral, 1 award ceremony, plus my normal day job which was the worst semester I have ever had. And, as of this moment, I am officially DONE!!!!”

Now recaping these events would have been great to do while they were happening and would have used time (and state of coherency) that I didn’t have. To do so now would be far too long of a post. So I’ll just show you some of the highlights:

First there was that detail that Matt and I had bought a condo so we were fixing it up and making it home. Here is an example, I have a small kitchen so storage is an issue. We bought a garden trellis and painted it white and added knobs and hooks, then hung it on the wall.

and voila! Kitchen storage!

There are lots of other things that Matt and I have done with the condo, but again, we’re  highlighting here. Someday though I expect Matt to do a whole post on things our friends have drawn on our chalkboard wall. It’s easily my favorite thing we have done. 😉

In the realm of personal projects, I made this from a reusable shopping bag I got at the 99-cent and a cork board from Target. I cut up the bag, took out the stitching until I had just the front panel. Then I used spray adhesive to put it on. It’s the perfect way to display our Disney pins:

Now on to some of the events:

Cathy’s Bridal Shower was a kitchen theme and I was heading up decorations. This is what I came up with:

Who said a blender can’t be a vase?

Funny story. I made this kitchen utensil garland and thought it was so cute! Then I went to make my macaroni and cheese only to realize I didn’t have any kitchen utensils like spoons, cheese graters, measuring cups. Whoops!

The guest book where people left their recipe cards. I found that material in San Diego and bought it because it was just so cute. It has kitchen and baking tips printed all over it. The chalkboard is actually a 99-cent cutting board that I painted with left over chalkboard paint. (It didn’t stay on the plastic too well, probably good for one or two uses only, but for less than a dollar, who needs more? If I was making one to last I’d use wood and prime it first I think.)

BTW, The gift baskets were beautifully made by Kristi. I was annoyed I wrote the games and therefore couldn’t win them.

Now for the thing I was most proud of, my kitchen towel cake.

Everything on it is for the kitchen. The layers are towels (supported by cut up cereal boxes), the base is a pizza pan. Even the flowers are napkin rings! I was so excited when I found the heart shaped whisk for the topper. Then Matt found the heart shaped measure spoons that was the perfect final touch. I was really proud of how it turned out! I bet you are wondering how I got them to stayed fanned open like that. I pretended I was MacGyver and came up with this:

And you can’t even see the paper clip!

After the shower comes the bachelorette party.

Sorry, that is the only photo I am allowed to show you. We signed a contract 😉 I will say that you can read about Matt’s awesome Bachelorette Scavenger Hunt here.

Of course, then there is the wedding itself.

(Picture shamelessly stolen from Brian’s facebook page)

Now, there were other events too and with most events comes cooking, which I have been known to do from time to time:

This was for another baby shower. I cannot take credit for the tablescape, but I did help with preparing the food.

These were quite the hit at a different baby shower: Bacon wrapped little smokies topped with brown sugar. Really though, Is there anyway those would have turned out bad?

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And with events like these comes gifts, these are a few that I made (don’t ask me why, when I was this busy I decided to add “handmade gifts” to that list. I loved making them for my friends though!):

Shopping cart seat covers for 2 different baby showers (I didn’t take a picture of the second one, but it was purple and green with very sweet butterflies, and a butterfly toy). I made sure to add loops to hang toys off of too, so when the child throws the toy out of the cart, mommy isn’t back tracking through Target trying to find it. (The main pattern I used was courtesy of Spindle to Sashes)

I also made a quilt for the little monkey that two of our best friends, Dan and Vicki, are expecting. It’s their first baby and we are so happy for them!

I was really happy with how it came out. All cute and puffy!

Well, there’s a taste of what I have been doing for the past several months. If you haven’t heard from me much, or when you did I seemed scatterbrained (more than usual) or exhausted, that’s why. It’s also why I may spend the next several months sleeping. 🙂