After looking at the sermon titles and reading the bible verses he would be using in the series, I decided that no stock photos would do.  I took my camera to the streets.  I walked downtown Sunbury, PA with our new son Quin and took photos that I thought would match the themes.  For the series title slide, I used the letters from various signs to spell ”HOPE”.  I am not sure how many people made the connection that the photos were from our town, but that just goes to show that we often don’t take in our normal surroundings.  When we go on vacation we notice things… but we often do not notice the everyday things because we are so busy or so used to it.  I guess we often don’t see that our community right here and right now is in need of hope and we think that other places in the world are in need. 

Since our third son was born in July, it has been like a three ring circus around here, which is where I found my inspiration for this year’s card.  My children are so entertaining and they provide me with the love and inspiration for my work. Although I do have to admit that having my office in the playroom since baby #3 came along can be anything but inspiring when they are wrestling or fighting over legos. 

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I designed his birth announcements to have a vintage feel – I think it goes with his name Quinton Edward.  I shot the photos in his sunny bedroom.  My middle son, Cade, loves to kiss him – as you can see on the back of the birth announcement.  My husband wrote the beautiful poem on the back – inspired by the meaning of Quin’s name.  

If you would like to have a custom made birth announcement – please contact me.  It is really such a joy to design pieces like this.

I sent missy paper samples and designed a few options for her.  This was the first time I have ever designed booklet inviations.  They came together pretty quickly – although it was harder to do than usual with my pregnant belly not wanting to bend much when cutting, folding and tying ribbons to 200 invites. 

Here is the outside of the invitation and the envelope.  I made wrap labels to match and Missy addressed them.  The invitations were pretty heavy because we did an inner wrap around the invitation, and they cost extra to mail because they were square invites – something to consider when you are trying to stay within a budget.

Here is the first page of the invitation.  This is the verse that the couple selected.

This is the inside of the invitation with the ceremony information.

It was a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception.  My two boys and their pregnant mommy enjoyed the massive candy bar they had!  Congratulations Missy and Zach!

The advertising worked.  We had over 250 people attend the event.  One of our church members roasts the pork loins and the rest of church bakes and cooks all of the fixings.  This year their was a chalk artist, magician and balloon artist to entertain young and old.  

I printed the posters with PS Print – it is the first time I have ever printed posters and they turned out beautiful.  I am not sure if it was nice of me to place the words “free food” on a the picture of a pig. 

            My dear college friend Kate had her third child – a baby girl named Emma.  Emma is so cute and it is amazing how much she looks like her big brother and sister. 

I always love designing birth announcements especially when I get to design ones for friends and family.  Kate and Paul took most of these beautiful pictures shortly after Emma was born – doesn’t Kate look beautiful?  How does she do it?  I always look like a big ole’ mess!  Kate wanted to use sea glass colors in the announcements and I thought cream would look so nice with it. 

It is almost time for me to start designing birth announcements for our third little boy, but for now he is content where he is – plus I still have more nesting to do!

I saw this idea on a few blogs and decided to make a summer bucket list for our family.  It has been really fun crossing out the things on our list and looking forward to the activities to come.  Jackson who is six loves to read all of the items… he keeps waiting for us to make slime.

Needless to say, that now that we are about to have baby #3 my  husband has revoked all of my naming rights.  He is going to pick this name and I can merely make “suggestions”.  We will see how that works out in 10 weeks.

For Caedmon’s fourth birthday, he wanted a Robin cake.  There are many Batman cake designs out there for inspiration – in fact, last year my husband made this awesome cake http://agentorangerecords.blogspot.com/2010/04/cades-third-birthday.html 

I ended up using a DC bobble head doll as inspiration.  The body was made from rice krispie treats coated in buttercream and colored fondant. 

For his preschool class I made Batman and Robin logo cookies.  Batman won the popularity contest and we ended up with more Robin cookies leftover. 

Caedmon makes me laugh. He can be so silly.  He is a clothing fanatic and loves to dress himself – he really cares about what he is wearing – which is so different from his older brother.  He loves lego figures – which he calls lego guys.  He is so good at working with the small pieces (he had excellent marks in his fine motor skills in his preschool class).  Cade is my cuddle bug – he is always giving hugs and pats on the back and saying I love you.  I melt when I look at his square-faced smile and brilliant blue eyes – and his hair is so blonde that he calls it white.

 I interviewed Caedmon on a few of his favorite things on his 4th birthday and this is what he had to say:

Favorite cereal:  Frosted Flakes
Favorite Vegetable: Carrot
Favorite Fruit: Watermelon
Favorite Superhero: Superman and Batman
Favorite Toy: Lego Guys
Favorite TV Show: Bob the Builder
Favorite Book: Lego Sticker books
Favorite Restaurant: Red Robin
Favorite Animal: Elephant
If you could change your name, what would it be: Amen (interesting… I guess he picked this name up when we are saying our daily prayers)

Happy birthday my 4-year old – you are growing up and making your mama mia (as he sometimes calls me) proud.

Regardless of the weather, I know that it will soon feel like spring and that the easter bunny is on his way.  I decorated last week (even though there was snow on the ground and we had a two-hour school delay) for Easter.  My kids love digging through the eggs to see if there are any with forgotten chocolate – they were overjoyed when they found an egg with jellybeans.  It is amazing how Easter grass spreads throughout your house.

Here is my mantle that I decorated for Easter.  I change it up with every season/holiday.  I just collect things from around my house and try to match colors and theme. 

On another note, I am excited for Easter because it is the only time of the year that Cadbury mini eggs are available.  Now I am not talking about those gross ones that ooze something that looks like egg yolk – yuck, but these heavenly morsels of goodness.  I am usually known as the m&m girl, but these are even better.  Time to stock up – they only come out once a year! 

My husband is a pastor, so I design many pieces for our church.  I saw this postcard design last year from another church, and I thought it was hilarious.  I am not sure if I would have the guts to send this out to my congregation, but it does grab your attention.

Hoppy decorating and chocolate consuming!