What I've been up to lately....

Not too impressive, but I'm working on it. Gotta get the shakiness out. I'll be embarrassed later that I ever posted this, so just appreciate my vulnerability now before I take it down, please.

I've been in love with Betsy Dunlap for a long time now, so I've finally decided to put pen to paper and pretend I am a fabulous calligrapher like her. She has such an awesome style. I am so tempted to email her and ask if she'll teach me the ways of her awesomeness. I could be her apprentice and we could conquer the world one invitation at a time.

Traditional calligraphy (copperplate, italic, etc.) is beautiful on it's own, but I also love those calligraphers that sort of bend the rules and come up with their own style. Inspired by her work, a twist of my own handwriting, copperplate, and a "font" I made up in high school for notes to my friends (isn't that weird that we used to hand write notes to our friends back then vs. a text or email?), I've been playing around words and names and, well.....there you go. I am still working on my capital letters and a few lowercase I've got to work the kinks out to, but hopefully by Christmas, I'll have it all worked out and I'll have my own style to share with the rest of the world. Or at least the people that receive my Christmas cards.

Kind of a Big Deal.

** SPOILER ALERT: If your name is ShP, then do not proceed until after you've checked your mailbox. Thank you. Everyone else can move on. And by 'everyone else' I mean the other two people that read my blog.**

One of my all-time favorite lines from a movie is Ron Burgundy's "I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm kind of a big deal" in the Anchorman. It cracks me up. So, when my friend got a (well deserved) promotion, I thought I'd make her a card that fit the occasion. It seems like being recognized for your efforts at work is something you have to ask for, or even fight for, now days, so it always restores my faith in the system when someone remarkable gets recognized for her remarkable efforts. I'm sure I can speak for all of her friends and family when I say we are all really proud of her and know that this is just the first of many promotions in her career. Congrats, ShP!

This card is the third version I made. I started out with one concept. I hated it. Then re-started with a second concept. Hated it. Then, I decided I go an entirely different direction altogether and I loved the result.


I couldn't get out of my head that I was basically using my version of a quote from a movie, so the third version screamed "THOUGHT BUBBLE!!!" to me. If the connection doesn't make sense to you, give me a call and I can give you the flowchart to my inner most thoughts. Because, let's face it. I am a deep and complicated person. And this deep, complicated person thought she ought to listen to the voices in her head that thought a thought bubble made perfect sense. Moving on. Since my friend is an accountant, I thought I'd get cute and use some patterned I had that resembles a general ledger. The letters are both vinyl stickers and foam stickers. The cardstock is Bazzill. Now, looking back on it, as deep and complicated as this deep and complicated person is, the card is surprisingly uncomplicated.

I hope everyone had as fun this past weekend as I did. Mr. Bean and I rented a beachhouse with a bunch of his cousins for an official Cousins Weekend. We basically ate, ate, drank, and ate while playing games and talking and eating. As crazy as Mr. Bean's family can be, I can't deny I love to spending time with them. Some more than others, yes, but growing up, I sort of missed out on having a lot of family around. So, it's just nice to think that if Mr. Bean and I decide to have kids, that they will have plenty of cousins to play with and fight with and love and hate. We plan to make this an annual event, so hopefully we'll start creating lots of memories to keep us from ever growing apart as so many large families often do.


That's all I've got for now. I am already looking forward to the weekend so I can catch up on some sleep. Just typing it makes me wish it was Friday.

Reunited.

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter. I did. Easter is my favorite holiday next to Christmas. Growing up, we always got a new dress, new white patent leather shoes, and a new Easter bonnet. We'd take pictures out in the courtyard of my childhood home by the azalea bushes that were always in full bloom while holding our new purses. It makes me think that people don't dress up enough anymore. Now, girls show up to the Easter church service wearing jeans and flip flops.

Anyway, our weekend flew by a lot quicker than we'd like. Friday, I got to get some good cardmaking in. My friend and I were reunited once again to use our powers for good rather than evil and worked on a card for her brother's girlfriend. I thought it was too cute that her brother wanted his sister to make him a card to give to his girlfriend. And how sweet is it that his sister couldn't say no?

He wanted a card like the cupcake card we made last time, but we decided to do something a bit different for her.


All of the punches are Martha Stewart. The patterened paper was all from Hobby Lobby. (How gorgeous is that paper?) The solid paper is all Bazzill. I love the color combination. I love the butterflies. I love that it came out so graphic, yet it still looks feminine. I hope she loves it.

I put myself down for dessert for our Easter lunch at Mr. Bean's cousin's house. So, I found myself baking cupcakes at 1:00 in the morning Sunday morning. Not fun. But how can you be upset with a cupcake? Here's an iPhone pic of them. I just used what I had this time, but I think they came out pretty cute anyway.


Alright, I am heading to bed. We got some yard work in this past weekend. Didn't finish. Did some more tonight. I am so sore. I can't wait until the weekend.