My Top 13 of 13

I know traditionally this is done at the end of the year, or the very beginning of the new year, but I've debated about doing a post like this for a while.  In the end, I swayed myself to do it.  I love a good reminiscing.  (:

So, here's what ya'll were loving in 2013 from {be made designs}:

Soul Mates & Veterans & Birthday Parties

I am one-of-a-kind.

Ok, I know we are all one-of-a-kind, but I am...unique.  That's something I have long embraced.

When God created my soul, he made me creative but practical, traditional but free-thinking, classic but retro/vintage, frugalistic with expensive taste.  I LOVE history, but am strongly drawn to modern design.  I love to laugh & play & explore.  I love to sit by myself in the quiet of my home and think & plan and plan some more.  I love to serve and be among people, but I am terribly shy.  I love to share, but am fearful of others' opinions of me.

Basically, God made me a walking contradiction.

But, when he formed my one-of-a-kind soul, he also made someone special just for me.  Or, actually, I was made for that someone special, seeing as how his soul was formed before mine.

Well, however or whenever these two souls were formed, they were made with just the right holes and protuberances so that they fit together so perfectly you would never know they were ever two.

My mom told me once, just before our wedding, that she had prayed each and every day for my future husband.  That he be a Godly man, my perfect mate, someone just for me.  And he is.  My best friend.

But little did we know that that man, the someone just for me, would one day be a soldier.  A veteran.

****

Veteran's Day used to pass as just another day.  I'm really embarrassed to admit that.

via

While it's no excuse, growing up I never had any real interaction with soldiers or veterans.  I studied wars in school, understood that people were in the military and they could go to war, but didn't know anyone close to me who had served, so it wasn't a "reality" for me.  And I had yet to live through a war.

Of course, that all changed that day in September.

My senior year of high school.  My hubby -- then boyfriend of just a few months -- had already enlisted that summer of 2001.  But we knew, after that day, he wasn't going to just be a soldier in the Army.

He would serve his country in war...overseas.

And he did.  We debated splitting up, with me going off to college, him going to basic training, then later overseas.  We'd be apart so much.

But neither one of us was ready to let go of what we had.  We already knew in our hearts what we hadn't yet voiced out loud:  our souls were formed for one another.

So, here we are.  12 years later.  And each day, I see more and more why we were destined for one another.  He is everything I'm not, yet everything I am.

He makes me laugh, dries my tears, supports my creativity, explores with me, lets me brood while I'm mad and listens when I vent, gets the random weirdness that comes out of my mouth sometimes.  He imagines with me, plays with me, brings me back down to Earth when my ideas go way out there, or my taste gets a little too expensive.  He crafts & designs with me, indulges me, aggravates me, loves me for me.  He plans with me, is spontaneous with me.  I could probably go on.  And I won't speak for him, but I hope I do the same for him.

Because God made us each other's compliments.  How lucky am I?!

So I live everyday with a veteran -- have one as a father-in-law as well -- and it is now such a personal holiday to me now.  Is that selfish?  But not just on Veteran's Day do I appreciate what my husband, and SO MANY others, have done, but everyday.  Because I've seen the effects of war, felt the stress of it, understand how fragile life can be.

****

Birthdays are just a bit more special because of what could have been.  Another blessing we have been given.

This year was my hubs 30th.  I cringe to think of it because I'm next, but it means I was blessed with another year with him.  And because this was the big 3-0, I wanted to do something extra special.  Something fun.

And how glad am I that my partner-in-life is just as much a kid at heart as I am!!

Not only is my hubby a vet/former soldier, but he is also a police officer.  That has been a passion of his heart as much as being a soldier for as long as I've known him.  And I'm sure other police wives would say the same, but he is such a good cop.

But, that little kid living inside of him -- the little boy that wants to be a policeman when he grows up -- absolutely loves toy police cars.  And that same little boy who became a policeman when he grew up collects toy police cars.

And, ohmygoodness, does that boy have a collection!!  I think he's at 250+, maybe even 300+.  Yikes!  But he loves it, and I just can't seem to say no when he finds a new one to add.  The joy on his face is too contagious.  I'm such a sucker for my hubby. ha ha!  Or maybe it's because one new toy car equals some new something for me, ha ha!  Let's go with the sucker thing.

So, recap: my other half & a veteran blessing, a big birthday means a special party, police officer who collects toy police cars...did I mention he loves Legos, too?

****

I wanted to give my hubby a birthday he would remember.  He never really had a party like that as a kid -- with a theme, games, favors, friends -- and I wanted him to have that memory.

I decided on the theme {Lego Police}, designed the invites, planned the decor and food, invited friends and family, and got his favorite:  ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!

We couldn't resist making this shirt!

It was so much fun, and I think my hubby had a blast.  And I felt so blessed to have this guy a part of my life, to have all these people over that love him almost as much as I do, and to just celebrate life and love.

****

This Veteran's Day I'm reflecting.

I think it's very appropriate to honor vets so close to Thanksgiving, since November is now thought of as the "thankful" month.  In spite of all I lost last year, I have so much to be thankful for.

Thankful for instant messaging {you'll have to ask me about that one!}, for selflessness, for love.  Thankful for laughter, for memories, for birthdays.

Thankful for life.

I am thankful for my police-car collecting, kid-at-heart, law-enforcing veteran one-true-love.

And I am thankful for all the trying-to-protect-our-country, just-doing-their-job veterans who came before, and those still to come.

via

Next time you encounter a veteran/soldier/police officer/firefighter, tell them thank you.  They CHOOSE to put their lives on the line for YOU.  And they may not have someone in their life to treasure them.  Like I treasure mine.

They don't ask for the thanks.  And that makes them all the more deserving.

God bless you all!  And, thank you!

TTfN!

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Sock Monkey for the First

The hardest part about being around kids is how quickly they grow up.  It's so crazy to look at pictures of how little they were thinking that was just last month, when in reality it was like a year or more ago.

Case in point:  my nephew, Zachary, who just turned one!  Didn't I throw a baby shower for his mom just a few months ago?!  And I could swear it was just a few weeks ago when my mom held him at a couple of days old.  But, no, that was a little over a year ago....which means she's been gone almost a year....but this is a happy post, so I move on...

So this precious little thing is now a year old, and with a birthday generally comes a party.  And this one's theme?  Sock monkey!

I feel like my mom was all over this party, even though she was just watching from on high.  At some point in Zachary's infancy, my mom bought him a sock monkey.  And it's not just any sock monkey; this one plays peek-a-boo and giggles.  Omygoodness, it is soooo cute!!  You just can't help but giggle along with it! And Zachary loves that thing.

So sock monkey love has always been in the forefront, and it was only natural that the party would go in that direction.

Again, like with Matthew's party, their mom and I started in Pinterest, gathering ideas for the party.  We soon realized this one wasn't going to be as elaborate as Matthew's, only because it was going to be outdoors at our local park, which wouldn't be a very favorable environment for decorations {lakeside = lots of wind!}, so our focus were the invites and his portrait outfit.

Zachary's mom quickly found an argyle print in light blue, red & chocolate brown that she LOVED and thus our color scheme was born.

I took that idea and ran with it for the invites.

Unlike Matthew's invites, these were about the graphics so I created the argyle print and drew the sock monkey.  There was a special request with the sock monkey that, I admit, had me tearing up a bit as I added it.

See that little detail on the monkey?  The heart with the white ribbon?

That was a special nod to my mom.  Even now thinking about it makes my heart hurt a little.  But I appreciated the thought to have her be apart of this special day, even though she isn't here, physically.

But I think these turned out pretty cute.  I actually did a version with a red & white polka dot background that was also really cute.  Thinking of adding it my shop as a printable.  What do you think?

ANYhoo...

I mentioned a portrait outfit.  We found this on Pinterest:

{So adorable!!}

Source

and their mom fell in love and decided we had to do it.

The hardest part for us was finding the fabric--that classic sock monkey knit.  We don't have as many resources where we live and the time frame didn't allow for online ordering, so it was "make it work" time!

We came across a grey burlap that we thought would work well for a couple of reasons:  first, Zachary's monkey is actually on the grey side, rather than the typical brown, and secondly, I knew the burlap would give us that "frayed" edge look like in the picture.  We grabbed a red & white polka dot fabric, a couple of buttons and the white onesie, then it was time to sew.

I free-handed a vest pattern for the burlap, as well as for the red & white dot tie.  I ironed on some interfacing to help the reinforce the burlap, then traced my pattern and cut it out.  I did the same with the tie.

With my pieces cut, I sewed them on the onesie, then added the buttons.

How cute is this?!

And he looked totally adorable in it!

I also made the hat using the burlap and polka dot fabric.

He wasn't a big fan of the hat, ha ha ha!

I'm pretty much in love with this big brown-eyed boy!

And remember the shirt from Matthew's party?

He loved showing off his mustache!

Yeah I kinda can't say no to these blue eyes either!

{All portraits done by J&C Photography.}

I had more fun planning for these two and it's all the more worth it when I get a big hug and an "i love you" from Matthew, and a big slobbery open-mouth kiss and a hug from Zachary {he's learning how to give kisses now}.  Then Matthew gets jealous and gives me a kiss too!  Love those guys!

Now it's on to the next party.  The hubs is turning 30 and since he never had a true birthday party growing up, he's getting one now!  I'm not doing the favors or all out decor, but we have a theme--Lego Police to be exact--and so I'm hoping for some fun things along that line.  I had lots of fun with these invites and I can't wait to show ya!

I also have a new client--a girl client!!  I can't tell you how excited I am about that, ha ha!  I mean, I love all the guys I've created things for but I have wanted to do girly for so long and I finally get to!!  She's due to be here in September, so that means girly baby things.  Did you know how much super cute girl stuff there is out there?!

O, one more note:  I added a follow-thingy to the sidebar there up near the top {you'll have to view the desktop version if on a mobile device--scroll to the bottom for that link}.  If you click to follow me, you'll be "in the know" when I post new goodies.  Or, if you'd rather, you can just subscribe to my posts and get them delivered right into your email inbox.  If you've been reading with me for a while, you know I don't post very regularly {you can kinda see why here}, so I won't be invading your inbox.  But I love sharing with you guys, and I love hearing from you, so I hope you'll consider me friend enough to follow along with me.  (:

I also post different things on Facebook, so be sure to "like" me there, too!

Ok, enough self-plugging!
Have a great day guys!

ta-ta for now...

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A "Stache" of Cookies

I hope you have had a chance to check out the cutest mustache party evah!  And if you did, you probably missed one element of the party.

Missed it because I didn't show a pic.  ):

Unless you have x-ray vision.  Then you saw.  Yay! (:

The goodie bags contained a mustache element that I wanted to share because it was super easy to make.  And I thought you might enjoy checking it out.

Ok, remember the birthday cake?

It was a blatant take-off from this pin.

When we were still in the planning stage of the party, I saw these mustache cookie cutters and thought how CUTE mustache cookies would be.  But my practical side of me kept saying: "When would you use that cookie cutter again?  Mustache cookies at Christmas?  Or maybe for every guys' birthday you know?  No, probably not.  Don't buy it."

So I didn't.  But I really, really liked the idea.

And then, light bub!  {Don't you love when they light up all unexpected like?!}

Why couldn't I take the cake concept and use it on a cookie?

So, as a secret surprise, I set out to make mustache cookies {sans a cookie cutter} that we could put in the goodie bags.

There may be better ways to do this, but this is what worked best for me with what I had on hand.

I started with your basic store-bought sugar cookie dough stick/roll/tube.  Whatever you wanna call it.  The "slice-and-bake" stuff.

The directions on this particular brand suggested you cut them into 1/2" thick slices.  Do not do this.  I quickly discovered this is much too much dough.  Go with probably 1/4".  I didn't measure.  Just sliced. Sorry.

I kept my slices in the refrigerator to keep them stiff.  If you've ever used this dough before, you probably know it will get sticky and difficult to work with.  I also used a piece of parchment so when the dough did get a little sticky, it wouldn't stick to the work surface.

Once I realized the thicker slices wouldn't make good mustaches {baked up too fat}, I rolled my slices thinner, which also helped to make them more of a circle shape, since the package ended up like a oval combined with a rectangle.  {Not sure what you would call that, rectoval? Ovangle? Anyhoo...}  After I rolled the dough slightly thinner, I used a knife to reinforce the circle shape.

I used the same knife to cut out the mustache shapes.  This is where all that doodling in junior high comes in.  You remember.  The yin-yang?  I had that thing drawn on everything!  Notebooks, folders, backpacks....everywhere.  Ugh.  And I was so good at it, ha ha.  But that was like, 15 years ago, so my yin-yang skills were slow to return.  Not quite like riding a bike.  But thankfully I didn't need the training wheels.

So you draw your yin-yang, then separate the two pieces.  You'll have to flip one of the over to get your mustache shape.

The join them together in the middle by just mushing a little.

My cookies weren't perfect, nor uniform, like they would have been had I used a cutter.  But I think maybe that made them funner.

One side a little bushier than the other.

Or one curl a little curlier than the other.

I baked them according to the package directions, although I did keep an eye on them time-wise since they were thinner than the package recommended.  Once they were cooled, it was time to frost.

I found a great sugar cookie frosting that tastes so good {my hubby compared it to the chocolate donut frosting}, hardens quickly and only takes 4 {or 5, in this case} ingredients:  powdered sugar {2 cups}, milk {added by the tablespoon as needed}, light syrup {1 Tbsp}, vanilla extract {or almond}{1 tsp} and cocoa {1/2 cup}.

I filled my piping bag and used a plain tip to pipe the 'stache.

So cute!

And really yummy!

Once the icing had hardened, into a plastic bag they went, then into the goodie bags.  Unfortunately, I had made more cookies than bags, so we had leftovers.  Ok, so, not so much unfortunate.  Well, for my diet it was ha ha!  

Ah, the perks of a do-it-all party planner, ha ha ha ha!

Hope you found a little inspiration with this easy-peasy yummy project.

TTFN!

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'Stache Bash for a Birthday Boy

Since my husband and I have yet to be blessed with any kiddos of our own, my two young nephews are "reaping the benefits."  It all started three years ago when Matthew turned one and I created his birthday invitations.  I think that may have actually been my first invitation design, besides our wedding invites.  Each year after, I created the invites, and branched a little more into the party details, but still mainly left that up to the parents.  

When it was announced that Zachary would be joining the family, I knew I wanted to throw a baby shower, and that was full on party planning.  I loved it!  And when I think about it, I'm sure I got that trait from my Grannie {have I mentioned that before?}.  When my brother and I were little, she would throw us the most awesomest birthday parties, themed out from food, games, decor and dress.  Yes, dress.  {There will be no picture sharing as part of TBT, ha ha.  They may have been fun....but, you know...}

I was asked again this year to do the invites for the birthday boy, and between the three of us {Tiff {mom}, Matthew and me}, a party theme was decided upon:  mustache.

I started with the invitations.  I wanted to do something very different than what I've done in the past:  use type as my graphics, rather than graphics.  Of course, I had to add in a mustache here and there, but I wanted it to be mostly about text manipulation and coordination--a lot of which is translated from my classes. {None of that "When will I use this in life?" like in my calculus class, ha ha!}

I used orange as my base color, since that is Matthew's favorite color...this month.  Apparently, it changes.  Thankfully, it didn't from conception to print.  But I quickly realized we had an orange and black thing going, and since we are in June, not October, I decided to add in a little blue accent to break it up.  Which I later realized was VERY close to my alma mater's colors {Go Roadrunners!}, and I swear!  It was not intentional.  (;  Hey, just steering him in the right direction while he's young.  he he he...

ANYhoo...

We started putting ideas together on Pinterest and quickly decided on a few musts:  a mustache cake, photo booth, goodie bags, and a face banner.  The other ideas came as we put the party together, and I think what we ended up with just might be one of the cutest birthday parties for a four-year-old there is.  (:

First the birthday boy needed a special shirt.  We saw this online and knew we could recreate it ourselves.  He had so much fun "revealing" his 'stache.

Because there was so much fun to be had, I thought I would help out our guests with a "rule board" to greet them at the party.  To help get them into the mustache spirit.

*QUICK TIP*

If you need a quick, cheap chalkboard, or chalkboard-like surface, black foamboard works nicely.

I couldn't find a backdrop I liked for the photo booth, so I used a black project board and again, embellished it with chalk.  Works very nicely as a quick chalkboard!

The face banner was so much fun!  He looked so cute in all his 'staches and it was a great way to personalize the party.

I created quick and easy subway art by using scrapbook paper {just like at Christmas}.  Flanking the cake, it was that extra little something.

You can find more on the mustache cake here.  We actually did our cake as a double-layered cake {instead of a single layer like the pin}, baking two 9-inch cakes, then cutting them together so they both had the exact same shape.

We made the cupcake toppers with a punch and stamp so it perfectly coordinated with the colors.  It was a good thing we had the cake and cupcakes.  Once Matthew blew out his candles, and cake was served, the cupcakes mysteriously disappeared.  By tiny little mouths!  The adults never stood a chance.  All we got was 'stache cake.  Which was still yummy.  But I really wanted a cupcake.  They were the confetti kind! {tear}

And, of course, what's a party without games.

"Pin the mustache on Matthew."

"Draw your own mustache."  I would be a horrible friend and family member if I posted pictures of said drawn mustaches, but I'll tell you, it was awesome.  Even my dad, who is a quiet farmer/rancher, got his 'stache on.  And I'm talking one of those thin, curly French things.  Again, I'm sorry I can't post pics!

And, I'm pretty sure, the favorite of the day: "Shave the balloon without popping it."

We actually did this one two ways.  The little kids were given wood "razors":  two popsicle sticks glued together in a T-shape like a razor.  Their goal was to shave the fastest, since their razors probably weren't going to pop the balloons.

The older kids were given plastic knifes to shave with.  They had to shave the fastest without popping.  We did have a couple of balloon casualties.

And of course, with every "shave the balloon" event must come a shaving cream fight.  The best part was the parents joining in.  You are never too old for a shaving cream fight.  

The goodie bags were just your standard brown paper lunch sack that I printed with the graphics on my home ink jet.  Super easy!

This was so much fun to plan and to decorate for, but the party itself was lots of fun.  Everyone was in the mustache mood and let go and had fun, and that's really what it's all about.  It was great seeing nothing but kids at the party--with all the adults letting their inner child come out to play.

Now, I've got to get my head into a new party theme:  sock monkey!  This will be for a very special little boy who is about to celebrate his first year!  My goodness, time does fly.

After that, I've got another big party to plan, and this one is more adult geared, but don't worry.  He's a big kid at heart so be prepared for a little whimsy.

This is why I love what I do!

Have a great one y'all!!

ta-ta for now...

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