Brynn's Bridal Shower

 

 

Brynn's Bridal Shower was a huge success.  With the hustle and bustle of the holiday's creeping quickly upon us, we were able to put this together to honor this cute little bride-to-be.  It is hard to believe that she is old enough to be getting married, let alone that the wedding will be here so soon.  

 

The food and decorations turned out even better than we had planned.  We served fruit in waffle cones, brownie bites, pickle/cheese/olive skewers, and ham and swiss baked sandwiches.  It was all so yummy.  She had a great turn out of party guests and received some really awesome gifts.

 

 

More than anything, it is always so fun to hang out with all these cute girls.  I am so lucky to call these fine girls my family, I love them all so much.

 

 It has crazy to think that two of my nieces are married.  It was fun to see Morgan and Brynn's rings together.  Below to the left is Morgan's ring and Brynn's on the right.

We decided to make a comparison of all our rings.  The order of rings start with Tammy (bottom left hand side) since she was married first of all the Okerlund girls, then Mary, me, Morgan, and Brynn.  We are missing Grandma O and Ashley, but thought we would do a picture of all of us married girls at Brynn's wedding.  Fun to see how the styles change over the years.

 

 

What a success!  Brynn is a beautiful young lady and I am proud of her and what a fine example she is for her younger cousins and peers.  Love her so much!

Gingerbread Houses

One tradition that the kids look forward to every year after Thanksgiving is making their own gingerbread house at Grandma JoAnn's house.  They love the opportunity to decorate their own house and eat the candy too.  Once again, this was another successful year with lots of fun and memories that were made.  One thing that did make it more than was that Ally and Lottie got to share their time with Maddie, Tripp, and Krew.  The twins were definitely more into eating the candy than they were decorating, can you blame them?  Look at all that sugar!

 

 

 

And as you can see, decorating gingerbread houses is pretty serious business!

 



 

 

 Now to show you the final project . . . .

 Trey's Gingerbread House

 McKenna's Gingerbread House

 

Ally's Gingerbread House

 

 

Tyra Lottie's Gingerbread House

 

 

A huge shout out goes to Grandma JoAnn for carrying on this tradition every year.  The kids love looking forward to this now and hopefully for years to come!

Gettin' Crafty

I love the fact that I have developed talents while growing up that benefit me now at this time in my life.  I was raised in the craft business for as long as I remember and I feel fortunate that this talent has been something that I have used and continue to use. 

 

Recently I came across a photo online of front porch all decorated for fall.  I saved that photo with intentions to make the Autumn sign for my own porch.  Well, needless to say, that has turned into a fun part time job.  Not only did I decide to make one for me, but I thought I would see if I could make some to sell.  (Hence with the holidays quickly approaching!)  So to work I went, painting away.  My first batch of signs were a success, I of course kept one for myself, but I was able to quickly get rid of the other three. 
 

With much success, I decided I wanted to expand my ideas and not only make a few more Autumn signs, but I wanted to make some for Christmas as well as everyday signs.  So, I spent the majority of Conference weekend painting away.  I was able to make four more Autumn signs, two Welcome signs, and two Christmas signs, all to sell at some upcoming holiday boutiques.  In the midst of the boutiques, I did take the time to make me three Halloween signs.  I only kept one for myself and gave the other two the girls that is tending Lottie for me right now.
 

 

Every chance I get, I try to paint.  I found myself waking up early in the morning thinking about different ideas that I can use to expand my selection.  I am fortunate that I have a large counter in my laundry room that allows me the chance to spread out my stuff and get some work done.  I will get up early in the morning before everyone else is up to get either the base coat on the wood or applying vinyl used as my stencils.  It is amazing how quickly I can get these put together and it is actually a lot of fun!  I love nothing more than to see the end results!



Batch #3 - 10.18.2014

 

Well, the signs were a great success!  I sold quite a few at boutiques and some at the Copy Station.  I also was fortunate enough to get some custom sign orders to personalize Christmas gifts.  Not only did they sell good, but they also made for cute add ins as I decorated my own house for holidays.  As much fun as it was, I am afraid I do not want to pick up a paint brush for a while.