Dee's Memorial Lanterns

Every time I receive a photo of an order, I am in awe of the talent and creativity of my clients.  Dee is of no exception.
She ordered memory lanterns to honor her father and her husband for the anniversaries of their passings.  She shipped lanterns to various family members across the country, and, this past weekend, they celebrated the life of her father by lighting the candles together. 

Before the lighting of the candles, each family member decorated their candles....and here are some pictures: 

"They were such a 'hit' (such an odd word to use) because each member of the family put their own interpretation on them and it became almost a challenge to out-do the other person (we are a very competitive family)...As you can see from the pictures I sent you, the candles were a great moment of joy in what would have been a sad weekend."- Dee

 Words cannot describe how touched i am to have a small part of such a heartfelt 'ceremony' across the US.  I hope the memories of these men help her find peace. My thoughts are with her and her family as they continue healing.

 "What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us." -Helen Keller

Deanna and Phil's Wedding Shower Details!

My Sister is getting married to a wonderful man. Yesterday was their wedding shower, and i was able to create a bunch of the accents for their event:

Here are the invites: http://scrappinginnovations.blogspot.com/2014/03/deanna-and-phils-wedding-shower-invites.html
Their shower's theme was "red thread/heart strings", based on their favorite ancient chinese proverb:

 an invisible red thread connects two hearts who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread  may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

When the guests first walked into the hall, there was a table set up of place cards. White single fold tent cards included the guest's name and table number, as well as a printed red "thread" heart to go along with their theme: 

and, of course, i had to make one for the future Mr. and Mrs!
They had their cartoon made up just before their engagement-- and it's dead-on ;)
(this cartoon was also used on their recipe cards included in the invites!)

Once the guests found their table....
coordinating table numbers, made of the same red and white cardstock layers of their invitation. Each table number included the red "thread" heart, and are double sided.


The beautifully set table....


Each place setting included 3 raffle tickets for the gift baskets (more on those below)


Also at each place setting: the favors for the guests included a lovely package of cherry blossom glass coasters (keeping with the Japenese-ish theme), and a candle.
A gift tag was made of a single layer of white cardstock with a printed red border- this gives the appearance of a multi-layer tag, without the extra materials. Of course, we added the "thread" heart under the short sentiment, names and date :)

Multiple scent/color candles were used across the tables, so to create uniformity, we made a sticker to place over the original label. The new stickers are only approx 1/8" larger than the original label on all sides, so it's barely noticeable from the back of the glass candle that Deanna and Phil's logo are new :)

In the invite, we also sent out "stock the pantry" and recipe cards.  We had a table set up for both items.
Guests placed their pantry items in the basket, with a gift tag to the bride and groom from "all of us".

Next to the basket, was a book for the recipes:

On the far side of the hall were 13 AMAZING gift baskets and a gorgeous wreath ( yes, i am bummed i wasn't allowed to enter!!).  The baskets included themes such as "Pasta Night" which had 'Garofalo' brand pasta- which is their new last name!, bath and body works (with "Japanese cherry blossom" scent), and "Deanna's favorite's" which included a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff, Mario fruit snacks, tea, and her favorite movie, Mamma Mia. 

In front of each gift basket was a small red tub for the raffle tickets and a sign describing the contents of each basket.

All in all it was a beautiful day! 

Looking at Deanna and Phil's faces, it's obvious the couple is very happy and excited to be with each other, and THAT is the real reason to celebrate a marriage.  :)

Now.... off to finish the wedding invites and details for the big event in May! 

Maybe our mom will let me post stuff prior to the wedding??? probably not ;) but maybe i'll post a couple of teasers ;)

Deanna and Phil's wedding shower Invites- Red Thread

I am so excited for this post!

My baby sister is getting married!!!!!! Phil is an amazing guy that we have known forever, so we are very excited to welcome into our family "officially"!
Well, since i have been making invites and accessories for just shy of 6 years for Scrapping Innovations, she really didn't have a choice on her invite supplier ;)

Deanna and Phil have a common love for Japanese/Korean/Chinese culture, so it only made sense that one of her favorite quotes to describe their 15 year friendship-turned-into-romance relationship is based off an ancient Chinese proverb:

 an invisible red thread connects two hearts who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread  may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

 They wanted "red thread" as the theme of the shower- and since i love a creative challenge, this is what we came up with: 

The invitation wording was printed on a red metallic paper and attached to the black metallic cardstock base layer. The white cardstock layer included the bride and groom-to-be's favorite quote to showcase the theme of the invite/shower.  Above the quote- a hand stitched heart with red thread. 

(Have y'all seen Frozen?  well, let's just say that if i ever get hit in the heart with ice, then THIS is my act of love.... Each heart took anywhere from 12 to 30 minutes to stitch.)

We also included some inserts into the invitation:

Since two Italian families are merging, FOOD is a given ;)  So we came up with a recipe card, using a cartoon graphic the couple had made-- and yes, it looks so close to them it's scary.
We also included a "stock the pantry" card. One of my girlfriends had this idea for her shower and i thought it was genius- it's amazing how expensive that first grocery trip is for the new couple, but if everyone brought one small item, it could really make a difference!
...And yes, i created that poem- you can ask my husband... i was sitting next to him on the couch asking what rhymed with "supermarket". his response? "doopermarket". needless to say i didn't use that combination.:)

I'm so excited for this next step in their lives :) congrats to the bride and groom to be!

Basic Sketch #3 submission

Hi again!

it's back to being cold again in Michigan, soooo... i decided to get scrappy ;)

here is my submission for the Basic Sketch #3 by Kiwi Lane
http://kiwilane.com/2014/03/basic-sketch-3-plus-a-flash-sale/#.UyZJjvldWNM

DT doodles #5 submission

finally.. the snow is starting to melt, the sun was shining... shoot, even though it's only 30 degrees, i feel like it's a heat wave and i want to open all the windows! ( dont worry.. i wont.. yet...)

This past week i was able to break away from the wedding-work ( my sister is getting married! you'll see a zillion posts soon enough!) and my craft-room overhaul clean-up and  spend some time scrapping.
 

Last year in May at the Great Lakes Mega Meet ( my yearly tradition scrapbook show!) i was able to meet a few of the Kiwi Land Designers at their booth... and i found this amazing paper at the show as well. seriously, its my favorite "american paper" i have purchased to date- and i DO have a paper purchasing problem, if that tells ya anything ;)
On the 4th of july, i was playing with my girls and my camera and ended up with some amazing pictures... 

favorite papers + favorite pictures + DT doodles challenge = yes, please ;)

Here's the inspiration sketch:
http://kiwilane.com/2014/03/d-t-doodles-5/#.UxzlqvldUlQ

Here's what i came up with:

I used a few of the Tiny Brackets and Aspen Court templates- i need to buy Clara ;) :)

happy scrappin'!