Baby Shower stuff

As mentioned yesterday, I worked on party items for a baby shower for a friend/co-worker. We had so much fun at the shower/lunch. We had chicken pesto sandwiches, Snicker apple salad, green salad, chips, and raspberry lemonade (the kind with the chunky raspberries), with chocolate cake for dessert! It was delightful. Lisa, the guest of honor, is having a boy (Nolan) and his room and accessories are in the jungle theme, so a jungle party was in order.

Another co-worker made the cute accordion centers and I cut some leaves and the word baby to create a banner. I cut a few extra leaves to use on the top of place mats and then stamped using Versamark ink four jungle animals along the bottom of the brown cardstock place mats (forgot to take a picture of the place mats).

The banner displayed on our banister at home.

But the major project I've worked on for a couple of weekends was sewing a diaper bag. Several months ago, Lisa was saying how much she loved this kit that we had leftover from a quilt event, but she mentioned that it wouldn't be worth her getting it since she didn't sew. I wasn't there at the time, but later when I was looking at the kits, another co-worker mentioned this to me and I decided I would get it and make it for her. What on earth was I thinking???

You see, although I come from a long line of seamstresses and home economics people, sewing is one of those things I learned because it was required but have never developed a passion, let alone a love of the skill. But I'm attracted to fabric, buttons, patterns, etc. and once in awhile, I let that overtake my sanity. Apparently this was one of those times. But, the bag is finished and as long as you don't look closely it turned out nicely. Mostly I'm just glad to have it finished and that Lisa was surprised AND liked it. Yeah!

The diaper bag in all it's glory!

So that completes my creative weekend. Phew, I'm exhausted, but pleasantly so because that's what creating does.

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Gettin' Creative

This afternoon was quite creative, especially for me. It started with creating a banner and place mats for a baby shower at work tomorrow (I'll share pictures tomorrow after the event) using a few cute accordion centers a gal at work made to go with the theme.

But the real creating started when I delved into my first She Art Workshop project. It took me all week to watch all the videos. They were so amazing and inspiring. And so today, with a vision in mind I gathered my supplies, covered the table, and started the creative process.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one that has a picture in their brain of the finished project that some how doesn't match what is really produced. But sometimes, that is a hard thing to deal with. This canvas was one of those experiences. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of it that I love - like the background. But the girl, well, she struggled from the start.

The class provided templates for the girls, but I was convinced that I could do it myself so I didn't bother to print out the templates. I did fine on the head and legs, but somehow the dress looks like the girl added 10 pounds. And, I forgot to grab paint for hair, face, and shading and by the time I remembered that, the sleeping downstairs deterred me from pursuing those paints. So I made do with watercolor crayons. Which add color, just not heavy enough for what I needed. I also learned that a good pen is a necessity - there's one on the way, thank goodness. Also, I need to watch where I'm placing my background items - one of the papers is quite thick and cut through the girl's face; not a pretty sight. And, sprays bleed, and bleed, and bleed, unless they are sealed with mod podge early on (thus the bluish hue to the girl's neck).

But I'm glad to say that I have completed her and am ready for a new week of learning. Each girl typically contains a saying of some sort. Since I wasn't totally thrilled with the outcome, I thought the phrase I wrote was quite appropriate: "She has potential."

So here is my first girl. Done using product I had forgotten I had, with more layers than I think I have ever used on a project (I'm pretty much a clean and simple girl), and using my favorite colors - purple, green, and yellow. Here's to an improvement on the next one!

Week 1-She Art Girl - She has potential

Closeup #1

Closeup #2

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