Bridal Shower and a Prom Dress

I already told you my life has been jam-packed lately.  I don't really take pictures of these things that I'm doing for about 22 hours per day, and I don't think you want to read my descriptions of all I've accomplished and/or survived in the last week.

But I can show you a couple of the fun things.

I co-host all the baby and bridal showers at my church with my good friend Patty.  She always gets the table cloths, plates, napkins, and punch.  I always make and decorate cupcakes (and sometimes cookies) and come up with the games for the showers.

I don't know why, but it has never occurred to me to take pictures of the showers we've thrown together over the last couple of years.  That's kind of a bummer since each one is totally unique.  We always try to match the colors and theme of the wedding or the baby's nursery.

The bridal shower that we hosted this past weekend was for a very special young woman named Missy.  I've known Missy for about 8-9 years, and Patty has known her for 17 years.  Missy is getting ready to marry a pretty fantastic guy, and her giddiness is contagious.

Missy gave me an inspiration photo for the colors she really wanted:

I saved that picture on my phone and took it with me everywhere.  I usually make the cupcake toppers out of marshmallow fondant so they can be cute and match the theme but also be edible.  I was nervous about matching that green, so I decided to try something different this time.

I used my Silhouette SD, which is a machine that cuts paper, cardstock, and even some fabrics.  It connects to my computer and uses a special software program.  I can purchase shapes to import into the software.  Then I create the shapes/designs I want, load my paper into the Silhouette, and let it do the cutting for me.

I found green and brown cardstock at Hobby Lobby and brainstormed for a few ideas for cupcake toppers.  I came up with "J + M" for the groom's and bride's first initials, "A" for their last name (his last name, her soon-to-be last name), and their wedding date.

I later wrote the wedding date on the toppers in the bottom row here.

My Silhouette blade was dull, so I had to go over every cut by hand with my craft knife (like a scalpel).  Then I glued the green and brown layers together with a glue stick to form the fronts of the toppers.  I hot glued those to lollipop sticks, and then I hot glued solid colored circles to the backs of the sticks.

I promise the colors looked better in person.  They were a pretty good match to Missy's picture.

I tried to snap a couple quick pictures on my phone at the shower.  Sorry for the horrible quality.

I also made homemade slice-and-bake cookies with green sprinkles around some and chocolate sprinkles around the others.

So when I say I'm busy, it's usually with something like this where I spent three days making cupcakes toppers and two days baking goodies (the cookies and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting).

I've already started working on the next shower.  It's a bridal shower, and the wedding colors are "lapis" and gray.  I've never heard of lapis.  Apparently, according to the bride, it's a dark color that borders right between deep purple and navy blue.  I already spent an hour last night at Hobby Lobby just walking around trying to find this mysterious color and figure out how to work it into the shower.  I'll let you know how that works out.

Another project I recently completed was altering a prom dress for Jared's little sister Caitlin.  She is a senior in high school, and her prom was this past Saturday.  I thought working on her dress would be pretty straightforward after I altered my own bridesmaid dress last year, but it turned out that her dress was even more complicated!  Luckily, I only had to alter one part, so I was able to figure it out.

I went over to her house on Saturday (after the boys' swim lessons and after I attended a baby shower but before I attended a family gathering/going away party) so I could take pictures of her all done up in her dress.  She also wanted to use one of the pictures for her graduation announcements.  I don't think she'd mind if I give you a peek at her pictures.  After we got home from the family party Saturday night, I stayed up until 1:00 A.M. editing these pictures so I could give them to her the next day (after I attended church, taught a Sunday school class, and hosted a bridal shower).  Do you see why I'm exhausted?

Anyway, the pictures.

I was standing out in the rain while she tried to stay under the overhang on their front porch.

And we just had to get a picture of Caitlin with her six-month-old daughter Addison.  You may remember Addison from this post.  She was the smallest newborn baby I've ever held!

The last year of Caitlin's life has been a challenge.  These pictures gave us a chance to celebrate little things like how beautiful Caitlin looked and big things like choosing a picture for her graduation.  We are so proud of her for making it to graduation!  I certainly enjoyed my girly time with Caitlin taking these pictures.

So there you have it:  a little bit of evidence that I actually accomplished something in the last few days other than giving myself a headache.

Jessica