Unmasked

I had the honor of designing the invitations for this year’s prom for Potter-Dix High School (of course, my son, Ethan, sort of volunteered me! LOL) When I found out that the theme was a masquerade ball, I was excited about it. I originally was just voicing a few things out there such as getting masks and packaging them inside shallow boxes with a simple but elegant invitation. But, based on the budget, I realized that the shallow boxes were quickly eliminated and I had to come up with another idea. I also started thinking about the masks and how, while we could find some generic ones for little to nothing, I really wanted to do something spectacular. I remembered a friend, Marc Myer, had offered to help with some laser-cutting projects in the past and the idea to custom design a mask blossomed. So I contacted Marc and asked if he’d be interested to help me on the project. I was worried about the budget because it really didn’t have much wiggle room outside covering the costs of materials. But Marc went above and beyond and totally worked with me on it despite the budget limitations. On top of that, it was a very quick turnaround and I can’t possibly express my gratitude to him in getting them all done as fast as he did. I may have come up with the design for the masks but since it was a new experience, there were some ropes I had to learn and Marc was great helping me with it. Also, the laser-cutting was really what made this piece so beautiful and unique.

Since the shallow boxes were way too expensive, I had to try and figure out what else we might be able to come up with to hold the invitations and the laser-cut masks. I looked at envelopes and thought about creating wraparound-labels. But then I remembered that I had a template for a pillow-pack and was able to resize it to suit the size needs I had for the invites and masks. I printed all of the pillow-packs and invites out on some heavy-duty natural cardstock from Stampin’ UP! and hand trimmed, scored, folded and assembled them all myself. My wrists were a bit achy for a few days, but when all of the pieces came together, it was well worth it!
The Junior Class at Potter-Dix High School loved the mask design so much that they enlarged the design and painted it as their backdrop for photos during prom. What an awesome surprise to see that! I was (still am) so very honored by this. It turned out so beautiful and I am very happy that I was able to contribute to such an important high school experience. It really touched my heart!

 

 The only thing that could have (and did) beat that moment was while I was taking a break from tending to filling the punch bowl, my son came and asked me to dance with him. To a slow song. At prom. I’ll never forget that. It was definitely a special moment to me, he’ll never ever know.

Well, Tickle Our Whiskers....

 My little girl is growing up way way too fast! It's official, she's now a teenager. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like yesterday, we were celebrating her 10th birthday with fun Taylor Swift backstage passes that I made for the invites (which are still my favorite!) That experience was awesome but there is something to be said about the craziness of thirteen-year old girls! Oh my! My daughter chose to have a 'Mustache Bash' as her theme. What a crazy girl! It is a fun fad that seems to have hit everywhere but I never would have imagined my daughter wanting to have a party revolving around facial hair! But it was a blast!

I created the invites with my daughter instructing me what she wanted much like an art director. LOL She wanted her invites to have a mustache that her friends could cut out if they wanted and we also added a funny QR-code that we loaded with a funny YouTube video called "The Mustache Rap"! Granted, I am not sure how many of her friends had the capabilities to scan the code, but she insisted that it would be fun to add.

I don't know about the rest of you but I am addicted to Pinterest. There are so many awesome things on there...fun recipes, inspirational quotes, ideas for design, fashion tips, party ideas, etc. I just LOVE it! Anyhow, I found so many great ideas for photo props on there. I really wish that I had a machine to custom laser cut because I could have done some really amazing things! But in any case, I think that considering, I did a pretty bang-up job and the girls absolutely loved playing with the props and taking photos. Of course, I also added some other fun props like feather boas, a big puffy hat, sunglasses, wigs...the girls had a blast!

The cake turned out pretty awesome, too...especially considering that MOI made it! Yes, ME! LOL I saw an idea a few years ago to make a really bold rainbow colored cake and had wanted to do it since but just hadn't until now. I decided that it would be so cool to make a cake in the shape of a mustache and use black frosting (which was very interesting watching the kids eat, by the way!) and then cut into it to reveal a blast of bold color! It was awesome! I am so proud of myself! hahahaha The goody bags were white lunch sacks that featured bow ties and I also cut out mustaches and punched a hole where I threaded a bendy straw through and inserted into the back of the bags. It turned out so cute! My daughter said that this was probably her most favorite birthday ever! When a mom puts as much work into a party like this, that really makes you feel great to hear words like that! :)

Goodbye, 2011! Hello, 2012!

I haven't posted on here for awhile...we've been so busy with work, football, basketball, school concerts, and a bunch of other things that I just haven't had a chance to really do much on the computer aside from my regular 8-5. I will say that I am pretty glad to put 2011 behind us. I won't say it was a horrible year but it really wasn't the best. But I have high hopes for 2012! I've been thinking a lot about some goals I have and want to see myself working towards this year. And if I can stay focused and motivated, I think some great things can definitely happen!

I thought I'd share my Christmas card design. I didn't get to send out as many as I had hoped, but I guess that considering all that I had going on, I am pretty happy that I got anything designed in the first place! I was very tempted to go out and just buy a box of cards somewhere. But this little voice kept saying "Blasphemy! You're a designer! Not only that but a stationery designer!" So I made a point to come up with something to stuff a sock in the mouth of that little voice! LOL One thing that I will note about my design- I was so angry with all the commercialism around this year. It seemed so "in your face" this year and it drove me crazy. Commercials spit out gawdy jewelry commercials and tacky car commercials. And Best Buy probably had the WORST. Game On, Santa??? Really??? Shame on them!!! So anyhow, I was thinking about the Grinch and how he learned that there was more to Christmas than what he thought there was...more to it than one could buy from a store. So that's the direction I took. The inside of the card read, "May the true meaning of Christmas give you the strength and love throughout the year!"

In any case, I hope that everyone had a great holiday season! And I am happy to say that while I enjoyed every bit of mine, I am so very glad that it is OVER! LOL

Currently, I am working on a fun project for my daughter's 13th birthday. She has been bothering me for months that she wanted to have a Mustache party. I was going to let her have one around Halloween but that ended up not happening. So I promised she could have one for her birthday. We just finished up her invites tonight and I am in the process of creating stuff for her party. It's going to be so much fun! I am actually excited to see it all pull together! I will post pics from her party in a couple of weeks! Stay tuned!