cora beth's birthday invitation

I apologize for the length of time between now and the last post. Haven't had much to post on this blog lately. Until now. :)

I have been working on a very special project -- it's actually been done for a couple weeks now, but I'm just now getting a chance to post it here.

My niece, Cora Beth, is turning a year old a week from today. Can you BELIEVE that?? She has been a joy to all of us since the day she made her appearance almost a year ago. I personally haven't seen her in about 2 1/2 months (I'm not even going to speak of the withdrawals I'm having...) but I know she has changed so much just in that brief time. I can't WAIT to see her next weekend at her 1st birthday party!

Daniel & Brandi asked me to design her birthday invitation and, of course, I was so very proud and honored to do that for them, for Cora Beth. Brandi decided on a ladybug theme and actually found the cute wording that I put on the invitation. I had a really great time designing it and I'm very pleased with how it turned out:

shower project x 2

Alright, as promised, I'm posting the invitation I designed for Elizabeth's shower this coming Saturday. The top of the invitation has an image that belongs to Elizabeth -- it's a paper project that one of her fellow bloggers created for her after Elizabeth sent her some homeade papers. Elizabeth is planning to use it in the baby's nursery somehow so I thought it would be special to use it on the invitation in some way, too.

Here's how it came out:

Save the date!

It is absolutely ridiculous how long I've been meaning to post this project. Way back at the beginning of March, I decided I wanted to throw my friend, Elizabeth, a baby shower and we set the date for a week from Saturday (May 16). So yes, as you can see the shower is nearly upon us...I should've written this post long ago.

Since we set the date out that far, I wanted to send a "save-the-date" postcard to increase our chances of having a good turnout for the shower. Elizabeth will be coming from Wake Forest, a good 2 to 2.5 hour trip, for the shower and I really want it to be worth her while to come. Also, I know how MY calendar fills up as we get into spring & summer and I wanted folks to have a heads up about the shower.

Elizabeth's fave color is red (and she does wonders with it!) and so she's incorporating that into the baby's nursery as well. From what I've seen on her blog, it is going to be a fantastic space, full of energy and fun. I can't wait to see the nursery finished!

I decided to go with that for the shower as well, and try to incorporate some of the elements she's going to use in the nursery. Here's what I came up with:

I have since mailed out the invitations so I'll be posting that in the next day or two (hold me to that, would ya? :) and you'll be able to see how I coordinated that. Had such fun designing both! I've been picking up items here and there this week for the shower -- I'm getting really excited!

shower project

Well, this is pretty long overdue only because I've been wanting to post this for awhile and only just now found the time to do so. My dear friend, Amy, recently had her first baby, a precious little boy -- Kyle. And he looks like a Kyle, too. :) He also looks JUST LIKE his daddy. We took a meal to Joey & Amy last night and I got to hold the little booger...oh.my. He was just the sweetest thing, and even woke long enough for Jeff and I to see his cute little eyes. :)

So I say all this to say that we threw Amy a shower back at the end of March. We tried to do it mid-March, but little Kyle decided he would be a little difficult and cause some trouble for Momma...we had to reschedule to a later date; I'm just glad we got it in! He was born 9 days later! Anyway, I designed the invitation for her shower along with some other things for some games we played, the gift log and her thank you notes. Had a GREAT time designing & coordinating everything! Thought I'd share a few of those projects here:

You didn't think I'd end this post without a photo of "the little booger", did you? Cute as can be.

new endeavor...

So I've been told I have some skills in Adobe Photoshop...and the fact is, I like to play around in it. I like to see what sorts of new things I can design & create. I get excited when I learn something new or figure out a way to get the desired result all on my own (frankly, when I try to use the "help" feature in any program, it usually frustrates me more than helps me).

I've been kicking around an idea for awhile and decided to use a recent opportunity as a springboard for it...I've decided to embark on a new endeavor -- not new as in "I've never done this before", but new as in "this is different than the last time".

I'm starting a little side business in print & digital designs.

It's called Lindsay Wenzel Designs and it will include anything from print products/projects such as shower invitations, birthday invitations, baby announcements, graduation announcements, Christmas cards, etc. to digital projects such as blog/website design.

The "recent opportunity" I mentioned before is something I did for a pastor & his wife and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. My next post will be about that project.

I'm not sure where this business will go, if it will go anywhere, but as much as I enjoy working on these kinds of projects, I think I would enjoy sharing my skills & talents to help others "celebrate life's most important moments"!

rare date night...

Jeff and I celebrated Valentine's Day a little later this year since we were apart on the actual day (I mentioned that in my last post). We normally don't really do much of anything to celebrate it however this year, Jeff sent this beautiful pot of tulips to me! Aren't they lovely?

I told Jeff that all I wanted was for us to go to the movies to celebrate Valentine's this year so we decided that Wednesday (yesterday) would be a good night to celebrate. I checked the movie schedule and the movie we wanted to see, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, was showing at 7:20pm. Jeff told me Tuesday night that dinner was part of my gift and that he was going to take me to the Bento Box! Oh.my.word. We've only been one other time but it was fantastic! Now, before that visit, I was not a big fan of sushi. Jeff was, but I wasn't real wild about it. The owner of the restaurant, Chef Lee Grossman, completely changed that! He took such good care of us that night and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (and the sushi!). We sat at the bar and watched Lee and the other guys create these beautiful, edible works of art.

So when Jeff said he wanted to take me there, I was stoked! I made a reservation for us at their new place (our first visit was on the last night they were to be operating out of their former location), at the bar again and we had just as good a time this time as we did the first time. Lee took care of us again and we tried some new things. But we loved everything! We had a Rainbow KC Roll, a bowl of calamari, a Sesame Shrimp Roll (something we had the first time) and a special they had going for Valentine's, a Lobster Roll. And for dessert? Oh, yes. We HAD to have dessert! :) We had belgian chocolate fondue with fresh fruit, homeade pound cake and macadamia nut cookies! Yum.ie. :)

I took a few photos of some of our dishes last night --

After dinner, we hopped across the street and went to the movie. It was so, so funny! Us and one other couple shared the whole theater -- it was really cool!

The night was so great. It was wonderful to hang out with my best friend -- eat good food, watch a good show. I love you, babe! Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

rotating off...

Happy new year! I've been trying to get back into the swing of things -- work, reconnecting with friends, etc. We've been pretty busy.

I wanted to share a small project I did for my husband a couple months ago. He's been a deacon at our church for the last 2 years -- this is his last year before he rotates off. Each year, he's taken the time to send a personal note to each of his families along with a magnet for them to put on their refrigerator. He asks each one to let the magnet serve as a reminder to pray for him and the church staff. This year, he asked me to design the magnet and this is what I came up with (of course, I've blurred out his personal contact information per his request, but you get the idea):

Merry Christmas to all...

I pray you all have a very blessed Christmas with your friends and families -- from our home to yours...

a whole new world...

I have discovered a whole new world of things I had no idea about...digital scrapbooking. Now, I've known for awhile about digital scrapbooking -- that it existed. But I had no idea that there were so many websites out there that offer "freebies" -- elements you can download, free of charge, that allow you to create a scrapbook page/layout using Photoshop or some other comparable software program just like if you sat down at your craft table with a blank album. You would take your items/elements that you bought at AC Moore or Michael's and lay them out on your blank page in your album and create your scrapbook page/layout. It's the same thing with these "freebies". The possibilities are ENDLESS!

It is, in fact, how I created this particular blog -- the header at the top, the circular pattern background with the torn edges...it was all created with freebies that I found online. And since my friend, Holly, had a birthday this past Wednesday and she already has her gift, I can (finally) show you this little project I've had in the works for a while:

This is Holly's brand new baby girl, Caitlin Grayce Byrd, and I thought it would be special to try my hand at digital scrapbooking, to a certain extent, with this project. The actual photo itself was one I took at the hospital right after Caitlin was born and I edited it in Photoshop using a technique I recently learned (the black & white photo with just a bit of color -- love that effect!). I was going to just give Holly the photo framed, but then when I discovered this whole new world of digital elements, I thought I'd do something a little more for her. Happy birthday, Holly!