Connor's 3rd Birthday Party Invitation

When first planning Connor's party, I found some scrapbooking-inspired custom made invitations that I liked online. But, I didn't like the price associated with same. Nor did I have enough time to have them designed and produced and shipped to me in order to mail out to guests.

So, I designed my own. I started by toting the boys around town to two different craft stores in order to procure the appropriate scrapbooking supplies. Namely, paper and stickers.

Then, I got scrappy. I created this...


...which I scanned into my computer. Then, using my photo editing software, I added a picture of Connor and some text. (I deleted the bottom portion of the text for posting here, because you all don't need my phone number and address. Unless you do, in which case, you can ask me for it.)


Then, I had them printed up as 5x7 photos at my local one hour photo store. I had them in hand and in the mail later that afternoon! Not only was it fun to do, but it was very convenient, and I love the way that they turned out.

Kevin also really liked them. He was so impressed with the invitations that he thinks that I could sell my invitation making services to family and friends (and strangers, too, but I don't know how they would know about it, being strangers).

Scrapbook Steals

So far, the only thing that I have nabbed from Scrapbook Steals are these Cosmo Cricket layout ideas.

I really think I'll use the one with the bus for a layout for Connor's scrapbook. One of his favorite songs is The Wheels on the Bus, and he loves to play with his Little People bus, and he often rearranges the chairs in the kitchen to make a bus, and insists that we all sit on his bus.

In fact, last night, after I was done reading his bedtime stories and singing his bedtime songs, he broke out in his own rendition of The Wheels on the Bus. Although he left out a lot of the little words like "the" or "on," he nailed it! I was impressed.

BIG Scrapping Trouble Ahead

Just when I had decided to finish up Connor's baby scrapbook and use up the last of my scrap booking supplies before turning to digital scrap booking for all future scrap endeavors, one of my favorite websites, BabySteals.com, is launching a sister site: ScrapbookSteals.com.

Can I control my internet purchasing impulses?

My Weekend

I really can't think of much to say about my weekend. It was pretty good.

I bought new shoes. I bought the above Steve Madden shoes, except the ones that I bought are black with white polka dots. I decided that my sense of balance is a little off, and therefore, I should not wear three inch heels. (Plus, all the pregnancy info I've read seems to agree with this philosophy.) These shoes match both of the maternity dresses that I bought, so now I can wear them with less risk of tripping and falling.

Other than that, Kevin and I visited Sara and Jason this weekend. Kevin and Jason played games on his new X-Box 360 while Sara and I did some scrapbooking. I think I am almost done with my wedding scrapbook. I bought some more refill pages on Sunday to put the new pages I made into the album, and after I get them all in there, I should know exactly how close I am to finishing it, but I think I am really close. Which is good, since I'm ready to update (and probably end) my general album in anticipation of making a baby book of some sort. I can't decide how much of the baby book I want to be preprinted, and I think I may just start working on it before the baby comes, leaving room for specific information and pictures. Kinda like making my own template, I guess.

A Farm Kinda Weekend

Well, on Saturday, I bought a dress for my upcoming sorority formal, but I don't know whether or not I'm going to actually wear it. I might return it and wear one that I already had, as I had forgotten that I owned it, and Kevin recently reminded me. I have yet to decide.

But, the new one is black, with an empire waist and spagetti straps. Above the empire waist part, the material is a nice green color. The dress is tea length (which means that it hits at the bottom part of my knee), and it has a nice tulle underskirt, so it's nice and full and flirty. I really do like it, but I have another dress that I could wear that I also really like, and I've only worn that one once. Sigh...decisions, decisions.

In general, I think people should invite me to more parties where I can wear party dresses, so that when I do get to wear one, it isn't such a big decision.

I also got my hair cut on Saturday, so it's all the same lengths now (even though I have layers in it) and it looks much better. Even though I got about 3 inches cut off for the summer weather, it's still pretty long, and it looks pretty much the same as it did before, just nicer.

Kevin and I went to Sara and Jason's house on Saturday night, and we had some smoked ribs, and Sara and I worked on putting together scrapbook pages. It was a ton of fun, although I'm not sure what Kevin and Jason got into while we were busy with girl stuff. I think I finished about 10 pages or so, so I made some pretty good progress on my wedding scrapbook.

I'm going to put working on my wedding scrapbook on hold for a bit, though, so I can work on my grandparent's 50th anniversary gift first. I'll pick the scrapbooking back up after that, and I hope to have the scrapbook finished by the end of the summer.

On Sunday, Kevin and I went to Sarah and Isaac's farm, and we saw their pig and chicks. Kevin is going to help Isaac build a chicken coop sometime in the near future, and he may even help with building a new fence so that they can bring home the horse and cows that they have purchased. They live even more in the country than we do, and they are going to have eggs and milk on their farm for themselves now. They have a whole patch of asparagus in their field, and they can't get rid of it. Apparently asparagus is really hard to kill off, which may be good, since I really like it. I'm thinking I might plant a bit of that in our backyard, along with some strawberries, this spring. (I haven't asked Kevin for his opinion about that yet, so I don't know for sure whether or not I will.)

Something Else

Yesterday I got 4 of the charms that I ordered on Ebay in the mail. They look really nice on my bracelet, and I removed the Class of '03 charms, since they were starting to date me, and that can't happen, as I plan to remain 25 for the next few years or so. I'm still waiting for the OSU charm to come. I hope that it comes in today's mail, and that it looks as nice as it did online.

I ate at Quizno's today with Sara, and I tried their honey burbon chicken sandwich. I liked it at first, because the honey part was really good, but then the tangy sauce started to take over, and then I didn't like it as much. I only ate half my sandwich as a result, but then again, their sandwiches are pretty big to begin with. I never did figure out why Quizno's was being picketed during lunch last week, but there was no activity on that front today.

What kind of world do we live in where people feel strongly enough to picket a restaurant, but only for a little while? Wouldn't it be more effective if they just stayed there?

Hooray for the fact that it is Friday. I'm looking forward to my trip to the mall and the salon tomorrow, as well as hanging out with Sara to do some scrapbooking. Then, on Sunday, Kevin and I hope to spend some time with Sarah and Isaac so that we can play with Kevin's paintball guns on their very large property out in Johnstown. I say "hope to," because I was supposed to call Sarah about it today, and I totally forgot to do it at lunch. I'm going to try to call her on my way home from work, and see if we can get together on Sunday then.

PS. Yes, everyone I know is apparently named Sara or Sarah. (Or Kevin, if they are a male.)

Kevin's Football Scrapbook

Kevin played football in high school, and his mother bought a scrapbook and clipped all the articles from the newpapers that mentioned him. She even got copies of the photographs that were published in the papers. (One of which is above; Kevin is number 32.) But, she never actually got around to putting all of it together.

Since we've bought our house, both of our parents have been giving us back stuff that we didn't even know that they were holding onto for us, such as my old doll house, or a box full of scrapbook clippings, that now I'm putting together for Kevin.

I don't mind putting the scrapbook in order, actually, as I really like scrapbooking. A few days ago I designed the cover page, and last night, I sorted through everything from Ella's stack, and put it all in (a loose) chronological order. Now, I can put it all into the scrapbook with ease.

Next time you come over you'll have to see it, because once I'm done with it, it is going to be legendary. Now I need to figure out what to do with my old doll house.