Bridal Shower Invites

My good friend Hillary is getting married in August, and I'm throwing a Bridal Shower in her honor this month. Over the Summer, I'll share some of my projects and creations for the event. I sent out these invitations a few weeks ago, and am happy with the final product.

I wanted Hillary to have a collective gift from all of the shower attendees. Using my Silhouette Cameo, I made these heart inserts and enclosed a card for each guest to bring their favorite recipe for Hillary's collection.

The invitations are from Minted, and the recipe cards from Hallmark.

I experimented with pink baker's twine and lace ribbon to secure all the pieces together. I decided to use the baker's twine for the guests and the lace for the bride-to-be.

It was such a relief to finally get these sent off, and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product as all of these projects finally come together.

Maui

Back in May, Patrick and I went to Maui for one glorious week.  The trip was extra special because we honeymooned on Maui five years ago, and this was our first trip back.

The pictures say it better than I could, so I'll keep this pretty short. The best thing we saw was a huge sea turtle that swam next to use while we snorkeled. The funniest thing we saw  was a guy snorkeling along with a selfie stick in hand. You can't make this stuff up! I hope the turtle photo bombed him...except that would reward him for using his selfie stick while snorkeling. I'm conflicted. 

The ocean was so many shades of blue. 

I am highly susceptible to motion sickness, but with the help of a hearty breakfast, Sea Bands, ginger ale, and control of the steering wheel, I survived the journey along the Road to Hana. The Road to Hana is only 52 miles long, but there are 620 curves and over 40 one-lane bridges that make the trip a true adventure. Luckily, there are many rewards along the way, much like the game Candyland!

Many of the most popular stops on the Road to Hana are waterfalls. The Pacific Northwest has so many beautiful waterfalls that we opted to save up our stops for other sights. I had two favorites. First, the rainbow eucalyptus trees. 

Second was the amazing black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa State Park. 

Patrick drove us back to South Maui from Hana, and I got horribly motion sick. I'm not sure I'll ever want to drive to Hana again, but I'm glad I did it once! 

We had an excellent meal at Mama's Fish House on the North Shore. There is something magical about Mama's! 

Maui, we miss you and can't wait to come back! 

Puppies Part 2

Halley (pictured on the left) and Annie (pictured on the right) are completely adorable and delightful, and the last week has been a whirlwind. They are soft and cuddly, constantly full of antics, and the pictures don't do them justice. Before they were separated in Portland, they loved being together every possible moment.

Early stages of sharing...

Beating the heat by hiding under the lawn chair...

Annie and Lizzy are still getting to know each other. Lizzy is very patient and trying to adjust to this new little creature who loves to wrestle and bite her tail. They have moments like this:

and moments like this...

Over the weekend, the swimming pool was dusted off to survive the 90+ degree heat. Annie's entrances and exits into the pool would not earn her a 10 in the diving Olympics, but did provide fabulous entertainment.

Post swim aftermath.

Annie's current favorite activity is gallivanting through the yard to rip leaves off trees, then munching and crunching them in the grass.

She loves snuggling in clothes.

At her first vet appointment yesterday, she weighed a whopping 14 lbs, quite a bit more than Halley (10 lbs). Follow us on instagram @thethreegoldengirls to watch Halley, Annie, and Lizzy grow up!

Puppies, Puppies, PUPPIES!!!

A pair of adorable furry sisters joined our family this weekend! 

Aren't they the sweetest? 

We can't stop snuzzling them. 

Our parents' three year-old golden, Lizzy, seems to approve of her new buddies. They already love her like a big sister.  

This darling girl will be living with me, and I couldn't be happier. Her roly-poly sister will be living with Lizzy and our parents. 

We will be back next week with more adorable puppy pictures! 

Graduation Garland

Summer is almost here! Hip! Hip! Hooray! I absolutely love how late the sun sets. I'm trying to appreciate every moment of daylight knowing soon enough it'll be in short supply. With this time of year comes graduation season! To celebrate one of the graduates in my life, I wanted to make a "Congratulations" banner with graduation hats, and to practice making tassels. This seemed like the perfect small scale project to start with.

In this project I used fifteen 3 x 3 inch navy blue squares, navy blue brads, silver tissue paper, a good pair of scissors, my hot glue gun, 1/8 circle punch, and silver glitter letter stickers.

I used one of the extra squares to act as a template for the position of my brad.

I used a pin to poke the initial hole, then widened it with the brad.

To guide me through the tassel construction, I used the tutorial from Linen, Lace & Love. I was able to make all of my tassels from half a sheet of tissue paper.

Next I wrapped the tassel around the brad, and secured it with my hot glue gun. I trimmed most of the tassels so they didn't overwhelm the size of the squares. I used my 1/8 inch punch in the top corner, applied the letter stickers, and strung the banner.

Congratulations to the Class of 2015!