Place Cards

The buttons I made and shared in this post, were for place cards for Ragan & Mark's wedding weekend. 

The place cards were inspired by these, found on Pinterest. 

I used place cards from Paper Source, home-made fabric buttons, a taped together square stencil, metal dots from JoAnn's, foam squares to attach the buttons, and an extra-fine tipped marker. 

Three weeks until the big day! 

Ding Ding!

Greatest delivery and donation to Camp that I've seen yet!
I was jumping up and down, biting my nails during the whole 'get this wobbly crate off of this massive truck, and DON'T. HURT. THE. BIKE.' process.
It took 1 fork lift, 2 saw horses & 7 men to get it off of the truck. Oh, and 2 women, giddy and nervous, off to the side (Hilary & I).

But, all totally worth it.
I've already had a blast riding it around, and the kids aren't even here yet!
It's very easy to maneuver, BUT, Camp  has some small subtle hills that I had previously underestimated!

Thanks, Dream Maker Hot Dog Carts ... for making our ice cream dreams come true.

It is All-Staff Orientation Eve...time to get this summer rolling! 

Bridesmaid Gift Tags

I used this tutorial from Cherry Street Cottage to make fabric flowers, adding dimension & flare to gift tags. I attached the flowers on top of twine wrapped card stock.
Mailed off to Kansas, one month out from Ragan & Mark's wedding!

From the fields of Amaroogie

My Grandma & Grandpa Wenger have a farm on the outskirts of town called, 'Amaroogie'. 

When I think about Amaroogie, I think about my big sister Erica, my cousin Maggi, and I loading up in Grandpa's truck and driving the 25 minutes or so out to Amaroogie, singing made up songs about going to the farm. 

At Amaroogie, we fished with Grandpa.

We cut down Cat Tail and gathered hedge balls with Grandma. 

We collected fish eye balls in our tackle boxes. 

We pretended we were living in the era of The Little House on the Prairie. 

We learned how to shoot a gun and skin a fish. 

We roasted hotdogs and burned marshmallows.

We plugged our noses when we used the old, creaky, stinky outhouse. 

We heard stories of ole' Foo Man Shoo. 

And at the end of the day, we piled into the bunk beds and giggled as we counted Grandpa's snores and drifted off to sleep.

The next day we would make a trip into Goff, KS (population 126) to eat greasy burgers and fries at D&J (or was it D&G!??) 

Sometimes we would get to sit at the bar and drink grape soda. 

One time, at D&J, I had an accident. Grandpa just took me out back and hosed me down right outside of the restaurant. The water was cold, but I was clean again in a hurry! 

A year ago, I found my first antler sheds at Amaroogie. 

And last month, over Easter, Hilary, Pete and I went out. Hilary and I soaked up the sun on the dock, and Pete went for a run. After which, Hilary helped him re-hydrate with some fresh Kansas water. 

We didn't find any antlers on this particular day, but on my birthday the next day, Grandpa gave me a skull and antlers he had at found at the farm earlier in the month.
I didn't have room to pack them in my suitcase, so Grandpa said he would ship them out to me.

They probably had a better chance of survival in the mail, anyways. 

A few weeks ago, the package arrived.

I was so excited to open it.

To open a little bit of 'home'. 

To open up a flood of memories of spending summer days and nights Amaroogie. 

In the package, there was the skull, antlers, and also feathers from a turkey Grandpa got at the farm the weekend before.
He even sent the beard from the big tom.

The feathers are beautiful. Grandpa noted that he never throws them away.

After my feathers were situated, the skull went right outside with me and my bottle of pink spray paint!

I hope Grandpa isn't offended that the skull is now a glossy pink!
But, I think it looks fabulous!

I need to find a good way to hang the skull and then I think it will be a great addition to my Gallery Wall. 

Thanks for the fun delivery, Grandpa! 

I love you.  

Grandpa Wenger & I dancing at e&t's wedding : June 5, 2010

The Summer of the Sunflower

Another summer is upon us!

Camp's 25th Summer. 

I have officially been living on Camp since Sunday, and our first orientation with our summer leadership staff is well underway. 

Before our summer staff arrived, The Program Team took a trip to The Paint Bar in Boston to have a little fun out of the office to play, paint, and embrace our summer theme. 

"The Sunflower's open faces symbolize the sun itself, conveying warmth and happiness, adoration and longevity."

This is our team. 

2012 : The Summer of the Sunflower. 

I think this song is one of many great ways to sum up why we chose Sunflowers for our 25th Summer. 

A Sunflower Song

By: Nice Peter
(click on the song title to see the youtube video!) 

"Take a look at this Sunflower, standing so tall. 

Isn't it pretty, it started so small.

But it kept growing, it never stopped.

And it's just love, water and sunshine that makes it so high.

It's not looking down on me, it shows me the sky. 

I know that my sunflower won't always be there

But you can't unlearn what you've learned,
When you've learned it, it stays in the air.

So I keep growing, and I guess I won't stop.

Cuz, it's love, water and sunshine that makes it so high.

When it starts to rain, on a cold lonely day,

Remember the seeds that you planted, won't just go away.

They grow up through the night and it's alright.

It's a sunflower, standing so tall.

Isn't it pretty, it started so small.

It kept growing, it never stopped...
It's just love, water and sunshine that makes it so high." 

If things are a little quiet around here for the next 3 months, it's because over 1,000 seriously ill children are getting a one of a kind Camp experience that I am lucky enough to be a part of. NBD. Just kidding. BIG DEAL.
I'll try to continue to post semi-regulary throughout the summer, but I will most likely choose to spend all of my spare moments peddling around on our brand new Ice Cream bike. Yep, I said Ice Cream bike. Pictures to come!

The Maura Card

After this post of cards, I got my first 'order' from someone I have never met. 

My first order from the state of Delaware. 

I'm debating on calling this style of card The Maura, The Delaware or The McBride?

I think The Maura Card fits it best. Especially in the colors Fuchsia & Sunshine! 

Mother's Day & E's Birthday : Gifts

Last week, I mailed my mom her mother's day present (a few days late, sorry Mom!) and my big sister Erica, her birthday present (a couple weeks early!) 

This post by Lesley of Recipe for Crazy, inspired me to paint bamboo kitchen utensils with bright, summery colors. Lesley put an awesome gift together of some homegrown garden goodness, and a serving bowl and utensils. 

Because I was mailing the gifts to Kansas, I decided to go with something a little more flat than a bowl. 

So, at Target, I picked up bamboo cutting boards and a wooden utensil trio. 

I pulled out my Martha Steward green & yellow paint, as well as some frog tape and a sponge brush, and got to paintin'. 

I did do a clear protective coat, so hopefully the paint does last. But, I think maybe the boards would be best used as a cheese board, or flat serving platter (less wear and tear than a cutting board)

And remember in this post about the Brimfield Antique Show, I said that I purchased some other wooden letterpress letters. 

Here they are:

An 'E' & 'T' for Erica and Travis, and a 'K' for Kellenberger. 

(Letterpress blocks are mirror images, so usually backwards to the eye. It just so happens though, that E, T & K and be flipped to being the right way!) 

And a 'W' for my mom. 

My Herbs have been getting a lot of camera time lately! They brighten up these little photo shoots nicely!