confetti by lexi

just flying by...

just flying by to say happy holloween from the cutest candy corn witch and mario & luigi's pal yellow toad...

the candy corn witch was a happy hand-me-down from my cousin.  the broomstick trick, a big jump plus a little photoshop magic!  i made the yellow toad costume, including the vest and hat, to coordinate with a pair of mario and luigi friends.  it was pretty easy, especially since we stumbled on a cool no sew foam pillow form that became the basis of the mushroom cap!

happy halloween!
:) lexi

flapjack o' lanterns

we traded our usual saturday morning rainbow pancakes for festive black and orange today.  a cookie cutter served as a pancake mold, and a few strategically placed chocolate chips turned simple circles into crazy jacks!

eat at your own risk!
:) lexi

flashback friday :: carving pumpkins

it's been hot here this week, so we've put off carving our pumpkins until the last minute.  this is one we carved a couple of years ago, based on a card i made.  there's just something about pirates that i love, so mignon let me help her create a pumpkin pirate.  colleen's crybaby pumpkin was cute too, and the seeds were yummy!  we'll see what we come up with tomorrow...

happy halloween!
:) lexi

original post:  october 26, 2008

eeek!

it's been a couple of years since i photographed our halloween decorations, probably the first time thoroughly in this house.  it's year number three here and i have things where i like them, so i want to be able to look back and remember when i pull out the boxes next year!

first spooky impressions are everything!  our neighborhood goes all out for halloween and graveyards are a common sight.   i need to find a few more similar tombstones to fill out the yard a little more, but i didn't have time for prop hunting this year.  we also have a witch and owl silhouette in the window, but it was hard to photograph.  inside the spooky continues with a wide variety of items collected over the years including random finds, pieces of old costumes, school projects, and things we created together...

witch hats, pumpkins, and scarecrows, oh my!  some of my favorites are the limerick tombstones from both girls' years in third grade, the spaghetti & eyeballs on the breakfast table, the iron candy cauldron (no one's walking away with that!) and the spooky ingredient jars we created based on an a muse stamp.  we even have a pet crow!

eeek!!!
:) lexi

tombstone centerpiece

how about a fun decoration today?  it's easy enough to make last minute, too.  when you ink only the edges and skull design at the top of the graveyard gatherings cling stamp from a muse, you have a big open gravestone to play with.  i added the rip with the fancy alpha clear set and a single mouse from three mice silhouette and made two identical gravestones, adhering them to each side of a simple box.  a little florist foam inside weights the box, with some twigs and moss to fill it out.  you could also use it to hold pixie stix or a small cello bag filled with treats.  any way you use it, it's sure to be terror-ific!

:) lexi

halloween is a hoooooot!

i couldn't let halloween arrive without sharing a couple of cute cards.  this was one of my favorite sentiments in the halloween collection from a muse during a-muse-a-palooza this summer.  paired with hazel witch owl, it sets a perfectly playful tone.  she's the cutest owl witch ever!!

but it also works just right with owl silhouette and bare branch to create a darker, more vintage inspired card.  i haven't had enough time this year to create much for halloween like i wanted to--i can't believe it's almost here actually!  but we finally pulled out our favorite decorations and purchased a few costume supplies over the weekend, and we went to the pumpkin patch after school today, so we're closer to being ready now...

yay!
:) lexi

yummy mummies

what better way to kick off the week before halloween than with mummy cupcakes? every year, the girls and i make something for a cake walk around this time.  we've made monster cakes and a jack o' lantern cake, among others.  this year i wanted something similarly cute, but also super easy since i'd already baked a cake that morning--stay tuned for that one after halloween!  anyway, all you need is white icing and a flat piping tip for these, so the easy goal was definitely met.  i had planned on using chocolate chips for the eyes, but found some candy covered chip sprinkles in my decorating stash, so we went with colorful eyes.  they were one of the first items picked again, so i think we met the cute goal, too!

:) lexi

flashback friday :: more spooky fun!

i could post halloween flashbacks forever!  this is a project we try to do every year--the haunted candy mansion version of the gingerbread house.  the structure is built with graham crackers and royal icing, the candies added after it has a chance to dry, also with royal icing.  the possibilities are endless with all the cool seasonal candies these days. with only a week to go, it's the perfect time to create your own.  a fun activity, a great decoration--win, win!!

happy haunting!
:) lexi

original post: october 27, 2008

stock the bar!

from little boys yesterday to big boys today!  this invitation was for a stock the bar shower given by three brothers of the groom.  a martini, paired with a monogrammed cocktail shaker helped deliver just what they needed--a wedding shower invite with a manly edge.

hear! hear!
:) lexi

camo pajamas

today i'm switching from pink to blue with a cute invitation for a couple of boys.  although, i guess i should disclose that even this invite came to life originally in pink!  anyway, the party was a pretend sleepover with a local storyteller, so immediately those old pajamas came to mind and i recreated the design with two major changes, blue instead of pink and two monogrammed pajamas to represent each of the boys.  i love those personal touches!

:) lexi

still thinking pink

i'm working on another princess project this week and this castle invitation was still sitting in the pile to be posted from the last time.  shaped invites are a little more involved since i cut them all by hand, but i always love the result.  especially this one, with the door opening to reveal the party text.  i always have a hard time photographing my pastel colored invites, but it's a soft pretty pink with slightly darker pink and purple accents.  perfect for any princess!

:) lexi

these boots are made for eating...

i created an invitaton for two cute little cowgirls a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend, i got to bake the cakes, too.  cowboy boots are perfectly pretty in pink!  each one is cut out of a 9 x 13 cake using a hand drawn template, flipped so the boots faced different directions.  to please the crowd, one cake is chocolate, the other yellow.  brown iced heels, "stitching" in a slightly darker pink, and their names as a white center seam were the perfect design details.

pink, brown and white had been the color scheme for our invitation, which is why we chose them for the cakes.  the idea for the invites came from playbill type notices, focusing on a cool western font that is as much the illustration as the text.  to add interest, i pulled in two complimentary text fonts and another dingbat font for the fleurishes.  i've said it before many times, but this invite is proof of the fact that i'm a total font junkie!!

:) lexi

flashback friday :: dessert in the great hall

in keeping with the halloween theme for flashback fridays this month, here is a card from an a muse harry potter series i created way back in 2007.  my younger daughter has always loved the movies, and is currently obsessed with reading the books for her nightly home reading, writing a short summary about a new chapter every night.  this is my favorite of the two card versions in the original post.  the table filled with halloween desserts hovering over the table, chandeliers floating in the high open space below the magical ceiling of the great hall.  in case you hadn't guessed, i love harry potter too!

:) lexi

original post:  september 29, 2007

ready, aim, fire!

i'm still buried under projects, so i thought i'd quickly share one of my favorite pics from our long weekend at the grand hotel in point clear, alabama.  they have a cannon that they fire every day at 4:00 p.m., which of course, i had to photograph.  i included the lead-up shots, but my favorite was the blast capture.  such a cool effect and so loud, too...

kaboom!
:) lexi

night owls!

the girls went back to school today and mignon needed a fun snack for one of her classes.  these cute owl cupcakes popped up on pinterest and she loved them, so we brought them to life.  we opted for tan colored buttercream owls instead of chocolate brown.  i named them night owls because we stayed up late last night baking and creating.  it's hard to get back into the swing of things after having a couple days off.  my inbox is overflowing, my desk is hidden under projects, and my head is going to explode thanks to a stubborn cold.  but the owls made me smile...

hoot! hoot!
:) lexi

10.10.10

a little fun in the sun with the girls yesterday, a day that was a perfect 10 all the way around!

:) lexi

flashback friday :: ghost of halloween past

it's friday again and time for another halloween flashback.  for several years when my kids were really little, we hosted a big halloween bash with neighbors.  of course, the invitations were always one of my favorite tasks.  i love playing with words to create fun phrases, pairing them with the perfect images.  especially for halloween!  each year, we challenged ourselves to top the year before.  they might be scary, they might be a fright, they're invitations for halloween night...

boo!
:) lexi

original post:  september 24, 2007

address labels

return address labels, six ways.  one of the many projects that have me clicking the days away this week.  i like when i get a chance to make options, because then i have more designs to add to my collection!

:) lexi

flag football face-off

more football inspiration for the season's favorite boy party theme.  this one is a little less involved than the ticket invite, but just as fun, focusing on the helmets going head to head.  i used the two colors of the birthday boy's school team, but you could also use the colors of a college or pro team, or simply two favorite colors.  and if the party is for two boys, adding names or initial logos to the helmets would add another personal touch.

go team!
:) lexi

surprise anniversary

another fun aspect of yesterday's beer invite was the ruse.  the party was given by the birthday honoree's wife, and she had the great idea to send a fake invite to her own house.  same date, same place, thirty minutes later than the real one--the perfect cover story!  making it a surprise ensured that it wouldn't be talked about much.  genius!  and we even kept with the same overall theme.  yesterday, beer.  today, champagne.  it's all about the libations!  of course, it would work as a real invitation, too...

cheers!
:) lexi