Pregnancy and — well, pickles and ice cream, right?!  This idea is a GREAT way to throw a baby shower that will not break your bank too… ice cream, toppings, salty pickle appetizers, drinks, and you've got it!  A perfect afternoon spring or summer baby shower. (This idea is also great for those that need to throw a gender-neutral shower.)   For this party we we found these adorable ice cream dishes and spoons at Dollar Tree — which also doubled as take-home favors.  (The kids loved that.)

This was the invitation for the shower, which was for a mom having a baby boy:

A few more pics…

Since everyone attending this shower was a mom, we played a game guessing everyone's particular pregnancy cravings… {tip: don't think die-hard vegans don't crave loaded cheeseburgers or burritos on occasion! lol…}

For this game, an extra-large pickle jar (like you can buy at Costco or Sams) was emptied and refilled with pickles of ALL sizes…

The food is what makes this shower so simple to throw together.  An ice cream bar is quick and easy to assemble…have a few different kinds of ice cream flavors (simple is best, since you're providing toppings as well) and go to town with the rest… hot fudge, caramel, marshmallow cream, nuts, sprinkles, cherries, strawberries… anything you think your guests might like… We had several ice cream scoops decorated with ribbons to match the decor.

The appetizers are also simple… my favorite were the pickles wrapped in cream cheese and ham.  So simple to put together and very tasty.    You can use salami or corned beef… whatever you prefer.  Here's a link for one version, and believe me, you really can't go wrong with these.  We wrapped mini dill pickles, but you can also wrap large pickles and slice them into rounds.

We didn't want too many strong pickle flavors so while we offered various pickles for people to snack on, we also made some "green eggs" salad sandwiches (just your basic egg salad recipe, with green food coloring thrown in.)   We also added a green fruits and veggies tray (with green apples, cucumbers, green peppers, kiwi, etc), and a green punch.

Everyone had a great time and nobody went home with green tongues. 

I wanted to share these frames I made for two baby showers.  It seems I've been making a lot of these lately… lots of babies being made around here!  Anyhow, it's fun to take the colors the room will be, figure out what will make it special for the mom, and design it accordingly. 

Here is my latest frame, made for my sweetheart of a friend who is having a baby girl. I love working on baby showers.  This really shows off the color scheme we chose for this shower… lots of pinks, greens, but with some bright splashes of color thrown in.  I'm still waiting (hoping) to get pictures from the gal that took them to share, but we made a bunch of large tissue paper flowers and hung them around.  Very pretty 

Psalm 139: 1-18 is what I picked for another gal who actually had her daughter this past week.  I love this Psalm, it's a beautiful picture of God's intimage knowledge of us.  Verse 5 is probably my favorite because it really gives you a picture of being sealed and protected by God. It says "you hem me in." Other translations say "you enclosed me, behind and before" or "you are all around me – in front of and in back of me." How easy I forget this in the midst of a busy schedule!

Psalm 139

 ¹ O LORD, you have searched me
       and you know me.

 ² You know when I sit and when I rise;
       you perceive my thoughts from afar.

 ³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
       you are familiar with all my ways.

 ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
       you know it completely, O LORD.

 ⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
       you have laid your hand upon me.

 ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
       too lofty for me to attain.

 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
       Where can I flee from your presence?

 ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
       if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

 ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
       if I settle on the far side of the sea,

 ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
       your right hand will hold me fast.

 ¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
       and the light become night around me,"

 ¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
       the night will shine like the day,
       for darkness is as light to you.

 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother's womb.

 ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
       your works are wonderful,
       I know that full well.

 ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
       when I was made in the secret place.
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

 ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
       All the days ordained for me
       were written in your book
       before one of them came to be.

 ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
       How vast is the sum of them!

 ¹⁸ Were I to count them,
       they would outnumber the grains of sand.
       When I awake,
       I am still with you.

I just wanted to post an update that I have migrated my old blog (http://www.pixelpackinmama.blogspot.com) to this site, and have set up a redirect to forward people to this domain instead.

I've been working a lot on this site and am getting near the finish!  It'll be much easier for me to manage everything in one place now. I haven't ever given my website the continual focus it needs because I end up working on other things, but it's time!      

It's finished! Here is my latest project: http://www.violetbaptistchurch.org/

This project consisted of the following:

• Branding / Logo development
• Site and graphic design
• Implementation of audio / video / podcasting ability
• Implementation of Members' Only section
• Integrated blogs for various ministries
• Integration of Google calendar
• Customizable forms for both public access and members-only access
• Complete client-managed content

This was a difficult, but rewarding project to work on, and I enjoyed working with VBC. (I feel as if I've known them long enough to refer to them that way!) Anyway, blessings to all of you out there in Pickerington, Ohio!

I just had to make a post about our new family blog, DesigningforAfrica. This blog is about our family's international adoption journey! We are so excited and thrilled to be on this path. It's changed us already and we have barely started the process.

Anyhow, I also wanted to post here about it because I designed the graphics as well. I'm thinking about turning these into some sort of cards in some way… we shall see! But I had the most fun making this.

Anyhow, you can read about the details over there!

Okay, this is a tutorial for the ribbon trees I made last year. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the process, BUT, it's very simple to follow.

Supplies:
Ribbon (about 6 types — approx. 4 yard roll of each is fine for a 12" cone / tree… it's really up to you as to how many types you want on your tree…)

Pins (decorative "ball" pins from the sewing aisle)
Foam cone (in florist aisle at Michael's or Jo-Ann, whatever size you'd like)
Decorative topper/ Floral pick (you can also find these at Jo-Ann / Michael's… or use whatever you like, even a small ornament would work nicely…)

Step 1: Cut some of your ribbon into approx. 4" strips. I don't cut ALL my ribbon, I just cut it as I go… this way I don't waste any. (Of course truth be told, I made so many of these that I ended up making multiple repeat trips to the store for more ribbon… I think I purchased about a quarter of their total stock!!)

Step 2: Fold the ribbon in half, decorative side out. Take one of your decorative pins and pin it to the cone, near the base. To do this, look at your loop…. at the top where the two ends meet (not the loop end) is where your pin will actually go in. You want to put it about 1/4" to 1/2" down from the top, so as you're layering, the pins will show (very pretty if you use the decorative ball / pearl pins, because they look like mini ornaments.) Angle the pin down when you stick it in. (This way, as you get nearer to the top, you don't have any pins poking out the other side of the cone.)

NOTE: For your first row at the base, I would pin it leaving about 1/2" (or so) of the loop hanging off the bottom… not too much but not too little. You don't want any of the cone showing. This way the ribbon can actually "fan out" on the bottom, which is pretty if you don't use anything else as a base.

Step 3: Repeat Step 2, pinning right next to the ribbon you just pinned. You actually want the edges to overlap a little so the cone doesn't peek through. Repeat all the way around the base, then add additional rows all the way up the cone. (Basically it's just rows of loops.)

Step 4: When you get to the top, cut a piece of ribbon to wrap around the very top… just to cover up any edges showing. Then add your topper…. I like to hunt for neat wire floral toppers or "picks" I think they are called…

If you'd like to place this in a base of some sort, stick a bamboo skewer up the inside of the cone. Place an appropriate sized block of florist foam into your base and cover with spanish moss. Then stick the skewer in the block.

So simple… and this makes a beautiful gift as well, for a hostess, teacher… anyone really. You can attach your own lightweight "ornaments" if you'd like, or even attach small bows in spots with your decorative pins. The cones come in all sizes as well, so you can make miniature or large trees.

You can see more trees at my Flickr.
Happy Ribboning!

I've made so many things the past couple of months, and working up a storm, and yet I haven't shown any of it off! Shame on me!

Here are a few web projects I did this past summer:

Achievement Therapy Center:

Raysco Inc:

Airfield Authority:

Currently I'm in the process of designing a new website for a church back east, in Ohio. The package also includes rebranding as well, so they're getting a new logo and new look altogether! Their existing site is http://violetbaptist.org/ .
We just had a meeting the other day to go over the new logo concepts I created for them… all of which were very well-received! I'll post more on that later…

Okay, here are the rest of the trees I made for the Christmas party for our church this past weekend. My sister helped me make them, she actually made my favorite one (the red one, the second from the right…)

They really were a lot of fun to make. I think I just about purchased half of the holiday ribbon supply at Michaels!

I thought I’d post these pictures of this tree I made for my sister’s condo…these are the colors of her living room and her Christmas decorations. It turned out really lovely…and she loved it!

The topper:

This picture turned out horrible, but you get the idea of how it looked in its entirety:

After I gave this to her, we got together and made a bunch of these as centerpieces for our church Christmas party. I’ll post pictures of them after it’s over…(I don’t want to give away what they look like now!)

Well, the Cutting Edge website is complete. And every page checks out with the W3 Validator, so it's clean!

http://www.cuttingedgeind.com

Since this business doesn't really have a lot in the way of pictures I could use for graphic appeal, (they have a lot of product pictures) I utilized the two stock photos of Las Vegas/Red Rock Canyon to give it a little geographical interest. Many (including myself) would not consider Las Vegas necessarily beautiful. However, I've learned in the 10 years of living here that I had not taken advantage of discovering it's beauty. The Strip is glitz and lights and, at this point in my life, really holds little interest for me personally, but is attractive to the millions of people that come here (or are envious that we actually live here, ha ha). But Red Rocks is quiet, serene, and beautiful and holds more of the beauty I appreciate. So I decided to include that picture in particular. (Plus, it really goes with the "green-ness" of the company. At any rate, it was a fun project to work on…with each project I take on it's an adventure in discovering something new.

In other news, I just finished up some holiday invitations for an office party…they turned our really nice. I need to take pictures and post them; I utilized a heavy metallic copper cardstock as the backing for them and I want to capture it with the camera. (Photography skills not being my strong suit, I will need to practice this…I'm really itching to learn more about it though…)

And lastly, here are two fun things I did just for the hey of it.