Thank YOU!!!!

Burlap and Muslin Thank You Hang Tag Set
by
Victorian Station

I wanted to take a quick moment and send out a special "Thank You" to all the people who have decided to "follow" my blog.

I orginially started my blog just for fun and to possibly promote my Etsy Shop.  But, it has gradually morphed into a wide variety of subjects near and dear to me...one of which is promoting other etsy shops featuring items I find and love.

I'm a big fan of showing appreciation for the gifts we are given...nothing makes the gift giver feel more special than to receive a truly sincere, heartfelt "Thank You".

So here's a few more ideas for anyone to show their own appreciation...

Thank You Wedding Sign
by
Signs By Diane

Thank Heaven For You
by
The Back Porch Shoppe

Burlap Glitter Banner
by
funkyshique

And finally, I wanted share the "Thank You" cards I made for my daughter to send out for her baby shower using the Mixbook website.

This is the front of the card....I tried to upload it with a higher dpi, but either blogger or my internet service wouldn't let me.  I hope you can see enough of the detail.  These look much, much better in person than the pics show, they are much more 3-dimensional, and all the elements and details really pop off the page.  They are also printed on heavy cardstock.

We wanted to make the "Thank You's" as if coming directly from the baby, so I inluded a pic of expectant Mommy's belly and a small pic of the shower thank you gifts.

For the back of the card, my daughter found a poem she wanted to include, it's written as though from the expected little one.   I also left enough space to the left of the poem for "Mommy" to hand write a thank you from herself.  I hope you can see the entire poem...

I hope these items will give you some great ideas if you have need for them in the future, or maybe they'll just inspire you to come up with something of your own.  I'd love to hear ways you show YOUR appreciation, I'm always looking for different ideas...:)))

Baby Girl Shower Invitations and Branch Centerpiece DIY Tutorial

front of invitation

I made the baby shower invitations using the online website Mixbook where you can upload your own photos and edit them, upload your own scrapbook papers and elements to design your own cards, photo books, and calendars.  You can also invite other family members to help out with the albums.   I have made photo albums to give as gifts and am currently working on getting all our family photos put into albums.

In keeping with the "Princess" theme, I titled the front of the invitation "Preparing for a Princess" and I added pics of Miranda, her belly, and an ultrasound.  The back of the invitation had all the details for the shower itself.

I have enjoyed scrapbooking in the past but have found that I prefer the unlimited artistic options by going digital.  Every single background, element and every text was put into place and edited by me.   If you've never tried it but would like to, let me warn you, it can become very addicting...

back of invitation

I've also recently found the online photo editing site Picnik and have just started playing around with it, and so far I'm in "LLLLOVVVVEEEE" with it.  I used it on the back of the invitation to "pixelate" Miranda's last name and the RSVP phone number, I'm not that great at it, but I'll only get better with practice :)

Now for the Branch Centerpiece DIY Tutorial:

The food table featuring the branch centerpiece (I wish we would have taken the pic after we cleaned off the bar in the background)

I started with dead, bare branches that had fallen in our yard out of the large maple tree that drops them every time a wind storm blows through.  I picked the ones that were the most appealing to me.  I then purchased from Michael's a couple of containers of small fabric flowers, Martha Stewart Glittering Glue & Lustre Glass MicroBeads in White Gold.

I proceeded to add the glittering glue to the center of some of the flowers, then sprinkled the microbeads onto it, shaking off the excess...

Some of the smaller flowers, I layered with hot glue.  I also found the tall pink tin can at Michael's and stuffed it with wadded up newspaper to provide support for the branches.  I arranged the branches into the newspaper then used my hot glue gun to attach the flowers randomly.

To finish it off, I added a white feather boa that was purchases at Hobby Lobby to the top of the tin pot.  We plan to place this in the nursery for decoration but I think I'm going to have to cut the size down quite a bit.   To get this to the shower, I had to remove the branches from the tin, and lay them flat in the back of my SUV (the branches were so big, I had to lay the back seats down for them to fit), then I just rearranged it back together at the shower.  It was honestly so easy to do.

I used very little of the glue and microbeads, so I'll have them for another project, so this really only cost me the price of the tin pot, the feather boa and the flowers, probably around $22.

Nate Berkus always says to use things from nature and I think this fits that bill nicely, if the branches get broken, they are very easy to replace, and cost nothing because you can reuse the flowers.

If you missed the other posts about the baby shower, go check them out...

http://mybluepeacock.blogspot.com/2011/06/baby-girl-shower-table-decor.html

http://mybluepeacock.blogspot.com/2011/06/baby-girl-shower-topiary-diy-tutorial.html

http://mybluepeacock.blogspot.com/2011/06/princess-baby-shower-preview.html

Keep watch this week for an awesome interview and giveaway from an amazing etsy artisan!!!  I'll also be sharing the menu, some purchases from other amazing etsy artisans, and a few handmade gifts.