SWEET TEA SOCIAL

This past Saturday, October 8th, I had the day to myself. I love my boys and my hubby to death, but there are just days when I need to be away from them. I'm sure ya'll know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, this particular Saturday was an Extra Special day. I was going to have lunch with a group ladies I had never met before. They, like me, are Bloggers. Most have Craft Blogs, but there was also a DIY Blogger, a true Writer who Blogs, a Painter/Photographer who Blogs, and one who has the inside scoop to all things Frugal. Needless to say, a great group and mix of wonderful girls.

Allison of A Glimpse Inside and Michelle of Dream Home DIY were the two ladies who were responsible for organizing the... "Sweet Tea Social".

We all met for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Richmond at Short Pump.

Most of us were pretty local, but Jennifer form An Apple for the Crafter drove down from the DC area, and Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous drove in from the Norfolk area. I'm sure they thought that by the end of the afternoon, all the horrible traffic they endured getting there, was totally worth it.

Like the total Dork that I am, I made sure to print out my "Ticket" to be presented upon my arrival. No one actually ever asked for it, but I did ask if they needed to collect it - that got a few chuckles. Allison made the cutest Name Tags for everyone.

It was even cuter before I lost it's little Lemon slice... BOO :(

Michelle had put together these Adorable Party Favors... a nice drinking glass with tea-bags and a recipe for Sweet Tea.

The Too Cute Pin Wheels were stolen from the Centerpieces that Allison had made for the table.

After a wonderful 3 hour lunch, where we ate delicious food and enjoyed great conversation, five of us headed off to the Greatest Craft store EVER... Hobby Lobby!

Now I'm sure most of you know, Linda of Craftaholics Anonymous. In my mind, she is one of the Rock Stars of the Crafting Blog World. Well this was a HUGE day for her. She had NEVER. BEEN. to Hobby Lobby. I made sure to document her arrival for her Virgin Voyage on the Mother Ship.

I think we were there for about 90 minutes, which in Hobby Lobby time is short, but we all had to get back to our real lives. Jennifer's husband was kind enough to come in and take a photo of the five of us.

L to R: Jennifer (An Apple for the Crafter), Me, Allison (A Glimpse Inside), Michelle (Dream Home DIY) and Linda (Craftaholics Anonymous)

We are ALL looking forward to getting together again real soon. But sadly, it will have to be without Allison. She and her husband will be leaving Virginia at the end of this month and heading for the mountains of Colorado. She will be missed, but we will all always be Grateful to her and Michelle for bringing us all together and allowing us to meet each other in person and make new friends.

Thanks Guys!!

Here is a list of all the Attendees:

Allison - A Glimpse Inside

Michelle - Dream Home DIY

Jennifer - An Apple for the Crafter

Linda - Craftaholics Anonymous

Becky - Farmgirl Paints

Patty and Cheryl - Friends of of Becky's

Brandee - Smooth Stones

Anjie - The Frugal Freelancer

SWEET TEA SOCIAL

I am so excited to be attending this very special event next weekend. I have been craft blogging for a little over a year now, and can't wait to meet some other fellow crafters who live in the area. I've already met one of the hosts, Allison. We met back in May right after she moved to VA from KY. Can't wait to see her again.

If you follow me and live in the Richmond, VA area, please try to come join us. It should be a lot of fun!!

SUPER HERO CAPES

This morning, as my husband was leaving for work, he handed me a stack of his white undershirts and asked me to cut them up into rags. I said okay, but then had a better idea. I would use them to make Super Hero Capes for the boys.

I had recently seen this Super Easy Tutorial using large t-shirts for the Cape, and knew I wanted to give it a try - figuring I'd get to it before my oldest's birthday next month.

But in "Kristol Tunnel Vision" fashion, once I get something into my head, I have to do it right away... and so I did.

I gathered everything I would need: t-shirts, felt, and velcro

I made the capes following the tutorial, and then set about personalizing them. Using my Cricut and some Freezer paper, I cut out a Star Shape and three Initials as templates. I then pinned the star and an initial to a piece of felt, and cut around them.

The "M" is for my cousin's little boy who is a couple months younger than my oldest.

Then I straight stitched the Initial to the Star and then the Star to the Cape... Easy Peasy!!

I think they turned out WAY CUTE!!

Super Luke LOVES his!!

Super Grey isn't as thrilled.

So LOVE when projects like this take such little time and best of all, are FREE!!

I'm linking up to the following parties. Be sure to go visit, and see all the other awesome ideas.

Tatertots & Jello

KENDALL FAMILY

As I've been "practicing" my portrait photography, I've been posting the pics on Facebook. At some point, a childhood friend commented on a particular picture saying... "I wish you could practice here". "Here" being my home town. When I knew I would be going home for my class reunion, I contacted her to see if she would be interested in doing a family session with me. And boy was she!!!

This is my friend, Sharri. We've known each other since I was in the first grade and she in the third.

Funny story on how we first met... our mothers arranged a play date (did they even call it that back in the mid-seventies?). All Sharri had to do was walk up the street to our house - maybe 100 yds. But on the way... she got attacked by a dog. So she shows up at our house, having never met me or my mother, pounding on the door, crying and bleeding. Poor little thing. Regardless of that horrific first meeting, we still became fast friends.

I'm sure you're wondering about the "tunnel". This drainage culvert runs under the road behind Sharri's house. When we were kids, we LIVED in that tunnel, catching crawdads and tadpoles. The most fun thing to do in there, was run up and down the length of the tunnel, trying not to slip and fall in the creek and get wet. As soon as I scheduled this session, I knew I wanted to take a picture of her family in the tunnel. Little did I know her family are "City" folks. Getting them into the tunnel was HIL.AR.I.OUS!!!

But I was able to capture this great shot of Sharri's children, Kassie and Tyler. I'm sure every time she looks at this picture, it will bring back great memories from her childhood.

Now on to the rest of the session....

Another great shot of the kiddos.

Sharri and her husband of 23 years, Matt.

And of course some Great family shots...

I So need to get more creative with my group posing.

With all my clients, I provide a CD of about 15-25 edited photos from their session. Tomorrow, I will be mailing Sharri hers.

Thank You Sharri, Matt, Kassie and Tyler for a Fun night and a Great family session.

TWENTY... COUNT THEM... 20!!

This past weekend was my High School 25 Year Class Reunion (yes, now you know how young I am). Since I've been crafting crazy this past year, and sharing my projects on Facebook, the planning committee for the reunion asked me if I would make the Centerpieces. I happily said yes, and started thinking up a design back in March.

I had been loving all the pennant bunting I had seen all over Blogland, so that was the basis for the project. Even though I knew I had to make 20 of them, I still proceeded with this somewhat elaborate design.

The biggest challenge was finding a reasonably priced container. Finally, after spending WAY to much time on-line researching this dilemma, I found the perfect little tin pail at IKEA for $.79 each.

From participating in our local farmer's market, I have met a fellow Cricut-teer, Becky Vigon (she actually runs the Market). She was kind enough to help me, and using the "Make the Cut" software, was able to cut out all the little Spartan heads from an image I found for her on the internet. I SO need to learn more about that software.

The letters were from the Plantin cartridge, and the pennants from the Calligraphy cartridge. I used crochet thread for the "rope" and wood shish kabob skewers for the "poles".

The neatest thing I discovered while working on these, was Car Pin Striping. I went to Advanced Auto and picked up 40' of silver 1/8" pin striping for about $4. What a GREAT crafting tool! I used it on the white pennants to hide staples, and on the red band, that wrapped around the pail, for just an extra little detailing. Seriously, who knew craft supplies could be had at an auto parts store?

I purchased green floral foam and the shredded paper at the Dollar Tree. All in all, for 20 Custom Centerpieces, I spent less than $40... less than $2 a piece. Not too shabby.

So, like I said above, I started contriving this design back in March, and I think I had all the supplies by the end of June. However, I did not start working on them until about 10 days before I was to leave. On the first day, all I did was cut everything out on the Cricut. It pretty much ran non stop for about 8 hours. I'm totally surprised there wasn't smoke coming out of it by the time I was done. Then, to create all the pennants and bunting, it took about 45 minutes per centerpiece. Why did it take that long you ask? Well, I'll tell you (this is where the "elaborate-ness" comes in)... it's because all the pennants and banners were Double Sided. I wanted to be sure that no matter where you were sitting at the table, everyone was seeing the same thing. Crazy, Huh??

Needless to say, I was working like a fiend up until I left. But it was all worth it. They were a big hit, and I got lots of compliments on them. Thank You '86 classmates!!

I'm linking up to these parties. Be sure to check them out to see all the other great ideas!

Tatertots & Jello

A Glimpse Inside

NEGLECT

I know, I know, I know, my poor little blog has been very neglected as of late. After my family was here back at the beginning of June, I just have not been able to get back into my normal swing of things. And now, the summer is almost over. My oldest starts preschool in four weeks... Yikes!!

But apart from what I just stated above, I've been working on other passions lately, so my crafting has taken a backseat. I've been trying my hand at portrait photography, hoping to start a little business. Here are a few shots from a couple of my recent sessions. Tell me what ya'll think.

Thanks for still following me, and I hope to become a little more diligent with my posts.