* Week Wrap Up: Dad's 60th *

All last week my mom and I were busy putting together a huge surprise birthday party for my dad. And by huge, I mean 85 of our closest friends and family. Coming from half an italian family, this meant lots of food. Coming from half an irish family, this meant lots of alcohol. Needless to say, there was a lot of preparation needed.

During the planning, I was in charge of designing the invitations and decorations. I thought I'd share the designs I did with you here.

I also wanted to come up with a way of displaying photos of my dad that was interactive and fun. I decided to hang twine from some pieces of wood to make a photo hanging. People could use these *adorable* clips to attach their favorite photos or a nice note to the hanging.

I was so busy running around that I didn't take many pictures. I only have these 2 shots of the final hanging, but it gives you an idea of what it looked like.

The party was a blast! It didn't go exactly as we expected of course; it was too cold to be outside for long, the food was getting cold, and my brothers kept my dad out too long getting shots at the bar, so they were almost 2 hours late. But, we made the most of it. I haven't seen my dad that shocked in a while. Totally worth all the effort. :]

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* Totally MIA *

I have been super busy this past week, and haven't gotten around to posting...

I'll be back with a week wrap-up post and should be back to normal posting tomorrow.

much love.

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* Artfest in Maine *

My mom and I went to Artfest in Maine this past weekend. It is part of a month long festival for Oktoberfest. It consisted of a bunch of open artist studios scattered around southern Maine, including pottery, jewlery, painting, sculpture, and more.

My mom and I only hit up 4 of the many places: Red Door Pottery, the Wentworth Dennett Studios, Just Us Chickens, and Ocean Fire Pottery. It was so much fun! We met a ton of amazing artists who were so welcoming and full of creativity. It was incredibly inspiring to talk to these local artists and hear their stories about their passion for art.

At the Wentworth Dennett Studios, an old school transformed into several artist studios, there is a giant wooden chair sculpture out front. So, of course we took turns sitting in it. I had a great time, and I definitely recommend checking out some of these places.

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* Sunday Sketch to Final Product *

Here is a "Sketch to..." of some cute gift tags I made for my cousin-in-law's upcoming baby shower. The giraffe is an inside joke, plus it is an adorable animal, so it worked all around. We also don't know the sex of the baby yet, so I went with purple and green for the colors.

You'll notice that this sketch is different than the final artwork. Once I drew out the giraffes, I had to make some changes to their position and to the arc, so it would look better on the circle tag.

* Sketch *

* Final Artwork *

* Final Product *

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