elsie's announcement

Photos: Kimberly Bee

Design: Me!

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{busy bee}

When I titled this post I didn't think twice about it. However - I apologize in advance to those of you who may be expecting a Nora update - this is more a Steph update.

I know, I know... I'm not nearly as exciting {nor as cute} AND - let's be honest - Nora is our sweet little busy bee. But you'll just have to come back another time for a Nora update ;)

Regardless... let's move on.

November, December and January have been busy months so I thought I'd give you a little extra blog-reading (and looking) to keep you up to date on all of our happenings.

November and December were the months of babies. Babies, babies and more babies were born.

My sweet nephew (first boy might I add), Mason was born Nov 22nd. See his birth

announcement here.

He was followed by our dear friend's baby, Easton on Dec 3rd. See his birth announcement here.

And last but not least - our sweet friend's had their second girl, Clara on Dec 28th. See her announcement here.

{Note: I do have two more birth announcements I've been working on BUT they has yet to be put in the mail so I'd hate to spoil the surprise. So... we must wait for the H's & L's announcement at another time).

And of course you can't forget a few Christmas cards I worked on during the holiday season.

Now on to January...

Yes, yes - that is what you think it is - Tempo Medical's Co-Ease Self-Adherent Wrap. A friend actually had enough faith in my {amateur} photography skills that he asked me to take some photos for a couple projects his employer is working on. The photo above is just one of the many

shots I got of the product. Kinda cool, huh?!

Next I had a friend, Nealy, ask me to help her design her business logo. If you're from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, please do check out Photography by Nealy. Her work is so incredible!

January also brought some fun changes to our home. I just recently changed positions within Family Matters and am now managing the social media ("Like" us on Facebook and "Follow" us on Twitter pretty please). This has changed my work schedule considerably and is allowing me to be home with Nora more often...which I'm soooo happy about. Don't worry - I still have quite the full schedule - just rather than being in the office I'm in my new "office" - the park, library, kid's classes, Chick-fil-a play land - you name it, we've been there :)

I've also been working on an INCREDIBLE Valentine's Dinner with Fleming's Steakhouse, Mom it Forward, Scottsdale Moms Blog and Streetlight Phoenix. Read more about this local opportunity to GIVE BACK this Valentine's. So cool...Alan and I can't wait to be able to dine on a perfectly cooked steak (no - we're not vegetarians in case you wondered) AND be able to give to the ministry of Streetlight Phoenix.

And lastly - this past week I've been working with a couple of other sweet friends and planning a Scottsdale Cooking Club (yipee)! We've already had to close the club b/c we're at the max number of people (20) and we cannot wait to get started! I'll post at another date about how YOU can start your own cooking club and the logistics involved :) (oh - and just b/c I'm weird I created the above logo - every cooking club needs a logo, right?)

Now off to bed...and as Nora would say...night, night!

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A Baby Shower for Joy

This past weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for a good friend of mine, Joy. She is due 6 weeks after our little girl and she's also having a girl :) We're so excited for them to grow up together.

We had a couple different themes going on - one of which is fairly obvious from the photos - the colors, black, white and red. These are the colors of her nursery so we thought we'd incorporate them into the shower. We also asked each guest to bring a children's book. Joy and daddy-to-be, Kevin, love to read and so we thought we'd help them start Reagan's library nice and early.

It was such an incredible time of fellowship, encouragement and celebration as we anticipate Joy's journey into motherhood and the little girl, Reagan, who is due to arrive come late August.

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Laura's "Something Blue" Bridal Shower

This was officially the weekend of showers (well - there were only two of them but it felt like a lot). On Friday evening I was blessed to be able to host a shower for my dear friend, Laura. She and her fiance, Phil, are getting married in South Dakota on July 18th. Because we won't be able to be there (baby due on the 12th) I knew I had to throw a great party to celebrate their upcoming wedding for all of her friends and family here in AZ.
Laura's "Something Blue" bridal shower was full of blue, blue and more blue! I was able to get my hands on a few Tiffany's boxes, a handful of giant diamond rings and loads of other great decorations. Her aunt, Michele, hosted the shower at her beautiful house and did all of the food and beverages (note: blue martini's in top left corner). Everything went so well. I hope Laura felt loved and honored by it all.

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Welcome Luke Henry

Some dear friends of ours, Jeff & Kristina, just recently welcomed their first baby into the world this past Saturday. I had the priviledge of taking some photos of the little guy and am in the process of designing his birth announcement. Isn't he just too precious??!! I'll post his announcement on iDesign upon completion.

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a birth announcement

Isn't she just way too precious!!! Here is the announcement I designed for our friends John & Denise.
For those of you who don't know - I've started a little side-business designing invitations and announcements. It's just something to do in my spare time :) If you or anyone you know might be interested, go to iDesign and contact me. I'd love to help with any future projects you may have.

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iDesign Launch

After much thought and consideration I've decided to finally take the plunge in starting my own invitation design business. I know a lot of you are saying to yourself "finally." And for those of you who are doing just that - thank you! Thanks for being so supportive and encouraging as I take this leap of faith. I would never be at this point without your confidence.

For those who are hearing this for the first time - welcome to just a small part of my life - DESIGN! Over the past year or so I've uncovered what I would call a hidden passion of mine and am excited to see where it might take me.

All that being said, I invite you to at least check out my new business blog, iDesign. There you'll find just a few samples of my past work. I'll be updating the site periodically with more projects. And for those of you who may be planning a party yourself, thinking about planning an event or know someone who may be interested in my services, please contact me via iDesign. As everyone in business knows, a referral is one of the best compliments you can receive.

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