Baby Shadow Box

Baby Shadow Box

A friend of mine was having her first baby. Super excited I wanted to make her something special. I liked the idea of the Book of Firsts. I love the thought of filling in the blanks and putting in pictures of the memories, however, I didn't want to make a book, I wanted something she could have and see often, not sitting a bookshelf. Answer? Shadow Box!

First I found out the gender and went shopping for paper! There are so many colors and patterns, I was overwhelmed with all of them. I didn't want anything to flashy, but I definitely wanted cute patterns for a cute little girl.

Originally I wanted to write or stencil on the bits of scrapbooking paper that would decorate the inside of the shadow box. While shopping though, I ended up finding scrapbooking paper that already had tags and fill in the blanks for all "Baby Firsts." Half the work done, I just needed a slightly darker background color so everything else would pop.

While gluing everything in, which didn't take as long as deciding where to put it all, I realized I wanted her to be able to put keep sake's in it also. So I made an envelope for "First Hair Cut," and a tiny box for "First Lost Tooth."

Here is the link on how I made the Mini Paper Box. I did have a little difficulty with it just because ot the size I wanted. Large enough for a baby tooth of course, but super tiny so it wouldn't overwhelm the rest of the memories. After a lot of unmentionable curse words, I finally got the size if wanted and without crumpling it.


1)   Baby Scrapbooking Kit


2)   8" by 8" White Shadowbox Picture Frame


3)Clear Tip Glue Pen


As always thank you for reading, comments are always welcome and I would love to see your crafts and/or shadowbox projects.

Have a Sweeter Day than Yesterday

Wedding Gifts Shadow Box

Wedding Gift 

Marriage is a beautiful thing! One of my dear friends got married this year and I really wanted her to have something hand made. I just didn't know what to make her! I really like making things for people. It's nice to know someone put in some thought when creating a gift for you. However, without knowing her house themes and colors, I didn't want to make something that she couldn't use year around or just in one room. So I decided on her wedding colors and a shadow box for wedding pictures. 

I've really wanted to make my husband and I one and just hadn't gotten around to it. This was my chance to play with ideas. Her colors were navy blue, coral and silver. When shopping everything silver looked more gray then anything, so I decided to just have the small flowers representing the lighter color. I like the idea of the coral color popping out while the navy served more as a border or background color. You'll though that there is a small block of navy in the middle so it's not entirely pink taking over the theme. I chose a light colored shadow box frame because I felt it would mesh well with any room she may put it in and also let the colors inside of all the eye attention. While creating the shadow box and moving things around I realized she probably would have other ideas or tastes, so everything is pinned in and removable.  

Supplies:

     Shadow Box / Frame


       Cardstock Paper


Stickers / Decorative Detail


      Extra Embellishments / Flowers


      Pins


Shadow boxes are extremely easy to make and fun. The only time consuming thing about them is how long it takes you to decide on what you want where! But they are quick and very unique to any occasion for keepsake memories. Some ideas for shadow boxes could be; My Baby's Firsts, School Projects, Soccer or Sport Memories, Prom Night, First Date Night, Movie Night (save all movie tickets), Honeymoon, ext. The sky is the limit when it comes to your memories and how they can shy in a shadow box. With depth you can have shells or even the golf ball that won the championship. Hope you got some great ideas! I'd love to hear them! Leave some of your ideas in the comments.

Have a Sweeter Day than Yesterday!  

Pat's Pizza (review date night)

http://www.patswindham.com/

Date night! So my husband and I moved, AGAIN! From an apartment in the city to a house near a pond. We are excited about having so much room for activities! (Brother's movie reference). The house is a lot bigger than our city apartment and somehow we are only paying $100 dollars more a month. The house itself is gorgeous and the area seems very friendly and quiet. But now we don't know where to go to eat! After living in the city we knew our fast food date nights and our pricey romantic date nights. Now, in new territory, we have to try a of bunch new places. Introducing Pat's Pizza! 

Hours: One of the reasons my husband and I chose to drive 20 minutes to Pat's Pizza, other than both of us craving pizza asap, was because their website said they closed at 11 pm at night. Everything else was closing at 10 pm and it was just about 9:30 pm when we decided neither one of us wanted to cook. After unpacking boxes of pots and pans who wants to get them all out and cook on them? We were a little worried when we started out. It was a Tuesday night and we assumed that the restaurant wouldn't be busy and the crew wouldn't want to serve us. To out surprise their parking lot was filled with cars and when we walked in they were mildly busy. 

Lay Out: We have been to another Pat's Pizza before in Scarborough and the lay out was a little different. You went through a side door and down into a basement area where the bar is on the right and the booths on the left. It functions fine, however, if you've never been there before it's a little weird. I remember thinking. "What do they do with the rest of this big building?" Windham's, however, is more like a traditional restaurant. Ironically, right when you walk in the bar is again on the right and the dining is on the left. 

 

Service: Unfortunately not a selling point. However, to be fair, it was close to closing time. In any case the waitress seemed distracted. She was not overly friendly but she was not at all rude. She served her purpose and did her job. My husband used to be a server, so he takes actions as a waiter/waitress seriously. I on the other had just want my food. 

Menu: The menu was pretty easy to navigate. Prices were decent. I personally like when menus have pictures, it usually sways my decision making a bit. I had nothing to go off with these menus so we took our time going over the list of pizzas. 

                    

Food: The pizza was AMAZING. The deciding factor on food was a Chicken and Basil pizza and a Pastrami and Cheese Sub. The toppings on the pizza were chicken, basil, mushrooms, provolone, and cheddar cheese. The chicken appeared to be fresh, some pieces rather large, so you could tell it wasn't from a can or processed. The chicken was also moist and everything was baked perfectly. My husband had 2 favorite things about the pizza was the basil (the perfect amount apparently) and the thin crust. I couldn't stop eating. The gourmet pizza along was $13 for a large. And we had leftovers! 4 slices of pizza. The Sub . . . my husband was more than slightly disappointed. His exact words, "it's not anything special." I guess the pizza was too perfect. The sub was a small amount of shaved pastrami with some cheese. He ate half and we left the other half behind.    

So all in all, another great and cheap date night. Left with some amazing pizza for left overs and didn't may over $25.00 for two hungry people. 

Thanks for reading and if you're ever in town you best go to Pat's Pizza.

Save me a slice, would ya'?

Have a sweeter day than yesterday.

The Flashbacks (Band & Bar review)

So my husband and I went on an impromptu adventure again. Friday night we didn't have any plans, but we wanted to go out and do something within budget. Of course this is always difficult to do. But it is apparently my job to figure out what is going on locally. So I hop online, we're driving around town, and I look up events in Portland, ME.  Behold I find a list on Visit Portland. The list literally has day by day of the events, you can choose what month or even down to the day. So I look up Friday and there's a couple things, but only one that's 15 minutes away. TGIF Maine Band Dance Series is hosted on Fridays in Zackery's Restaurant and Lounge which we would find out later is in the Fireside Inn and Suites hotel.

The website said there was a $5.00 cover charge, which my husband and I comprised on by eating at home first. Again to stay within budget. Because we were more than half an hour late since we went home to eat, my husband gave Zach's a call to see if it would be okay if we showed up late. They said sure the band would be performing until 11:00 that night and best news yet, no cover charge that night. Woo who! Free tunes.

Place: is was a little strange going in because we didn't know it was in a hotel. But the hotel atmosphere was really pretty and homie. I loved the fire place! Made of stones and looking warm and cozy. We Found a sign stating Zach's and a man at the asked for our ID's. We walked in to a dimly lit little bar and found a spot to sit. The layout was small but had enough seating and a great view of the band.

The Band: The Flashbacks were a lively group, that joked with the audience and filled up the room with their energy. I liked their interactions between each other. An awesome team and well played songs too. They played modern songs like Uptown Funk and older songs. The main singer the woman was a ball of energy, with the biggest smile. Later they joked that she was getting over a cold. Fooled me! My husband liked the men that say too. 

So off we went. 

Place: is was a little strange going in because we didn't know it was in a hotel. But the hotel atmosphere was really pretty and homie. I loved the fire place! Made of stones and looking warm and cozy. We Found a sign stating Zach's and a man at the asked for our ID's. We walked in to a dimly lit little bar and found a spot to sit. The layout was small but had enough seating and a great view of the band.

The Band: The Flashbacks were a lively group, that joked with the audience and filled up the room with their energy. I liked their interactions between each other. An awesome team and well played songs too. They played modern songs like Uptown Funk and older songs. The main singer the woman was a ball of energy, with the biggest smile. She danced all over the stage and stood next to the other band members bringing attention to them too. Later they joked that she was getting over a cold. Fooled me! My husband liked the men that say too. Their raspy deep tones got his bead bobbing to the beat. Glad they share their talents and share the stage. A true team of talent and fun.

Customer Service: The bartender was patient with my husband asking about all the prices and helped him choose a beer. One man had way too many to drink and she helped him get a cab and apologized to a couple he had been a little overly friendly with. Handling the situation very well. Around 11 pm we started to head out. The band was only taking a couple minute and planned to start right back up again, but my husband had to be up early the next morning. As we were leaving I noticed a sign that said Ballroom and wondered if someone could have a wedding there. We know couple getting married and it was a cute little place. I asked the front desk and they directed me to the bartender who is their events coordinator also. She was amazing. Providing us with packets, information, possible dates available, even showed us what the conference rooms looked like and let me take pictures. A+

Over all the night was great. Not too many people, but it was nice not to be crowded and fight for seating or not be able to see the band. A very relaxed atmosphere. Somewhere you bring a couple of friends listen to some tunes and chill.

Thanks for reading! 

Have a Sweeter Day than Yesterday!