Baby Shower Onesie Art Station

What happens when you invite all your talented friends to your baby shower and give them a chance to decorate baby onesies, t shirts and bibs? 

My friend Kalin planned all the games and activities for the baby shower. Since the shower was co-ed, she didn't want the shower to be silly game centric so she planned this awesome art station. 

With a guest list of close to 50 it made sense to have a variety of styles and sizes of t shirts and onesies on hand. From newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months and 6-12 months also. Also mixed up the styles - short sleeves, long sleeves and summer straps. She also ordered some bibs. This way baby would be able to wear these awesome art pieces throughout her first year. 

For the decorating she picked up several boxes of Crayola Fabric Markers. Kalin used mason jars to hold the pens. All of the items were washed and dried before the shower. The other concern was the possibility of the pens bleeding through the top layer to the back when decorating them. She solved this by laying out small paper bags and scissors allowing the decorator to place a protective layer inside the onesie or t shirt.

I could not beleive the amazing designs that were put onto these items. It was a big hit with our guests. At one point I looked around and saw everyone head down, quiet and drawing. It was being taken so seriously and fun at the same time. 

The last part of the process for these to be ready for baby to wear is to throw them all in the hottest clothes dryer for about and hour to set the ink.

This was one of the best activities I have ever seen at a baby shower. 

Celebrating Wedding Anniversaries

I have always loved celebrating milestones. Growing up my mom took birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones very seriously. Our birthday parties were always something to remember - from surprise parties to large gathering of friends. I can't remember when I was first aware of my parents wedding anniversary, but at some point I knew that this special day existed. These moments were filled with tokens of love from flowers and cards to jewelry and other gifts. I knew that these anniversaries were important moments and something to be treasured.

Mr. Ramon and I are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary this year. From the beginning of our marriage I knew I wanted to find a neat way to celebrate our anniversary. I thought of the universal list of wedding anniversary gifts and knew that we could use that as the basis for any gift giving when our anniversaries rolled around. 

The history of giving certain gifts for certain milestones dates far back to medieval times when milestones of 25 and 50 years together were celebrated. The list became even more popular during the Victorian era when additional gifts for certain milestones were added. The gifts start off with modest materials like pottery and paper and over time the value of the gift material increases to the likes of silver and diamond. 

There are two versions of this anniversary gift list - the traditional list with items like paper, tin and fruit on it and a more updated list that replaces some of these items with modern gifts like clocks, appliances and desk sets. We settled on the tradional list for our anniversary gifts. 

For our first anniversry paper was the tradional gift on the list. We both suprised each other with art for this anniversary. I had been eyeing an amazing poster from this great design site - Super Rural for some time and it was perfect for my gift to Mr. Ramon. I framed it in a big white frame and we hung it over our first floor landing. 

When our second anniversary came around we both embraced the theme of cotton. Mr. Ramon chose a cotton canvas bag from Seattle company Filson. I was starting a new job around this time and it was a practical and beautiful gift. Mischa thought this bag was for her!

For Mr. Ramon I tried to find something reallly unique that would celebrate our special day. I found someone on Etsy that makes cotton knit infinity scarves with hand printed wording on them. I chose to have the lyrics of the song I walked down the isle to - Radiohead - All I Need printed on it. I was really excited about this gift and it looks awesome on Mr. Ramon.

This year the list prompted us for leather gifts. There were a lot of "normal" leather gift type items Icould have picked up for Mr. Ramon - wallets, watch, key fob etc. He has some really nice leather items already that do not need upgraded or replaced. So I opted for a ver nice pair of leather boots that he can wear often and get some gret use from. 

Mr. Ramon was a little more practical and I was super excited about my gift. He chose a pair of fancy leather LL Bean slippers. I have been wearing the same worn out, ratty slippers for several years. This gift is going to be great at keeping my toes warm in our cold house!

I look forward to many more anniversaries with Mr. Ramon and using this list to guide our gifts. Would love to have you share how you celebrate anniversaries and milestones.  

paris street art

Both of us really love street art - and when we travel we try to get a feel of what the city has to offer. Paris was pretty amazing. On the train ride in to the city and back to the airport we saw so many great strips of art. My camera was not available for that - so I concentrated on picking up images of smaller art in the city as we walked around.