Sweet Baby Boy Book

I realized as I watched my baby boy paper supply getting low, I've done several baby boy books and not so many baby girl books! And what do I get an order for today - another baby boy book! Ha! Sounds like I may need to go shopping. :)

This one was a gift to my b-i-l's niece.  She's having her boy in October, naming him Lane.  Isn't that sweet? Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Cute cover for baby Lane.  All Boy! Judging by the amount of Carhart this child received at the shower... all boy describes him well! (And he isn't even here yet!)

I tried adding more than one pic to some of the layouts because honestly, when you have a new baby - especially a first baby - you take a million photos!  19 pics just won't cover it! So this added a few more photos to the album.  I'm not sure I'm sold on it, but it's all good.  You can let me know your thoughts.

I have an order for a Girl Scout inspiration scrapbook, then will dive back into baby boy world! :) You know I'll take you along for the journey.

As always, feel free to visit http://pressedclovers.etsy.com to see what I have going on there!

{Tutorial} Autumnal Goodness - The Fru Fru Pumpkin

Ya'll, I'm am SO READY for some Fall Weather.  I wore my pumpkin colored top today with some brown pants and the required gold sequined flip flops to celebrate cooler temperatures this morning. I want soup & cornbread, chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter and ... now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going home and diving into some hash and rice tonight. Oh my gosh, I love fall.

Anyway, all this to share with you these Fru Fru pumpkins that I dearly adore.  Cuteness and fall combined, how can you not fall in love?? Exactly, that's what I'm saying. Let me admit to something: I totally am cutting and pasting this from my other blog, but you can still enjoy it the same here at Pressed Clovers.  So go buy you a pumpkin, gather your supplies and get to gettin'!

 -- The Fru Fru Pumpkin --

Welcome to Autumnal Goodness. This is the easiest and most fun project that makes a big wow ...Fru Fru Pumpkins!  Everything you see here, minus the pumpkin, came from the dollar store, so this project is great on the budget, too.  What do you need? Depends on your nature.  

I suggest any of the following: 
          Ribbon
          Fake leaves in various colors and shapes
          Lots of straight pins
          Sequins if you are oh-la-la
          Picks, meaning little sprigs of autumnal stuff, berries, leaves, sticks, etc
          Curling ribbon

What to do now. You have a pumpkin (the one in the top picture came from Wal-Mart and was definitely NOT perfect, but who cares? I was covering it up anyway!)  Then decide if you want the ribbon to go all the way around (see the pic above) or only partial hanging down the sides, whatever! Or do you even want ribbon?  Anyway, use the straight pins to fix the ribbon at the top of the pumpkin and either on the bottom or on the side - wherever your ribbon stops. 

The fake leaves can be added, not added, massive or sparse - it's all your taste. The first picture, I went crazy with leaves.  The one just above and below - not so much.  The top picture is from this year and is sitting in my office.  These two (above/below) are from my sister's rehearsal dinner at her wedding. More elegant and less tacky. :)  

Mom added sprigs of sticks, berry picks, etc to give some height around the stem.  Or sometimes a little bow.  Everyone loved the pumpkin centerpieces and they were really inexpensive.  We had a great time decorating them and gave them away to key people from the wedding.  They loved them. 

Just so you can see the overall picture of Katie's rehearsal dinner - it was held outside in a covered picnic area with one wall of stones making a huge fireplace.  The white lights twinkled enough with the fireplace to light up the entire area just perfectly.  Brown plastic table clothes and the pumpkin centerpieces were just awesome! :) 

So where did this pumpkin mania begin? At my old job, we were planning a fru fru ladies luncheon with an autumnal theme - WHA-LA! Awesome pumpkin centerpieces!  And, of course, at each table one of the agendas had THE DOT - you know, the special dot that means you are a WINNER! So someone received the centerpiece as a present, which the ladies loved! 

Since this was a tad bit fru fru, we needed to bring out the bling with sequins, feathers and rhinestones. Sometimes, you just have to pull out the big guns: the hot glue gun that is.  Straight pins just won't do it with the rhinestones so ladies, grab the gun and glue away! 

Awesome results, no matter how you do it. So run out and buy your pumpkin, then look around your yard and house for the trimmings and have fun! I promise you there will be a WOW factor that tickles you pink. :)

Boy to Teen Scrapbook

I will always stand by this:  My customers come up with the coolest ideas - much more creative than what I could think of on my own.  Here is a great example! A grandmother is giving her grandson this cool scrapbook that follows him from birth to his teen years.  What a treasure! Love it!

All the photos from the book are featured on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/pressedclovers.  You should follow- I post coupon codes and giveaways on my facebook page.

Admit it, this is a neat idea.  I added extra lines and space for journaling so grandma has plenty of space to share her thoughts with this special child.  I want to squeal every time I look at it! Love it!

Birth Month Goodness.

September is my birth month.  That's a big deal in my world, because I pretty much celebrate my birthday all month long.

For the past several years (2011 and 2012) I've made a simple birthday wish on my personal blog, Whiskey Tango Hello, asking that you send a letter to someone you love, to our troops, or to give to the USO.

This year, I'm stepping it up a notch.  To help celebrate me, please consider a gift to the USO via my USO page at http://www.teamuso.org/create/bethcovington.  Here you'll find an easy way give a donation - any size of donation will mean the world to me and to our troops and their families.

To say thank you for giving, I'm giving away this "Inspire" paper bag scrapbook to one lucky contributor!  For every $5 you give through my page, I'll enter your name in the drawing.  For those who give $25, you'll get 10 entries!

It's truly just a "Thank You" because the real gift is knowing a military family is staying in touch while mom or dad is deployed, tired troops are getting a morale boost from Robin Williams, Toby Keith, tor the Dallas Cowgirls, a wounded warrier is being visited by Jessica Simpson - it's just amazing what all the USO provides for our troops. So much more than this.

So I hope you'll consider joining me in helping our troops.  And Celebrate my birthday with me! :)
http://www.teamuso.org/create/bethcovington