Ambrosia Creative

We had a very lovely evening socializing and enjoying pumpkin-based dishes at our annual pumpkin party for all the ladies from church.

Despite some major glitches along the way (an entire string of lights shattering, missing tablecloths, missing committee members, and so on), everything came together perfectly at the end. We had to work within a ridiculously tight budget, so decorations were handmade or bought on the cheap, and I took full advantage of the outdoor patio/courtyard area our relief society room opens up to. To elevate the “budget” decor, I relied heavily on lighting, hence all the tea lights, luminaries, and string bulb lights.

This undertaking would not have been possible without an awesome planning committee (those that didn’t go AWOL on me) and amazing, amazing friends that came early and stayed late to help, just because. And husbands, I did not forget about you. Your prowess in hanging lights and managing extension cords is worthy of a gift certificate to any electronic store of your choice.

Resources and design notes:
Pumpkins – Martha Stewart tutorial here.

Luminaries – Vellum paper rolled and held together with double-sided tape. Paper trees cut out of black paper, taped onto battery-operated tea lights, then inserted into vellum luminary to create a spooky tree silhouette.

Battery-operated Tea lights – Best price at Costco; 24 lights for $12. Otherwise, order from Oriental Trading.

String bulb lights – Borrowed from dear friends Kaleene and Shawn. But can be found at Target, $8.99 for 25 feet. I know this because we had to buy them a new string to replace the one we broke!

Fall leaves – $1 for pack of 50, dollar section at Target.

Our next big Relief Society activity is only a week away and my mind has been pretty preoccupied with all the party details, so I wanted to design an invitation that had no post-printing work involved: no folding, ribbon tying, stuffing into envelopes, etc. The result is a full-color, double-sided, 5″ square invitation.

And big props to my darling friend Angela who happily obliged to get dressed up and nails painted red (and hands dirtied with pumpkin guts!) for our little photo shoot.

Hello, I’m back. I ducked in last Friday to slap on an “open for business” sign, then quickly left. I had been glued to my computer for so long, my hands were beginning to lose their unique human properties and nearly fused themselves with the keyboard and mouse. Scary.

I owe Ryan majorly for a couple of late nights he spent running the press and cutting my stationery down. And for adhering to an unreasonable production schedule that only a wife can get away with. Also, a huge thanks to Raya for taking product shots of my prints.

So I’m going to switch gears now and share with you a free download. This evening, I was working on an “e-” version of a save-the-date card for an upcoming church activity (recycling an old illustration of mine):

And it came to mind that this would make the perfect Halloween download. So if you could use some stationery for a fall or Halloween-themed event, click here to download a printable PDF. The design has no text or copy so you can customize it for your own use.

Happy fall!

My latest design for an upcoming Enrichment activity; a Saturday morning committed to making quilts, quilts, and blankets. Hence the loads of fabric I bought yesterday.

It’s that time again for what’s becoming an annual church activity for our Relief Socity: speed friendshipping!

The concept is the same as speed dating. We spend a couple of minutes chatting with someone (we will have some questions prepared ahead of time, just to get the conversation going) until a timer goes off. Then, everyone switches partners to begin a dialogue with a new person.

If you’re interested in purchasing  ($10) a customized PDF file of this invitation in addition to a larger, “poster” size at 8.5″x11″, feel free to email me at jenniferkirk@gmail.com

The setup:
We held this in the Relief Society room to make the space feel more intimate. Long tables were placed in a U-shape with chairs on both sides. The tables were covered with a paper table cloth and we taped down paper arrows on one side of the table. This was to give the sisters sitting on that side of the table the direction to shift over to the seat on their right once the timer went off. The sisters sitting across from them remained stationary.

As for food, it was an after-dinner activity so we just had bowls of yummy snacks all along the table so everyone could snack and chat.

Some of our ice-breaker questions:
What do you consider to be your strongest character traits?
What traits or habits do you wish you didn’t have?
Do you believe people can change?
What do you consider to be the most important world events of your lifetime?
Do you think life now is harder or easier than when you were young?
What are you most proud of?
What are your hidden talents?
When was the last time you peed your pants?
At school, what were you like?
What were your hobbies as a kid?
How long did you date your husband before kissing him?
What TV show do you currently love?
How old were you when you moved out of your parents home?
Who makes you laugh the hardest and why?
A favorite movie or book?
What was the best trip you ever took?
If you could go somewhere you’ve never been, where would it be?
What are five things you couldn’t live without?
What’s the bravest thing you have ever done? The scariest? The dumbest?
What would I be surprised to learn about you?