To the Brides-To-Be:

That's right folks, I'm blogging! I decided that I would show you the invites I've made for a couple of Bridal Showers lately...This is from the shower that I threw for Amy - she is marrying Jordan, Keegan's older brother, in less than two weeks! I'm really excited for them! Amy loves Zebra print (who doesn't?!) so we had a zebra themed shower. We gave everyone a time of day (ex: Game Time, Beach Time, etc.) and they chose their gifts accordingly. It was a TON of fun! :)

Here is an invite for my roommates future sister-in-law! I don't know the bride personally, but I was glad when Brittany asked me to help her design the invites for her shower.

I think I may continue with this invite thing... it's pretty great! I'd love to hear what you all think of these, or give me ideas for the next one!

{Cupcake Confession}

So I ridiculed for not blogging for a LONG time. So Kenzi, this post is dedicated to you ;) haha

I have a confession to make: I LOVE TO MAKE CUPCAKES! They are so much more fun than making regular cakes. My mom bought me a book about two years ago called "Hello, Cupcake" It's got tons of really cute ideas for making cute cupcakes :) So here are a few pictures of the cupcake cakes I've made in the last two years...

My first attempt at a cupcake cake was to make Van Gogh's "Starry Night". It was quite the task... but it was super fun! Here is the beginning of the cake... (the cupcakes sit in a picture frame, then you put thin-mint cookies over the holes between the cupcakes to make a flat surface)
Here is the finished product! ( I know it's sideways, and no I don't know why it is or how to fix it). I gave the cake to one of my best friends for his birthday (he loves modern art like me), and he loved it!
My next cake was kind of a combination of a few ideas from "Hello, Cupcake". This was for my roommate Brittany's birthday (which is in October), so I tried to make a tower of pumpkins and cobwebs. It didn't turn out as planned, but it tasted delicious!
Here is the tower! You can see we had to use matches to hold it up... it was falling over...
Introducing... Fredrick Jr.! My roommate Molly (birthday in January), got a stuffed animal crocodile for her birthday, and she named him Fredrick. Hence, the cake's name is Fredrick Jr.
Molly with her cake...

My roommate Karli (birthday in February) took a billiards class one of her first semesters, and I decided it would make a fun birthday cake :) I did find the idea in "Hello, Cupcake", with a few minor alterations (ex: colored frosting instead of colored sprinkles)
Karli and her cake :)

For my boyfriend Keegan's birthday (in April), I chose to design my own cake - He plays the Tenor Saxophone (which is what the cake is if you can't tell), his favorite colors are blue, orange, and green, and he LOVES funfetti cake :) (Let me tell you, dying funfetti frosting was an interesting experience...)
Keegan with his cake :)

This is MY beautiful birthday cake! It's sunflowers and daisies in a patch of flowers. And yes, each little cupcake has it's own frosting-ladybug :)
Keegan helped me decorate the cake, so here are the cake decorators!

I took a several month hiatus from cupcake making... then I returned with Brittany's 20th birthday cake! She wanted an 80's themed cake, so I did neon pink, purple, and green polka dots. Instead of candles, we used glow sticks, it was pretty rockin! (Sadly, the only picture of Brittany with her cake is too dark)

My dad travels a lot for his "club", ASCE. This last Fall, he checked something off his bucket list: he has now been to ALL 50 states! So I made him a cake to celebrate :) (He's pointing to the UT and OK cupcake, because those were his first and last states)

Again, sorry for the sideways-ness. I don't know why it does that.
In December, it was my friend Nick's birthday, and this is the cake I made him! The idea came from the "Circus" cake in "Hello, Cupcake", but that cake was a little too intensive for me... So I simplified it to this...
Oh, and there were some left over, and it was finals week, so...

This is probably one of my favorite cakes! For our New Year's Eve Party this year, Michelle and I made Black and White themed cupcakes :) They were beautiful! (And delicious!) Plus, they fit beautifully on my new cupcake tree! (A gift from my VERY generous boyfriend's parents)
Here is a close up of the beauties... The one in the middle is supposed to say "2011" in powdered sugar, but it was more trouble than originally anticipated, so there are only two of them.
Michelle and I with our gorgeous cakes :)

Introducing... Phillip Jr., in fact, there were 22 Phillip Jr's! This year, Molly got a stuffed Panda (named Phillip) for Christmas, so in keeping with tradition, we made some Jr's for her birthday this year. Yes, they were a lot of work. Yes, they were delicious and worth every minute!
Molly, Phillip, and the Phillip Jr's

Well folks, that's as creative as I get (for now...). I hope you enjoyed my cupcakes, and if you want your very OWN cake, I love making them! So feel free to ask!

The Continued Tale...

Hello friends! (and other passer-by's...) So I realize how cruel I was for not posting the Bridal pictures right away, but I had to wait for them to be done... and now they are! Yay! So here you go, the Continued Tale of the Tie-Dye Wedding Dress!

These BEAUTIFUL pictures were lovingly taken by Shantel Peaden (aka Red Ladder Photography). She is amazing and I thank her profoundly!!!

P.S. If you haven't read my previous post, you should probably do that... It makes me look less crazy and more crafty ;)

So this was the first picture I saw (she posted it a couple days before I saw the rest of them) and I absolutely fell in love with it! I love the colors, the composition, it's so beautiful!
This is one of Shantel's favorites :)
I love the fun angle!

So I love bouquet pictures, because I think they're so much fun! So we took a few... but this one is my favorite of them :)
Shantel and I have this obsession with partial/feet pictures. They are so creative :)
This is another one of my favorites (I have a lot of favorites as you can tell...)
Random Fact about Allison #429: I took a floral arranging class my junior year of high school. I really enjoy arranging flowers but I don't do it very often because... well... flowers die really fast. So it's an expensive thing to do - however, I most definitely arranged and made this bouquet! I'm kind of proud of it!
With the Logan Temple in the background (kind of a fun contrast: Tie Dye vs. Temple)
I really like this one.
This is one of my ALL TIME favorites! Probably because it was so much fun to sit and lay in a pile of beautiful leaves, and because it's great.
Intense stare into the distance
I love the giant encircling of leaves!
This is another one of my favorites - yes, the building I'm standing next to is actually teal. Perfect? We thought so. I love it!
I like this one because the lighting accents the purple and the teal within the building.
It's fun to have at least one picture in Black and White!
And in color...
So if you look closely, you will see that my earrings are in fact purple and teal. I got them several months ago for my birthday, but it's kind of really awesome that they match. Just thought you should know.
I like this one too :)
Random Fact About Allison #32: I LOVE art history. I'm kind of a nerd like that. But I love the Ionic columns and the pediments on this building. I realize most of you have know idea what I'm talking about, so just know that I am a nerd.
I like the angle on this one too - it catches the train of my dress really cool.
I love this one too! Another great picture of the train.
Haha so this picture was supposed to be a joke... We were trying to come up with new pose ideas, and jokingly I did this, and it looks hilarious, but I kind of enjoy it.
I like this one too. (Okay, so I like all of them)
Ta-da! Here I am!
I'm a goof. I had to take a couple of silly pictures because it wouldn't be a photo shoot of me without at least ONE ridiculous face!
Pondering... something...
Just so you know - the ring is totally fake. I'm a LONG way from being engaged or married - I promise. The center stone is purple-ish, so it matched the dress. Hence, my purchasing of it. Yes. It's crazy. I'm aware.
I loved these black doors! They were gorgeous. Shantel has a great photographer "eye" of seeing photo-potential in the most random of places. You can also see how cool the bustle is on my dress. If you look really carefully you can see the under-layer of the dress, which is actually a different color. When I died the dress, the different fabrics dyed differently, so the dress is kind of muted, whereas the lining is really vibrant. Kind of fun!
Jumping Picture: Excellent. There is another really hilarious jumping picture that I will post eventually.
Aren't these doors so classy? I think they're great!
When Shantel asked me where I wanted to do the photo shoot, I told her I didn't care - I just wanted a couple of pictures in a wheat field. Well, if you didn't know, they cut down wheat in the fall. Weird, right? So here is our wheat field... aka wheat-looking weed field pictures!
I'm not praying to the flowers. I promise.
I love this one too!
These last few were taken in the driveway behind a random insurance building. But they're scenery was so photo-worthy!
I really adore this picture. I think the content contrast is super!
You can really see an epic swirl on my dress in this picture. I enjoy that.
We were walking back to Shantel's car when she said: "Wait! Allison! Keep holding your train! I want a couple of pictures like that!" And so we did.
And last but not least...
Thanks for looking at all my fun pictures! There are more coming... these are a small fraction of the pictures we took (if you can believe it). But I couldn't wait any longer to post them!

I have absolutely LOVED this adventure of tie-dying a wedding dress! It was seriously SO much fun! I know it's kind of crazy, but so am I, so what are you going to do? Thanks for playing :)