Happy Birthday Nana

Yesterday was my MIL's 59th birthday. I'm sure she loves that I put her age on here! We had lunch here at the house (the Papa bought KFC) and I made cupcakes and we all just spent the afternoon hanging out. It was nice.

Well the cupcakes weren't that great. Do they not look like they belong on a Valentine's day bake sale table? Ugh. I didn't think they tasted all the great either. Everyone raved over them but I was less than impressed. (Crazy since it was just a strawberry cake mix from a box with simple homemade buttercream frosting) Maybe my taste buds are just wonky. I didn't care for the apple pie I made the other day either. Very strange.

I also made this bag and embroidered beach towel (which I forgot to photograph!) for her gifts. She is an Elvis fanatic. If you ever need to know any trivia about Elvis, call my MIL. She'll know.

We picked the Blue Hawaii fabric since it felt beachy and also because my MIL has a deep affection for Hawaii. Partly because of time she and my FIL spent there many years ago and party because the hubby was stationed there for a while and that is where we were married. I used McCalls pattern for a guideline but changed things ever so slightly as I went along. I forgot to take a picture of the lining though, I'll have to borrow it back for a minute because that fabric is really cute. I picked it because it looked like water to me. The hem (is that what you call it when it's at the top of a bag?) is actually very straight but it looks crooked in the picture. I had already filled it with the towel and stuff when I took the picture. Okay I keep obsessing over the horrible picture of this bag. I'm going to go over to my MIL's house and steal the bag back long enough to take a better picture. Seriously, it really is nice and even and pretty in real life.

I also made this card for her. I didn't like any of the cards I looked at so I thought I'd do something with my huge stash (of never used) scrapbooking stuff. I think it turned out pretty cute and went with the theme. Geez, these pictures really are horrible. Can you tell I was taking them as everyone was walking into the house. I really need to remember to take the time to photograph these things a little better. Or at the very least invest in some photo editing software. *Hint, hint