a merit badge in cake decorating ...

today i want to introduce you to cara bella creations. my friend joanna had shauna from cara bella creations make these totally fresh 80s themed cupcakes for her 30th birthday last month. adorable, right? that got my wheels to turning. 1 less task for moi (praise the Lord) and guaranteed cupcake crème de la crème!

camp themed cupcakes? tents? maybe leaves? no ... merit badges!

i created a few simplified merit badges based on vintage boyscout finds on etsy. and then sent them to shauna to work her sweet sugary magic. thankfully i thought to snap a few pictures of them BEFORE arriving at the campsite! they disappeared almost on arrival! :)

are you craving a cupcake as much as i am right now!?!

into the woods ...

over the weekend, we went camping in celebration of wade & my 30th birthdays w/ 42 of our friends. yes - 42!!! i'm so excited to share all about our adventure! i mean - i probably have a good 7 blog posts to share with every little detail! but of course, i should first "invite" you along on our little journey ...

the invitations:



a mini field guide w/ all the necessary details for our trip:



merit badges to be earned:

• map reading - a map + directions.
• participation - a tentative schedule of events.
• camp cooking -  the menu. w+i purchased/prepped all the food ahead of time and each camper brought $10 to pay for their part. that's right $10 for a full weekend of yummy camp food! (next year i'll have to perfect my vegan and vegetarian cuisine as well!)
• camp making - a guide of what to pack.

 

everything was packaged neatly together w/ baker's twine and placed in a hand-made craft paper envelope:



think you've seen this before? that would be because i borrowed inspiration from christine & ian's amazing woodland wedding invites featured on oh so beautiful paper. ah-mazing w/ pop-up trees and embossed type, right? sadly my inkjet and exacto knife skills aren't quite up to par. yet still ...

i love how they turned out!

in even more important news ... though we celebrated over the weekend, today is wade's actually birthday. time to head home to celebrate.

{courtesy: reed hummell photography}