Vintage Style Baby Shower Invitations

Posted by Natalie Bussio

Last year I was asked by my friend Linda to design an invitation for a baby shower. The party honored our beautiful friend Chelsea who rocked pregnancy so hard you’d think she was faking it. I was excited to hear that the party’s theme was hot air balloons and pink ombre. So original and cool. I’m really over the typical baby shower cliches of cutesy baby animals, diaper pins, binkies and those horrible plastic babies

This really needs to stop.

Linda made this one really easy for me – she already had a really strong idea of what she wanted. She has amazing taste and it was great working with her. I love how the invitations turned out.

A few weeks after finishing these I was hired to create another baby shower invitation – this time for a boy. My client loved the style of Chelsea’s hot air balloon invite so I came up with a design with the same look and feel. Instead of a hot air balloon I used an adorable vintage airplane illustration. I added the air mail border and post-mark style emblem for the RSVP to tie the theme together.

UPDATE! These invitations are now available in my Etsy shop! Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/rightandwest to order your very own invitations.

Ruby eats her greens

Posted by Natalie Bussio

As I get to know Ruby better I’m discovering more of her weird quirks. She barks at strange smells, goes nuts if you blow on her face and LOVES vegetables.

Pugs are notorious for being obese fat lards and I am determined to shield Ruby from this fate. I know that if she gets a taste for delicious, fatty, people food her stubborn butt will refuse to eat anything else so, if I do give her food from my plate it’s always fruits or vegetables. My thinking was after she found out what spinach tastes like she would decide it wasn’t worth the effort and learn to stop begging, but I was wrong. Whenever I give her a carrot, or a piece of lettuce or pineapple she always comes back for more.

I did some research online and found out the leafy greens, carrots and pineapple actually have a lot health benefits for dogs. I just hope she never finds out how delicious hamburgers are.

One day I gave Ruby a taste of my green smoothie and she loved it. Now she looks forward to getting her own delicious little morsel every morning.

Now this wouldn’t be a real blog without a green smoothie recipe right? So here’s mine.

Don’t be fooled, just because a dog will eat it doesn’t mean it’s gross, I promise. I truly believe that changing the way you eat changes the way you feel, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to eat your veggies. Like kale. I really hate the stuff, but it’s strongly anti-inflammatory which is great for a sad little asthmatic like me. I’ve been experimenting with green smoothie recipes for a while, and this is the one I’m sticking with.

*Please keep in mind this is a human food recipe. When I share it with Ruby she only gets a few tablespoons, basically whatever is left in the blender after I’ve poured it into my cup. I understand too much sugar and fruit can be bad for dogs, so unless you like a sick puppy and diarrhea all over your house, please serve in moderation.*

1 cup Dole brand Orange Peach Mango juice

1 cup fresh pineapple

1/2 banana

1 handful spinach

1 handful kale

3 or 4 ice cubes

Blend it all together until smooth. Pick out your favorite vintage Karl Malone collector cup.

Wait, your husband doesn’t collect vintage Karl Malone Big Gulp cups?

And enjoy while still cold…because if it gets warm you can kind start tasting the kale.

Danica & Nathan Forever

Posted by Natalie Bussio

Even though I promised I would make Danica’s wedding invitations years before a lucky man named Nathan came her way, I was honored and excited when she asked me to create the invitations for her most special day.

Danica chose Navy and light pink for her colors. She wanted something elegant and simple – befitting of the classy reception she had planned. Because lace would be an element used throughout the wedding reception I chose a delicate but modern graphic of lace. Danica picked Navy as one of her color’s because her husband is an Army ROTC graduate and would be wearing his dress blues to the wedding. I love the way the deep navy balances out the lace and keeps it from becoming too silly and girly. How appropriate that the postage bares an American flag and George Washington.

The Invites arrived in a beautiful navy blue envelope with a fancy, custom designed address label. Wrapped around the invite was a semi-transparent band of vellum. Everything was held in place by a beautiful navy organza ribbon. The invitations were printed on a thick, natural white card stock.

Thank you Danica! Your wedding was beautiful as you are. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.

Corn Chip

Posted by Natalie Bussio

When Ruby wakes up in the morning she smells like corn chips. Her feet mostly. The scent lingers for a few hours and then mostly subsides. I don’t mind the smell, but it’s curious don’t you think?

Fritos! That’s it!

So I looked it up on my phone last night. A Google search proves that not only am I not the only person to have observed this phenomenon, but enough people have asked the internet that it shows up in the predictive search options.

Does anyone else have a dog that smells like Fritos?