Something Special

My daughter Alex and I are party of a Bunko group.  In case you're wondering, Bunko is a dice game, purely a game of luck, no skill involved.  If you can throw dice, you can play Bunko!!  We play with a group of 5 other mothers and daughters and we get together every other month for lots of dice throwing, fun and laughter, and of course, food.  Next month is our turn to host the Bunko night. 

I sent around e-mails a couple of weeks ago to confirm the date.  But, I thought it would make the evening more special if everyone received a fun invitation.  I don't know about you, but in these days of e-mails and texts, I absolutely LOVE getting something in the mail.  It is such a treat to open up the mailbox and find something besides a bill or a credit card application!   Problem is, I am not a "crafty" person.  I don't draw or paint.  I'm not artistic, but I wanted to do send out something special.

A few years ago I bought a book called "The Art and Craft of Entertaining" by Kimberly Kennedy.  The book was chock full of entertaining ideas for everything from simple baby showers to formal dinner parties.  The book shows you how to take what you have and make it special.  It shows you how to set a beautiful table without purchasing crystal and china.  It makes it all sound so do-able!  So, I dug out my book, found some ideas, and this week I made these invitations.

And really, I have to say, it was easy.  I purchased blank cardstock envelopes and notecards.  I used my printer and printed the who/what/when/where information inside the cards.

Then, I got inspired!  I bought a "You're Invited" stamp and a black ink pad.  I figured the "You're Invited" was fairly generic and I could use it for an invitation for anything.  Then I stamped "You're Invited" on the outside of each invitation.

So simple!  Next, I punched a hole in the bottom center of the front of the invitation.

I cut a small piece of fabric ribbon, pushed a cute brad through the center of the fabric, and put the brad through the hole on the front of the invitation.

And Voila!  A really cute invitation with absolutely NO artistic ability required!  I did take a little bit of glue and glue down the ends of the fabric just so it didn't spin around in the envelope.  I mailed the invitations yesterday, so today, five of my friends will go to their mailboxes and find something out of the ordinary.  And I hope they enjoy receiving it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Ladies I have two kids, a husband and a full-time job.  And I live on a farm for pete's sake.  My life is about as average and normal as it gets.  But, sometimes I really wish things in my life were special, not so ordinary.  Well, if you want special, you have to create special in your own life.  These invitations were truly just a few dollars more than if I had gone to Wal-Mart, bought the fill-in-the-blank invitations and sent them out.  And it probably took me all of 20 or 30 minutes to put them together.  Are my invitations perfect, or fancy?  Heavens no!!!  But they are fun and they are different and I truly hope they brighten the day of each of my friends.  My suspicion is that they long for things to be special too.

So, get out of your comfort zone, and do something you've never done before. Create a little bit of special in a crazy world.  Take a few extra minutes and actually set the table before dinner, even though it's just you and your family.  Drink out of the "good" glasses.  Put the food in a pretty bowl instead of leaving it in the pan. Light a candle.  If you're like me, one very simple thing can change ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY!