There's Nothing Like a Man in Uniform... or a Ruffly Manshirt!

Long before Captain Morgan...

 

Long before Jack Sparrow...

Long before Brad and Tom did Interview With a Vampire...

Even many years long before Seinfeld's puffy shirt...

There was Frank Langella's dracula shirt...

or maybe it was Romeo and Tybalt sword fighting

in their Italian cottons way back when...

 ...which gave birth to the appeal of the RUFFLY MANSHIRT for me.  Perhaps every decade Hollywood produces one great ruffly manshirt episode.  Oh yes.  Give me a man with dishpan hands...  and a ruffly manshirt!  I once told my oldest son he should get a ruffly manshirt for his honeymoon and it has amused him ever since.  And never did I have occasion to make one... 

...until now.

My youngest, Keaton, was cast as Edwardo the overly confident and romantic vampire in the highschool's annual Band Revue this month.  And that was all I needed to hear.  

"You need a ruffly manshirt," I said. 

The pattern books offered several choices,

but since this one was on sale for 99¢, it would do just fine.

And I found a nice slinky knit that actually looked like cotton gauze.

The better for your ruffles to ruffle, my dear...

I told Keaton to be ready.  Girls might giggle a little more or

behave a little differently in the presence of his ruffly manshirt.

But, I think the girls should be the least of my worries.

Sugar and Spice

It's way more fun to decorate a place that's way more fun...

                                                         ...and filled with character.

Like my sister's bed & breakfast.

Last weekend, we held a baby shower for my niece, Amy.

You remember her, don't you?

She seems to keep me busy after Thanksgiving.

Two years ago - wedding dress shopping.  White Friday.

One year ago - her sister's baby shower.  Blue Friday.

This time it's Pink Friday!

It's always fun to decorate in pink.

These jumbo cupcakes were out of this world

with French buttercream frosting and so cute!

They are sold at our local Pick 'n Save.

I cut custom cupcake wrappers out of scrapbook papers

using my wavy rotary cutter on the top.

Got the words using a free online template for wrappers.

And what's a shower without a few pompon flowers on fishline?!

This was the mother of all pompons - about 18" across.

You can buy pompon flowers pre-folded and fluff them yourself -

or you can fold them with your own tissue like I did.

They are simple.   Here's how Martha does it.

Even the milk glass candy dish got dressed up.

I'm so happy Amy liked this sugar and spice garland enough

to take it with her for her nursery in California!

Once I got rolling, pompons started spewing from my fingers!

Garland!  On stems in a vase!  A corsage!

Oh, don't get me started!

You see, me and flower pompons go way back.