Design: Garden Party

Our spouses' club has finished out our social year. Our last social was a lovely Garden Party. The original plan was to enjoy dinner outdoors and finish off with s'mores at the fire pit. The weather had other ideas and we were moved indoors. Our social chair managed to still prepare s'mores for us, so we didn't miss out on any deliciousness.

Design: Tacos & Trivia

For this month's spouses' club social we are doing a Trivia Night. And what could go better with trivia than tacos? Is it weird that I'm almost most looking forward to the cheesecakes we're having for dessert? They aren't mentioned on the flier, but since I have the inside scoop with the socials planner I got advanced notice.

Design: Pizza, Pajamas and Wine

The base spouses' club has a wine and gourmet group that meets monthly. Each month they focus on a different theme. This month's theme was pizza, pajamas and wine! I was so bummed that I couldn't make it because it sounded amazing.

Design: Masquerade Bingo

Our spouses' club has an annual Bingo social which is for members only. This year, to mix it up a bit, we are doing a masquerade theme. It falls near St. Patrick's Day, so I think the default theme is usually that. I am always happy to try out themes that aren't overly used. I have never been to a masquerade party so I had to find a mask. Luckily Amazon had a plethora to choose from.

Design: Spring Bazaar

The base spouses' club has a fun event coming up in the beginning of March--a Spring Bazaar! It was so much fun making this flier because I love spring! I found a fun example during a Google images search and recreated it with my own little touches.

We're gradually adding more and more vendors, but it should be a nice assortment of businesses! We had a vendor event in the fall and it was so great to see the home-based and locally-owned businesses that came out to support us. It was hard not to buy something from everyone!

Design: Yoga class

I'm still alive! I have been filling my time lately with yoga classes, puzzles and considering some new opportunities to add into my routine. I might sound busier than I actually am.

Since I mentioned yoga I will tell you a little more about that. I have always been a firm believer in NOT paying to work out. Having base access means I can work out pretty much anytime for free. And with YouTube videos, why would anyone need to pay to work out??? Well, I realized that maybe I needed to pay for it so that I would actually do it. It's easy to be "too busy" to work out. There is a yoga studio in town that offers a variety of yoga classes. Charles encouraged me to buy a class pass and then we could try some yoga classes together. I figured I'd give it a shot. It has been about a month of regular yoga (at least once or twice a week) and I'm really glad I invested in myself.

Last night we were doing a Beginner Unity Flow class and, as I held crow pose for longer than I have been able to in the previous weeks, I started to get a little emotional...happy emotional! It is fun to see some results in such a short period of time.

My favorite yoga has definitely been yin yoga. It's so chill and no sweating involved. If you've never tried it, look it up on YouTube and try one for free. Yoga with Kassandra offers some good classes.

Anyway, the spouses' club is having a yoga social this month. We had one last year and it is where I was introduced to the local yoga studio and some yin yoga. I am so excited to do yoga with the ladies again!

Design: Scholarship Applications

Traditionally spouse clubs have a scholarship program that benefits military spouses and children. Our spouses' club is no different. As Public Relations, I am automatically on all the committees and the scholarship committee is no different. I have been busy creating marketing materials to promote our scholarship program. We ended up re-doing all our applications this year and expanded who is eligible to apply. We are now open to military spouses and dependents throughout South Carolina! I am really excited to see how well the word gets out and who applies.

My goal was to create something fun and youthful to brand this year's scholarship pieces. I love the color scheme I ended up with. And you can never go wrong with polka dots! 

Design: Christmas Party

We have now been at this base for a whole year. Man, has it gone by fast! I got plugged in with the Spouses' Club right away by attending the Christmas party. It was so much fun and I'm looking forward to this year's event.

Design: Cookie Drive

Do you remember last year when I shared about an event called Cookie Crunch? Well, it's that time of year again! Our current base calls it "Shower (Base) with Cookies!" We are in the process of gathering volunteers to help with the loading, unloading and packaging of the thousands of cookies that the town collects. It's such a fun cause! Last year we had just arrived when they were doing this event so I did not volunteer, but I am hoping to help out this year.

Design: Oktoberfest Bunco extras

Oktoberfest Bunco was a big hit! We enjoyed our German dishes of potato salad, schnitzel, apple strudel and more. Beer flights were consumed. Photos taken and, of course, Bunco played. Sadly I did not walk away with any of the amazing prizes, but it was fun nonetheless.

Because I love when pieces from an event match, I offered to create score cards and such to have that night. I wanted to share them with you!

Score cards. We played two games, but this could be expanded for more game play.

These are the rules we followed. I've seen different variations from club to club.

We could have just used note pads, but I thought this would be a nice added touch.

I cannot take credit for this design. The social chair found one similar and asked if I could recreate it. I changed it up just slightly so there would be a little contrast with fonts. The original had all the wording in the Oktoberfest-style font.

Logo work: British Cupcakes & Sweet Tea

One aspect that I love about being a military spouse and family is the support from fellow military spouses! There are so many ways to connect to one another, ask questions and offer tips or advice. Recently I was on the Facebook group for the spouses of our base and one lady was asking for help or advice for her new cupcake business. I offered to create her logo in exchange for cupcakes and she was happy to have my assistance.

This logo required a little more creativity on my end because the only request she had was that the logo be in a circle. I did a few Google image searches to see what has been done and to gather ideas. I gave her a couple before we decided on the final product.


And now all I want to eat is cupcakes. So excited!

Design: Oktoberfest Bunco

If you've never played Bunco, you should! It's a really easy dice game and gives you a chance to move around and meet new people. For our base spouses' club, we will be having a Bunco social this month. A lot of Bunco groups will choose a different theme each month and dress up or decorate according to that theme. I was spitballing ideas with our social chair and mentioned Oktoberfest as a fun idea (even though technically Oktoberfest usually happens at the end of September). She loved the idea and decided to go with it! I was really excited because I knew the flier would be fun to make.

Fonts used:
Old English Text
Bookman Old Style

Design: Scholarship Auction

Our spouses' club on base has a scholarship program for military spouses and dependents seeking higher education. Last year we awarded $7,500 across seven individuals. This year our goal is to raise $10,000! One way we raise money is through our annual Scholarship Auction. The auction chairs are hard at work planning an awesome event and so far they are doing an amazing job! They picked the theme "Winter Wonderland," so we should have a beautiful and classy event.

For the Save the Date and flier, they shared with me an example of one they found which had a lot of snowflakes on a dark blue background. To recreate their look, I individually sized and placed snowflakes. That was a little tedious, but I am really happy with the way it turned out.

Fonts used:
Edwardian Script IT
Bell MT

Design: Book Club

One of the special activity groups for our base spouses' club is Book Club. Since I am already a part of a book club, I am not taking part in this one. It can be hard juggling two books with deadlines each month. But it was fun picking out the graphics for this one. There were a lot to choose from on Shutterstock.

Fonts used:
Little Days
Franklin Gothic Book

Design: Gourmet & Wine

What would a group of ladies (mostly) be without a wine group? Our base's spouses' club is no exception. I am not a big wine drinker, so I don't know how many of these I will attend throughout the year, but I'm sure it's a great chance to learn more about what is out there and hang out with some awesome folks.

Fonts used:
Scriptina
Franklin Gothic Book

Design: Active Crew

One of the other Special Activity groups within our base's spouses' club is called the Active Crew. Throughout the year they will be doing various activities such as yoga, hiking, and more. They are starting off the year with yoga.

I really like the background image I found on Shutterstock for this group. It showcases many things that are great about a group of active people--tennis, weight lifting, soccer, baseball, and healthy eating! Plus the colors are great!

Fonts used:
Meganhand
Franklin Gothic Book

Design: Football Bunco

As if I did not volunteer for enough things already, I signed up to the be the POC for the Bunco group for our base's spouses' club. Bunco is such a fun and easy game to play. Our last base had a Bunco group, too, and we would always pick a different theme for each month's game night. When I was planning the Bunco night for this month I kept going back and forth between various theme ideas. There are just so many darn good ones! In the end, I decided on Football Bunco. If you remember from around this time last year, I have already created a football Bunco flier. Yes, I could have been super lazy and used the same one. But of course I did not want to do that!

As prep for this year's Special Activity Groups (Bunco, Book Club, Gourmet & Wine, etc), I had created generic fliers/color schemes for each group. I found a fun and bright color combination for the bunco group. Since I love it so much I decided to keep the colors even though they don't really go with a football theme. How fun are the little football graphics? I found a collection on Shutterstock.

Fonts used:
Broadway
Franklin Gothic Book

Design: Welcome to the South, Y'all!

It is almost time for the first social of the year for our bases' spouses' club! For a while we weren't quite sure what the theme would be. At first, I thought it was going to have a Tex-Mex/Mexican theme, so I was researching ideas for the flier based on that. I found some cute graphics on Shutterstock. But then the social chair decided to go with a "Welcome to the South, Y'all" theme that I was even more excited about. My first thought was Lily Pulitzer and mason jars. What's more Southern than those two things, right?

Fonts used:
Buttercup Sample
Bodoni MT (I think this was the default font and I didn't even think to change it this time...I'm slackin')

Design: Membership Drive

The first event of the social year for the Spouses' Club will be our Membership Drive. Initially, because there isn't a theme, I was trying to decide what route to go with the design of the flier. I played around with a version of the Uncle Sam "I want you for the..." poster as inspiration. However, with our new logo we decided it would be best to highlight it.

I had already designed a newsletter with a color scheme that coordinated with the new logo, so I decided to use that design for the Membership Drive fliers, too. I pitched the idea of making a little campaign to include a couple graphics that highlighted who is able to join the club. The final image below is part of this campaign. We are not allowed to use the Army and Air Force logos, so I had to be creative and find something that represented each.

Fonts used:
Milasian Circa Personal
Franklin Gothic Book
Franklin Gothic Heavy

 

Design: Play Date

One of the "unofficial" socials of the summer for our base's spouses' club is a play date. From listening to parents, I have learned that play dates are popular. They seem like a fantastic way for parents to get some grown up time while the kids run around and burn off some energy. Sounds like a win-win!
 
Fonts Used
Play Date (how appropriate, right?)
Franklin Gothic Book
Milasian Circa Personal