Heather & Aaron's Invitation Suite

this invitation suite is one of my most favorites to date. not only was it for my best friend, who i share an almost exact stylistic taste with, but there are also so many elements to it that very much speak into all the things i love. each piece is unique in it's own tactile way and we were able to incorporate so many fun little details into it all.

the invitation itself is backed in vintage floral fabric that the bride had to track down. she almost didn't find it and it was a miracle straight from the good Lord in heaven that she did.

the RSVP card was stitched with a zigzag stitch that matched the envelope and had the cutest little icons to help you select your meal option.

this map... oh, this map. this map is my one true love. we laughed together, we even cried a little. i almost dumped it but we made some changes and fell back in love. seriously, i gaze lovingly at this map. printed on craft paper and folded up real tiny into the cutest little envelope in all the earth. what's not to love?

can't forget the vintage stamps. the bride hunted these bad billies down and painstakingly applied each and every one, just so. doesn't it look wonderful? i bet people were so excited to see what was inside.

i know i was.

MARRIED: Anne & John

like, forever-ago.

man, it has taken me SOOOO long to blog about this wedding. in my defense, i did pack, move 6 hours away, and unpack my family in the past couple months. now that things have settled down i have to play some catch up.

first on my list of catching up is telling you about this beautiful wedding invitation that i made for Anne and John. the bride was referred to me by her wonderful mom and i am so glad i was able to work with her on this super fun design. her mom, Lori, makes the most beautiful aprons with vintage and new fabric and we traded a custom made apron for myself and a matching one for my daughter for the invitations. so. fun. i'll try to post pictures of them soon!

Anne and her family made the envelope liners from a stamp from Paper Source. they turned out so perfect with the design of the invitation.

full invitation suite: wedding invitation, RSVP postcard, envelope and matching wrap-around mailing label.

love it. hope you do too!

Super Hero 4th Birthday

super hero 4th birthday party (read: spiderman party masked as super hero party.)

see this blog post. :)

this lovely handmade cake was made by the one and only Kahea from the blog Tickle Cake. she's an artist turned cake decorator and she made this cake for me as a trade for her daughter's baby announcements. i love trades. they make me happy.

some of our close friends picked up some spiderman comics that we used as decorations around the room and on the cake wall. thanks chris and melissa!

bunting, of course. made out of comic book pages and the polka dot paper that lined the envelopes for the invitations.

my favorite part: the decorate-your-own-super-hero-cape craft. it was so cute seeing all the kids running around with their very own cape.

just a little sticky back felt and glitter foam board. i precut the fabric and hot glued velcro to the straps. i kept the craft was super simple because we had over 20 kids and it was a parent-assisted craft so i wanted to make sure it was fast enough for everyone to make one.

one of many spiderman gifts big A received. all in all, it was a hit.

Aaron & Heather: MARRIED!

there are so many wonderful details about these people, their relationship, and the wedding that i would not be able to list them all here in this blog. i will show you some pictures and you can find the rest and an amazing write up about the wedding here. i was honored to create all of the paper goods for the wedding and reception. heather and i worked together quite a bit on all this stuff and i was just blessed to get the time to sit and craft with my dearest friend.

these people, i love.

fabric backed escort cards.

hand sewn wedding programs.

fabric backed table numbers.

bunting. of course. to match this mini-bunting.

hand sewn guestbook instruction cards.

hand sewn cake cards.

fabric backed favor sign.

heather & aaron: God's face is already shining apon your marriage because you radiate with His perfect love. what a great example of what our marriage will be like to Christ you have already been and will be for many happy years. we are so happy to know you in this life and after.

all photography by the amazing jackie wonders.

Super Hero Party

big A is turning 4. when big A turned 3 and all the candles were all blown out from his cake, he started planning his 4th party. NO. JOKE. he said he wanted a spiderman party.

this is where i must make a confession: i hate character parties. i really dislike when the plates, napkins, cake, table cloth, and goodie bags ALL have the same picture of some character on them sucking the imagination out of small helpless children. so when big A asked for spiderman, i tried to find every possible way to convince him to choose some way cooler theme. (insert CRINGE here.) i know, i know... it's his party. don't worry, i am letting him have a spiderman party. i'm just doing my best to make it creative. the ONLY reason, and you will just have to trust me on this, that spiderman is not on the invitation is because i don't have the ability to draw him and there are no free illustrations out there that i could download. otherwise, there would be.

there will be a spiderman cake, and pinata, and even spiderman comic books as decorations. i am working really hard to ignore my inner control freak and just let my little boy be himself. but i'm not gonna lie, it's rough.

please don't hate me. i hope you like the invitation because it is one of my favorites!

Programs & Paper Goods

i recently had the amazing honor of designing and assembling all the paper goods for my very own bestie. so many hours went into the many projects for this wedding and it was truly a labor of love. the bride and her groom came up with all the ideas and i just put it all together. here is a little sneak peek. soon to come are the professional photos, which will be nothing less than stunning.

Patricia & Oscar: MARRIED!

i have had the pleasure of working with the sweet and beautiful Patricia. she has been in my top 3 clients because she was SO easy to work with and for some reason loves my work so she gave me a lot of creative freedom. when the wedding invitation suite was completed, i met her fiancé for the first time. he was so sweet and attentive, and i was so excited for them to be getting married. what a great couple!

they chose to plan their wedding around the color teal with plum purple accents. YES! i love, love, love rich colors. this was so much fun for me to work with.

they also wanted to incorporate peacock feathers. i included one on the back of the RSVP postcard and also squeezed one in on the directions page, which was the back of the map.

all finished. this is what was pulled out of the envelope. i love that they had me include real peacock feathers!

the lovely ladies of Taylored Occasions referred Patty to me. They were featured on the blog Mint Condition and a picture of the program I made to coordinate the invitations made it onto the blog. I’m pretty excited about that. click here to read the article.

the happy couple! best wishes Patty and Oscar!

father's day gift bags: better late than never?

so... i finally got my usb cable back and i uploaded about a months worth of projects to post on the blog. some are outdated but i'm posting them anyway!

here are the "hero supply" goodie bags i found here. i made one for

each of the dad's in my life for father's day. there are 5, not including my husband (he got an extra special father's day gift...), so i was pretty busy printing, cutting, and bagging goodies. all the hard work paid off, the dad's loved them!

this is my dad's buff arm. he's a crossfit trainer. my dad could beat up your dad...

my dad and his girls.

i think this idea could also work for a boys birthday party. i may try it since my son is requesting a spiderman party this year. it would make a great snack table!

Heather & Aaron's Engagement Session on Wedding Chicks

sorry for all the light blogging lately, i am without my usb cable to upload pictures of all the crafts i've been working on lately to my computer. there have been so many fun things going on and i can't wait to share them with you! for now, i will share one of the most exciting!

one of my dearest friend's recent engagement session (which was photographed by another special friend, Jackie Wonders) was featured on Wedding Chicks blog a few weeks ago. i had the pleasure of doing a couple paper projects for the shoot and Jackie snagged some great photos of those too! here's the link.

heather and i just finished her wedding invitations and they turned out SO GOOD! i cannot wait to post about them. stay tuned!

bridal shower invitations

this weekend was the bridal shower for a dear friend of mine. i begged the other bridesmaids to let me design some invitations for the shower and had a blast coming up with these guys. click here to see my inspiration board. my new favorite thing is mailing labels. what do you think?

another fav: envelope liners. i can't decide between the two favs. it's like grape and cherry. (those of you who are brian regan fans know what i'm talking about!)

the invitation suite.

the shower was a success and i will be posting more about the day of crafts later this week.

Mini-Bunting on Jackie Wonders' blog!

the mini-bunting i made a little while ago was for one of my best friend's engagement session with Jackie Wonders, another one of my dear friends. she recently posted about the sesh on her blog and gave me a sweet mention. thanks Jackie! love you!i just love these pictures so much! Heather and Aaron look so sweet together. i can't wait to see how amazing their wedding pictures are gonna turn out. i bet they will be breathtaking!
my mini-bunting looks WAYYYYYYY better when Jackie takes pictures of it. i guess that's why she's the professional.she also grabbed a shot of the save the dates i made for them, which also look way better through her lens! if i hadn't known her for 7 years i would totally be startstruck! if you are ever interested in custom bunting for your engagement session or wedding i would totally LOVE to make it for you. it's one of my favorite things to do, ever.

bunting addiction

ever since i saw this post back around Christmas-time i've been TOTALLY addicted to bunting. that's why when my BFF told me was getting some engagement pictures done soon, i acted like the little kid in the back of the classroom raising her hand because she was busting at the seams with a question, asking if i could make some bunting for their photo sesh.

the whole idea was to make something that would be tied to the vintage bikes they'll be riding around. you now... like the "JUST MARRIED" bunting you see on the back of cars, only for the bikes. so this is what i came up with:

i love them so much i want to keep them. only, i'm already hitched!

i used a cereal box, a book we NEVER read from our bookshelf, some hot glue, a little ric rac, and alphabet stickers. it took me about 2 hours, but it probably would have taken less with no interruptions. (they were good interruptions though, went to the pool & the beach!!)

what do you think?