Another Avery...

Mrs. Monson comes very close to celebrity status at our house. She is my kids' preschool teacher...T had her for two years and Avery has her now. We're really hoping she can hold out for 6 straight years of Newman kids.

Last year Mrs. Monson had a baby. It just so happened she named that baby Avery. Both Tate and Avery are pretty convinced it is because of our Ave...and I just let them believe it. It kind of puts her in my celebrity category too. She's so nice, understands and loves my kids, is a teacher, and names her baby one of my fave names in the world...how could I refuse when she asked if I could squeeze her bday party into my schedule??

Little Avery Monson turned one mid December...here are a few pics of her party and "A little birdie told me..."partyware:

Thanks for the pics, Emily, (contrary to the kids belief she does have a real first name besides Mrs.) and happy birthday Avery!

Better late than never?

My rule is to send invitations out exactly a month to the day before each party. So let me say I am NOT proud I am sending the last of Avery's invitations out today. Yes, the party is Saturday. Again, the state of affairs around here! Everyone does KNOW about the party, they just haven't received their formal invitation.

The funny part is I designed these invitations right when we got our professional pics back from our lovely photographer Kristi in October. So really no excuses to why they couldn't have been out. Oh well...here we go, your first sneak peak at Avery's "Oh how she's grown..." flower party...

I have had lots of practice doing this theme this year...I bought the paper last February when Avery said she loved it and I keep ordering more because I keep getting requests for this theme. I did find some new paper for Ave's birthday to add to the mix and I was so excited when there was exact fabric designed to match. Can you see a *golden* product in our future? Why yes you can. More later this week!

Dying for a new post?

This summer before I went on vacation I was frantically trying to get posts ready for when I was going to be gone. My mom asked me why I was doing that. She said "No one will die if you don't post for a week." But I didn't believe it. I kind of thought you might die. Or maybe I thought I might. =)

But then this fall hit and it might be a bit of an understatement that I was quite overwhelmed keeping up with it all. I kept repeating to myself "No one will die if I don't blog." Turns out I didn't die and neither did you. I lost a few readers, but I'm okay with that. Hopefully some day they'll come back. I am hoping in the new year to have a little more time to hang out on here since I am cutting way back on business. Hoping to spend some more time with my fam, a little more time sleeping, and a little time learning to play the guitar I got for Christmas. I'm hoping for a little more relaxed 2010...knowing you will be here when I write but won't die if I don't!

This is a little late, but that seems to be just my speed these days...

Avery's birthday party is this weekend. Lots to make...lots to clean...lots to blog! Be back tomorrow!

More on Whooo's turning 2!

Here is more of the party that I posted invitations for a couple weeks ago! I made items for Ellen's cupcake 1st birthday last year. This year her parents fell in love with this dress and decided to do a woodland creatures theme that matched it.

So here are the rest of the goods...a banner, hats, crown, cake topper, and a door sign.

The party was last night...can't wait to hear how it went and see pictures, Cyndy!

And the winner is...

Congratulations, Raquel! Please email your choice of boy/girl penguin and size to goldenshoptalk@gmail.com!

Thanks for playing, everyone. Another giveaway coming soon!

{Get the Goods Giveaway} : *golden*

While I am busy just trying to stay caught up on orders, my friend Rach over at *golden*shop has been busy designing. Majorly designing. She has 16 new holiday designs available on tees and bibs for both boys and girls. I think she'd make you some bloomers to match as well. Ask any one of my clients or friends who have used Rachel and they will tell you the same thing I will...she is THE BEST on Etsy at what she does. A.MAZ.ING.

Check these out...

It gets even better...she's shipping these designs in about a week, which pretty much means she is over in her little sweat shop working around the clock like a little elf. And just because she's cool like that she's going to give one away!

Our little penguin friend can be will be made in whatever size you wish and can of course be made in boys colors as well. It will be perfect for the holiday season but last you through the whole winter as well!

There are several ways to enter...leave a comment for each to get multiple entries!

1) Simply leave a comment telling your favorite of Rach's new holiday designs.

2) Become a fan of *golden* on Facebook. You can also leave a comment for an extra entry here if you are already a fan!

3) Become a fan of Polkadots & Pirates on Facebook. Again...already a fan? Leave a comment!

4) Follow Polkadots & Pirates on Twitter.

5) Blog, tweet, or facebook (or all three!) this giveaway!

Deadline to enter is Friday night at midnight. Winner will be chosen and posted on Saturday morning.

I will be making tutus next week to match all *golden* holiday designs if you need a perfect holiday outfit! Check out all the designs up close in Rachel's shop.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had as good of a Thanksgiving weekend as I did. I kicked off the long weekend last Wednesday by being at the hospital with my sister, her husband, and my mom as my niece came into the world. In the days following there was of course lots of turkey and time spent with family.

I made my own little turkeys some hats to wear for our celebration here at my house on Saturday. I asked each of them what they were thankful for and wrote down the first thing they said...

I had to give Beckett 5 choices because he didn't quite get it...but of course he picked Dinosaurs...no surprise there.

Avery immediately answered cookie dough, which made me giggle but its so true. That girl has a little too much of her mama in her. Poor thing.

Tate said his family...he has such a sweet heart and is growing up so much.

We guessed milk for 2 day old Finley. When my sis gave her some she sure seemed thankful.

My nephew Jacks immediately said "baseballs" on the day I made the hats. By the time we wore them this weekend, he said "Jess, I am thankful for HANDS, not baseballs. HANDS." Okay Jack, whatever you say! =)

Hope you had a fabulous weekend and took time to remember all of the blessings, big and small that we have each day.

It's a paw-ty!

Here is one that has been sitting in the file for a while! They are accumulating, I tell you.

I did Kate's 1st birthday last year so I was thrilled when Mom contacted me this year to do a second birthday party for Kate as well. Much in contrast to the hot pink and orange party for Kate last year, dalmatians were the theme this year! Little Kate is sort of obsessed with them and has started quite a collection.

Mom wanted the 4 foot stuffed dalmatian to be the guest of honor, so she didn't want a literal interpretation of the theme, rather black and white patterns with a little red added in as well. Here is how SOME of what I sent Kate turned out...

I also made napkin rings, favor stickers, and a crown...but in a haste one night accidently "made room" for some other pics by erasing those! Hope it was a fun paw-ty Kate and Pam!

Whoooo's turning two?!

Just a sneak peek of a party I am working on for my little friend Ellen (check out her first birthday party here!)...

Parent/teacher conferences got done today. Looking forward to having a few extra nights to get my work done so I can post some more! More of this party and others coming next week!

Emmaline's Flowers

I have done a few flower parties in the past (like Grace's here and Jozlyn's here) and loved them all. Avery always loves when I am working on those orders, too, and decided a long time ago that she wanted to have a flower party for her birthday this year as well. This ended up working out perfectly since Megan had booked me months ago to do one for her daughter Emmaline. I got to design a few items that I plan on using for Avery's birthday, too!

Here is how it all turned out...

Can't wait to see pictures from the party, Megan!

{Happy Customers} : JJ

After seeing a post for Beckett's monkey party somewhere in blogland, Amy contacted me to do a similar party for her son JJ. It was so fun to remake some of those items...I had so much fun doing Beck's party that I gladly did it again!

I love making those first year picture banners...so fun to see them grow! Head on over to {happy customers} to read more from Amy on the party and to check out all the PDP cuties there!

Halloween 09

Happy Halloween a couple days belated! I've been both busy working and not busy laying on the couch with the possible flu all last week. I should have put all these pics into a collage to shorten this post, but I am trying to pop it off quickly before I go to a 12 hour work day for school and parent teacher conferences so I don't have time. I don't want to wait another day to post, so bare with me, people!

First, my kiddos on Saturday night...we had SO much fun this year. They are all old enough to understand it AND they can all walk themselves around and up to doors....woohoo!

Then a few pics from school on Friday. First, my teammates and I as the 3 Blind Mice...

And a snap of my "25 other kiddos"...

Then on to the real stuff! I worked on two Halloween birthday parties this year. They were both clients whom I did first birthday parties for last year, so it was super fun to do them again! These are shots from both parties...banner, door sign, and cupcake toppers from Zoe's party and a table sign, bucket tag, favor tags, and birthday boy hat for Jackson. I made these invitations for both birthday kids, too!

Hope you had a fun Halloween! Lots more coming this week!

Find It! : Paper Products

Some of you may remember that I asked for your opinion on your favorite party sites at the end of the summer. Well, you sent about 100 of them. And they were all good. So I didn't quite know how to go about that, so I decided to wait. Then school started, and...well...ou know how much I've been around since then!

I WILL be featuring some of those party sites starting next week...but not in the Find it! section of my blog...I have a different way I'm going to go about that. For my first Find It! you are going to get my one of my favorite places for party paper products. In fact, I've ordered my kids last 4 parties from here!

It turns out this is great timing, but only lasts through Friday, so go now! The friends and family discount gets you 20% off your entire order!

Happy shopping! I better follow my own advice and get Avery's (and maybe Tate's?!) paper goods ordered right now! =)

Grace and other things...

I am kind of feeling like a foreigner on this blog...it seems like its been ages since I visited. As I said last week I am taking a tiny break from blogging to try to remain sane this fall. But between working on my orders and correcting papers the computer stares at me. So I am going to quick post this pic of little Grace that my friend Judy sent me.

You may remember this family birthday banner from earlier in the year. I made names for each of the kids (and as of last Friday I have a fourth name to make...congrats on baby Ethan, Judy and Rob!) that could be easily interchanged and used year after year.

Grace was the first to get to use it...

A very "green" option...gotta love that! That and a few other ideas got me to thinking...how many of you have a banner I've made you in the past year and a half that you would like to swap in for store credit or for another person's banner? Leave a comment if you're interested. I am totally up for replacing names and organizing it if there is interest! Save money and the earth at the same time.

Stay tuned...I'll be back soon, I promise. Dalmatians. Circus. Woodland creatures. Flowers. Pigs. All coming soon. But for now...sleep. =)

{Happy Customers} : Collin

I got an email from a client today telling me that she will cry soon if I don't put the pics she sent me of her son's party up here. Talk about a guilt trip! Truth be told she is one of probably about 10-15 people waiting for the same thing. I am having a hard time keeping up with life right now and trying to prioritize a bit. Needless to say, my blog has suffered.

That being said, I don't need Kristen crying. So here you go, Kristen! Sorry they took so long but I'm glad you are still a {happy customer}!!

More details here!

I promise I will try to be better next week. Thanks to all my loyal supporters during this busy transition time. You are the best!

Mod for Kendall

Bridgett and I became cyber friends last year when we worked on a few birthday projects together for a mutual client's party. I ended up making her this banner for her daughter Kendall last year. Bridgett has a very distinctive super clean, mod style and I adore it. It is a little more modern than I usually do for kids' parties, which is why it was so so fun to do this year's project!

She is focusing on the colors yellow and gray and sent me these pics of the invitations she made for Kendall's second birthday...

I decided to use mostly solid colored papers to keep it super clean looking, then added the fonts that it looked like Bridgett used on the invitations and envelopes...

For the hats, Bridgett requested that the 15 guest hats would be gray and the birthday girl would be yellow. I found some geometric yellow paper to accent the hats and mixed in both fonts...

These pics actually make me go kind of batty looking at them. I took them so late and the exposure is totally off, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do in order to get them in the mail on time! Can't wait for lots of pics of the party from Bridgett next week.

In the meantime, check out Bridgett's super fun shop: Perideau Designs. Thanks Bridgett!

{Happy Customers} : Kylie

Well...it is possible that I am biased since Rach and I have worked so closely and become such good friends over the last year...or maybe its that I actually got to meet this little "nutball" as Rachel so affectionately calls her...but in any case I love these pics from 3 year old Kylie's popsicle party. She is a totally hilarious and smart little girl. I just wished she lived in MN so her and Avery could play together more often!

Basically when Rachel and I make something for each other's kids' parties, we give the other one the basic concept of the party and let the other run with it. Rachel sent me a pic of some popsicles she liked and the fabric she was using for the party and said "make me something."

In the end, she did request a few things, but I just basically made her whatever I wanted...so I sent her a banner, cupcake toppers, and the tutu I have been promising Kylie since I visited them in February. After seeing the kids lunch boxes from Beckett's party (and knowing that I had 90 left over!) Rach asked if I could whip some up for her as well. Rachel is of course responsible for Kylie's shirt and bloomers...

For a closer look or to read Rachel's gushfest about me =) (love you Rach!) head on over to {happy customers}...lots of other cuties there too!

BOO! Zoe is turning two!

I have a few clients this year working on Halloween birthday parties. I LOOOVVVEEE getting the kids dressed up for Halloween, so this has been totally fun for me! I designed some invitations for Beth (my repeat repeat repeat client!) for her daughter Zoe's second birthday.

Of course I snapped some pics of them before I sent them off to California to eventually get up on this blog, but my pics are usually done quickly before I send or late at night. To my delight, Beth sent some pics of the invites once she had gotten them all ready to send out. She made labels, stamped the envelope, etc, not to mention getting a much better shot than I did in the first place!

Beth says that Zoe loved them, too!



More matching partyware for this shindig coming later this month.

{Happy Customers} : Darrian Round Two

I'm sure you all remember Darrian's circus party from last year. It was the first time I was featured on HWTM and inspired my entire Circus Collection after the demand for that banner went crazy!

Michelle started emailing me about Darrian's second birthday in January and his party was last weekend! We had plenty of time to go over every detail. Since the theme was kind of midevil prince and princess with a cute dragon as the focus, I designed a banner and crowns for all the prince and princesses at the party.

Head on over to {happy customers} to check out the pictures in greater detail and read Michelle's kind words. Check out all the PDP cuties while you're there!

A wild time at the zoo...

These are possibly some of my favorite invitations that I've made to date...

Donna of Party Wishes (check out her blog!) asked me to make some invitations for her daughter's 9th birthday party being held at a zoo. She already had an idea board all made up with the banner she had already purchased included (check it out here). The banner is adorable...giraffe print backed in lime green, magenta, and orange. LOVE the banner. So I came up with these invitations to match...

So girly and fun for a 9 year old. You know that nine is the new thirteen, right? =) Can't wait for the pics, Donna!

Pirates x 2!

I was so excited when Shelley, a client from last year got on my schedule early this year! This time she was having a second birthday party for Harper with her little friend Jacob, also turning two. She loved Tate's pirate party, so we had to find a way to make it suitable for both boys and girls.

First I designed an invite and ordered some pink pirate paper that complimented the red paper I already had from Tate's party. Here is how it all turned out...

Invitations and sign to hang on the grounds where the party is being held

Favor tags, banner, beverage signs, and cupcake toppers

Thanks, Shelley! Glad you love it all. I can't wait to see pics from the party!

Bedtime for Baby Recap

So a while back, before I got totally consumed with being back at school, I told you about the baby shower my sister was throwing for her friend Darcy. As a refresher...here were the invites:

And here are the rest of her matching items:



The mommy-to-be showing off one of the many new books she has for Baby Hempel's library...

If my sister and her friends keep crankin' out the babes, I'll be in business for a long long time. =) Congrats Darcy and Joel!