Feather her nest...

I am in full swing preparing for my high school BFF's baby shower next weekend. After discussions about many different themes, she ultimately decided she liked the little birdie motif the best. Tracie found out she was having a girl at her ultrasound, but wanted to keep it a secret until the invitations went out. Lord knows I LOVE being in on a secret! =) The theme worked perfectly for this..."a little birdie says Tracie's having a girl!!"

I have done a birdie theme for birthday parties before, but was excited to make the bird a little more adult and sophisticated for this party. I drew a new bird based on some fun paper that I found.

As for envelopes, I've been wanting to try wrap around labels ever since my friend Bridgett of Perideau Designs did it for her daughter Kendall. Remember this project?? I don't think I ever linked to Bridgett's pictures of that party, either...they really are adorable...you should check them out! Anyway, thanks Bridgett for the inspiration on the labels...

They are one long strip of label with the guest's address and your return address all in one (I added a pattern that matched my theme in between) and you just wrap the around the invitation. I found that they were actually super simple and had great design impact. Remember that the label is the first inkling to your guests about what you have up your party sleeve!

Lots more of this party in coming weeks!

Little Sweet Pea

When my friend Molly contacted me to help design her friend's daughter's first birthday I couldn't say no...they wanted to do a "sweet pea" theme which I've always wanted to do AND she loved a lot of the colors and papers from Avery's party which I love.

And because I adore this picture of little Sophia I have to show the invitation a little closer up...isn't she adorable??

Happy birthday, Sophia!

Oh how she's grown!

Hard to believe my baby girl is 4. I know people say it is amazing and that time just flies, but it really is true. I had so much fun planning Ave's party this year...she has gotten to be my little PDP apprentice and is so into the details. E took the kids out of the house one day so I could start getting decorations in order. Her face was priceless when she walked in. It made every minute I spent worth it!

So as far as inspiration {as I said in an earlier post} came from some paper I found and loved. From there I made these invitations {also posted earlier!}

I decided very early on to use the pettiskirt that I had bought for our family pictures and a scallop shirt and scallop "a" hair clip from Em Tanner paired with my very favorite Babylegs for her outfit. The scallop was very flower reminiscent and I loved the fonts and knew I had them and could use them for the rest of the decor as well.

I made close to all of the decor I made myself...you know the usual stuff...the pics from the actual party are not great...it was so dark and I didn't have my camera set on a good setting for night pics. I took some pics earlier and some after during daylight hours, but the ones from the actual party aren't wonderful...but you'll get the overall idea!

A sign to greet everyone (I had to brave -20 degree temps to get this pic!)...

Some flower cupcake toppers to top the always pretty AND delicious cupcakes from my BF Tracie...

(Stands are from Crate and Barrel...thank you to my Mother-In-Law for borrowing hers so that I could have a matching set!)

Napkin Rings...

(Paper goods from Plates & Napkins of course!)

Hats and a crown for the birthday girl...

Flower Lollipop Favors for each child to take home...

I always try to look for something fun to do as a guest book. I took a shadow box that I had here and lined it with some of the paper I had to match the party, stuck Avery's invite in the middle, and had the guests sign flowers that I made to give Avery birthday wishes. They just attached them with a glue dot. I am going to keep it up in Avery's room...a fun reminder of the party throughout the year...

I did not go at this party completely alone though...I found a fabric line designed with the same prints as the paper I already bought, so my girl *golden* hooked me up with an awesome table runner (no name or age so that it can be used for many years and birthdays to come!) and some napkins that had "4"s and "A"s with flowers on them that we used for serving food and under lamps in the living room...

Then I tried two new Etsy girls I've had my eyes on FOR.EV.ER. They did not disappoint and I was even able to trade products for some of it which is always fun and a money saver!

First PomLove...

These pics don't even really do them justice to how pretty they are and what a design punch they really add to a space. I used them both on the sides of the banner I made and then after seeing this on Party Perfect (via Design Sponge) I made a small cluster of poms and lanterns and made some garland from the matching paper to wind in there as well...

Then maybe one of the cutest things ever came from Lollipop Workshop...

I found through a friend and knew I wanted to do one for Ave if I could...meanwhile they started popping up all over the place. After seeing one on Bakerella here, I got the idea to make her her own little PDP banner...

This is where Avery almost passed out. It was her favorite thing at the party...her own little dolly with her own little banner! She says she's going to use it for her dollies to have birthday parties. =) That's my girl.

So after pics were taken of everything, it was time for cake...

Three screamers out of nine kids...not bad. Kids LOVE my hats, I tell you. Then just a couple other cute pics from the party...

Happy birthday, Aves! I love you!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Miya's 1st Birthday

My sister's niece Miya celebrated her first birthday last Saturday. Her mom Melissa was going with a bright summery feel and said she might use some flowers and butterflies to decorate. She wanted me to make a tutu she had seen here and ordered the bloomers from *golden* as well.

You can tell she really loves her crown, right? =) It is hard to see in the pic above, but the banner's letters have polka dots to match the material on her bloomers...

Hope you had a happy birthday, Miya!

Forty and Fabulous!

One of my previous clients enlisted me to help make some cupcake toppers for a 40th birthday party she is throwing in a few weeks. She was planning the party decor around the paper goods that she purchased, shown here:

Fun, right? Very fun to have to match to! So here is what I came up with...

Hope you love them, Jodee!