Minnie Mouse Birthday

It's hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since I posted a blog about Francesca's Cupcake Palooza. When it was all over mom Nadia and myself assured her husband that this type of party was only something you do for the FIRST birthday............or maybe not. Around the beginning of June Nadia emailed me with her thoughts for Francesca's second birthday party, she wanted to do a classic minnie mouse theme. When it comes to parties Nadia takes it to a whole new level she doesn't just plan.....she PLOTS! I love working with her because she truly cares about all the little details and it shows. As I have stated before making custom designed invitations for something that is very commercialized can present it's challenges. My first thought was bow and red glitter to me those are very iconic but I felt I could put my own bit of style into it. I used a Z card in powder, paired it with a matte red envelope and bright yellow envelope liner. To continue the Minnie Mouse style I used a font that would remind you of the mickey mouse club as well as a font that mimics Disney World.

Just like last year Nadia hired Paige-Reese Designer Bakeshop to handle the cake, cookies and cupcakes as you can see Janeen totally out did herself again. I am truly amazed by the amount of talent she brings to the table, can we just talk about the edible glitter on the bows.....and OMG the cake......too cute.

 

There was a whole lot of love that went into this party and I am so happy that I get to work with such talented and creative people. Stay tuned for next years theme.......I know Nadia already has it planned:) Francesca's dress can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/sweetsassyboutique Mickey mouse hanging sign can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/funcakestudio

Bridal Shower

It's always nice when one of my brides MOH contacts me to do the bridal shower invitations, I operate word of mouth so it's a huge compliment that they also want to use me. You may remember a recent blog post I wrote about "Destination Ireland" Eileen's Wedding is just around the corner and maid of honor Tania is in charge of her bridal shower. Tania's request was simple she wanted to use the same color scheme as the brides save the dates,  however the purpose of the the save the date is to set the tone for the wedding. When it comes to a bridal shower I tend to base the design on a more personal level, a reflection of the bride or in some cases the groom too.

To me Eileen has traveled to a lot of different destinations so I thought using the two person bike was fitting. I went with a horizontal Z card in white dove which is a beautiful card stock that has a slight texture and shimmer. The design was finished with a shimmery green envelope called serpentine and all the guests addresses where custom printed to match the invitations. To me the design is simply elegant and compliments this brides personal style.

Pirate Themed Birthday

A year ago I did a CARNIVAL THEMED invitation for a the Gorman Family, all three of their children were born in the same month so it only makes sense to do one BIG party. I was thrilled when Krista emailed me a few months ago with this year's theme.......PIRATES! I cherish repeat clients because it forces you to exceed what you previously designed. Last year's design had layers and glitter; the worst mistake you can make as a designer is to become predictable. Even though I had a new theme to work with my goal was to design an invitation that would leave her guests wondering if she had hired a different designer to create her invitations this year.

My first thought was to use a single 7x7 square card stock with a tea stained background to give the look of a vintage map and list the party information on top but the more I looked at it the more generic it felt. What I wanted was a real map where the party details would represent what you may find on a real treasure map. I printed a test sample on white copy paper, folded it up and added some wrinkles....it was cute but the whole back was still white which bothered me. As I looked through some vintage maps online I had an idea..........what if I used parchment paper it has the perfect texture and can easily be distressed. Once I printed the design on the parchment paper and folded it up I had another thought...FIRE! By burning all the edges of the invitations by hand allowed me to give each individual invitation it's own distressed look.  I then paired it with a matte red envelope and continued the use of the pirate style fonts for the addresses.

Krista picked up the invites a few weeks ago and of course  LOVED them as much as I did but the real compliment came later.......Krista sent me an email that night because she wanted to tell me how impressed her husband Joe was with the design. I don't want to stereotype all husbands but lets face it picking out the perfect party invitation is NOT something that is on their minds. The fact that he was impressed truly means I did my job.