Jerry's Jubilee - Folk Art Inspired Invites

A 60th birthday requires a big shindig! Jerry's Diamond Jubilee was a fun weekend full of activities. They wanted a welcome itinerary and menu that would be a nod to the location they chose..a place called Little Switzerland Inn and the colors were a nod to where Jerry would be moving...Mexico! We used a Swiss folk fabric pattern as the inspiration for the itinerary and menu. The result was a fun backdrop and introduction to their weekend of festivities.

This would also make a great social invitation - a birthday party, shower or even wedding invitation!

Mark your calendar - Save the Date

Your wedding date can't be missed on this fun horizontal calendar Save the Date! Use an engagement picture or a picture of your wedding location to personalize your card.

 

This couple's wedding colors were pink and green but it can be modified to your own wedding colors!

Crafty Friday: State Love

Do you need some ideas for Valentine's Day for your sweetheart?  Try this great DIY project!  I made this art for my husband for our anniversary. We met, married and started our family in Charlotte, NC and this artwork was a way to highlight what a special place it is to us.

I started by taping off the wood background with painters tape - overlapping the tap layers.  I then printed off a silhouette image of North Carolina from the internet and taping it down over the tape layers.

 

I then traced along the silhouette with an exacto knife. It was kind of hard along the coastline, darn awesome coastline of NC! 

 

I was then able to peel away the excess tape around the silhouette of NC.

 

I was left with a tape version of NC 

My first thought was to use dark stain to paint over the wood.  Turned out to be a bad idea. I may have done it wrong but I painted it on and wiped off the excess but when I pulled off the tape there was a lot of excess that bled under the tape.  I abandoned ship on that piece of wood - actually used it for another craft - so it wasn't a total loss.

 

So I started again - I liked this longer skinnier piece of wood anyways.  I repeated the steps from above and painted over with some paint that we used for another home project.

 

Before it dried completely I peeled up the state of NC and was left with a crisp outline.

 

To match our room I painted a blue heart where Charlotte is - its gotta match the decor!

 

Ended up with a meaningful piece of art.

 

Great and easy way to impress your Valentine - and you get to look at something pretty as well!  Sounds like a good deal all around!

Beautiful Watercolor Wedding Invitations

These invitations were very unique. The bride approached me and asked if I could incorporate a watercolor that she had created into their wedding invitations.

We scanned in the image and it created a beautiful backdrop to the thermography used on the invitation and on the response card.  

The invitation suite was printed on a textured paper that added to the natural feel. The invitation and response card were mounted on a sturdy navy blue stock that picked up tones from the watercolor tree. The invitation was mailed in a natural colored envelope and the response card envelope matched.  I also created a directions and accommodations insert.

This is a great way to personalize your special day. If you have a special piece of artwork that you or a loved one has made I would love to incorporate it into your invitation.  It will make your invitations that much more meaningful.

Sports Theme Baby Shower Ideas

Yesterday's post with the Sports Themed Baby Shower invitation got me thinking about what that kind of shower might look like in real person.  Here is the invitation...

I rounded up some ideas that you could use to throw your OWN sports themed shower.  I rounded up some of the best things I saw on Pinterest and linked you to the source.

Food & Snacks:

I'm thinking you could go really easy with some hot dogs and hamburgers for the menu. But if you wanted to get a little fancier maybe you could make some sliders

(from here)

and some wings...

(from here)

Or you might just go the snack route and then this party had some great ideas for serving game time snacks. 

(from here)

don't forget the popcorn!

(from here)

Sweet Treats:

A fun themed cake would really bring the theme home...

(from here)

Or perhaps you could dress up some cupcakes with some fun cupcake toppers...I LOVE the foam finger!!  I know some people will die over the little Steeler love that pennant on the left has...

(from here)

These berries can be purchased but I'm thinking that at least the footballs would be easy to carry off as a DIY project.  Delicious!

(from here)

I thought these wraps for Gatorade or Powerade were really clever - perhaps some lovey dovey 'nutrition facts' for the other side? Or they could be dressed up with the parents picture or last name?

(from here)

Decorations:

If you have multiple tables at the party, small diaper cakes like these would be super cute - a different ball for each one! 

(from here)

I thought this was a clever graphic that could be worked into the decorations...

(from here)

Gifts and favors:

A banner of sports themed onesies of the parents favorite teams or schools would be both a decoration and a gift!  Perhaps a personalized onesie for the parents...

(from here)

This gift set is totally cute - I see they have it in different sports as well!

(from here)

I like this easy idea for a favor - Cracker Jacks! 

(from here)

Cookies are always a hit - love these cute themed cookies

(from here)

There are so many cute ideas out there...hopefully this will get your creative juices flowing!  And as always, if you want help with any printed materials - favor wraps, banners, cupcake toppers just let me know! I would love to help you out!

OH BOY! Sports Theme Baby Shower

Update: Now Available on my Etsy Site

I made this invitation for a mama who loves her sports! I may have went to college with the mother so I couldn't resist sneaking a little bit of Indiana onto the football (though that really isn't what IU is known for). If you like the idea of featuring the mom and/or dad's school it could be customized to whichever school you like!

Marry Me Monday - 10 Unique Guest Book Ideas

The traditional guest book is rarely ever used anymore. Usually it gets put on the shelf and never gets looked at again. Let your personality show through your guestbook and have something that you can look at time and time again to remember all of your friends and family that were there to share your big day.

Here are some pretty creative, useful and beautiful interpretations of a guest book.

Fun and games:
This couple had their guests sign on Jenga pieces.  Take breaks during a serious game to read the sentiments written on each piece as you pull it out of the tower. What a fun and memorable game night!

(from here)

Making me thirsty:

I actually did this at my rehearsal dinner. I had a magnum of champagne that I had friends and family sign. My plan is to have it at our 10 year anniversary with some of the same people that signed the bottle.  Another idea is to have it on your one year anniversary to wash down that one year old cake topper!

(from here)

A puzzling idea:

Another game oriented idea! On one side is a picture of the couple and you have guests sign the other side.  It would be a fun tradition to sit down each year on your anniversary and put the pieces together and remember the good times. 

(from here)

Funky decor:

This couple below had their guests sign a snowboard but you could have any kind of item that goes along with your wedding theme or location. Getting married in Nashville? Have your guests sign a guitar. Getting married on the beach? Have your guests sign a surfboard! Shells, records, oars, monograms...the possibilities are endless.  Just make sure you won't mind having that piece hanging on your wall for years to come!

(from here)

Picture this:

The Polaroid photo book idea never gets old and is always unique because your wedding and your guests are unique. You can have people write advice or good wishes on the picture themselves or have them put their picture in a scrap book and they can write their notes in the book.  Bonus points if you set up a photo booth with props and a fun background!

(from here)

Leave your mark:

The thumbprint guest book is such a fun idea. The thumbprints can be leaves on a tree, balloons, feathers on a bird....lots of ideas. Have multiple ink pads in the colors that match your wedding theme and have your guests sign next to their thumbprints.

(from here)

Warm wishes:
This is literally warm wishes from your guests...something you can cuddle up with! Have guests sign and decorate squares of fabric and then assemble after the wedding.  I found this website with a good tutorial on how to go about doing it yourself!  Now I have no sewing skills to speak of so don't look to me to sew it together for you!

(from here)

A twist on the traditional:
This book is a combination of so many different unique ideas. It's a coffee table book featuring pictures of the couple but with prompts on each page for advice or memories. Fantastic idea!

(from here)

Draw me a picture:

Love this idea where it asks your guests to be creative. There are prompts on the page for advice or well wishes as well as memories of the day and a chance for your guest to draw a picture of the happy couple. It would be such a hoot to see how everybody answered each question differently - not to mention the awesome drawings!

(from here)

Local and picturesque:

An easy and meaningful way to incorporate your location would be to buy a coffee table book about the city you are getting married in and have guests sign within the pages.  

(from here)

There are a TON of ideas out there and you should choose which one you will love to look at year after year.  I would love to help you design your own guest book - I can help you with anything having to do with paper! The personalized coffee book, the fill in the blank/mad lib type of guest book, the thumbprints...don't be afraid to ask!

Crafty Friday - Initial Gift

I am going to try something new here on the blog. Every Friday I am going to feature a crafty project - hopefully it will be something I have made but I will not be too proud to find other inspiration in the blogosphere!

So for my first Crafty Friday I want to share something that I made for our sweet new nephew...isn't he cute?!

I wanted to make something for his room that was all his as he is the youngest of four and won't have too many opportunities to have his own stuff!

I was originally inspired by this posting on Pinterest. I actually found these frames already connected to each other at Michaels.  I think next time though I would like to get my own frames and then connect them. It was kind of hard when it got to painting and trying to get the paper on the frames...but I digress...

I found our nephew's initials at Michaels and decided that a dark brown would stand out the best from the frames. I then painted the edges of the frame a green that coordinated with the papers. Finally, I modge podged three different and coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper onto the three frames.

Tip: make sure to trim the paper to the size of the frames.  I had forgotten that and made the paper a little larger than the frames. I thought that's what I wanted to do...I was wrong. I had to sand down the edges to trim the paper off and that wasn't the easiest. But good to know that a bit of sand paper on the wet modge podge will even out a rough edge!

Finally I put our nephew's birth stats in one frame and a quote that I love from Winnie the Pooh in another. 

“Promise me you'll always remember: 

You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

I left the third blank for a picture. 

I love how it turned out and was happy to give him a personalized gift to help remember his early days.

Winter Wonderland

There is threatening snow here in Charlotte, NC - and to us Charlotteans its a big deal to have a threat of snow. Everyone is a little bit excited about the prospect of a snow day as one little snow flake throws the city into a tizzy and everybody buys the grocery stores out of milk and bread (really think they should be buying wine and beer instead) and people call off of work.

These thoughts of snow make me think of these lovely winter wonderland wedding invitations.

To enhance the frosty theme, the invites were printed on crystal metallic stock and mounted on a sapphire metallic stock which gave it a great weight.  The inserts were also printed on the crystal metallic paper. The envelope was the same sapphire color and were addressed with custom address labels.

Enjoy your snow day everyone!

So Tweet!

A little birdie told me that these sweet invitations will make a new mother's heart flutter! 

I created these birdie invites as a nod to the bedding that was chosen for the new baby girl.

Colors can be changed to match your theme!