howdy pardner - surprise 40th birthday invitation

it seems like it's all about the kiddos around here most of the time. so, when i get an order for an adult party, i get super excited. especially fun, theme-y parties!

the request for this design was beer and bbq. how'd i do?

it was a surprise, and she wanted to make sure people knew it was adults only. she had quite a bit of information she wanted to include, which makes my double-sided designs perfect. no need to cram all your info on the front.

envelopes to match finished off the invitation - nothin' like a little excitement in the mailbox amid all the junk and bills!

have a birthday coming up? a different kind of party? let's have a little chat!

yeehaw!

boys will be boys

i know i've mentioned it before, but i get many an order for the boy-child. this year has been no exception, and i always love hearing what theme each boy-child wants. skateboard, snowboard, sports, robots, super hero. let's take a little gander at some of this year's partay invites, shall we?

since he was turning 10, he wanted a take on the x-games (get it?!). so, it was a swish here, some grungy text there, and a snowboarder or two for this milestone.

from snowboards to skateboards, this client knew what he wanted, making sure we knew exactly how and what color he wanted his board to be. i have it on good authority that we were pretty good at bringing his idea to life!

we all know that every (well, ok most) boy loves him some sports. this particular boy-child is fond of all ball sports, so we did a little mash up for his invite. (what's up with the weird pic, you say? i obviously failed to print extras for a photo shoot!)

then, of course, there are robots. mama put marker to paper to whip up johnny 4 here, and i brought him to life on a postcard invitation. the clever headlines are the best!

and, lastly, my favorite kind of party - the fiesta! you know i love my margaritas. and, this little mister is as spicy as they come, so it's a perfect match! aren't i so witty with all the spanglish?!

how's that for gettin' the creative juices flowin'? got a boy? he's probably got a birfday, right? gimme a shout - we'll get workin'!

boy, oh boy, oh boy!

we rock the party

soooo, apparently no-vember means no-blogging. whoopsie! y'all didn't even notice, didja? well, i can't promise i'm gonna stay on top of it, but i'm here today to show you the (little-too-much) fun, sorta-surprise partay i planned for mr man.

here's a little back story to set tha tone - after the fiasco that was nebraska, i knew i needed to pay mr man back big-time - he needed a party he wouldn't forget. and, in a light bulb over head moment, i thought...i should hire a band! well, long story short, i hired half of mr man's fave local band to play an acoustic set in our basement. wife of the year right here, peeps! heehee

with that outta the way, it was time to get down ta biz-niz. first task: invites. guess how old mr man turned?!

next step was to clean up that basement (oh, baby sister, if you'd only seen it - ya-ikes). cleaning up means shoving everything into corners, and covering it with black tarp, so that's what we did.

once we got a little breathing room (wheezing was more like it!), i got to setting up the partay space - food table, bar table, sink of never-ending beer, decor, mood lighting.

in an effort to be so creative (by surfing pinterest), i threw a '35' up on the wall and tacked up pictures of mr man thru the years (did you make the wall?). and, i adorned the party cups with more pics of the b-day boy. (no pic of that)

i sent mr man off so the band could set up for the surprise. i gave the ok for him to join the partay, and we serenaded him with happy birthday. i think he maybe mighta been surprised!

after a little minglin' and munchin', the music kicked in and those guys seriously rocked the party. (seriously - i was nervous the neighbors might wanna join us!)

after the band wrapped up, we weren't ready for the festivities to end. and, if you've been around here a while, you know it's not our party without a little karaoke and air guitar.

i set out to knock mr man's socks off, and i think i mighta. the band rocked. the party peeps rocked. mr man had an awesome time. and, we maybe mighta spent the entire next day on the couch. that, my friends, is my kinda party!

thanks to my best gal, carrie, for takin' pics so i could run around like a headless chicken.

WHAM! BAM! POW!

sometimes when i get an order, i'll get a few hours into the design, wipe my brow, and think 'what did i get myself into?' this design is one of those times. but, i wasn't going to let it be my kryptonite, and dare i say...it might be one of the cutest designs i've churned out of headquarters the workshop. (that's a little horn tootin' for those of you keeping track).

superhero birthdays demand comic book style invites, right down to the pictures. well, for that, i needed to do some learnin' ... to the batcave interwebs. 

and, POW! the pictures went

and shazam, the final invite looked like this

it's got the comic book feel, right? zinger words, lightning bolts, stars, fun fonts. can you find their blaster cuffs in the invite?

could this possibly be one of THE most custom design you've ever seen? well, don't go calling me wonder woman just yet.

What a Hoot

how is it that our little sweet p is 2, and i was tasked with designing all her 2nd birthday swag?! she's supposed to be a little peanut, but, now she leads us all around by the nose and chatters and sings constantly.

she also loves ALL animals, birds, bugs, etc. so, mom wanted a cute 'look whooo's 2' theme with an owl. you've seen the invites.

and, for the party, we did a banner

a party hat

and favor tags...

for the cutest favors my sister handmade (good thing there were only 5 guests!)

what did i tell ya about the mamas gettin' creative up in here? the guests also decorated owl masks to take home, and feasted on the cutest owl cupcakes. (i'm sure she'll blog about all the goods soon).

lucky girl got to celebrate her birthday twice, so the swag made two debuts (one for friends and one for family) - love that.

for good measure, i thought we needed a pic of the birthday girl modeling her birthday hat. she's just the cutest dang thing ever!

let's chat about your kiddos birthday.

Around the World

lately i've been doing more kiddo birthday invites, and i tell ya - the 'rents are gettin' creative. this little munchkin has been quite the traveller, and mama wanted to use that as the focus for the invites and the party.

so, the invites were designed with an airmail slash train/air ticket slash travel feel, and was topped off with a pic of the birthday boy in paris.

for the party, they carried on the travel theme with a paper airplane making contest and these cute passports. mom asked me to design a little passport for the party guests to fill out. they went 'around the world', filling their passports with stamps from the birthday boy's travels. tout cute!

and, of course, no birthday would be complete without a birthday banner (made round, like the world!)

isn't that such a fun birthday party idea? and, what a lucky boy to be such a world traveller!

do you have a birthday to celebrate? let's whip up some goods for you!

Having a Ball

when a client comes to me and says "i want it all!", i start doing back flips and side herkies in my mind. i mean, few things are more exciting. and, that's just what this client did for her son's 1st birthday.

it started with the beach ball theme, and kept rolling (heehee) from there. we did invitations, with printed envelopes and seals.

then, we addressed party decor by creating festive birthday banners and tissue poms

we topped the cake with a festive banner, and decorated cupcakes with fun toppers (not pictured)

the birthday boy donned the perfect hat for the occasion

we sent the little guests home with goodie bags

and, after it was all over, thank you notes carried on the theme

see? the sky's the limit when it comes to party fun. they can be as simple, or as detailed as you like. let's chat about your next shindig.

Party Animals

it's party time around these parts again, and i've been whipping up birthday invitations. then, as i was getting them all packaged up and photographed, i noticed a theme! they all have cute little animals on them! (thank goodness for easy blog post titles!)

we've got safari animals

jungle animals

and owls

and, i remembered this design. not really animals, but i think it fits into the theme loosely. mama drew these cute bugs and had me use them on the invite.

if you've got a party animal celebrating a birthday soon, give me a shout! and stay tuned next week, cause i'll show you some ideas to go along with invitations.

oh my!

Husband of the Year

Today's Mr Man's birthday, so I thought I'd wish him happy thoughts here. This will be the 14th time we've celebrated this momentous occasion, and I have to say, he's had some pretty stellar celebrations.

Since his birthday is so close to Halloween, we sometimes have a costume party (are you noticing a theme here?)

Then, for his 30th birthday, I "surprised" him with a trip to see his favorite college team - Notre Dame - play. That trip has created a tradition, and though it isn't always on his birthday, this year, it happens to be.

So, in a few days, we're off to Tallahassee and Auburn, where they eat, sleep and breathe football. Mr Man will celebrate for a week (or longer) with stadium tours, halls of fame, and all the BBQ he can eat. 

But, no complaining here - it's his birthday, remember? And, Lord knows, he's put up with my silly requests all these years. And, he always works in somewhere for me to lay in the sunshine (like Hilton Head, down below); I've seen parts of the country I never would have; and sometimes we meet new friends, or re-connect with old friends.

We've had a running joke lately that I should win 'Wife of the Year' (I might be the only one who thinks that), because I attend all these football games. In the rain. Next to drunkards. Watching teams I have NO idea about.

But, truly, if you knew all the things Mr Man does for me, and puts up with (I'll save you the details. Ahem.), you'd see he is definitely deserved of 'Husband of the Year'.

Happy Birthday, Mr Man. I love you to the moon and back.

Score!

I've folded cards. I mean I've really folded cards. If we were counting, it'd probably be over 1,000 or something. All folded & scored by hand, using an embossing stylus, a metal ruler, and the edge of my paper cutter (which, (danger) had to have the arm up so I could fit the metal ruler on it). Why yes, I do have a visual:

Now, mind you, this task is not what any of these tools were created to do. Well, ok, I guess the ruler might not be dancing too far outside his comfort zone. But, really, could I have made it any harder on myself? Good grief - the ruler likes to slip, the sound of the metal on metal is enough to put anyone over the edge, and I never knew what the fold was going to look like when I was done scoring.

Why did I do this to myself? Especially since there are tools made to put folds in paper. Why did I not just trot on down to my local paper store (they should know me by name now) and purchase one of these tools a looooong time ago is beyond me. I mean, look at this thing.

It's a huge board (you can even create boxes with it) and comes with a bone folder to score the paper, and help with the fold.

And, it's broken down every eighth of an inch for folds. (see the ridges).

I know this won't excite any of you as much as it does me. I'm just glad I bought it before I embark on the scoring & folding of 250 thank you cards. And, it's music to my ears, because that nails on a chalkboard of metal on metal thing - heebie.jeebies.

Yay me for making life easier. To that I say, SCORE! (pun totally intended)