li'l punkin autumn baby shower

last fall, a few girlfriends and i hosted a baby shower for our dear friend. since it was going to be in the fall, i thought li'l punkin would be an adorable theme, and ran with it. anytime i host a party, i feel the need to make the invitation as time intensive as possible. it's my thing. plus, i get to show off all the fun things you can do with invites. no invite's complete without a matching envelope!

i knew i wanted punkins on the invite, and then thought a tree with sparse leaves on it would be super cute. i dug thru my ridiculous stacks of scrapbook paper and found some adorable prints that just screamed 'it's fall, y'all'. then, set to work with my cricut to cut out leaves and punkins for 30+ invites! (thanks for being my assistant, mamacita!)

guests were welcomed with punkins (what else?!).

inside, we adorned the tables with punkins and gourds and apples. i got the wild hair to put some fabric that'd been taking up space in the basement to use and make fall buntings. (the night before the party!) a diaper cake adds some whimsy to the gift table (cleverly deemed the punkin patch)

since the party was a sit down brunch, we served a build your own mimosa bar, along with coffee and cream. hosting parties gives me the chance to break out all my nana's silver and china.

there's no way to have an autumn brunch without something punkin. this coffee cake was ah-may-zing! seriously, so delish! i put my gluten-free tendencies to the side when things like this are served! we also had monkey bread, an egg casserole and fruit salad.

we sent all the guests home with their own li'l punkins. we wrapped candy corns and candy punkins up in orange tissue paper, and tied them with floral tape so they looked like punkins. then finished them with a gift tag.

it was a great party, and so fun to see all the loot! baby noah is a cutie pie, and it's hard to believe he's already 10 months old!

hosting a baby shower? how 'bout an autumn theme? the sky's the ding dang limit with all the colors and gourd-y options! let's chat!

last fling before the ring - custom bachelorette invites

when it came time to plan for baby sister's bachelorette party, we knew we wanted it to be fun, fun, fun. she's not much for being the center of attention, but we had to play videos of her younger days as a power ranger! we rented a 15 passenger van to cart all the girlies around, and made middle sissy, who doesn't drink much, drive. ummmmm. poor valet guys!

for the invite, on top of fun, i wanted it to be different. gotta say - pretty proud o' myself when the idea of a big diamond ring came to me. and, then more pride, when i cut around the diamond making a pocket for the info...

have a little look

i wanted to be tongue-in-cheek with the invite, so did fun strike-thrus. i also took some of the cute things her hubby wrote on their wedding website, and added them to the back. when you pulled the info out, it said 'let the fun begin'. and, no bachelorette invitation is complete without a little bling!!

we hosted the party at my mama's house, so people from out of town could get ready there, and we could have a lingerie shower without a bunch of looky-loos. we had to hide baby sister so she didn't see the prep - that was fun!

we set up the desserts and drinks (take the plunge punch) in the dining room, along with the favors.

the girls got a ring pop and candy necklace with a cd in an ice cream bowl, complete with every bachelorette must-have - the penis straw. for the cd, we had each girl send the song that reminds them of baby sister. and, that jumbo van was rockin' all night long!

and, the last of the decor - the banners and all her gifts

it was a super fun time, and you wouldn't know that baby sister is younger than middle sissy and i by 9 and 14 years respectively. ahem. in fact, this is the face we got every time we told her what we were doin' next.

at least she's got her penis straw.

bachelorette party coming up soon? check out these other designs, too. let's chat.

a hoot of a time

when it comes to munchkins, hooty cute owls are a favorite. for this munchkin's third birthday, that was the order. reds, pinks, turquoise, lime green, and owl quotes.

all good parties start with a super cute invite. heehee


then we added a happy birthday banner

a party hat (is birthday girl adorable, or what?!) and, favor tags - with the sweetest quote "i'll owl-ways be your friend"! too cute!

and, seriously? are you kidding me with this cake? done to match the invites perfectly. let me say it again - too cute!

have a kiddo celebrating a birthday soon? let's have a little chat.

take a peek at some past designs in case you need some inspiration.

monster mash birthday bash

in honor of sweet p's 3rd birfday today, let's take a little look see at the celebration! in february-ish, middle sissy tried to get out of sweet p what kinda party she wanted. after a little confusion, they checked out a party aisle and sweet p said immediately 'monstahs'. and, a theme was born.

now, since sweet p is a girly girl (her colors are blush and bashful), we couldn't just have any monster bash. mom was pretty specific about what she wanted, so here's the team effort invite complete with pink monstah. (hard to tell, but their eyes are blue to match sweet p.)

the party was at a park shelter, where we had plenty of room to string up a banner.

and set out snacks and cupcakes(!) adorned with round toppers.

you know no party's complete without a fun party hat. who wants to help me make it more acceptable in the adult community?!

mom wanted some fun activities to do during the party, so we made monster faces and the kiddies played 'pin the eye on the monster'. (sweet p was NOT into wearin' a blindfold, tho!)

mom put together a make-your-own-monster kit to say 'eye hope you had fun'. inside? homemade 'play-doh' in the party colors, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and monster stickers.

see? there's no running and hiding from these monsters. cute-as-can-be! i love little green guys chiclet teeth! hee hee!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET P!!! roro and UW love you and i'm so glad i got to celebrate with you!

li'l buckaroo baby shower

like i've mentioned, there is no shortage of baby celebrations going on. and, i think the days of my peeps only ordering invites might be over. if you're gonna throw a party, you wanna throw a PARTY! and, this, my friends, was no exception.

my client came to me with an order for a western baby shower. and, man is she clever and creative! she wanted to take it to the limit with plenty of y'alls, boots, hats, bandannas, and a li'l buckaroo. so, to the limit we went. check out the invites:

can you handle it? high noon? boot scoot? y'hear? i know you know i love a theme!

once the invites were done, it was time to move on to all the other goodies. banners, favor tags, table signs, drink signs, beer labels. you name it, this party had it. so, i packed all the goodies up and waited (im)patiently for the party to happen, so i could see the pictures!

i can't take credit for many of the cute sayings. i told you, girl's clever. a sheriff badge star carried the theme thru all the goodies. they strung up the welcome banner, made of burlap sewed onto ribbon, along with a star-spangled 'whoa nelly' banner for over the gift table. and, that bandana and cowhide cake might be the cutest thing ever, next to the mustachioed elk, of course!

no one was going thirsty here, with city slicker sangria, lasso lemonade, and young whipper snapper ale on tap. i was giddy that she wanted to do beer labels. tables were named things like cowboy up and hi-ho silver. and, when the party was over, guests were sent on their 'happy trail' with bbq sauce in mason jars. ok, this diaper cake, made of jean diapers ranks pretty high up there on the cute-o-meter!

can you even stand it? what a great party! and, a great client! i tell ya - you guys are so darn clever. never cease to amaze me.

y'all have any babies to welcome? let's have a little chit chat, y'hear?!

good clean fun (favor tutorial)

as promised, i'm back to show you how to make your own personalized hand sanitizer favors/gifts. 

what you need:
hand sanitizer (i found 3-packs at the dollar tree)
your labels (printed on label or sticker paper)
paper cutter/scissors
glassine bag (or tissue paper)
ribbon/twine/yarn/twist tie

gather your gear | cut your labels down to size | peel off the old labels | 
stick on your new labels | wrap 'em up with a pretty bow | and, give 'em away

see how easy that was? now you can go make your own!

sippin' & seein'

since baby brother's "sip and see", i've decided it is THE best way to welcome baby numero 2, 3, or 4. it's so relaxed, sittin' around chatting and cooing over the new baby. no sniffin' snickers diapers and mama gets to enjoy a bevvy (or 4) like everyone else!

so, last weekend, my lovely (and crazy talented) friend priscilla and i threw a welcome partay for our gal pal, carrie, and her little peanut, drew. i dooo love a party! such a great excuse to dust off the champagne glasses and break out my nana's silver. we set the mood by sending sparkly invites, tucked in charcoal envelopes wrapped in my favorite label.

priscilla whipped up some pennants and garlands, i added 'baby drew', and strung them up over the food and drink tables.

speaking of food...we wanted the shindig to feel like 'happy hour', so i whipped up a few finger foods, and priscilla baked the most delicious cupcakies and brownies. and, of course they're labeled!

as for the sippin', we had a

 a signature drink (complete with cheeky name)

and, bottles and bottles of red vino (do you think i went overboard with the personalized labels? nah!)

tags tied to each glass for guest names and jazzed up water

we sent guests off with hand sanitizer, because babies don't love germs! they say "it was good, clean fun!" (tutorial coming next week)

you wanna see the guest of honor, right?! he was pretty content to be passed around from arms to arms and all he did was snooze snooze snooze.

congratulations to rock star mama, carrie. and, thank you to my partner-in-crime priscilla for all her help pulling this off, and for the use of her images.

and, seriously y'all, any happy hour that ends with 5 empty wine bottles must be a success!

a new bird in the nest

i guess it's baby shower week around here! this time it's all about middle sissy's shower my mama and i hosted while we were there. you know, most 2nd, 3rd, 4th children get the shaft when it comes to parties, pictures, clothes, time (especially if they are the same gender as the older sibbies.) so, we wanted to give baby brother a warm welcome, and give friends a chance to come snuggle with mr loveable. in the south, these are called 'sip and sees' and well, sitting around sipping mimosas while snuggling a newborn is my kinda shower!

as all parties must, we started with the invite. i wanted to mix it up and do something fun; not just a standard flat card. so i decided fabric bunting, and went to work finding cute fabric. man, cutting out little triangles is tedious work! but, they turned out so.dang.cute! can't forget matching labels for the envelope.

when i pick a theme, i see that sucker through to the end, so we whipped up fabric buntings for over the food table. thanks for sewing, middle sissy!

we welcomed guests with a glimpse at the guest of honor, and all his stats. (he's a big boy!)

to snack on, we served fruit with to-die-for dip (jar of marshmallow fluff and some cream cheese), quick breads, and yummy artichoke dip, which we labeled with silly names (and more fabric triangle cutting!)

to sip, we had a mimosa bar with a selection of juices, and we whipped up some baby shower punch (vanilla ice cream topped with sprite and oj)

after friends had their fill of the baby, we sent them off with snacks for later. they really were 'so tweet to fly by'!

i can't feature this shower without showing off this cute-as-can-be 'diaper-cycle' my mama put together. is it not sooo cute?? and, soccer bear (once baby sister's!) is ready to ride off into the sunset! i don't think i'll make a plain diaper cake again!

and, for good measure, a shot of the hostesses with mommy and baby of honor! he's doing what he did the entire party - snoozin' away!

i'm glad we were there to help out and host a fun party. and, middle sissy -- no excuses for not entertaining - i found all your party gear!

welcome to the world, baby brother - i miss you so much!

batter batter swing

i know i've already said it, but i love, love, love when a client orders the grande platter. when they don't want to stop with invites, but want to keep the party going with thank yous, banners, cupcake fun, signs. the whole she-bang. so, when this order came through, i was super excited. especially since i don't have many sports theme items in the ol' portfolio. and, man, what a party this looks like it was!

the order of course started with invites (she's my fave, because she can never choose, so ends up sending various designs to her peeps! love it!)

and, then, we added thank you notes

a fun banner

some cupcake toppers

menu cards (how fantastic is this table set up?!)

and, some favor tags (about to pop! so clever!)

such a cute party theme!

thanks to shelby forchtner for the use of her awesome pictures!