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!

art of the barter

sometimes i want things that just don't fit in my budget. ok, a lot more than sometimes. but, sometimes i'm fortunate enough to be able to work out something in the form of a trade. it's like a real life version of settlers of catan, but with art and things like yoga, instead of wheat and sheep.

this piece was born out of the art of the barter. my addiction to yoga, with this particular teacher, must be fed. so, art for her cutie cute baby girl's room equals my yoga addiction fed.

the piece started here (pardon the horrid basement lighting):

and morphed into this (that's a butterfly pun right there!). her room is lovely tones of pastel blues and pinks and sage greens, and she loves butterflies.

big butterfly gets a blue eye to match baby girl's, and a bob dylan lyric rounds out the art, since he's her namesake.

wanna chat about a possible trade? have a service i might be interested in? say hair cutting, massage, cutie cute jewelry? call me.

grab your sombrero rehearsal dinner invites

we're rounding out the designs for baby sister's wedding. debuting the rehearsal dinner invites before the big invite reveal (of which i still need to photograph).

we tied in all the colors and fonts of the other designs, and added in the next element - kraft paper.

i always say, a fiesta is a perfect time to break out the sewing machine. ok, i don't always say that, but it is. especially when you want the invites to look like they have fun mexican flavored banners along the top.

how 'bout we get a little close-up of my perfect sewing lines? perfectly imperfect. just like me!

no design is complete without a matching envelope. you knew that already, right?

hosting a party soon? rehearsal dinner? wedding? let's have a little chat. i've got just the thing!

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.

magnetic clothespin tutorial

when baby sister was here, i created a little tutorial for y'all to whip up some magnetic clothespins. they're super easy to make, but if you'd rather i do them for you, we can arrange that, too!

to get started, gather all your materials:
   -clothespins
   -assorted paper
   -mod podge or glue
   -self-adhesive magnet roll
   -scissors
   -pencil
   -foam brush


choose your paper - there are tons of 12x12 papers out there with fun designs on one sheet, which lets you have different style clothespins that still match. then, trace around your clothespins and cut out your strips.

glue your paper to your clothespin with your mod podge. swipe a little more over the paper to secure. let dry, then do a few more layers of Mod Podge to really secure your paper.

when they're dry, roll out some of your magnet, measure against your clothespin, and cut strips. if your magnet's too wide, cut it in half to fit on the clothespins. peel off the backing and stick to the clothespins. let sit for a bit 'til the adhesive sets.

rock your clothespins on your own fridge, or wrap them up as a fun, quick, homemade gift. they're the perfect hostess gift!


or, leave the magnets off and use them for the hippest chip bags 

or clothesline around.

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?!

will you be my bridesmaid?

guess what came in the mail last week??!!

i was so excited to get it, speshly since middle sissy got hers three whole days before me! excited because, 'member, i sent off the innards for baby sister to assemble herself. and, i couldn't wait to see it all done up. big, fat party in the mailbox right here!

everything was tucked in a yummy, metallic cream envelope wrapped with my favorite label style. 'to' on the front, 'from' on the back. (major tip here: you'd be surprised how often postage is underestimated, so weigh your finished project before you buy stamps and ship.)

baby sister personalized each card with a picture of each girly-girl, which slips easily out to use as a fridge reminder. adorable washi tape and matching ribbon holds it all together.

the inside gets dressed up with fun embellishments and more dang cute washi tape (um, the girl in the dress? sweet like sugar!). fun letters stamped in coordinating colors make sure no stone's left unturned (or, no envelope's left unopened).

can you say fun?? and, seriously, folks, when you get a labor of love this cutey-cute in the mail, how can you say no?

well, one thing's for sure, i'm definitely fulfilling my matronly duties...with honor!

some assembly required

more like 'all assembly required'! 

this is what's goin' on around here right now as i gather all the items for baby sister's bridesmaid cards. oh! if you think you're on the list, stop reading now! good thing middle sissy gave up the interwebs for lent.

last time we chatted, we were thinking of one of these ideas. 

well, after wasting time doing research on pinterest, the design has morphed into something that will resemble this.

cute little envelopes for sweet sentiments and such. yummy washi tape to hold everything together. stickers, ribbon, punches, paint swatches, doilies.

the workshop's been abuzz. i've been printing, cutting, scoring, folding, gluing, taping, stringing, punching. no surface is safe. and, i'm just about done puttin' it all together to ship off to baby sister, so i get at least a little element of surprise! ha!

here's the most amazing thing: i only had to buy the doilies to make those (in the words of sweet p) so, so tiny envelopes. and, i got them at the $ store! can you believe? i had everthin' else floatin' around in the workshop. ok, maybe it's not that unbelievable, but i was pretty amazed i found so much cute stuff in baby sister's colors. (um, do you see that true love ribbon? adorbs!)

once baby sister puts them all together, i'll be back with a look at the finished product. i kept a few pieces secret, so y'all didn't see it all.

my stipulation for making these was that baby sister had to assemble them herself. i hope she bought the big jug of sangria - she's gonna need it!

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!

charcoal & turquoise sparkly invites

i thought y'all maybe might wanna get a closer look at the sparkly invites from baby drew's sip and see. mama's got a love affair with grey right now, so i found some yummy charcoal paper and envelopes. and, to bring the ice and sparkle to our winter party, what better color but turquoise.

since we were partying happy hour style, i wanted the invite to portray that. so, a wine bottle and champagne glass for mama, and a bottle for baby - everyone's happy! the invites were mounted to the charcoal paper, then got some rhinestone bling. i cut a small square out of the back of the invite to show gift ideas (sorry, no peechure).

then, tucked it all in that yummy envelope and wrapped it in what might be my favorite label. the return address wraps around the back, and the invite jumps out of the mailbox, beggin' to be opened.

as you can see, i'm playing around with the pictures - trying to find something more crisp and modern. what do y'all think? what's your fave?

and, remember to come back wednesday for a tute on the cute favors.

poppin' the question

now that baby sister's "said yes", it's time for her to do some question poppin' of her own. to her little maids all in a row, of course. she's chompin' at the bit for me to create some kind of "will you be my bridesmaid?" thing, so i put together a leetle mood board for her to check out.

after lookin' around a little herself, she decided she likes top left corner's style. i personally love the cutey-cute paper dolls, but a friend of hers just did that.

what i can't figure out is why she didn't want to recreate the works of art i sent out 8+ years ago. i had to fancy up the peechure to make myself feel better. man, my design style has come a long way! that font! i maybe mighta gone thru a ma-hajor scrapbooking phase back in the day. if you're nice, maybe one day i'll show you my invites. 

how did you pop the question? was it super cute-c (inside joke)? do tell! i promise i won't laugh (see image above).

the merry-go-round

every new year, i think about writing a resolution/goals/life changes/whathaveyou post. and, every year...i don't. i mean, of course i have goals. duh. and, a ridick list of life changes. ahem. but lettin' the universe in on those goals means i maybe might hafta actually try to attain them. and, that reminds me of  barftastic corporate annual reviews. and, that makes me wanna break out in hives. the thought alone makes me itchy. mo.ving.on.

sorry - i really wanted to work on my digressions and tangents, but alas - it seems they's here to stay. sheesh - what were we talking about?

oh, right. the merry-go-round. things is crazy, y'all. and, that is sucka (how could i delete that typo?!) such a good thing! after a two week holiday break full of snow, baby spoiling and cancelled flights, i'm back, with my runnin' shoes on.

this year promises to be a good one (good riddance, 2011), and here's a sneak peek at what's on tha horizon...

onesie cuteness

celebrating baby over a little bubbly

and, the most exciting news of all - baby sister GOT ENGAGED!!! so, get set for oodles and oodles of fun designs, and a healthy dish of sisterly advice. pshaw - goes in one ear and out tha other with that one - poor child was blessed with three mamas.

i'll also be back with a recap of some super creative holiday cards. i love custom - you guys make this job so fun!

let's finish off this post with a little look see at our new year's shenanigans. we tore middle sissy and the farmer away from the kiddies and had a large time in downtown dallas.

don't be jelly - they're taken. at least they have a sense of humor! and, we love 'em for it!

see ya soon!