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.

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!

ten tiny fingers, ten perfect toes

the other day, i realized i never showed you baby brother's announcement. well, he's 5 months old today, so better late than never, huh? i wanted to design something unique, because i felt like i was in a same size card rut. and unless someone comes to me with an outrageous idea, it's usually the fam who gets forced into 'outside-the-box' designs.

i had an idea about pictures of fingers, toes, and his nose to rhyme, but i was stuck on how to piece it together. so, i made creative writer middle sissy put on her thinking cap, and looky here...

we took all the pictures while i was there for bb's birth. middle sissy wanted the announcement to have an autumn feel, so we grabbed a brown and turquoise blanket of sweet p's and the colors were born.

during my sip and see entertaining prep, i unearthed an amazing bowl that was once my nana's gathering dust high upon the kitchen cabinets. lo and behold, the colors were perfect and it would hold a newborn nicely.

working quickly to try to avoid tinkle mishaps (unsuccessfully), we set munchkin atop the farmer's antique pie case, under their cross collection, and man, do i ever love the shots we got.

of course, sweet p needed in on the action. so, we attempted to deck her out in matching colors, and get her to hold bb for longer than 3 seconds! such a good big sissy! 

c'mon, let's get out of the same size card rut. the possibilities are endless! and, professional photos aren't even necessary - if you can stage your own, why not?

have a baby to announce? let's chat.

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.

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!