Bridal Shower Tea with a French Lavender Feel

It was my absolute pleasure to create these bridal shower tea invitations! With inspirational help from Pinterest I decided a tea bag made of fabric and filled with dried lavender should be placed inside a tea cup printed on the invitation. What a delightful surprise to come in the mail, don't you think? 

A few months ago I "pinned" a cute DIY Miniature Tea Bag Shaped Letter Sachet that came from the blog MiniatureRhino by Jessica Marquez. Now, 3 months later I went back to my Pinterest boards and while perusing I saw it again and decided on my plan. I took a photo of a cup and saucer in my own china cabinet, Photoshopped it and put it in the design. On the "tea" bag tag it gives directions to "Steep tea sachet in a drawer". It's sort of like getting a party favor before the party!

Oh, the Places You'll Go 80th Birthday Party!

Such a fun party to create! A playful theme taken from the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Places You'll Go! was changed to Oh, the Places He's Been! I posted the invitation I created a couple months ago which looks almost exactly like the cover of the book that I wrote (with a little help from my family and friends!) that tells the story, so far, of the birthday boy Tom. I am not an illustrator so I'm sort of embarrassed to show you the inside of the book but a Dr. Seuss book is always a little goofy so I gave myself some grace and went for it.

And then creating the table decor. Ahhh, so fun! I went to my favorite flower greenhouse on the hunt for quirky flowers and filler in orange, yellow and white.  I wrapped the glass vases in a funky yellow and white lokta paper because I didn't want the stems to show and I wanted more yellow. Love yellow! The cylinder vases in groups were filled with blue water, because Tom served in the Navy, and topped with floating candles. Oranges were strewn throughout as a nod to Tom's early years in Redlands, California and the family's orange grove business. And the very playful airplanes represent the years that Tom had his private pilot's license.

A long table filled with meaning

Is this a Dr. Seuss flower or what?

Airplanes as place cards and party favors

The birthday boy tells a story

These airplanes were made of a Heath Bar for the wings, a roll of Mentos for the fuselage, two spearmint Life Savers for the tires and a rubber band to keep it all together. I saw something very similar on a fun party blog I visit regularly which you can check out here. I had to make these much bigger because they were for adults for goodness sake! Of course I made the labels too... the guest names on the wings and Tom's tail numbers of his plane on the roll of Mentos!   Good times!

Decor and Details for the 60th Anniversary

Can you believe they still have the bride's dress? And I thought I'd try a new style of bunting too.

Friends from church brought some goodies for dessert. Can you believe this layered Jello?
I've never seen anything like it! She even made it to match the color scheme.

What a wonderful party that honored this deserving couple! If a couple has been together for 60 years you know they've got a lot going for them. Good health, obviously, much in common and a good sense of humor are a few of Ed and Lorraine's attributes. This couple's marriage has been filled with travel, family, friends, parties and a whole lot of music. I decided to focus on the music and used vintage sheet music as a runner down the long tables, breaking it up along the way with some folded music fans, paper roses from sheet music and then real yellow roses tucked in here and there. No great surprise there was singing at the party! The church choir did an adorable rendition of "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof and some family members sang the song which Ed serenades Lorraine.

My client made a wonderful program that included a custom crossword puzzle on the back that had "Ed & Lorraine" clues and answers. Lorraine is a regular NY Times crossword puzzler. The pinwheel on a pencil was the party favor and it had a dual purpose. One, the party-ers needed something to solve the crossword puzzle with, and two it represented how the couple met all those years ago when Lorraine's dropped pencil was picked up by Ed. Awe. You can check out the invitation here.

Halloween Dinner Party & Pumpkin Carving

Yikes! It's time to start the planning another spooktacular party. Actually, I'm not into the scary stuff. I just like that Halloween-time is an excuse for a party. A pumpkin carving party is a casual, no-costume-required affair but that doesn't mean that the cute details are forgotten. No! One must have drink tags, favor bag tags, and maybe a bit of bunting to direct your party-goers to the treats (dessert table)! These details coordinate with the invitations that I designed a couple years ago. I've got a little something else up my sleeve for this year. I'll be back!

Bookmark Escort Cards

As promised, here are the bookmark favors that will also be used as escort cards at an upcoming wedding. Yes, that purple wedding! The bride and groom both love to read and so they thought a way to share that with their dearest friends would be with a bookmark. The table number is on a separate little paper that can easily be removed after the party is over. And we thought a variety would be a fun way to go too!

Engaged in Turquoise

An engagement party invitation for my Miss D and her fiance' who share double Ls in their names. It just begged to be played with! The color combination is a bit unexpected, I guess, but they like the colors individually so why not put them together! This turquoise is really deep and might be called peacock blue. And as you can tell by my prior posts Miss D loves turquoise. Bill likes brown and autumn is around the corner so it works. The peachy, coppery color will hopefully come into play with the flowers and containers and linens for the party. The knots in the silk ribbon? A subtle note that they will be "tying the knot" in about a year. I can't wait to pull it all together!

While I was in the middle of assembling these invitations I got an order from a bride for a turquoise padded hanger and she requested a copper ribbon. There is no doubt turquoise is a hot color right now. I couldn't believe how nicely my two projects complimented each other! Just like Danielle and Bill!

Turquoise Day for Miss D

Just for fun I made a lavender-filled sachet for my daughter a few weeks ago and mailed it to her to brighten her day. She loves all things turquoise. And yellow has been a standard in her wardrobe for years. She wears it well. I imagine this fits right into her closet colors!

Yesterday was her birthday. A fabulous day from beginning to end, she reports, and filled with turquoise colored gifts from her boyfriend. Yep, turquoise gifts.

Linger Over Lavender

A remembrance of a party. A favor. And this one lingers for a long time and is quite useful. The dried lavender inside the sachet keeps bugs at bay and the quotes of love, life, friendship can inspire. Your closet never looked and smelled so good!

Quote Freak

I love quotes. For the past 10 years I have included a special quote or scripture in our Christmas card. Even for the Boot Scootin' 2007 card I found a horsey quote from Winston Churchill that I felt fit just right. Other people say the smartest things, so I quote their quotes. Brilliant, eh?

I've been pleased with the interest in my sachets on a cute (if I do say so myself) wire hanger so my latest is quotes. Of course. I did have to change "Stop and smell the roses" to "lavender" because it is filled with dried lavender for goodness sake. So Sieze the Day, One Day at a Time!

I Heart Sachets

Hang a little fragrance in your closet! A dried lavender filled envelope, ribbon-tied to a handmade mini hanger is my latest creation. Great gift for bridesmaids, a bridal shower favor, or a baby shower favor with a different quote. But since Valentine's Day is just around the corner it's all about the LOVE! Oh yes, and Michele's chocolate truffles too!

Pick a Plum

Purple and burnt orange. What a unique combination! I had to see this for myself so I perused one of my favorite web sites Style Me Pretty to see what they had there. Why? I got an order for a slew of purple hangers and the bride requested a rust/orange color ribbon. I tried to picture it but just couldn't. Then I imagined the underside of a magnolia leaf and took a gamble that would be right.

I combined a color board and a few French floral trends together with the hangers to make my own sample of this interesting combination of colors. What a striking wedding this will be!

Hang On

It seems a few folks like my hangers. Who'd a thunk? Well, I thought "maybe", with a shrug of the shoulders, so I put them up on my etsy.com site and they've sold! I never thought I'd be found at a fabric store so often... and actually like being there! (My mother will not believe I just said that!) Touching the ribbons and fabric are almost as much fun as paper. I need a few more colors in my collection though so I'm off to the fabric store again to add to the rainbow!

Favor-ite Favors

A little something to remember the day, the evening, the weekend or the event. And these days a party favor ain't what it used to be! Some are extravagant and some are just plain thoughtful, but no matter what it's always fun to take home a little gift. Black and white fabric covered hangers, each with a place card tag were the favor at a lingerie bridal shower. A cozy blanket was a most thoughtful favor for an outdoor wedding in the coolness of January, even if it was in sunny San Deigo County! And custom etched wine glasses were the favor at my most recent party. With each guest's name on a mini wine lable and a special friendship quote on the back. Of course they used the glass at the party, and I had tissue paper and "thank you" printed paper bags at the table for wrap up on the way out the door.

A friend of mine told me of a bridal shower she just went to where the favors were aprons, a variety handmade by the hostesses. Sounds like the perfect thing for a kitchen themed shower. And another friend of mine is giving a "Time for Tea" shower and she found some lovely vintage hankies for the favor. The "tea bag" invitation has a beautiful vintage look as well. There's nothing like following a theme from beginning to end!