We all have traditions. This sweet client invites close friends and family to their traditional tree trimming where folks find themselves stringing cranberries and popcorn, drinking some nog, singing a carol or two and enjoying yummy eats! This red paper with vines is that favorite of mine that I mentioned a couple posts back. If you could only touch through your computer monitor I know you'd love it too!
LOVE being busy with Christmas party invitations! And I fell in love with this lovely paper from Paper Source that is red with gold-ish/khaki-ish vines and white accent flower buds. I've used it twice so you'll see it again in another post soon. It's a nice twist on Christmas colors without going crazy! For this invitation I decided it would be a fun and casual gift bag that the invitees will open. In my pile of gift bags to reuse I've got a few that have a cuff at the top of the bag so this is my rendition of those.
Last weekend was chock full of parties. When Halloween falls on a weekend it opens up three days of party opportunities. The aforementioned pumpkin carving party on Friday night and then costume or otherwise parties on Saturday and Sunday. And when a couple boys are turning into official teenagers (and I mean 13!) their birthday party just had to involve tricks and treats. Not only did I create the invitations but the take home favor/treat bags too!
Angels Foster Family Network is a non-profit organization that my husband and I support because what they do for babies is critical! I was blessed to be asked to design their anuual luncheon invitation and related printed collateral. "Honored' would be another word to describe how I felt when that call came in. "The Power of One" was their theme and I believe it is so true. Just ONE person can make a difference in this world!
Seriously. Should I have been doing this yesterday? I do have a print job to work on but I've been seeing these darling fabric pumpkins everywhere lately so I decided with a tutorial from My Desert Cottage I would just do it! You know, you're online clicking from link to link and blog to blog and suddenly 17 hours have gone by! Exaggerating? Sure, but I'm honestly not sure how I ended up on that cute blog because it was one of those days. I had in my stash almost all the supplies needed so I grabbed some leftover fabric from a tablecloth I made years ago and went to work. So often in the evenings I'm making my padded hangers while watching TV and a nice chubby pincushion is what I've needed by my side. Darling year-round, functional and matches my family room decor. What could be better? Thanks to Karen from My Desert Cottage!
It's a brooch, it's a pin, it's a belt accessory. I've already worn it a couple different ways and I'm thinking up other options. Could it be added to a hat? Cowboy or otherwise? Just maybe!
Wedding signs are the rage. Cute wooden ones that say "Mr. & Mrs.", bunting that spells out "Love is Sweet", a pennant that says "Yay!", and even some that say "Hitched". It seemed like the perfect word for one of my recycled jeans pennants. Darn cute!
Oftentimes I make the short jaunt over to my local paper stores to get inspired, and that's exactly what I needed to do last week. My mission was to come up with an invitation for a baby shower. Not a women only shower but a couples shower so I didn't want the invitation to look completely girlie, but the parents-to-be are having a baby girl! So pink needed to be in there somewhere. My client gave me a couple other pieces of intelligence like "they like the outdoors and they bicycle". Humph. So I wandered around looking at colors and gift wrap and greeting cards and toys and calendars... and I came upon a wood grain embossed paper! That says "outdoorsy" to me so I grabbed some. Next was to find something pink but not too pink and the rhubarb envelopes caught my eye. Ivory wood grain for the outdoors, rhubarb pink for the baby girl and a touch of brown to make sure the men feel comfortable showing up!And I think we all remember the rhyme from our childhood "Blank and Blank, sittin' in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage." Therefore the wood grain and the "tree" all came together. And since I was getting a bit silly I thought that everyone would know the words to the rhyme so why not just put in blah, blah and yada, yada instead! My client said "do it!" so I did. Love that wood grain paper! The backside of the invite shows it nicely I think.
Some years it just works out so well. This year October 31 lands on a Sunday, which means you can plan a pumpkin carving party on Friday or Saturday night. It doesn't get any better. I suggest menu of some kind of chili, my favorite is turkey eggplant, a green salad with fresh apple pieces (as a nod to my favorite autumn fruit), and a cheesy bread. A pumpkin ale is a must for beer options! Just make it easy for people to grab a bite whenever because some of us are slow pumpkin carvers. I mean me. Don't forget the invitation that is "so cute it's scary"! (as my sweet friend said) because you know that's what gets them to show up! And BYOP (bring your own pumpkin) means you don't have to lug around 100 pounds of pumpkins.
