oh baby!

A dear friend of mine is having a baby girl this spring! My fellow shower planners and I had fun perusing Pinterest for ideas on the theme. Click here to see our board of inspiration for what we hope will be a fun and super-stylish shower.

Shown below are the invitations (we sent out 120!), smoke-colored envelopes from envelopes.com, and the scratch-and-win tickets for a unique shower game!

So what's with the scratch and win tickets? I've had this idea brewing ever since I worked on these fun scratch-off shower invitations. A shower with 120 guests seemed to be the perfect opportunity to try it out. We'll be playing "Baby Bingo" during the gift-opening. The idea is that every time someone calls "Bingo", they will receive a scratch-off ticket with a chance to win one of a handful of really large prizes. It's a fun way to give everyone a little "something" (because really, who DOESN'T love to scratch?) while building suspense to the end of the game. We'll still be giving favors to all of the guests, but trying to do prizes for a group of that size was a little daunting.

Aren't these the cutest? They're printed on super-thick paper, and are custom-designed to match the invitations. The scratch-off area works just like a regular scratch-and-win ticket, and can be revealed with a coin. Below, every package of twenty would come with two winning tickets (in their own separate envelope so the party planner can mix them in or use them as they see fit), and of course a lucky penny! All would be packaged in a sweet pillow box.

I'm thinking of creating some different designs for other purposes and trying them out in my (currently empty) Etsy store... kids' birthdays, bridal showers, bachelorettes, or other milestones where people might like something a little quirky to hand out.

What other occasions do you think these would be well-suited for?

furry friend cards

Yes, it has been a month since my last post. This summer has been amazing and hectic all in one. Highlights have included a week at the cottage, an inspiring design conference, two fabulous concerts (U2 and Keith Urban), far too many ice cream cones with my nearly three-year-old, and great times with friends and family. Needless to say, I'd take this kind of busy any day. I feel very, very blessed.

Still, it's time to post something to my neglected blog, so I'm pulling this little project out of the archives. It's a stationery set I designed for my cousin, who happens to be the sweetest animal lover I know. For as long as I can remember, Erin's had a furry (or winged) creature to love. Bunnies in particular have a special place in her heart. She's taken this passion to a whole new level, and volunteers for Rabbit Rescue (click here for their website), finding loving homes for neglected animals and regularly taking them in herself until a home is found. Erin also manages their online store here, where you can find all sorts of cute products for animal lovers.

I decided to send Erin this little stack of custom cards for her birthday. They were a lot of fun to work on.

Enjoy!