cuteness, freshly minted

What could possibly be sweeter than our new mint green bridal scratch-offs, you ask? Nothing. Except, of course, an animated gif of a smiling baby holding them. It's all about cuteness today, my friends. It's all about cuteness.

baby on the way!

The last few months have been quite a whirlwind. I'm pleased and excited to share that we've got a baby on the way... for all three of you who didn't know already.

After we told our family and close friends, I thought it would be fun to announce our news on Facebook in a fun way.  I credit the idea to this source. I'm not sure if they were the first ones to do it, but I thought it was darling!

Here's what you don't see in the picture:

1. The wind that October day, which seemed to make capturing an upright shot of a balloon (let alone FOUR balloons) impossible.

2. The tangled balloons, or the matchbox cars in the toes of the smaller shoes to prevent them from blowing away.

3. Two of the balloons actually blowing away, with mom-to-be uttering a few words which will not be repeated. I will not disclose which balloons blew away, for fear that the superstitious among you might think that it was in any way foreshadowing...

4. The looks I was given from neighbors walking their dogs around the commons. Who wouldn't slow to look at a lone woman laying across the concrete path, talking to herself, taking photos of balloons... tied to shoes? Yup. All in the name of creativity.

5. The hours spent later that evening in Photoshop to piece together this picture.

All in all, I'm glad I did it... because 1,392 pins later, I've FINALLY done something that I had pinned on Pinterest. ;)

And since taking this picture, we've found out that we're having another BOY. Very exciting. Our little guy (4) is thrilled about being a big brother, and has affectionately named his kid brother "Doodle". This could be interesting.

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?

shower secrets

A mood board for a baby shower? Yes, that's what you get when you put a brand designer and paper lover in charge of a shower. So months ago when I set out to plan a gender-neutral shower for a dear friend of mine who also happens to love the color green, I decided to embrace our dear woodland creatures and have some fun.

If you've never heard of a mood board, it's like a collage of ideas or images that reflect the tone of your brand, the room you'd like to make over (i.e. my newest blog addiction, Young House Love, and their mood boards for stylish room makeovers) or in this case, your event. Here's what the shower mood board looked like a few months ago. Super simple, but lots of fun:

Then came the invitations. Read the full story here.

From there, it was just plain fun.

Favor tins? Check.

Game? Check.

Centerpieces? Check.
(A bit of background: I looked into real birch stump balloon weights, and thought that there must be a greener way to do it. So I found a birchbark image online, and designed my own wraps instead! No wood, no saws, no wood burning... no problem!)

They would make cute vases too, wouldn't they?

Wanting to stick to my budget, I decided instead to use them as balloon weights and pen holders for the shower games. Being the resourceful person that I am, I opened up my drawer of useless office supplies I will never use, and rigged a paper fastener to the bottom to loop the balloons around. To all of my blog-readers who are closet engineers, I invite you to share how I could have more effectively done this. :)

Then I slipped on the paper sleeve (you can tear apart your Starbucks cup sleeve for a rough template):

Next were these sweet cupcake wrappers. I had to modify their shape a bit, but nothing a little measuring can't fix. With that said, I can take no credit for the deliciousness that is inside them. That credit must be given to the lovely Diana Gawet of Diana's Cupcakes. She blogs about her tasty creations here. What can I say? There's a reason that I stick to the things I know best, leaving the rest to the experts. :) Did I mention that they were as tasty as they look? Yum!

And last but not least, the balloons. Yes, that is my son. No, he did not float away... though the sugar high he experienced on the aforementioned yummy cupcakes got him pretty close to flying!

All in all, the shower was a success. Fun was had, a friend was honored, and a baby was welcomed.

My advice to those of you planning a shower? Have fun with it! Look online for ideas, pick a theme and a color scheme, and run with it. You can have a beautiful shower / wedding / party on a budget.

Don't believe me? Check out my new design heroes, Sherry and John Petersik of Young House Love as they reveal the secrets behind their $3,995 backyard wedding here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a breakdown of their über-chic, über-cheap wedding. Seriously, that's less than many people spend on the dress alone. Their site is packed with great ideas on decorating on a budget and (in this case) planning a beautiful event complete with gorgeous details and sweet ideas without breaking the bank. But I digress. Did I mention that I love their blog?

Thanks to those of you who made it this far.
Happy showering!

guess whooo!

Guess whooo's having a baby? (hint: it's not me!)

My good friend Jeanne is having her first baby this June. I may not be much of a baker, but I can make a mean baby shower invitation. I decided to have some fun with the scratch-offs and woodland creatures. Each of the invitations requires the recipient to scratch the tree stump to reveal who the shower is for. They were mailed in gorgeous chocolate brown envelopes from Paper Source with a shiny penny inside for scratching!

Isn't this cream felt-finish paper gorgeous? It handled the ink beautifully, and gave the invitations a lovely, natural quality. Delish!

As for the cupcakes, I'll be commissioning the ever-so-talented Diana Gawet from DG Cupcakes to make these charming treats. I can't wait to see them!

Have a hoot today!