Housewarming Party Invitation

Well it’s been over a month since I last wrote about it (here), and this invitation was definitely a trial. I had a hard time getting the idea in my head on paper.  First the lanterns wouldn’t come out right and then it seemed like too much was going on.  On a whim I added in the fireflies (the little yellow dots, not sure you can see them or not) and those took time to perfect as well.  As you can see from the finished product it took quite the turn from its original conception but I like it.  I think the finished product looks more like a party for adults, and less like a child's birthday party (not that there’s anything wrong with a birthday party!)

See the magic below!

First I wanted to stick with my text theme from before, but it wasn't working out the way I wanted to

Then I thought i might print it on a creme or beige background

Next I thought I might add some fireflies and make give it more of an evening feel

Finally, I decided that less is more, kept the fireflies, ditched the background color and called it a day

Here is the finished product.  I really love the lanterns, they turned out better than I thought they would.  You can purchase them here on my Etsy Shop (and, if you like any of the early versions, I can clean them up and make those too!)

The Engagement Party Finale

Well the engagement party has come and gone.  There was definitely a sugar hangover the next day what with seven different types of desserts and six different champagne beverages. We were able to get four of the desserts from Starbucks and then two from Costco and finally we dipped our own chocolate covered strawberries (with the help of Wes’ family).  Our champagne beverages were mimicked from a local restaurant in Chico and were fun and fruity!  I think that everyone who came had a really spectacular time.

The Bride and Groom to Be

As promised, here are the thank you cards I made for this party.  You can see the full process here and here.  I stuck with the champagne theme but to add a splash of fun I used multiple colors.  Also I used the Loopi font that I liked from the beginning.  The bride and I decided that she didn’t want to use their married name on the card because they’re not married yet so we stayed with ‘Thank You’ and called it a day.

These thank you cards are available for purchase here, in my Etsy shop.

A Celebration of the 3rd Decade

What is it about turning 30 that is such a big deal?  Is it that you’re no longer ‘in your twenties’ because I don’t remember 20 being that big of a deal, it was just the final step before 21, hello legal drinking age!  Or is it just the fact that you managed to not die for 3 decades that makes it special?  Most likely it’s just a great excuse to have a big party! 

Well I’m not turning 30 (at least not for a few more years) but my friend Gina is throwing a party for her friend who IS turning 30 (congrats!).  The event is a Safari in the Bay Area where there will be a) a safari (duh) b) a dinner and c) wine!  We’re calling it Rhinos and Winos (that might be the actual name of the tour but I’ll pretend to take credit for it…along with Gina of course), and I designed the invitation several months ago.  However, the actual revealing of the invitation won’t occur until after the birthday girl gets to see them so you’ll just have to wait!

I have already made the save the dates...and I thought that I had put them on Etsy but I just went to find them and surprise! They're not there.  So here is what they look like (eventually they'll make their way on to my Etsy Shop):

Now the thing I want to share with you (which happens to be my favorite thing about the whole invite/save the date) is the little "stamp" I made (note the theme above).

Isn’t that awesome!? 

The invitation goes out in September so stay tuned for the finished product, did I mention there is an extra cool thing we’re doing with this one?  I didn’t?  Oh well you’ll just have to come back and find out!

Melissa and Wesley

Maid of Honor, a prestigious title, second only to Bride, Groom and equal in strength as Best Man. This role comes with a ton of responsibility and not in the, let me order balloons and appetizers for this party, kind of responsibility (though you have to do that too). It comes with, no that dress doesn’t make you look fat, sure those flowers will match the napkins, your mother doesn’t hate you, and no hubby-to-be won’t refuse to marry you because you desperately want to have 'Everybody' by Backstreet Boys added to the playlist…but you should probably run it by him just in case. There is a lot to do, and while you’re definitely relieved when they finally say their ‘I-do's’ and it’s time to kick off your heels and shake your groove thang on the dance floor, getting there was still a lot of fun. I mean, before the wedding day is even close you get to spend hours with your friend doing all the things most girls like to do, shop, eat fancy food, try on frilly dresses and then go to the spa (gotta look great for your friends big day).

My roommates/best friends from college are getting married this September and I was asked to be not just the Maid of Honor but also the Best Man (we’re still trying to figure out logistics as to where I’ll stand and what I should wear). At first I was like wow how awesome, I get to be both! But then you start calculating in your head, that’s one shower, one bachelorette party, one bachelor party, and one wedding and OMG I’m going to be so insanely busy…and did I mention they live 468 miles away (yeah that’s right, I totally just Googled it)!? Luckily my wonderful friends thought of this and decided that the best option would be to have just one all inclusive party for the both of them just before the wedding. That party is next weekend, and naturally I made the invitations for them.

This is the one that was mocked up for purchase here at my Etsy shop.

Well with a party like this, one that will more than likely include a wedding gift or two, naturally, they will need Thank You cards, and guess who they asked to make them….yours truly! I’ve already started the design process and I’m totally in love with this font:

You can find it here.

I’ll keep you posted as the design process continues…since the party is next weekend you can guess this is going to be a rush order, who's pumped for a design-tastic weekend!!? ME!

Also, fear not friends! I have not forgotten about the Housewarming Party invitations, they’ll get their time to shine soon enough.

Work in Progress [WIP]: Housewarming Party

A few weeks ago a friend of mine moved.  I made her “I’m moving” postcards which you can view here and buy here.  In an attempt to come up with something new to add to my shop, and with this postcard freshly finished a friend suggested I keep moving forward and make a Housewarming Party invitation.  I didn’t make this for anyone in particular.  It was just something to keep the creative juices flowing, and of course increase my product line on Etsy. 

I scoured the internet for inspiration and my first thought was a home wearing earmuffs and a scarf.  However, the more I looked the more I realized that I didn’t want to make a house with earmuffs and a scarf.  It’s not winter right now, it should be more summery!  Next thing I know I’m knee deep in paper lantern pictures. Isn’t that the perfect end of summer beginning of fall thing?  A nice backyard party?

I also really like the idea of using words like ‘eat’ and ‘party’ in the invitation.  Combining paper lanterns and letters seems easy enough.  Thus I began to sketch out a few ideas.

However, by the time I brought that idea to life I realized that this was not the direction I had meant to head in…something was just off. So I sketched out a new idea, thanks to a new brainstorming effort (p.s. I don’t know what I’d do without my friends because they’re the ultimate brain trust in bouncing ideas back and forth – thanks for being so awesome!).  I’m thinking this new tree idea is really going to work. 

The other thing I wanted to fix was the lantern color.  For version one, I used pastel colors for the lanterns (see below) and as great as those colors are for baby showers and Easter, they're not so great for the late summer party that I was looking for.  I found this image of lanterns and knew these were the colors I had in mind.

Stay tuned for the finished product hopefully coming up soon!