Ok, isn’t she the cutest?!

For Part II of my Circus Birthday Party I wanted to share some of the details. As a backdrop for the party space, I created a flag banner which read “Taylor” and was accented by animals and the number “1″. Each piece was trimmed to a triangle shape and then strung together with coordinating ribbon. The rest of the decorations included cupcake toppers and small food signs.

At the “kids” table, there were party hats for them to wear and favor bags for each to take home. Initially I tried to make my own cone hats, but it turned out to be more challenging than expected… As a quick solution I purchased colored hats at my local party supply store, then attached paper circles with animals to the fronts. HUGE time saver! I kept the favor bags simple by filling clear acetate bags with animal crackers and attaching a custom label with ribbon.

It was so much fun creating all of these pieces! I am looking forward to next year’s birthday party!

For Part II of a Baby Shower In Blue I wanted to share some more details. With the help of my husband, we made a four-tiered white cake with lemon curd filling and a lemon butter cream frosting. For the topper, I ordered some blank nesting dolls and hand painted them to match the illustrations from the invites. It took some trial and error in painting, but I think the final result turned out pretty well.

Each seat at the table had a crossword puzzle based on Allison and Ryan and words related to pregnancy and parenthood. The game was a great way to get people mingling and having fun. To add a bit of whimsy to the table, old fashioned grey and white striped straws adorned each glass. Lastly, for favors, I made little sewn envelopes based on these by Rebecca Thuss. I put wrapped shortbread cookies inside and sealed with a baby pin. Be sure to check back tomorrow; I’ll be sharing the How-To for the fabric favor envelopes!

Abby was kind enough to post my latest DIY wedding project up on Style Me Pretty yesterday! These DIY Wedding Bags are perfect for favors, bridal showers, or for a midnight snack for dancing guests, the sky’s the limit with a little imagination. Head on over for the full details and a link to the PDF.  Also come back here tomorrow for a coordinating wedding favor, you won’t want to miss it!

Create a simple and tasty brunch tablescape for Mother’s Day with these little fabric wrapped cheeses as a starter. All you’ll need is some fabric, a scalloped rotary cutter, waxed linen twine and enough Mini Babybel Cheeses for everyone. Place in the center of each plate and you’ll have instant decor and a delicious appetizer to get the meal started. Serve with flat crackers, bread and apple slices.

These little favors could easily be used for a bridal shower lunch or even a casual afternoon wedding! Just find a coordinating fabric and you’ve got an easy and inexpensive favor that everyone will enjoy!

Materials
Fabric
8″ Circle Template
Scalloped Rotary Cutter or Pinking Shears
Waxed Linen Twine
Mini Cheeses

Instructions
Download the 8″ Circle Template and cut out along dotted line. Use the template as as a guide to cut out each of the fabric rounds and use a scalloped rotary cutter or pinking shears to create a decorative edge.

Remove the plastic wrapper from mini cheese wheels but keep the wax wrapper intact. Place two mini cheese wheels in the center of the fabric and gather fabric up and around cheese. Tie shut with a piece of string or waxed linen thread and finish off with a bow!

It was so much fun to read all of your favorite Mom stories and see what everyone’s favorite tapes were. A big congratulations to the lucky winner Tong for winning our latest contest! She’ll recieve a combo pack of her choice along with another one to give to her Mother or friend! Shoot me a message with you choice and address and I’ll pass it along to the ladies at TapeSwell.

If you didn’t win, you’re still in luck! TapeSwell is offering a %15 discount now through May 15th by entering code: MDAY at checkout. Thanks for playing everyone and thanks to TapeSwell for the great giveaway!

Happy Monday to all of you! I spent the weekend with my family celebrating my twin sisters 30th birthdays. We had a blast and I wish that we could have spent the whole week together. To celebrate the occasion I put together these little S’mores kits for everyone. There’s something about fall weather, a cabin and a fireplace that just scream S’mores. Besides, who doesn’t love Graham Crackers, chocolate and marshmallows?

I wish I could take credit for this fun little kit but I actually spotted this while shopping at Packaging Specialties, my favorite packaging store here in Seattle. They used clear accetate boxes to wrap up all the necessities for homemade S’mores and I just added a bit of baker’s twine to finish it off. The two bottom boxes measure 3″x3″x2″ and the top one is 2″ square. These would make a sweet guest room gift at a wedding or a nice treat for house guests over the coming holidays. Simply add a coordinating ribbon, roast and enjoy!

This was a truly handmade made affair and the details were impeccable! Chris made all the wine for the event while Terri designed and created all the extras. I just couldn’t wait to share their favors and beautiful cake with all of you. Hopefully I’ll be able to share the rest once they get their professional shots but in the mean time here’s just a taste!

The favors were little glass vases of suculants and canvas bags filled with soil to plant at home. The suculants served as a simple and elegant canterpiece that ran down the center of the table and at the end of the evening we each took a vase to plant and remember this sweet event by.

The cake was not only yummers but a real stunner as well! (Not sure who made it but I will update the post as soon as I find out.)Displayed on a wood round and adorned with a tree motif from their wedding invitations the cake tied all the elements together. Love the two little birds! Congrats again to Terri and Chris and thank you so much for sharing your special day with us. xoxo

One of my favorite things about the Easter holiday is all the candy! I have a huge sweet tooth so naturally Easter is right up my alley. This year I decided to try my hand at an old time favorite and make homemade marshmallow peeps!

What You’ll Need:

Corn Syrup, Gelatin, Sugar, Cold Water, Salt, Vanilla Extract, Corn Starch, Powdered Sugar, Food Coloring and Sanding Sugar

Instructions:

1. Begin with a basic marshmallow recipe, this one from Alton Brown works well. At the end of the recipe when you are adding the vanilla extract also add your food coloring. I ended up making three batches, one for each color, needless to say I have a LOT of peeps now. If you don’t need  that many, think about sticking with one or two colors.

2. Once you’ve poured the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothed it out with a spatula and dusted it; place plastic wrap over the pan and flatten smooth the surface with a rolling pin. Remove the plastic wrap and let set for at least 4 hours.

3. Once the marshmallows are ready, cut them out with a lightly oiled cookie cutter. I used this set from amazon, but feel free to use whatever you like.

4. To get the sanding sugar to stick, I ended up lightly blotting the tops and bottoms of the marshmallows with a damp paper towel before rolling in the sugar.

5. For the “eyes” I put a dab of corn syrup on the back of a black candy button to get them to stick (found at a local cake store). NOTE: Man hands in the photo belong to my husband, not me.

6. For a sweet little present, line the bottom of a clear gift box with parchment paper, I added a little scalloped edge to finish off the look.

This was a fun afternoon project and even more fun to eat! Enjoy!

Buttons are a huge trend lately, they seems to be popping up just about everywhere! Whether it be for a party, favors at a wedding or purely for fun they’re making a come back. Complete sweetness just happens to describe this set from the lovely Studio MIKMIK.

Be sure to check out their Etsy shop!

Inspiration board

To start, I thought I’d share my inspiration board that I created right after our engagement. It’s fun to see how this translated into the actual event. I picked yellow and grey as our wedding colors because I wanted something unusual and not overly feminine. My husband definitely appreciated this and was as equally excited about the color choices. Since our wedding was in February the yellow seemed like a good bright color that could add some warmth. The grey acted as a neutral tone throughout while silver added the little extra shine.

More pictures after the break!

Wedding photography by Traci Griffin

I have more wedding pics to come, along with our entire wedding stationary suite (my favorite part) so stay tuned!

Let me start off by saying that this was by far my favorite event to plan and design. Katie knew that she was having a baby boy and his name would be Sebastian Sanchez. I decided to celebrate the new baby and his beautiful parents by illustrating them as a little owl family. I thought it would be fun to play up this icon and use it throughout the whole system.

I letterpressed the invitations on a press we have at my office.The party favors were packaged in a white pillow box that I affixed a sticker to. Inside was a fabric pattern and batting so each guest could make their own Baby Sanchez doll! I printed the pattern on printable fabric sheets that I ran through my Ink Jet printer.

More details and pics of the shower to come, so stay tuned!