banner boutique. darling.

image from banner boutique

look at this precious beanie that was just posted today by banner boutique on etsy. swoon. i love it. i don't have children, but i have several friends that do. most of my friends and family members have little boys but earlier this year my friend jen had a little girl. i was so happy to finally have a tiny little girl in the mix of boys. {don't get me wrong, i love little boys, and even think i would love to raise brothers, but i was afraid to think no girls would ever be born again!}

i am thrilled to see hats, beanies, and oversized flowers are so popular right now. banner boutique is a favorite of several of my friends and i've now earmarked them as a go-to shop when i need a gift for a baby shower or birthday party. i would love to hear about your favorite shops. have you jumped on the etsy-bandwagon? so many cute shops to choose from all in one place.

bewitching.

with halloween just around the corner, i started looking through some of my previous designs for inspiration. i think this invitation is one of my all-time favorites. i like that it's not over-flowing with orange and black, but it's definitely still halloween-y. what do you plan to do this year for halloween? will you deck out your home for trick-or-treaters? will you host a costume party for the adults?

ring nesting bowl.

as i was looking through pictures of andrea's wedding, i found more details to share with you. she found this precious nesting bowl to hold the wedding rings. i can't find the specific information, but she ordered these from a etsy shop. love etsy!

andrea had hers personalizeed with the phrase, "nau ko 'u aloha" meaning "my love is yours" and included their wedding like the one in the photo. this bowl is a nice alternative to the traditional ring pillow. it's something she can use for years to come as a jewelry dish, while at the same time it will remind her of such a special day in her life.

happy friday!

if you don't already know, i love following amy atlas. she designs the greatest dessert tables. i love everything she creates. after posting about the pink sweet sixteen party earlier this week {was that just yesterday??}, i died when i saw her featured party in my google reader today.

you have to check it out. pink-o-ween!! it looks like it was guest submission by pizzazzerie {courtney also always has such great ideas -- as you'll quickly see from the submission below}.

image taken from the blog of amy atlas

your skin will be crawling and you'll go batty over some of these incredible details! how can it be that halloween is just around the corner?

picnic san francisco.

when i was in san francisco earlier this month, i found the cutest boutique. it's called picnic and i love their stuff. rumor has it that they are going to start carrying more and more things for the home. swoon. it's hard to tell from the tiny image i pulled off their website, but they have so many cool items.

sweet 16.

this sweet sixteen party was so much fun! and i have very few pictures documenting it. {how does that always seem to happen to me lately?}

the party started off with this colorful invitation. i have never met a girl who loves crowns and the color pink more than ms. sierra. she lives in a small town, so there were few places that had availability for a larger party. we booked a banquet room at a local hotel.

we created a "sweet 16" banner for the event. because the venue was much larger than just someone's living room in a home, we wanted to make sure it didn't get lost. each letter is a 12x12 sheet. it's hard to see the entire banner in this picture, but you get the idea.

we also designed a candy and dessert buffet. i don't have pictures of it, but have requested they be sent to me. i'll share those as soon as i have access to them.

Getting Maui'd.

I've mentioned before that I designed a wedding suite for one of my friends {and faithful clients}who was married in Maui this past summer. I've been waiting for the images from the photographer before sharing . I love the bright, bold colors Andrea chose. The fuschia and tangerine were used in all aspects of her wedding. It was such a fun weddding and I was honored to have the privelege of creating all the paper elements.

we started with these invitations. guests received them in a luxe cream colored envelope with script addressing.

when opened up the invitation gave the guests all the information they would need to know about the wedding ceremony, a schedule of events for the week, directions to the ceremony and reception, and a response card asking them for their meal preference for the evening.

for the reception andrea chose three signature drinks {and might i add they were delicious!}

we created a monogram that was used throughout the entire event as well. here you can see them on the palm fans and on the favor boxes.

double-sided wedding programs were printed on a luxe cream paper to match the invitations

for escort cards, andrea attached names to star fish and had them lined up in black sand

in lieu of table numbers, andrea named each of her tables with names of the hawaiian islands

we also created menus that sat at each place, but i don't have an image of them to share. i loved all of andrea's creativity and the wonderful pieces she incorporated into her wedding.

l is for ...

i wanted to share a fun project with you i created over the weekend. i always see such creative ideas on other blogs, but outside of digital design, i rarely find myself doing anything crafty or hands-on.

when i moved to a new place, my media center was damaged. i asked travis to save the doors for me before getting rid of the rest of the pieces. i just knew i could make something out of them ... what that was, i didn't know, but i was willing to give it a shot.

while sitting at home one evening, i decided to pull out the doors and see what i could create. i don't have anything on my wall in the hallway, so i decided to see if i could design something for the space.

here's what i came up with:

this picture was taken late at night and with a not terribly wonderful camera. and who am i kidding? any pictures i post after a recent post of jenny collier photography photos are absolutley going to pale in comparison.

this project was super simple and made with items i already had on hand. i cut large pieces of cardstock to the size of the doors. then i took pieces of scrapbooking paper and laid them out on the board. i'm pretty anal when it comes to layout, so i played with this for a while trying to get the right mix of colors and paper {it's hard to tell from these pictures, but i used a mix of damask papers and a paper with lists of wines). i wanted the pieces to be very similar, but not completely identical. once i had my layout just so, i attached them to the cardboard using doublestick tape {i'm terrible with modge podge and was afraid i wouldn't be able to get the papers to lie flat}.

i love monograms, so i decided to frame "l"s -- one capital letter and one lowercase -- in the center of the papers. i found a font that i loved {i believe i used edwardian} and created the two letters. i attached those with doublestick tape as well {i would not recommend this; it was very tricky and time consuming} but i was out of label/sticker papers.

finally i attached z-tooth hardware to the back of the doors so they could hang in the hallway. i was a little skeptical i could turn them into something i love enough to hang in my home, but i love them. i would also love to see them hung over a bench in an entryway or mudroom with the knobs used to hanging scarves, hats, and even keys.

a baby shower for amy & mackenzie.

my dear friend {and photographer} jenny collier hosted a baby shower for her long-time friend amy. i love attending any soiree jenny throws. she always has the best ideas for events and does so much of the work herself. while i wasn't at amy's shower, i wanted to show off jenny's creativity {and beautiful photography}.

all images copywright jenny collier photography. please contact jenny for permission to use any photos.

the invitation jenny used had a clothesline of baby clothes strung across it, so she incorporated the idea into the shower as well. the items on the line also doubled as gifts for amy's little girl mackenzie.

jen used amy butler paper for the shower decor. the coffee cups at the drink station were wrapped in the same paper to match.


seana hon designed the gorgeous cake. i've since had one of seana's cakes and would second jenny's recommendation of her services. the cakes are delicious and the price is always very reasonable.

i love that no detail misses jenny's eye. the past few years banners have been very popular at parties and jenny loves using them at her events. i love that this particular banner uses tiny clothespins to coordinate with the theme as well.

the favor's were joy's hope mason jar cupcakes that jenny made. the favor tags were made of the same amy butler paper that you've seen scattered throughout the shower.

if anyone knows how to throw a party and make a girl feel special, it's ms. jen. amy and mackenzie are lucky, lucky gals to have such a good friend willing to throw them such a spectacular shower. to see more pictures from the event, visit jenny's page

mila's daydreams.

Copyright (C) Adele Enersen

oh.my.goodness! have you seen mila's daydreams? a definite must-see; it's an entire blog dedicated to the "day dreams" of mila. while mila naps during the day, her mommy quickly creates a scene around her and snaps a photo {like the one featured above: let's play beauty salon}. i love this idea.