Justin hearts Maria.

Kate recently hosted a bridal shower for one of her college girlfriends. Her vision for the bridal brunch changed a few times, so our designs changed, too. I loved every single invitation we created together; the last one is definitely one of my favorites of all time though. It looked so gorgeous printed out.

We knew the color combo all along would be a bright fuscia and tangerine (now that I sit down and really think about it, these would have been a perfect compliment to Andrea's wedding invitations!), with a few other shades of pink mixed in.

I thought it would be fun to walk you through the invitation as if you were a recipient. =)

Once we get to the invitation, you'll notice that the script and block fonts are the same as those used on the invitation. I love the way the black really stands out on the fuscia envelope.

We didn't print a return address on the back because Kate has an embosser from Williams-Sonoma that she wanted to use.

Is it just me or does anyone else share my love for envelope liners. I love it when you open the seal and find youself face-to-face with a fun liner and a cascade of flowers. In this case, the tangerine really pops against the fuscia (even if it is hard to tell from my grainy pictures).

This picture almost makes it look like the invitation is mounted to a fuscia card, but I just had it lying on the envelope. The white invitation looked so crisp and fresh with the splashes of color dancing across it. It reminded me of raspberry lemonade on a summer afternoon.

I haven't received the pictures of the event from Kate yet, and I can't wait to share them with you, so in the meantime, here's a sneak-peek. Just a couple of pictures of the "aftermath" but it gives you a glimpse of the fun event Kate hosted.

Congratulations Justin & Maria! Thanks for hosting such a fun shower, Kate!

more summer fun.

I love this color combo! It makes my heart beat a little faster, my face smile a little bigger. I have had so much fun using these girly colors and great mix of paisley, stripes, and flowers. We created several designs while trying to create the perfect option for one of our favorite clients. This one didn't make the final cut, but I still love it! I can't wait to have them printed.

preppy spring fun.

I've been working on some colorful, super fun summery invitations -- and I love them. Kate approached me about doing an invitation for a Bridal Brunch she's throwing for a friend. As the maid of honor, she wanted to do something really special for the bride. Appreciating all things classic, we started out with a black and white palette for an afternoon tea, but Kate just couldn't fall in love with the colors. She wanted something bright and cheerful, flirty and fun. Something a little preppy, but definitely not stuffy.



The design above is what we created. I think it's wonderful! I personally almost always choose more demure colors {my younger sister calls my color choices boring!} so having the chance to work on an invite like this one was such a blast. I've fallen in love with the color combo and can't wait to see the rest of the brunch come together. What events do you have lined up for this spring and summer? I'd love to hear all the fun details! Thanks, Kate, for keeping me inspired!

pink limeade on a hot summer day.

I love entertaining, which works out well for me since it goes hand in hand with my passion for paper. A popular color palette {and a favorite of mine in the spring and summer} includes a delicious lime green and shades of pink. I used this color combo for a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, Lindsay.

The event kicked off with the invitation {because what event doesn't ... especially in my world}. I started on the invitation and arrived at the color palette shown above. I'm not an over-the-top, lace-y kind of girl, but I like the eyelet lace pattern along the bottom of this invite.

Isn't it fun for spring and summer? We spruced up the envelopes as well, adding a bit of intrigue before ever getting to the actual invitation.

After the invitation was all taken care of, I contacted the bakery. What's a party without a fabulous cake? My go-to place in Tulsa at the time was Mallory's Mud Pies. As of December 2009, however, MMP no longer exists. {I still don't know the details behind the closing, but was in shock when I heard they had shut their doors}. They were delicious. It just so happened that Justin and Lindsay were also getting their wedding cake and cake balls from there as well so Tracey was more than happy to work on another fun cake for the bride. I always loved working with MMP because they did such a great job of matching cakes to invitations, if you so requested. Here's the cake they created for the bridal shower:

Isn't it perfect? Just posting the pictures makes me hungry ...

We wanted to keep the shower small and intimate. I didn't want to overwhelm our space with added decorations and "stuff" so I relied on our cake and other food to double as focal points. I loved the pedestal decanter with spigot {filled with a pink limeade, of course!} It was beautiful and so easy for everyone to serve themselves without a mess. The floral vases filled with limes were another favorite of mine. So simple, but very pretty.

Aside from the cake, all the food we served was finger-friendly. =)

Tarts . Bagel sandwiches . Croissants and chicken salad . Fresh veggies & fruit .

I don't know how I managed this, but I didn't get any pictures of the setup in the living room where the gifts were opened. We used a lot of tea lights and the now-Leaches' engagement photos displayed in black frames. Again, simple, but oh so pretty. I loved watching the subtle candlelight flicker off their beautiful photos.

The final paper touch was this card with adhesive on the back. Anytime I'm at a shower, the hostess is always frantically writing as each gift is opened, making a list of gifts and the giver. The person writing doesn't get to enjoy the gift-opening and often doesn't even realize all the wonderful things they've written down. This card can be placed right on the gift box, bag, or other packaging so the receiver can quickly identify the giver and write their note cards with ease, while at the same time freeing the hostess to enjoy the party as well. Unlike a greeting card, the adhesive keeps the tag in place on each particular gift.

{Sigh}. Now I'm ready for another celebration!!

What are your favorite color palettes? Any color combos you're just loving right now?

tropical air.

yesterday i posted a fun hawaiian themed bridal shower invitation. i had so much fun creating the first invitation, i got a little carried away and created a few more. below are my other three favorites.

this one and the next one are probably my absolute favs.

have i ever mentioned that i love what i do?

everyone is getting maui'ed.

it has been the summer of hawaiian weddings! one of my dear friends, andy, was wed this year on the island of maui. this fall another client will be maui'ed as well. one of her bridesmaids approached me about creating a bridal shower invitation that would complement the coral and sand wedding invitation the bride had selected. we decided on a pineapple that was drawn in a similar fashion to the palm tree found on the bride's wedding invitation. i think this was one of my favorite invitations of the summer. the final invitation was actually printed on an ivory cardstock and mounted to a shimmer sand background. i. loved. it.

Suzie Homemaker.

I love the different ideas you girls are coming up with for showers! I recently coordinated with a group of super fun girls who were hosting a bridal shower. They wanted to have a retro, 1950's housewife-themed bridal shower. The bride loves bright, bold colors, with her favorites being orange, red, and yellow.

Check out a few of the details of the custom-designed package we created …

{invitation}

{invitation insert}
Each invitation included a recipe card for guests to fill out and bring with them to the shower.

{invitation seals}

The invitations had a couple of inserts. To make sure all the pieces arrived to the guests, a coordinating sticker seal was created.

{cupcake toppers}

After being attacked to white sticks, these were placed atop red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. {The cupcakes were so yummy!}

{guest message cards}
In lieu of a traditional lined guest book that winds up packed away in a box up in the attic, the hostesses decided to create a special book. A 12x12 scrapbook sized album was selected and each page was devoted to a guest from the shower. These pages included a picture of the guest with the bride, the recipe the guest brought with them, and the guest's message cards.

{favor tags: front}

{favor tags: back}

These favor tags were attached to goodie bags filled with cookies made from the same recipe.

{apron}
In keeping with the theme of the shower, the hostesses felt it was only fitting the bride receive a retro apron. A perfectly coordinated apron was created for this special gift.

{recipe cards}
Finally, the bride couldn't walk away from this fun shower without her own set of coordinating recipe cards. In addition to the apron, the hostesses gifted the bride with a set of personalized recipe cards.

What kinds of fun themes are you planning for your upcoming events? What themes have you seen at other showers?