fourteen days of love: day 12.

earlier this year, my good friend kate introduced me to root:1 -- a delicious cabernet sauvignon.

it has quickly become a favorite for both of us. i recently discovered they also offer a pinot noir. i haven't tried it yet, but i'm excited to check it out.

in an effort to be healthier this year, i've been saving all my wine savoring for nights when i have friends over, and it's always a hit with my guests.

this past week i heard that cupcake red velvet is a must-try. i haven't had it but am hoping to give it a shot at a wine pull this weekend. and speaking of wine pull, i want something new to share at the event. hit me up with some ideas -- what's your favorite?

oh, and in case you've forgotten, valentine's day is the day after tomorrow!

Independence Day Inspiration.

Jenny Collier does it again. I'm telling you, this girl knows how to throw a party. It's been a while since I've shared Jenny's {gorgeous} photography with you, and while I know the 4th has come and passed, I just could let the month go by without sharing a few of the fabulous details of Jen's Fourth of July extravaganza.
I love that Jenny has a banner for every occasion. {Did you see the precious printables she and the kiddos made up for Father's Day? Her creativity makes me heart go pitter-patter}.

There are so many fabulous elements to Jen's holiday decor, but I think this little side table here, might be my absolutely favorite. God bless America! The light just dances off the apothecary jars and the stars and stripes couldn't be more beautiful. This picture just screams summer to me.

Everyone can always use a little subway art around the house.


A few more apothecary jars {I love using apothecary jars for decor -- do you dig it as well?} - this time they're displaying fireworks and glow sticks. Such a cute idea.


I am love, love, loving the straw flags we've seen lately -- how appropriate that these straws have their own little stars & stripes waving proudly.

Oh snap! Don't forget to grab a favor on your way out.

Isn't it incredible what a little fabric and some ribbon can do for a display? {I should also mention that not only is Jenny an incredible mom to a two year old and a one year old, an entrepreneur with her husband, a photographer extraordinaire, a part of the dynamic duo reponsible for mamarazzi workshops, and a party planning phenomenon, she also painted, yes, I said painted, that gor-or-or-geous wall you see behind this table -- using a stencil she made herself! Martha Stewart, look out!}

I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July holiday with a fun, festive event, too. Travis and I found ourselves driving to Tulsa from Edmond on the night of the fourth and couldn't have timed our drive better. The skies were lit from Sand Springs to Broken Arrow with professional displays and backyard shows. I think it was one of my favorite displays -- I wish I could have captured a few pictures to share with you.

new year's eve.

one of my best friends and i decided to through together and impromptu new year's eve party. we had no fancy decorations, no creative details, but we had such a wonderful time.

work has been incredibly busy for both of us, so we had little time to really plan a completely coordinated sha-bang. we enjoyed excellent food and wonderful friendship, though, and i'm so glad travis and i were able to ring in the year with two of our closest friends.

i hope you rang in the new year in your own special ways and celebrated with those you love!

hudson's first birthday.

as i was looking back at the past year and considering the things for which i am so thankful, my friend jen collier came to mind. she is such a talented individual, and she and her family bring so much love and light into my life.

i was thinking how quickly the year has passed and just how soon her son's second birthday will be here. i then realized that i never featured his first birthday party.

as always jen did a bang up job for her little one's special first birthday.

picture above copyright jenny collier photography

this "first birthday" set was purchased on etsy. {i've looked for the shop, but can't find the information. i'll add that information as soon as i confirm}. i don't know about you, but i think they are adorable!

jen made all of the fantastic details for the birthday party including the birthday banner, the pennant, the cupcake toppers, the favor stickers, and all other details seen throughout the event.

{the above five photos: copyright imago vita photography}

jen took a few pictures before the party, but wanted to be able to experience her son's birthday with him, so she hired the very talented shannon of imago vita photography.

{images copyright jenny collier photography}

{images copyright jenny collier photography}

{images copyright jenny collier photography}

{image copyright jenny collier photography}

the pottery barn party planner. {it does exist}

Remember the post I did earlier this week about Pottery Barn's Party Planner? And remember I said Pottery Barn no longer offered that fun little resource? Well, it turns out, my friends, I was {happily} mistaken! I scouted around a bit more and found that the Party Planner does indeed exist! I wanted to be sure and share with you because I've been able to draw inspiration from Pottery Barn for years.

On the site you'll find tips and tricks for throwing a Pizza Party; a Movie Night; a Mediterranean Tapas Party; and more.

Summer and fall put me in such a mood to host a party; who am I kidding? I'm up for hosting a party any time of year!

Besides holidays and birthday parties for the kiddos, what other events and parties do you enjoy hosting?

wine & cheese party.

last august pottery barn offered the party planner. it was a resource on their site dedicated to making it easier than ever to throw a party -- they had the serving ware, bar ware, decorative items, downloadable play lists, and more. i was browsing the site today, but they no longer offer this fun little corner on their site.

i fell in love with their featured wine party, though, and have been looking forward to incorporating a lot of the ideas myself.

image from potterybarn@enews.potterbarn.com

i love the table display! my friend kate and i share a love for cheese and wine. i'm thinking a wine & cheese party is in order ...

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?

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?

And How Long Have You Been 17?

on march 22, my darling friend kate turned 26. {shh, she's not telling}. last year turning 25 was a big deal for kate ... and leaving 25 behind was almost more than she could bear. i told her that she was just too special to not celebrate, though, and she and nick put together a fun twilight-themed birthday party for the saturday before her birthday. i had been dying {no pun intended!} to have a twilight-party and was more than thrilled to hear she had decided to do it for hers.
i designed her invitation for the event along with coordinating signs with quotes from the books/movies.

the day of her birthday we got snow! not that oklahoma has never seen snow in march before, but we had the most beautiful spring weather in the days leading up to the party. one by one party-goers started sending their regrets. i was a little nervous to drive from muskogee to tulsa without travis, but the roads didn't seem too bad, so i loaded up my car and away i went. i couldn't miss her special day.

the party was held in the movie theater room in the clubhouse of the apartment in which she and nick live. kate's favorite food is hors d'oeuvres/appetizers, so we had platters stocked full of yummy goodness, several bottles of wine, and supplies for chocolate martinis. getting everything from their third story apartment to the clubhouse, in the snow, was a little challenging {and it wasn't without casualties ... i broke the lid to an apothecary jar and felt horrible! and nick broke a wine glass special to him and kate on the trek back}. once we were indoors however, we set to work placing the candle hurricanes and the platters of food. roxie and i had arrived early to help set up ... and aside from nick's sister we were the only guests able to make the event.

{excuse my pictures. i had only brought my phone along, and as it was a theater room, the lighting was pretty dim. i'll try to post more pictures of the quotes later.}

the party was perfect though. the three of us were able to snuggle up under blankets, sip our wine, and snack on our treats while kate explained different aspects of each of the twilight movies to us while we sat back and enjoyed the shows. even though it was much smaller than we had planned, it couldn't have been a better party. kate with her best girls and her man, and an evening filled with her favorites.

fourteen days of love. 14.

My mom is a Valentine's Day baby. She is so thoughtful and always going out of her way to do kind things for others, so this year we decided to do something a little different from the traditional afternoon family lunch and gifts.The birthday girl collects tea pots and tea cups so an afternoon tea was right up her ally. We started with the invitation {you can see it below next to the vase of flowers ... I'll try to post a picture of just the invitation later} and went from there. The colors were inspired by the pink, white, red, and yellow found in spring tulips + my mom's love of paisley.
lemon cupcakes with toppers reading "happy birthday," "deniese," & "d"

lovely spring tulips {+ the invitation}

the spread

another shot of the spread: raisin scones . lemon cupcakes . red velvet cake balls . brownie pops . asparagus + ham + honey mustard + cream cheese on whole wheat . cucumber + cream cheese & mint on whole wheat . tuna sald on rye . chicken sald on whole grain rounds . tomato + basil quiche . spinach + mushroom + strawberry + almonds salad . made by yours truly + lindsay leach + justin leach

the birthday banner {but certainly not the greatest shot of it}

I didn't have the best camera in the world, so please excuse the pictures.

fourteen days of love. day 10.

10. cupcake toppers

We're closing in on the last few days of love. I've mentioned the obsession with cupcakes ... and just when you thought cupcakes couldn't get any better, someone invented cupcake toppers!

image & design found at the tom kat studio

I had hoped to post pictures of the precious topppers Jen Collier used for Hudson's first birthday, but I wasn't able to get a close up shot. May I just say, so. cute.

I was in the middle of working on a set of these for an upcoming tea party when I got a phone call from another client requesting some for a graduation party. As shown above the Tom Kat Studio has created some for Valentine's Day. So let's see: tea party. graduation. Valentine's Day. bridal showers. baby showers. engagement parties. These tiny little pieces pack a big punch and are even better than the icing on the cupcake! Who thought that could be possible?