Twilight: Eclipse!

The Twilight Sage: Eclipse

It took me a while, but I finally jumped on the Twilight bandwagon a few months ago. Travis and I never watched Twilight while it was in theaters, but decided to pick up the DVD one night while at the rental store. We both really enjoyed it and headed out to the theaters as soon as Twilight: New Moon opened. I love to read and considered reading the books for quite a while. I finally asked for them for my birthday in June. Travis gifted me with the entire boxed set ... and I could hardly put them down. I went from one book to the next in a matter of days. I had to force myself to put it down so I could take care of orders. I'm so silly but feel a kindredship with the characters.

In honor of the opening of Eclipse last night, I thought I would share a few of the quotations we created for a Twilight birthday party earlier this spring. Kate picked these quotes from the books; they're some of my favorites.

Scentsy!

Milano burner by Scentsy

Today I placed my first Scentsy order. Megan recently became a consultant for the company, so I thought it was the perfect time for me to give the brand a whirl. I've seen the burners in use at client residences and businesses, but I've not ever attended a party. Megan hosted a party the weekend I left for Hawaii, but with my travel arrangements, I wasn't able to make it ... so I still have not attended a Scentsy party. I decided to go ahead and jump on the latest home fragrance bandwagon, however, without testing out any of the fragrances.

I like fresh, clean scents that aren't overpowering, and I don't really care for food fragrances, unless it's fall or winter. My mom used to have the most amazing blueberry candle. I was always so frustrated when she would burn it in the mornings because I would wake up to the delicious aroma, rush down the stairs expecting to find butter melting on a piping-hot-from-the-oven blueberry muffin ... only to find a lumpy bowl of oatmeal or dry piece of toast. But I digress ...

In the end, I asked Megan for her opinion and decided on the Satin Sheets, Blueberry Cheesecake, & Coconut Lemongrass fragrances. Megan assured me the Satin Sheets and Coconut Lemongrass are neither one overpowering and that the Blueberry Cheesecake will not make me hungry.

I have a feeling I'll be hooked on Scentsy and can't wait for my order to come in. What are some of your favorite fragrances? I'll be sure to give them a try on my next order.

Cards for the Kiddos

I love these pint-sized enclosure cards {2 x3 when folded} for the kiddos. As a parent does it seem like you're running from one birthday party to the next some months? Moms and dads like keeping sets of these on-hand, so there's no last minute rushing around to pick up a card for this weekend's multiple parties.

I keep a closet at the house stocked with miscellaneous presents so when a special occasion arises, I already have a suitable selection on hand. I can reach it, grab a gift and enclosure card, and I'm good to go.

Mamarazzi of Tulsa.

If you haven't already attended a Mamarazzi of Tulsa workshop, you should definitely check one out. Two of Tulsa's very talented photographers, Jenny Collier and Ashley Thompson, began Mamarazzi of Tulsa after becoming mothers themselves. Jenny is one of my dear, dear friends and has such a talent for telling a story with her photography. Ashely and Jenny share this passion for capturing the story of their children {and yours} and created Mamarazzi to help other moms learn a few tricks of the trade to better capture their own children's stories.

Find more details about their upcoming workshop and get signed up quickly as space is limited.

If it's too late for you to book your spot, no worries; there will be more workshops to come. Add Mamarazzi of Tulsa to your Google Reader and stay up-to-date on their latest news.

Bear-y Lucky Baby.

My friend Julie recently had her first baby – a little baby boy. Her shower was held by a few of our high school friends a couple of weeks before the baby was born. The shower was done up in the colors of Julie's nursery. So cute!

We haven't done a bear-themed shower invitation yet ... but I'm feeling inspired. I'll let you know what we come up with. =)

Light Up the Sky!

Fourth of July is such a fun summer celebration! I look forward to it each year. Now that I've met my fiance and his family, I have two reasons to celebrate on July 4th -- Travis's Aunt Sue's birthday shares with Independence Day.


In honor of the upcoming celebration{s} I thought I would share the instructions for this super cute distressed wooden flag by HowDoesShe.com.

And you have to check out these precious firecrackers. I. love. them.

How will you spend your Fourth of July weekend?

Something Blue.

Remember the wedding invitation I posted yesterday for Tara's Weekend in the Country? With upcoming showers and wedding gifts beginning to arrive, Tara needed an appropriate note card to give senders her thanks. We expanded her paper suite to include this coordinating note card. Just like the invitation, the card was printed on luxe cream paper. I like the simplicity of the note card, and Tara likes that she can use it again in the future, not just for her wedding gifts.

A Rustic Wedding in the Countryside.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love custom designs? Well, I do. As a designer, I always feel weird saying I love some of my designs, but there are times when I absolutely do. I thank you for your creative juices and appreciate you for keeping me on my toes. I recently fell.in.love. with a design. In love. How fitting it would be a wedding invitation.

Tara is a sweet girl from my hometown. She recently approached me about designing an invitation for the August wedding she and her fiancé are planning. The wedding and reception will be held at a lodge here in Tulsa, and I can already tell it's going to be beautiful! For this special event, Tara needed an invitation that was elegant but not stuffy; rustic but not casual. See what we came up with.

{invitation}

{response card}

{response card: return address}

Right now I only have digital copies of the invitation available, but these flat images just don't do this design justice. Printed on a luxe cream paper, they are gorgeous in person. I'll try to post more pictures in the future to give you a better idea of the finished package. I can't wait to see this invitation printed in other colors {though I can't imagine anything more beautiful than this perfect hydrangea blue}.

What colors are you using for your wedding?

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.