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.

THS Class Reunion

I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the collateral I'm working on for the Tahlequah High School Class of 2000's 10 Year Reunion. {Trying saying that 5 times fast}.

I have already had such a fun time on this project. When Tracie first contacted me, my heart skipped a beat ... or two ... has it really been 10 years since 2000? Someone press the slow-mo button please.

If you're part of the THS Class of '00, mark your calendars! The date has been set! Your Reunion will be July 23rd-July25th. And I hear you're in for a good time in the 'Quah.

I'm also an alum of THS so this project is near and dear to my heart. It's fun to pull out the old Tiger print and corny phrases we used in high school. I feel like I'm preparing a sign for the big game ... you know the ones you hang all around the school cheering on the team of the season?

Since some of the pieces are tickets for admission, I can't show the project in its entirety at this time. But just you wait. I'll showcase everything again this summer so you can see the whole she-bang.

Did you go to your high school reunion{s}? I've already heard mixed reviews. Some who will go. Some who won't. Others who are on the fence. So tell me all about your experience. I can't wait to hear. =)

For now, I MUST go to bed. Today was a non-stop kind of day {yay!} but now a little rest is in order. Sweet dreams!

TAHLEQUAH TIGERS! {Clap. Clap. Clap-Clap-Clap}

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.