Pink Chevron:

This year has truly been one of those years that I feel like my creative well has dried up. Life lately has been consumed by family, hospital visits, more hospital visits, traveling for hospital visits and my little toddler Victoria. When my dear Aunt approached me to help her plan a Bridal Shower for her future daughter-in-law I just couldn't say no. The perfectionist in me needed to help her make it perfect and special for the bride-to-be, and I knew it would be the perfect distraction from my day to day. It would take up all of saved up energy, but I'm glad I made the time for it! Enjoy!

Stationary Design / Fresh Linen Press

Cake / Cake Designs by Edda

Straws / Hey Yo Yo

Rentals / Imperial Party Rentals

Seeing Owls:

For the past year, Owl patterns have been all the rage. I've been seeing them everywhere from invitations, to fabrics, to iPad covers, Pottery Barn even had a whole line of gear in a beautiful pink and brown pattern, even Michael's had a selection of Owl themed items in their dollar section. When Kim from Everything Etsy approached me to submit some printables for one of her roundups, I couldn't refuse! I've been a fan of her web site for such a long time! So I decided to join the bandwagon, and design an Owl Theme Mini Party Kit! Here is the finished product! Read Kim's post here!

 

   Download the Party Kit Here

Set includes

Invitation

Two Inch Tags

Blank Tent Cards

Napkin Rings

Cherry Blossom:

These last couple of months have been fun as I've been designing a few custom party themes and invitations! It's always a nice creative break from my day to day job! This one was a Cherry Blossom theme for a special bride's Bridal Shower. The Maid of Honor wanted matching papergoods, which included Invitations, Menus, Table Numbers, and tags for the dessert table and favors!

 

{Photography taken by Bride's friend Michelle Hernandorena-Garcia}

{Shop for the Cherry Blossom DIY Party Kit here}

Favor Bag Tutorial:

I dont consider myself a very crafty hands on person. I can cut and punch things out, but dont ask me to sew, or build things! So I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make these favor bags with a custom iron on. Here is a close up picture of the muslin favor bags I created for my daughter's birthday party.

I ordered the muslin bags from Celestial Gifts, they have a wide variety of sizes, and the prices are very affordable.  I bought these iron on transfers from Walmart, but you can find them at any office supply store, Michael's Craft Supply Store or order them directly from the internet. I used Illustrator to create the design, but you can use MS Word to create text, and even import clipart. Click here for a free download of the design I created, if you are planning your own Bumble Bee Theme Party.

Here are some simple instructions:

1. Make sure to print your iron on using an inkjet printer (But follow the instructions of your iron on paper)
2. Always iron on a hard, flat surface (not a padded ironing board), I ironed them on the floor. Just make sure you place something underneath to protect the surface. 
3. Once you have cut out the design, lay it on top of the muslin bag. (To make sure the muslin bag surface was flat and neat, I pre-ironed all my bags)
4. Place the sticky side down onto fabric, and apply the heat. (Follow any specific instructions on the iron on paper you are using, since they all vary) 
5. After about 60 seconds of constant heat, your bag is done!

I would recommend getting an extra bag for practice, we learned with our first bag that our iron wasn't hot enough and the iron on transfer bubbled!  

This is great for any type of favors for showers and even weddings.

Good Stock:

Im an old fashioned girl at heart, but I must admit I love technology. I can't go anywhere without my iphone and I love that I can do just about anything on it. I'm mostly in love with all these companies that have popped up on the internet to create and publish photo books. I'm not a big scrapbooking fan; I just don't have the patience for all the cutting and gluing. My motto is that a perfect photo album is one mouse click away. Recently I was researching (cost effective) sources to get such a book published. I don't mind the books that I make on my Mac, but I wanted something with a little more design flexibility. Every time I dive into the internet for research, I somehow always manage to stumble onto treasures, and Good Stock was one of them. They create amazing photo books, they are costly, way out of my budget, but worth every penny if you  are planning on giving a truly special gift to someone.

Eye Candy:

Some beautiful hand painted signs from Chocolate Butterbean. These make me want to get married all over again!

Wedding Gowns:

Who says you can't have a beautiful wedding gown for a fraction of the price? This week JCrew is having a limited 3 day sale on their wedding gowns. They're beautiful for those shabby chic garden or beach weddings come Spring or Summer! All you need are some fabulous accesories to make it your own. The sale ends this Thursday, so you better hurry!

Silk Chiffon Whitney Gown $200

Embossed Organza Sloan Gown $720.00

Silk Tricotine Lyden Gown $200

Friday Eye Candy:

Here are some beautiful invitation images from 42pressed to sweeten your weekend. I absolutely adore the combination of navy & mustard. I'd love to have seen what the matching decor to this wedding looked like!

I've been in complete wedding mode lately! Over the next few months I'll be working on various wedding related projects, so I'm very excited! This means I've been doing lots of research, and Nonpareil Magazine's latest issue has left me feeling like a kid in a candy store. Im not a huge fan of the color plum, but the decor using this color in their latest issue left me re-thinking it! I didn't want to spoil it, so you'll have to check out the issue in its entirety for  yourself!

{NonPareil Magazine}

Wedding Bells:

I finally finished one of the bridal invitation suites I was working on. And when I mean "complete" I mean, invites printed, glued, assembled, including calligraphy on the outer envelopes! With a full time job, there was some night scheduling in order to finish everything on time for getting everything in the mail. I was specially happy that the bride loved the way the invitations came out, and at a budget she could afford. I remember calling several print places and remember getting this reaction when requesting a quote "Oh, so you want a $2000 invitation for practically nothing? That's impossible." I think that with a little creativity and perseverance, anything is possible.

Items ordered for 125 sets from Paper Presentation:

Coco A6 Pockets:  $180.70

RSVP Envelope in Tropical Green: $21.25

Flat 5x7 Backing card in Tropical Green: $40.00

Outer Envelope in Tropical Green: $31.25

Flat 2x3 card for outside Label: $20.00

Printing (which included custom cutting): $235.00

In order to keep the printing cost down, we opted for

Digital printing rather than Thermographic printing

I do:

How gorgeous is this vintage inspired wedding dress? Check out more of this beautiful photoshoot at Style Me Pretty!

Etsy:

Finally! All the hard work has paid off and my Etsy shop is officially open. I hope you'll come by and visit!

{Visit Fresh Linen Press}

Blog Love:

Stumbled on this recently and I'm in love, check out their shop Urbanic Designs for absolutely to-die-for stationery design!

{Visit Parcel Post}

Invitations:

Like most girls, I hate to pay full price for anything! It becomes a challenge to stalk an item I've been coveting for a while, until I finally manage to take it home for a fraction of the price. In today's cyber world there are also endless resources at your finger tips for anything and everything imaginable. I just finished designing a complete wedding ensemble for a friend (not the yellow one!). This bride really wanted the look of Envelopments but for a fraction of the price, and I wasnt willing to give up until I found it for her. Paper presentation  is literally a one stop shop for everything you will ever need to create beautiful invitations. Their prices are very affordable too!

{Photos from Paper Presentation} 

Design by Fresh-Linen Press

On Hold:

So starting an Etsy shop is a lot harder than I thought. Specially when you keep veering in different paths and when the day just doesn't give you enough hours. I have now been recruited to design two complete wedding ensembles for friends. Invitations, Menus, Programs, the works, so my poor little shop has now taken a back seat to this new venture! One of the Brides-to-be sent me this inspiration board to begin the design process. I love how she has picked such bold colors. She is getting married in a beautiful botanical garden that faces the ocean; these colors will match the property perfectly!