Alice in ONE-derland Birthday Party

In late June I had my daughter's First Birthday Party. We hosted it at a park near our home and lucked out on a beautiful day! Of course, being the graphic designer I am I could not have a simple first birthday party, but needed something fun and visually interesting. Alice in ONE-derland was decided, mainly because I've been wanting to throw an Alice in Wonderland party for years and this was probably my only chance to choose the theme for her party, before she has opinions she can vocalize!

The invitation set was very fun for me to design!

It's now for sale on my Etsy Site here.

It was a morning party so getting the space decorated by 11am was not an easy feat. I'd spent months before the party getting everything ready. One of my favorite decorations was the Cheshire Cat grin which I hung in a nearby tree.

 The bottom middle photo here is an Alice doll that my partner Kim's sister made Lily. It's super cute and Lily has tea with Alice nearly daily! 

Ok, possibly I went a little crazy hanging a larger than life photo of my daughter front and center, but she so small in person, I didn't want anyone to forget about her :) 

We set up a little kids play area where they had fun drawing with chalk, playing bubbles and being silly. Lily had so much fun with all her friends.

We lucked out and got to borrow this awesome cupcake tower from a friend of a friend. It was actually already painted with the red dots so it worked out perfect! I made the cupcake toppers that matched the invite set. Kim had given me the Alice in Wonderland tea pot years before and it definitely came in handy! 

 I HAD to make Drink Me signs for all the drinks. This included dragging my husband in to putting custom bottle wraps that I made on three cases of water bottles. They were a big hit though and totally worth it. (my husband may disagree ;) I made little tent folded cards with quotes from Alice in Wonderland that were placed on all the tables.

Of course we had to play croquet! Not sure if anyone actually knew how to play, but it was fun to hit the balls around! And Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat which I also made. Unfortunately it's not something I can sell since it's a Disney copyright. Sorry guys :(

 For favors I did various drink containers. Funky straw cups for the kids, water bottles and coffee mugs for the adults, all red and all with the same "Drink Me - Well, out of me" favor tags on them.

It was a wonderful day and party and a great way to celebrate our first year with our wonderful daughter, Lily.

Wedding close to home, yet so far away....

This past August my baby brother, Adam got married in the historic Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida. It was a family effort to pull the event together from all across the country! 

I designed the invitations for them, including a gatefold invitation with belly-band and custom designed monogram.

In Florida in August keeping cool is a top priority. My sister, Melissa, found these great fans in the same blue as the wedding invites. We attached tags with their monogram and wedding date and laid them out so guests could take as one they entered the ballroom before the ceremony.

The cocktails were served outside on the roof-top balcony with a gorgeous view to the Clearwater Bay and on out to the Gulf of Mexico. The Best Man gave his heartfelt speech here, before we all ran back in to the air conditioning!

The historic hotel was recently re-hauled top to bottom. The ballroom was absolutely beautiful, complete with hand-painted gold leafing and crystal chandelier. 

The traditional wedding cake was made by a local bakery. It contained one special layer for Adam & Noa - chocolate peanut butter! Very yummy!

The biggest family project was the Homemade Cookie Bar. My sister and mom spent weeks baking and freezing cookie dough. My sister traveled from Michigan to Florida with a suitcase full of cookie dough and a two year old. God bless her! We spent a day baking at our wonderful friends' home in nearby Oldsmar, FL. It was a great time to catch up with everyone and taste test!

It was a huge hit and the perfect ending to an amazing wedding. Best Wishes to Adam & Noa for a lifetime of happiness together! Love you both! 

Eco Friendly Goodies

Continuing along the line of the Do It Yourself projects for us Eco (ecological & economical!) conscious brides (and any other people with stationery needs)...

In my own business, Goodies Designs™ we came up with GoodiEvites™ to help both the environment AND our clients pocketbook. Here you can get a completely custom design for a low cost. You can do with the design what you want. If it’s something casual like a backyard bar-be-que or even a Save-The-Date you can send it out in an email as an E-Vite! If it’s for your wedding, or shower or other formal event you can print it out at home!


A great option for your next party!

My Bridal Party Invites

When I started thinking about my own wedding party one thing I knew was I had to do something special to ask them. I came up with this idea at least a year ago to make miniature bouquets. I made each girl a slightly different bouquet and attached them to the a petal fold envelopment with ribbon and a name tag.


Inside was a card saying "Will you be my Bridesmaid?"

Inside the card (not shown) I attached a picture of my friend with me and a hand-written letter telling them why I would love for them to be with me on my wedding day.


For my flower girl I gave her a special basket (similar to the one she will carry on our wedding day) and inside was a card that matched the girls and also a picture of us together.


The best part was they all said "YES!"...How could they say "no", right?

French Inspired Napa Valley Wedding

When bride Liz came to us to design her French inspired Napa Valley wedding stationery we were more than excited.

We started with the save the date for this destination wedding which included 3 cards in a jacket envelope.


After the save-the-date was in the mail we started work on the invitation set. This custom invitation suite included a custom envelope liner for the inner envelopes.


From there we went on to work on the day-of stationery, programs, table numbers, seating chart, favors, signs, and more. Liz's impeccable taste, a beautiful bride, day and venue made for stunning results!

Most of the below photographs are by our new favorite photographer in northern California, Jessamyn Harris. Check out her site at www.jessamynharrisweddings.com!


The cocktail hour was made to feel like you were really in France with a live accordion player serenading guests.


Dinner was finished off with traditional French wedding cakes adorning the tables and the most amazing macaroons as favors from the famous Bouchon Bakery of Napa.


Thank you Liz & Darren for inviting us to be part of a truly magnificent day.
All the best for a lifetime of happiness!

Check out Kim's blog for info about one of our favorite haunts decked out for Bastille Day!