Luisa & Jason's June Wedding

I absolutely love what I do because I get to work with such wonderful people and get to be creative in so many different ways. No two weddings are the same, because no two couples are the same- that is what I love most!  Luisa and Jason were so easy and fun to work with. They had a gorgeous ceremony at Corpus Christi Catholic Church with their reception at the San Diego Country Club. Deep blues, yellows and idigos set the tone, with hints of sparkle. A classic beautiful wedding, for a classic, beautiful couple! 

 Congratluations Jason and Luisa! Thank you for letting me be a small part of your Big Day! 

Fourth of July and Londyn's First Birthday

One of the funnest days all year is the Fourth of July, especially in Sunny San Diego! This year- the fourth had a whole new meaning... it is a day to be thankful for our freedom and those who fight to protect it, it is the holiday that says "yay summer is REALLY here", but now it is also a day where I get to celebrate the biggest gift I have ever received-my precious little girl Londyn.

This year our family rented a gorgeous beach house right on the ocean that we held her party at. The style was all americana- keeping with the current trends we used pinwheels, burlap , that slightly vintage feel, mason jars, striped straws and cute signs. It was simple, patriotic and birthday fun! See the details below:

My Sister-in-law made the most delicious cupcakes! 

For the food labels, I re-used items I already had and put shredded craft paper for the filler. 

Licorice wraps- make it easy for people to grab a few. 

I wrapped mason jars with burlap and navy ribbon, slid a spoon in frotn and popped a stripe straw inside. Perfect vessel for rootbeer floats. ( We had a rootbeer keg- I know you are jealous)

For beverages we had sweet tea, mango lemonade, bottled water and red, white and blue Jones soda's. Oh- and a rootbeer keg, did I mention that?;)

When I think of the beach I think of bonfires...and s'mores. Since we couldn't have a bonfire in the middle of the day with all 35 guests- I did S'more sticks- so easy and yummy! 

 After dipping in white chocoltae I rolled the tips in blue sprinkles. I must say- the sprinkles really added a yummy taste and texture, so glad I didn't just dye the chocolate.

Something else that was fun was cutting watermelon into star shapes using a cookie cutter- they turned out so cute and were great portions! 

I put photos of londyn on the mantle

Below the mantle I hung a birthday sign

I made pinwheels and hung them from the ceiling long with soem wooden stars

Here is the beach house the party was at-so great for people watching!

And, of course I have to add a family photo of our cutie pie trying her first bit of sugar in banana bread cupcake with just a bit of homemade frosting. Happy birthday to our little firecracker. It was a first birthday I will never forget! 

  

In The Garden Baby Shower

I was absolutely delighted when asked to design an invitation for Katie ( and baby Annie's) baby shower. It was thrown in the garden of Katie's parents house, which is a gorgeous location and extremely relaxing and serene. When given the task of designing the invite I was given a color scheme of pink...more pink oh an a little yellow, teal and orange as well as the flower peonies and mums, paisley baby bedding and chalkboards and other somewhat "vintage" pieces. Somewhat a hodge podge of information which was...perfect! Luckily I had just come across some imagery to use for my new website and thought this was another place to bring in distressed white wood, florals, paisley and of course PINK! 

The shower itself was beautiful thanks to Katies wonderful team of planners. 

The centerpieces were also the prizes for games  

The favors were teacups

A lot of the menu was gluten free, and delicious!

Some of the best friends a girl could ask for

The parents-to-be-congrats Katie & Yanni

Hush a Bye Baby...Shower

This baby shower was one very near and dear to my heart. Not only did I design the invitation for it, but I threw the shower as well for my dear cousin Chandra. She requested that the shower be gender neutral because she wanted to reveal the sex of the baby at the shower and liked the idea of white as the main color. White is tricky because you want it to look baby, not bridal. So I came up with the idea of going with a subtle theme of hush-a-bye baby, with stars and moons and clouds.

 I used creams and whites, different textures and brought in some natural elements like manzanita and wheat grass. We invited over 80 guests so I had to be thrifty with decor, I made wishing trees and cake platters as well as cake pops for favors - all tutorials that will be coming soon on this blog. My dear friend Karen White, owner of Flowers A'la Carte helped me with the center pieces (that girl is sooo talented!) and my other dear friend Jackie of VanHatten Photography (another ridiculously talented lady) was kind enough to photograph the details so we could remember every little piece and share them too! So here are some of the fun details:

The Invitation and Stationery

Of course this is my favorite part:) The invitation I did in a metallic cream and white and to add interest had a hanging star with the diaper raffle information. The invitation really set the stage for the rest of the decor and style. I personalized water bottles and wrapped ribbon and labels on everything. Food labels were poking out of cute wheat grass containers and banners hung all with the same look and feel. 

 

 

The Tables

The white table cloths were layered with different fabric squares of shiny cream satin, sheer white polkadot and dainty lace. They were topped with tins, glass bottles and pots from IKEA. Dream signs from michaels painted white and dipped in glitter. Strands of pearls and candles. Wheat grass, geraniums and moss.

Each place setting had a napkin wrapped in irredescent white ribbon and topped with a shiny star and their favor- which was a cake pop wrapped and tied with a little star that said " thanks for popping by". It was a great inexpensive favor and everyone loved them (thank you bakerella for such a lovely idea!)

I also LOVE pennant banners, but kind of feel like that is what everyone does nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them but decided to do pinwheel banners instead for the diaper table and gift table. They are a lot of work but turned out cute. ( tutorial on the cake pops and pinwheels to come as well!)

Food

 Everything had a cute little label sign that poked out of a white dish filled with wheat grass, moss and a glittery star. There was a small candy bar that included white chocolate dipped pretzel rods I made ( tutorial to come), Also on the menu was pesto cream sandwiches Cut into star and moon shapes, berry kabobs, white chocolate dipped strawberries, mocktinis, strawberry mint lemonade and mango tea.

                              

 

The food table was one long table that stretched the length of the room, so to add interest I hid cardboard boxes under the table cloths so the food could be staggered on different levels. I also made cake platters out of old dishes and wrapped in pearls and set food on those as well. (tutorial coming).

The cupcakes were an important part of the shower- they were all white with little edible pearls on top, but inside was a colored frosting that was either pink or blue- telling everyone what the sex of the baby was. We did a raffle where people wrote their name and put it in the girl jar or the boy jar and then did a bunch of "tests" to see if they would tell us what the sex was- for example: put a ring on a necklace and hold it over mom's tummy if it circles one way it's a girl, the other way it's a boy...

Wishing Trees

On each end of the food table I made wishing trees out of manzanita branches-Luckily we have those in Southern California and my cousin happened to have some on her dad's property but you can purchase the branches too. Below the trees were feathery pens and a fill-in-the-blank wish list to fill out for for baby and hang on the tree. They turned out really cute, and Chandra was able to hold onto them after as a keepsake. 

Games and Prizes

I am in that stage in life where I go to a LOT of showers, so I find myself scouring the internet for unique baby shower games. My favorite one was called "Look Who's Talking". You find funny pictures of baby faces on the internet and add conversation bubbles next to them. Everyone writes in what they think the baby would be saying in the photo. After all of them are filled in I had each table choose one person they felt had the best paper and those ones were reviewed by the mom to be who chose a winner. The prize bags als went with the theme- White bags filled with irridescent tissue paper and tied with ribbon and a glittery star. 

It was a lot of fun, and this week, on May 2, 2012,  Chandra delivered a beautiful baby girl into the world. Welcome Cozette Marie Bartlett, your auntie loves you!

Photography by VanHatten Photography

Flowers by Flowers a la Carte San Diego

Invitation and labels by Whimsique Designer Invitations and Stationery