The Blonquist Family Music Recital May 20, 2013

Today I am happy to share photos from the Blonquist Family Music Recital. When mom, Yvonne, originally contacted me the only recital printables I had in the store were geared towards young children. Think pink, green and yellow polka dots and big bold musical notes. She wanted to know if I could adapt the printables to make them more elegant and also gender neutral. Of course, I am always up for a challenge and I was also very impressed that all four of Yvonne’s children would be taking part in the recital so I jumped at the opportunity.

At first I suggested going with Kelly green and a pale blue and use a damask print. I love contrasts and the idea of mixing a bold green with a cool blue appealed to me but as I was working on the invites, the two colors just didn’t look right together. I wasn’t getting the elegant and modern look I was after. So, I reworked the color combination to Kelly Green and a classic Navy Blue. Wow! What a difference. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that I also love mixing patterns, too. So, I went ahead and included some striped belly bands for these damask print invites. Believe me, stripes and damask look fabulous together and I then incorporated the stripes to the Hershey kiss labels. I think the overall effect was a good combination or sophisticated yet fun. The damask print ensured that the girls would also like this design. Perfect for this very talented family. Here is the invite and the Hershey Kiss labels.

Anyways, I will stop boring you with the graphic design details and leave you with some details from Yvonne as well as photos from the recital:

My husband and I both studied music in college and have done an annual family recital since my oldest was 5 years old, so about 14 years.  We now have 4 children, ranging from ages 10 to 19, all who play multiple instruments and sing. We all perform each year, including my husband and myself. We invite friends, family and their teachers from our Music Academy as well as from their regular schools.  It requires a lot of preparation, but it gives our family a chance to celebrate what we have accomplished over the year.  Sometimes the kids complain about it, but just tonight at dinner my 16 year old said “You know, I really loved performing with my family yesterday.  It was fun to do that together.  I think it is a great tradition, and I hope we continue to have family recitals each year.”  That really meant a lot to me because I am the one that manages all the details (dates, invitations, programming, refreshments, etc.)  and sometimes I feel like I am pulling everyone along!

This year I heard about Etsy from a friend and after looking at many vendor’s and even emailing a few, I settled on Tali.  She was great.  It was so nice to have someone with a great eye help to pull together some of the details.  I am a little crazy about everything going together!  I loved the navy and kelly green colors she chose for the invitations and the kisses.  I worked off of those for our programs, flowers, refreshments and even to an extent what we wore.  We were well received and it made for a memorable day for all of us.

Thank you so much Yvonne for sharing photos from your family’s music recital.

Please follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. If you are planning a music recital or a music themed party, please check out my board on Pinterest for more ideas.

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Helicopter Birthday Party May 6, 2013

My son, Asher, is crazy about helicopters so the theme for his 2nd birthday party last year was very easy to decide.

For the decorations, I kept a very simple blue and red color scheme. I hung large white tissue pompoms from our chandelier to give the effect of clouds and I used blue paper fans on the backdrop. I purchased a wooden A from my local craft store and I spray painted it light blue. I figure that I can use this after the party in his bedroom.

For the dessert table, I ordered large sugar cookies from “C is for Cookie” to match the printables. One of my sweetest friends, Ashley, made vanilla bean cake pops for the table. She of course made them using light blue chocolate and she added red sprinkles. The chocolate cake and the vanilla cupcakes were from a local bakery. I also had Hershey Kisses which I’d personalized with stickers that said “A Kiss From Asher”.

Since his party was in the morning, we served breakfast food, including powdered doughnuts which we called “Doughnut Clouds”…. The kids thought that was fantastic. For the adults, we served a green chili sausage casserole and fresh fruit with dipping sauce.

The majority of the children at the party were aged between two and four years old, we decided to forego traditional party games. Instead, we had a plethora of toys available for them to play with and we set up a glitter tattoo station. That was a huge hit with the parents as well as the kids! Since we had Danielle from All Things Great and Small Photography taking photos at the party I was able to relax and do the glitter tattoos instead of behind a camera taking photos the whole time.

For the party favors, we gave out “Marshmallow Clouds”. These were basically glassine envelopes that I’d filled with large white marshmallows. I added a large label and tied a “thank you for flying with me” hang tag using blue and white twine. I displayed them up at the drink station inside a red cardboard suitcase with a tag that read “Baggage Claim”.

Thank you so much for Danielle from All Things Great and Small Photography for capturing all these wonderful memories. If you live in the Pensacola area, I highly recommend contacting her and checking out her website here and her e-mail address is: MySmallMemories@gmail.com

Please follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. I have loads of party ideas for an aviation themed party on this board. If you have any questions or need to know where I purchased any of the supplies for this party, just leave a comment on this blog post and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Lincoln’s 1st “Elephant” Birthday Party March 31, 2013

As you know, I absolutely love it when my clients send me photos from their celebrations. I love seeing how they used the printables and the ideas they came up with. Thank you so much Mari for sharing photos of Lincoln’s 1st birthday party. It looks like the party was so beautiful and I’m sure the birthday boy had a blast. There were so many cute touches… I especially liked the wooden clothes pegs being used for the buffet table labels, the buckets she used for the peanuts and the shells, and of course, his amazing birthday cake.

The elephant collection is available in my Etsy store… Beautiful shades of blue and green with cute polka dots, plaid and checks. The adorable elephant is spraying little heart-shaped water drops. This is still one of my favorite party collections! I recently revised the full collection listing to allow you guys to choose eight items from a list- that way you can get the exact printables that you need for your party. At only $45 this a really good value. If you only need a couple items then you can check out the individual listings for the invite, pennant Happy Birthday banner, cupcake toppers, thank you tags, water bottle wrappers, extra large party circles, Hershey kiss stickers, and the full size chocolate bar wrappers. I also have a listing for the essentials where you get to choose 4 items for $25.

 

If you are planning an elephant party– be it a baby shower or a birthday party- you should check out my board on Pinterest where I have pinned lots of fun ideas.

Don’t forget to like my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter or Pinterest! If you want, you can leave a comment on this post or reach me via e-mail: apartystudio@gmail.com

Little Kokeshi Baby Shower February 25, 2013

I am sooooo excited to share these photos with you today because I designed this Little Kokeshi collection with my daughter’s upcoming 6th birthday in mind. Only a day after posting the items in my Etsy store, Ritz contacted me to see if I could adapt the text to make the printable appropriate for a baby shower. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige and I was blown away when she sent me photos from the baby shower. She used the Hershey kiss labels to personalize the napkins (great idea, by the way) as well as the food labels. She also gave out personalized Hershey kisses as party favors. She placed these inside gorgeous Japanese tins which she purchased off Etsy from Gami Works. I also love the onesies that Ritz made out of origami paper and used as comment/wishes cards. These were placed inside the Hello Kitty pockets of the table backdrop. And of course, the Little Kokeshi banner is totally adorable!

Don’t you think Ritz did an amazing job with all the details and the love that she put into the shower? I’m sure that the mommy-to-be, Adriana was touched, too. Looking at these photos makes me even more excited for my daughter’s party this summer! I love this theme and think it is totally adorable. Thank you so much Ritz for sharing photos from Adriana’s shower! I am so happy to be working with you again for your son’s upcoming birthday party.

 

 

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest! Or if you have any questions, you can leave a comment on this post or e-mail me directly- apartystudio@gmail.com

Santiago’s Communion- A Royal Blue and Lime Green Celebration in Mexico December 17, 2012

 

Thank you so much to my awesome client in Mexico, Viviana, for sending me photos from her nephew’s First Communion. The color scheme for the Communion was royal blue and lime green. When Viviana contacted me, she already had her colors organized and she knew exactly what she needed from me. I love the bold look and have added this to my Etsy store. You can purchase the hang tags here. Also, the place cards that I created for Santiago’s Communion are the same template as what I use for small tent style food labels. I simply inserted the names of their guests instead of food items.

Congratulations to Santiago and his family. Doesn’t it looks like his special day was beautiful? Viviana did an amazing job putting it all together. The dessert table looks amazing! Thank you for letting me be a small part of his celebration.

Tristan’s “Vroom Vroom” 2nd Birthday Party! December 3, 2012

 

I met Laura last year when she contacted me via Facebook with a request to design her son’s first birthday party. She wanted an Elephant theme in blue and light green. You can see photos from that party here. I noticed that she lived in my area so I ended up inviting her over one evening and helped her put together the party pieces for Tristan’s party. It was her first time throwing a party using prinables and I had fun showing her how to cut out and assemble the individual pieces. Suffice to say, a friendship developed and even though she moved to Texas, Laura asked me to create a collection for Tristan’s second birthday party.

I love designing a new collection and enjoy the entire collaboration process with my client. Laura was especially easy to work with! She asked for a fun pattern (we ended up going with chevron) in aqua and red. Her son is really into cars at the moment so that was the theme. I think everything turned out gorgeous and Laura did a fantastic job with the party. Can you believe that everything was hand-made? Tristan’s grandma even made the cupcakes and frosting from scratch.  The sandwiches were cut out into car shapes and the number two (using cookie cutters), Laura’s sister made the cake pops and the chocolate race cars with teddy grahams was a team project. The idea for the little race cars came from Pinterest.

Thank you so much Laura for letting me share the photos from Tristan’s second birthday! He is such a gorgeous boy and I look forward to working with you next year to design his 3rd birthday party printables.

 

 

This aqua and red car collection is now available in my Etsy store. You can purchase the water bottle wrappers, cupcake toppers, banner with name, car cut outs, and thank you favor tags. The favor tags are designed to be cut into squares. I love how Laura rounded the corners and stuck them on red and white Chinese style take out boxes.

Anna’s 3rd Birthday Party: Minnie Mouse! October 16, 2012

Here are photos from Anna’s third birthday party. This little girl is crazy about Minnie Mouse! Her mum went with store brought party decorations- plates, banner, tablecloth, favor bags, etc- from Party City. She mixed these up with a few key personalized items- hang tags, water bottle wrappers and a welcome sign. The super cute cake was made by the very talented Alaina from Sissy’s Sweets. She even made the top tier gluten free. Alaina lives in my local area (Pensacola, Florida) so guess who I’ll be contacting for my son’s birthday party in May? Follow her Facebook page here. Enjoy the party photos! 

 

If you are planning a Minnie Mouse birthday party, check out this hot pink and zebra print party! Also, I have a couple Mickey Mouse parties here and here!

You can contact me via e-mail at apartystudio@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Jacob’s Superman Birthday Party October 9, 2012

 

I was really happy when Rachel from Ellicott City, MD contacted me to revamp the Comic Book Superhero Collection for her son’s second birthday. Rachel needed just the Superman part of the collection and wanted me to omit the Liechtenstein-eque polkadot pattern and the starbursts. I think it looks fantastic and I can tell from the photos Rachel sent me that Jacob had a wonderful birthday. What do you think of the birthday cake? If you live in near Halethorpe, Maryland, you should definitely check out Ms. Desserts. Or take a look at the Facebook page.

Thank you so much Rachel for sharing these photos from Jacob’s SUPER special day!

 

If you are having a superhero themed birthday party, be sure to check out the various items in my Etsy store.

Best VALUE- full set: http://www.etsy.com/listing/74087974
Cupcake toppers: http://www.etsy.com/listing/72984250
Starburst tags: http://www.etsy.com/listing/73016176
Happy Birthday banner: http://www.etsy.com/listing/7302581/
Door sign: http://www.etsy.com/listing/73052643
Note cards: http://www.etsy.com/listing/73053112
Hangtags: www.etsy.com/listing/73250623
Favor tags: http://www.etsy.com/listing/73248853
Chocolate bar wrapper: www.etsy.com/listing/74564511

Also, I have a board on Pinterest specifically dedicated to superheroes so be sure to check that out, too! You’ll find lots of great ideas.

First Birthday: Ella is As Sweet As Apple Pie! October 5, 2012

 

 

I loved creating this new collection- Sweet as Apple Pie– for my friend Courtney’s daughter, Ella who turned one this month. Courtney held the party at her parents house in Texas… the location- with huge live oak tree- was perfect for this theme! Courtney told me she wanted lots of patterns and prints incorporated into the design and of course an apple motif. She wanted to mix pinks, red, green, yellow and teal. I love playing with color and creating fun patterns so I really enjoyed designing this collection. In case you were wondering, Courtney used Riley Blake fabric- Apple of My Eye– to create the gorgeous tablecloth. She even made the party hat for Ella. Very impressive, Courtney.

Food wise, Courtney offered a selection of fruit pies and also cupcakes. She had apple cake pops and of course apple cookies. She displayed these in wooden buckets and I love how she incorporated the scales. I especially love the Ella bunting that Courtney made out of natural burlap. She used a couple red and white paper straws on either end and attached the pennants to twine using red mini clothes pegs. By adding this banner to the apple pie, it reinforced the theme of the party, As Sweet As Apple Pie. The sign on the pie table read featured a quote by E. Somerset Maugham (an English novelist and playwright): The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.

If you have a first birthday party coming up, you may want to consider creating a photo banner featuring a photo from every month of your baby’s life. This makes a wonderful keepsake and also lets your guests see how much your baby’s grown and the changes each month brought. Courtney asked me for apple signs- month one, month two, month three, etc. You could easily do something similar. She simply attached the signs to the photos using fabric covered clothes pegs. Alternatively, you could use alligator clips that you line with ribbon.

 

 

Courtney- thank you so much for sharing photos from Ella’s birthday party. It looks like the party girl had an amazing time and you certainly did an incredible job with all the details of this party. Happy 1st Birthday to your sweetie pie. The Sweet as Apple Pie collection is now available in my Etsy store.

 

Please follow me on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or e-mail me at apartystudio@gmail.com

Phantom of the Opera inspired 13th birthday party September 28, 2012

 

Candice Nissley of All Things Bright & Beautiful Events contacted me a few weeks back via my Etsy store when she was getting her daughter’s 13th birthday organized. She wanted red, white and black water bottle wrappers with a Phantom of the Opera themed sleep over party.  Candice is a super talented event designer located in Tallahassee, Florida and she went all out for her daughter’s elegant party.  Check out these amazing photos (taken by Mesa Cole Photography) and here is a description of the party from Candice:

We rented three 20×20 tents, hired a french chef and had carriage rides as well as an Phantom actor to present a stage play and a movie cinema for sleep over part . We had a room set up in the tent’s for the sleep over all bedding provided as well as a large cinema cet up Thanks to pro DJ’S. The 2nd tent was set up with 3 round tables fully covered and all set for formual dinning. Had a beautiful canopy with special treats for movie time . As you entered this event you walked on red carpet then to one side was a chocolate buffet on the side was the food by french chef and on the side was a table with punch and drinks. In the center of the tents was two tables one on either side with fun crafts to do, one table had bed time slippers to make and on the other side make your sleep time mask. Out side the tents we had alot of fun things to do. We had the phantom and his stage act. We had french appetizers , and a photo booth, as well as carriage rides.

 

 

Please check out Candice’s Facebook page to see photos of other events she’s put together! Also, be sure to visit Mesa Cole Photography’s Facebook page.

If you are thinking of doing a Phantom of the Opera event, check out these water bottle wrappers which I have available for FREE download! I think this would be an awesome theme for a Bar or  Bat Mitzvah or even a Sweet 16. Thank you so much Candice for sharing photos from Lina’s special day. What an INCREDIBLE job you did- she is a very lucky teenager!