Spring Flowers and Bird Invitations for Bridal or Baby Shower

Although I've had these invitations for quite some time, I just now got around to adding them to Etsy. So, I thought I'd share them with you here as well. They feature various spring flowers, including cherry blossoms, and birds on branches. They have a pink, green, and peach color scheme, and a shabby-chic feel. They would be perfect for a "little chick" baby shower, a bridal or wedding shower, or a bridesmaids luncheon. You can find them in my Etsy shop.

Happy Saturday! 

Chalkboard Birthday Party, Bridal Shower, Bachelor or Bachelorette Party Invitations

You see chalkboards everywhere these days - they are one of the hottest trends for weddings, birthdays, and showers. My husband recently turned thirty, and I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party at his favorite bar downtown. I wanted to create a beer-themed invitation that was masculine enough for him. He brews his own beer and loves to try new craft brews, so I decided an invitation with some beer glasses would be perfect. I decided to go with the chalkboard theme since it is gender-neutral, and I'd been wanting to make some chalkboard invitations for awhile.

Here is what I came up with for his beer invitation:

I love how the leaves look like hops. Although this was for his birthday, this invitation would be great for a bachelor party as well. It's great for an event for the man in your life, who enjoys beer, brewing, pubs, bars, etc. It would be great as a 21st birthday invitation as well!

Since I had the male invitation, I decided to do a female version with some wine glasses and cosmopolitans. These would be great for a bridal shower, birthday party, or bachelorette party. I could even create one with all wine glasses if you're having an event at a vineyard.

You can find of these invitations in my Etsy shop, here.

Looking for some other chalkboard-inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites:

A first birthday milestones print from Printable Wisdom.

A mini wooden cupcake stand from ThePaperedNest.

Pink ribbon decorations for mason jars, from treasureagain.

Birthday party favor pill boxes (genius!) from greenbugmartketplace.

A chalkboard banner so you can customize the text and use it over and over again, from thebluecrocodile.

Mini chalkboard signs from SweetCarnival.

Although some of these items appear like they are designed for kids, such as the milestones print, they could easily be customized for a 30th birthday party or a bridal shower. How cute would it be to use the milestones print for facts about the happy couple and how they met, for a bridal shower? And the pillboxes could easily be used for favors for a shower, or even a bachelorette party. I had to do a treasure hunt for items at my bachelorette party. The bridesmaids had a list and I had to ask random strangers for items. The pillboxes could be used to hold a short list that each bridesmaid has come up with, or for storing the items the bachelorette has successfully obtained. The possibilities are endless. 

Hope these have brought a little inspiration for your next party or event. As always, if you'd like a customized design or have something in mind (like a chalkboard postcard or wedding invitation) just let me know and I'm happy to set something up for you.

Rustic & Vintage - Pink and Brown Mason Jar Wedding Invitation Suite

My teal blue mason jars have been so popular that I thought I'd create another wedding invitation suite. What better color scheme than a rustic-inspired beige linen, brown, pink and blush?

These invitations, thank you cards, and RSVP postcard would be perfect for your rustic, outdoor wedding. They feature mason jars in brown, pink, rose, and blush, hanging from twinkling lights, along with bunting flags across the top.

The invitations can be used for weddings, rehearsal dinners, engagements parties, bridal or baby showers, garden parties, anniversary parties, or birthday parties.

I offer a package with the invitation, RSVP postcard and folded thank you card, which you can find here.

Also available is an invitation for a couple's engagement, shower, rehearsal dinner, etc, which you can find here.

There is also a flat notecard thank you as well, which is available here.

If you're planning a vintage-inspired wedding featuring mason jars in brown, pink and blush, then these are the wedding invitations for you. Here are some other lovely wedding musts in case you need some inspiration. 

I absolutely love this beaded headband from BeSomethingNew. Not really my personal style, but I love how her hair is styled with it.

This is a beautiful handmade wedding bouquet from CuriousFloralCrafts.

These mason jar centerpieces would be perfect for the center of your tables. You can find them here, from BloomShoppe. You could also make something similar yourself by spray painting the inside of a Ball jar.

If I could do my wedding over again, I would use this gorgeous wooden guest book from wood lack. {Notice the font even matches the one used in my mason jar wedding invitation suite}

Looking for a unique cake topper? NDetailDesign has a beautiful beaded monogram topper in blush pink, which you can find here.

These lovely wooden placecards from companyfortytwo have a gorgeous dahlia-like flower, and would be perfect placed in the middle of your plates.

Looking for matching bridesmaids gifts to fit the rustic, rose pink color-scheme? How about these gorgeous earrings from FiveLittleGems, with blush pearls? They have a lovely vintage feel.

Also for your bridesmaids are these amazing wooden hangers which are personalized with their names, your wedding date, and their role in the wedding party. These custom hangers can be found here, from delovelydetails. I wish I had known about this for my wedding five years ago. Unfortunately I hadn't yet discovered Etsy. Hopefully if you haven't explored the wonderful world of Etsy, this will encourage you to do so. 

Want a unique way to ask your favorite women to be your bridesmaids in the first place? I love these kraft calligraphy cards, with "please be my bridesmaid?". You can find them from GreySnailPress.

What about the youngest female in your wedding party? This lovely vintage-inspired lace flower girl dress from PoshPeanutKids is adorable and affordable!

For the men in the wedding party? While I'm not sure how thrilled they'll be to wear something so dainty, I love these blush gardenia boutonnieres. They add the perfect touch to the vintage, rustic feel. You can find them here, from CuriousFloralCrafts.

Lastly, what wedding would be complete without a favor for the guests to take home, so they can remember your special day for years to come? These lovely floral wine stoppers in a blush pink can be found here, from KarasVineyardWedding.

If you're planning a rustic, blush pink wedding, hopefully this gave you some great ideas for things you can purchase or try to make yourself for your big day. If you're not, the hopefully this inspired you to explore Etsy to see what more it has to offer. Trust me, once you start looking, you won't be able to stop.

My invitation suite with mason jars and twinkling lights can be found here in my Etsy shop. Don't see what you're looking for? Send me a message and I'll see if I can set up a custom order for you with your wedding colors.

Vintage Baby Crib Repurposed as a Toy Chest

I love vintage decor, especially wood and rusty metal. My husband thinks I have a bit too much of this in our home, but he doesn't get much of a say in the matter. :)  My aesthetic is vintage industrial.

My mom found a lovely vintage wooden crib for me, which I absolutely loved. It has gorgeous lines. Unfortunately the "mattress" was very old, and the paint was chipping showing several colors underneath. As a first-time mom, I'm not completely crazy about things being just right, but in this case I wasn't comfortable actually putting my infant in this to sleep. While it's sturdy, it needed a new mattress and some paint (the paint could have had lead in it for all I know).

With our small, older house, we don't have much room for storage. Since I don't have room for a massive toy chest or other form of organization, I decided to use the crib as a place to store toys. After removing the old mattress, the crib had wooden slats across the bottom.

I sanded and painted every inch of the crib. I used some leftover paint we used to paint our bathroom. My sister would probably tell me that that is not the right paint to use on furniture, but it did the job and it didn't cost me anything. I then added a coat of polyurethane to give it a little shine.

I had my husband cut a piece of plywood to fit the bottom. Originally I was going to paint the plywood grey to match the rest of the crib, but then I started thinking about my daughter Adelaide reaching in to grab toys when she's bigger, and I didn't want her scratching herself somehow. So I purchased some thick foam to put on top, similar to bench cushion. I had some leftover grey chevron fabric I used for our living room curtains, so I decided to use that to cover the foam and plywood base. I used a staple gun and simply wrapped the fabric around and stapled to the back of the plywood.

The plywood "cushion" now sits firmly in the base of the crib and is soft to the touch for our little one.

My husband has lots of electronics in our living room and the cords drive me insane! As someone who loves to decorate her home, I hate seeing cords cluttering everything up. The crib fits conveniently in the corner of our living room now, just above all of the cords, the modem, sub-woofer, etc. So now we have a toy crib, and it hides the eye-soar in the corner.

Remember that you can always repurpose vintage furniture, even if you use it in another way that was not originally intended. Hope this inspires you to start your next project that you've been meaning to start!

Large Format Scrapbook Pages

I've been wanting to try some large format photos in my scrapbooks for awhile. I was finally able to try it! I've had the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Inkjet printer for a few years now, and I absolutely love it. I purchased it because you can print large format photos, but I never purchased the actual photo paper to use it in this manner. I finally took the plunge, and am so glad I did.

I purchased Epson's Premium Photo Paper Glossy in 11x14 inches, which is perfect for 12x12 scrapbooking. I printed several of my favorite photos since Addie was born, in 7x12 inches.

Adelaide:

Me & You:

Timeless:

 I used several of my Studio Calico kits for these pages. Hope you can find some inspiration from them.