Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Holiday Cards Sale!

Christmas will be here before you know it. So you better start thinking about ordering those Holiday Cards. They are available for sale at www.InvitationParlour.com use the code HOLIDAY2011 and get 10% off your order.

*This deal is for a limited time only.

Thank you so much! Hope to hear from you soon :)


Snowflakes

Gingerbread Love

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Holiday Grid

Snow Friends

(The cards above were designed using the graphics from www.nitwitcollections.com license #33615)

Baroque Christmas

Cupcake Snowman

Fun Dots

Gingerbread Family
( if you want to add extra ginger people to the card, just let us know)

Happy Owl-idays!

Holiday Floral

Peppermint Stripes

Santa Buckle

Jolly Snowman

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Aidan's Circus Train Party - 1st Birthday!

I still can't believe a year has past, and my little boy, Aidan, is now 1 years old. It seemed like just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital and our whole world had changed.

We decided to celebrate big and throw him a circus party, since I've always wanted a circus party, but then I found a train you could rent at trainpartyexpress.com, and it evolved into a Circus Train Party extravaganza!

Of couse as you already know, it all begins with the invitations. It was printed on both sides and even included a train ticket you could tear off. Artwork was from Nitwit Collections (license #33615) 

To order this Circus Train Invitation, go to our website www.invitationparlour.com we also have 5x7 for sale on the site as well. Or if you are looking for a custom invitation that you don't see on our website, invitationparlour.com or our etsy store, then contact us at info@invitationparlour.com


My friend had made me onesies for each month, which was great because then we would remember to take pictures every month for a year. I used the pictures for the invitations and had them at the party as well. 

Custom address labels are a must with my invitations & cards....presentation starts with the envelope. As I always say, it's not necessary...but it surely does look cute!


And here is the centerpiece of the party...the circus treats table, it was loaded with different candies, candy apples, cotton candy and animal cookies. There was also mini cupcakes & a yummy chocolate cake from A Piece of Cake.

Here's all the details from the treats table. I decided to decorate the cake myself so that the cake would match the party, there was mini bunting flags and a circus train on there, that I cut on my sillouette. The mini cupcakes were bought from Walmart (I was so lucky the colors matched) I bought cute little clear gable boxes and put animal cookies in there and they had labels saying, "Aidan's Circus Animals" The polka dot background was wrapping paper I found at Paper Source and all the popcorn containers I found at the Dollar Tree store (that place is a like a treasure chest for finding random things you need for parties)
This display was my prize counter for the carnival games we had in our backyard. We had a raffle for bigger prizes, but everyone is a winner at this party and all the kids got to choose from yo-yo's, clown bouncy balls, train bubbles/whistle and circus ducks.


I found the vintage circus train toy on ebay, and when it arrived, I was so happy to see how big it was, which gave me the idea to fill it with lollipops. We didn't have a real clown, but the 3' clown balloon was floating around greeting people. I think the signs were great addition, we had a train stop sign, signs for the games, even a sign for the "snack bar" where guests filled up on hot dogs, pizza and nachos.
Here is the train that started all this party madness. Funny thing is that when I booked it I was afraid it would be like a boring tram ride, but when I saw it and rode on it the first time, I felt like a kid. There was music playing like the rides at Disneyland, and it actually went pretty fast (definitely put your seat belt on). The conductor was wonderful & everyone had an awesome time on it...even the adults :)




I found the cute little clown costume on Zulily. I was so happy when it arrived the day before the party.





See the rest of the pictures on the slideshow...click here.

Vendor Credits:

Invitations, matching stationary & signs: www.invitationparlour.com 
Party Styling:  www.mycreativevision.com
Train Rental & Popcorn Machine: trainpartyexpress.com
Red striped treat bags: Skyler's Party (at etsy)
Vintage Circus Train: www.ebay.com
Prizes/Favors: www.orientaltrading.com
Balloons: www.laballoons.com






Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Lisa and Nick {Real Wedding}

I met Lisa about 2 years ago when she started planning her wedding. It's funny, because I actually interviewed with her for a job through Apple One. I didn't get that graphic design job, but she remembered my portfolio and contacted me when she got engaged. Ever since then, we have become good friends, and I have had so much fun designing and photographing all the events in her life. 

So we started with the design of the Save the Dates, which actually was the precurser to the invitations. 


Lisa wanted the invitation to somehow incorporate the colors, pink & brown, butterflies and also somehow include her future stepdaughter. She really liked my passport invitations, so then I came up with the idea of doing a storybook invitation, which told the love story of Lisa and Nick, and it would be told by Addison...she would be the author. So that is why the Save the Dates ended up being bookmarkers. 






Lisa also decided to order the custom address labels to match the invitations. I definitely recommend doing cute labels for your invitation's  envelopes if you decide not to use a calligrapher. It just puts a smile on your face when you get an envelope in the mail with a cute label. If you are on a budget, you could always get cute colored labels to match your invites, or even add your initials or a logo to them, so that they are a little extra special. Or of course you could always have us design them for you, and that way you don't even have to address any of your envelopes yourself :)

There was one more thing we decided to incorporate into the rest of the design of the wedding. Lisa told me that she was hiring Elvis to be at her Wedding. It was something that was special for her mom, since she was a huge Elvis fan, and they always joked that Elvis would walk her down the aisle. In fact, Lisa's full name, is Lisa Marie. So when we were trying to come up for ideas of what her favors would be, we decided it should be Teddy Grahams, and on the labels we had the line "I just wanna be your Teddy Bear"



For the rest of the designs we basically used a combination of the colors, butterflies, some Elvis influenced things, the storybook figures, and I also designed a custom monogram for Lisa to use to order other items such as custom unity candles, aisle runners etc. The monogram was also used throughout the designs so everything was unified by the logo as well as the colors.

This was an extremely custom and personal wedding. It really gave the guests an idea of what the couple's personality was like, yet doing it in a very elegant way. Check out the rest of the designs from the wedding.


And here are some pictures of the couple by Creative Vision.




Thursday, June 30, 2011

Celebrate our Freedom!

As 4th of July is quickly approaching and I mean quickly as in a few days, we are all trying to figure out what we'll be doing that day. Which BBQ we'll be going to, which beach we should hang out at and where to watch the fireworks. We might also be planning some fabulous party ourselves. Here are some ideas I found online googling and also on one of my favorite websites for ideas.

The following inspirational party ideas were featured on
www.Hostessblog.com



Party by Anders Ruff Custom Designs


Party by: by Abigail of Paper & Cake


Some more inspiration found, just googling 4th of July Party ideas.




Here's some invitations for your next Patriotic Party from Invitation Parlour. Whether it's a 4th of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day or a Welcome Home party for your Soldier, we can design something for you!

These invitations are available for purchase, just email info@invitationparlour.com for more info. $1.65 each with a minimum order of 25, white envelopes included, text and colors can be customized for you.

*Price subject to change at anytime. Check the website for most current pricing. Thank you.

As we celebrate this holiday, we should also remember to be grateful for the freedom we get to enjoy in our country and also thank the people that help us protect our freedom everyday, the military and their families that support them. THANK YOU!!

Have a wonderful and safe holiday!!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

It's So Fluffy...and Magical!

Earlier this month we celebrated Briohny's 3rd Birthday. Seanny and I had a blast planning and prepping for her party! Who could resist a Magical Unicorn themed party???















The Magical Unicorn birthday invitation really set the tone for our party planning. We were able to tie everything around the colors on the invite.






















Adults and children alike all enjoyed being "sugared up" from our Sweets Bar. We had homemade red velvet cupcakes and unicorn pops, personalized sugar cookies, cupcake lollipops from Posh Pops, marshmello cupcakes, magical pixie stix, jelly beans, and unicorn horn pops. Added to this mix was also a giant custom-made unicorn pinata filled with 20lbs of candy and custom made unicorn horns as the party hat and a mailbox so that our guests could leave Briohny a message!























Needless to say, Briohny had one magical party!! We are definitely blessed to have such great friends helping us and an awesome turnout by family and friends, to make the party a memorable one.



















My next challenge will come when it's Briohny's big brother's turn. He already has in mind, a Vintage Airplanes themed party. Should be fun!

By the way, did I mention the adults had a great time as well???



















Credits:
Magical Unicorn birthday invitation & paper accessories:
Invitation Parlour
Photography: Creative Vision Photography
Supplies to make Unicorn Pops and Birthday cookies: Do It With Icing in San Diego
Cupcake Pops: Posh Pops
Hair Accessory: PinkClouds Designs