Quick Birthday Card & Wrapping

One of my customer's and friends, Kim, had a birthday party for her daughter Zoe this weekend.  Zoe comes to stamp a stacks with Kim and loves to stamp - so I thought it was only fitting that I sent a little hand stamped card and gift over for her.  It was a great excuse to play with a pink and girly design!

I used the Birthday Bakery stamp set, which is a level one hostess set, on pretty in pink cardstock with melon mambo ink.  I colored in the cupcake with blender pens and of course, some glitter applied with a 2-way glue pen.  To finish, I used some raven lace trim from the Holiday Mini Catalog.

I stamped an image inside the card, in the bottom right corner.  I almost never stamp images or sentiments on the inside of a card, I just leave it blank.  I think I was having too much fun and wanted the opportunity to add more glitter!

I had a lunch sack style pink paper bag that I put some little treats in and used the same lace ribbon and stamps (and yes, more glitter!) to coordinate it with the card.

It's not often I get to design a card for a child - so this was extra fun.  Come to think of it, it's not often I get to design a card that's not for a workshop, stamp a stack, or other stamping event.  This was a lot of glittery fun!  Happy Monday!

To order any of the Stampin' Up! products shown here, head to my online store and click on "Shop Now"  To find out how you can earn the Birthday Bakery hostess set for FREE, contact me about hosting a workshop at joanneroehm@yahoo.com

Halloween-themed First Birthday Party Invites

This week I had the pleasure of working with fellow blogger, friend and crafty gal Arwen (catch her guest post on RSC here and check out her mommy blog here,) on some first birthday invitations for her little boy.  She's doing a Halloween themed birthday party and it's going to be so very cute!

We used the Spider Web embossing folder for the Big Shot machine (seriously my favorite holiday product thus far!) and cardstock in Tangerine Tango, Basic Black and Whisper White.

The little vampire stamp is from the Fang-tastic stamp set.  So very cute!  Arwen did a great job watercoloring all of the images using an Aqua Painter and inks in Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Basic Black and Rich Razzleberry.
On the inside we used the spider from the Batty for You stamp set to create a spooky effect.

Thanks so much for allowing me to help you create these invitations, Arwen!  Can't wait to come up with some equally cute thank you cards for you!  Have a great birthday party!

28

I celebrated my 28th birthday over the weekend.  Despite feeling unwell the couple of days leading up to my special day, I was in good health the day of and enjoyed a weekend being spoiled by friends and family, all of whom I love very dearly.

After beginning my birthday weekend with a yummy meal at a restaurant in Kalamazoo with my mother and father in law and husband on Thursday, followed by a lovely breakfast at a local vegetarian restaurant with good friend Cindy on my birthday morning, we hosted friends Heather, Anthony, Justin and Kristen at our house for appetizers and drinks before heading out to a delicious Italian dinner Friday night.  Heather made Tiramisu cupcakes and they were divine!

I was spoiled with all kinds of gifts... including a variety of cupcake-y things, a beautiful leather journal, and a gift certificate to my favorite local yoga studio.

Travis and I purchased a laptop this weekend - I will be writing my thesis this fall and was in desperate need of something portable on which to write and research.  My parents very generously purchased the software we needed for it and gifted me some money to purchase a laptop/work tote.  Franklin Covey here I come!

As a final surprise, my parents drove 2 1/2 hours from the other side of the state to take us out to breakfast on Sunday. I had no idea they were coming!  It was lovely to spend some time with them.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special!  I'm feeling good about 28 - this is going to be my year!

Lily's Bug Birthday Party - Part 2

Here are the rest of the photos from the Bug Birthday Party!  Missed the rest of the bug party posts?  Click on the Bug Birthday Party link to your right...   ---------------->

After much baking the day before the party, and lots of frosting and decorating that morning, Heather and I filled three cupcake trees with chocolate, lime and orange spice cupcakes...

The dessert table was full of delicious-ness!

We strung more garland on all of the food tables... and I found these super cute butterfly  straws at Pier One for the drinks...

I made little dirt cups... just 2oz each... the perfect size for wee ones...

And Heather made these AMAZING jello jigglers using a silicone mold (thanks, Mum!) from Avon of all places...

Some of Lily's gift-opening highlights included her own little chair...

My Mum made Lily this beautiful dress with matching bolero jacket!  She is so talented!

Lily was the most patient 2 year old ever - meticulously opening every card and gift.  One of the gifts Travis and I got her was a musical tea set...

Which prompted a little tea party - led by Lily's big sister Mariah.  The kids really got into it!

And Lily was even able to blow out her candle all by herself!  She just didn't want anything to do with the cupcake afterwards!  : )

Thanks for checking out my pictures from the Bug Birthday Party!  It was so much fun to do!  Can't wait to start dreaming up themes for NEXT year's party!

Lily's Bug Birthday Party - Part 1

On Saturday we celebrated my niece Lily's second birthday!

(just try telling me she's not the cutest thing in the entire world!)

You'll remember that I made some fabric goody bags to match the bug theme of the party?  Each child got a goody bag, a bug catcher, and a butterfly net...

Here are the contents of the big kids' goody bags... stickers, bug capsules that grow in water, bug candy, bug stickers, squishy toy bugs, fuse bead bugs, mini pencils with bugs on them...

And for the little ones... more candy and stickers, a board book (would you believe that Lily's book was titled "Lily Ladybug"?!, butterfly bubbles and sunglasses, and even a bug cool pack for boo-boo's.  I thought the parents would appreciate, those!

I had NO IDEA how big of a hit the sunglasses would be!

Overall I was surprised by how big of a hit the goody bags were with the little ones, actually.  Kept them occupied for a good little while, and they loved being able to take everything out and then put it back in the bags!

Heather and I made garland that we strung both inside and outside, but it looked particularly good strung on the fences in the backyard.  Unfortunately it was cold and rainy, so no one really got to enjoy it... (I'll be sharing a tutorial for this garland next week sometime...)

Except for the husband's.  They were all manly and stuff, toughing it out outdoors in the rain to ensure that everyone had plenty to eat (or maybe just because THEY were hungry?!)  : )

Come back tomorrow for more bug birthday photos... including some festive cupcakes and an impromptu tea party!

Invitations

At the end of last week I sat down to design the invitations for Lily's Bug Birthday Party.  Here's what I came up with...

I used Stampin' Up!'s "Bugs & Kisses" stamp set for the cards, and folded the envelopes out of scrapbook paper in the same design as the fabric swatches I showed you before.

Over the weekend, Heather (Lily's mom) and I assembled twenty matching invitations and envelopes.

Heather is new to stamping, and was a little intimidated - but she did PERFECTLY!  In fact, she ended up doing all the stamping (every single one of those colored bugs!) while I did the cutting and assembling.  I think the insides of the invites look really cute, too!

We had a lot of fun chatting, stamping, and assembling, and I think it made both of us even more excited for the party!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:  Stamp sets:  Bugs & Kisses, Introducing.  Inks:  Real Red, Only Orange, YoYo Yellow, Orchid Opulence, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise.  Cardstock:  YoYo Yellow, Whisper White, Green Galore, Real Red.  Accessories:  Stazon Black Ink, Real Red 1/4 Grosgrain Ribbon, Big Shot Machine, Texture plates for the Big Shot.  Want to order any of these supplies or other Stampin' Up! products?  Head to my SU website and click on "Shop Now"