2011 Holiday Card Designs!

These are just a few designs from this year's Holiday Card & Invitation collection!  Browse to see if something catches your eye!  If not, as always, we would love to create a completely custom design especially for you!  Just email us at belledesign1@gmail.com and we will be happy to work with you this holiday season.

Here come the Holidays!

Well, everywhere I turn, there are signs of the approaching Holiday Season!  Thanksgiving is a little less than TWO weeks away, and then December will be upon us! 

'Tis the season for shopping, wrapping, holiday cards, baking, and parties!

Are you ready???

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween I had quite a bit of baking to do!  Running low on time, I decided to use a little green icing and Halloween Pumpkin Peeps to turn my plate of cupcakes into a little pumpkin patch.  I personalized with a custom topper designed to look like a rustic sign!  (A close up shown below!)

Country Chic Bridal Shower

Over the summer one of my dearest friends asked me to design an invitation for a bridal shower honoring her "soon-to-be" sister-in-law!  How exciting!  Although all of my projects are amazing to work on, I have to tell you, when you know the client, it is especially enjoyable.  The shower was going to be held at The Cotton Row Restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama.  From poking around on their website, I was immediately inspired.  Their location boasted sleek and modern table settings with rustic, country charm.  I decided on a "country chic' theme for the invitations and settle on using a traditional toile in hues of taupe while dressing it up and printing the invitation in this luxe design shape...here, is what we came up with....

Keeping with the spirit of true southern hospitality, a jar of strawberry jam was among the favors given to each guest in attendance.  My friend decided to sit a jar, topped with a custom, hand-knitted topper, at each place setting for each guest.  We created and attached a coordinating label to each jar, personalized with each guest's name, to act as a place card.  Take a look at a couple of the pictures!  I absolutely LOVE the way these turned out!  Small baskets of homemade scones and fresh strawberries and cherries were also given to the guests, in hopes that they would be enjoyed with the strawberry jam!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Towards the end of July, I had the pleasure of meeting Beryl, of Be Young Photography, and sitting down with her to discuss plans for her sweet baby girl's First Birthday Party.  Once we started talking, Beryl told me she had been poking around and had seen a couple of ideas for a "Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice" themed party.  Music to my ears!  Because she had already picked out this wonderful theme, we could get right down to discussing details! 

Many of the pictures Beryl had found included Vintage and Shabby Chic design elements.  While beautiful, we wanted to keep the Shabby Chic, but go a little more modern!  To do this we chose bright colors, while keeping the patterns very feminine, with swirls, florals, and polka dots. 

Well, the party was last weekend, and here are a few of the details ~

Upon arrival, guests were greeted with a chilled, spiced apple cider rum punch.  After mingling for a bit, the party hostess treated them to a lovely lunch.  They graced the Birthday Girl, Miss B, with a Happy Birthday tune complete with piano accompaniment.  And after watching Miss B dive into her very own "smash cake", guests splurged on a divine dessert table!  Some items on the "Sugar and Spice" menu included, spiced pecans, sugary homemade marshmallows, chocolate covered pretzels, spicy popcorn, sweet meringues, and delicious cupcakes from Shugar, Shugar!

 

Being a photographer herself, one of Beryl's priorities was to capture beautiful photos of this special day!  Although, she did steal a couple moments to grab a few herself (mostly of that precious, birthday girl!), which can be seen on her blog, www.beyoungphotography.com, she also commissioned her good friend and fellow photographer, Kelly Nelson, of Kelly Nelson Photography to be in charge of this important task.  Kelly's beautiful photos can be seen here, www.kellynphotography.com. 

A Mini-Golfin' Par-tee!

In June, I posted a sneak peak of an invitation I was designing for a little girl's 5th birthday.  The plan was to hold the party at a local miniature golf course, so we decided to run with this theme!  I fell in love with this cute little mini-golfing girl, and couldn't resist adding her to a couple more items for the party.  Cupcake "flags" rather than regular toppers seemed fitting with the golfing theme, and the the golf course had a party pavilion, which had a perfect spot to hang a banner! 

Here is what we came up with! 

(Invitation)

(Invitation Reverse)

(Birthday Girl Name Banner)

                              (Banner)                                                                 (Cupcake Flags)

 In fact, I am so pleased with the way these items turned out, I am planning on adding them to my Etsy shop!  Look for them soon!

Oh...Summer!

Oh, Summer! ~ It would seem that over the summer, I took a bit of unexpected time off...well, at least from posting that is! The summer holidays, weekends getaways, and a wonderful, family vacation combined with a little work, and our crazy summer schedule left little room for much else. Now that everyone in my house has been back to school for a couple of weeks, and September is nearing an end, I am looking forward to doing a little updating and sharing a few of the projects I enjoyed working on over the summer months, including an amazing First Birthday Party which took place last weekend, all while gearing up for the Holiday Season! (Yes, its time to start thinking about your holiday parties and greeting cards!)

Party Preview: Mini-Golfin' Birthday Girl

Just a little peak of an invitation I am designing for a little girl's birthday party, where Mini-Golf will be the game of choice!

Check back to see more items from this Party Collection!

Announcing the Arrival of the Birthday Express!

Well, the arrival of party pictures that is!!

This past Wednesday, we celebrated my son's 5th birthday with a party at Burke Lake Park!

My little guy LOVES trains. So, I had a pretty good idea of just what his answer was going to be when I asked him what type of party he would like to have this year. I was right!

Because my son has a mid-summer birthday, I usually try to find a nearby venue to hold his party. Burke Lake Park was the PERFECT spot! If you live in the Northern Virginia area, and have never been to Burke Lake Park, I encourage you to go. The kiddies that attended the party took a ride around the park on the antique train as well as a spin on the carousel. Lunch and ice cream were served in their special birthday pavilion. (As the hostess of this party, I would love to take a moment to note how accommodating and helpful the staff at Burke Lake Park was, which resulted in a most enjoyable afternoon!)

Despite my son's particular fondness of a little, blue engine, I wanted to go a more traditional and "non-commercial" route for his party. So, I got busy with the invitation in hopes of persuading him. I knew I wanted this invitation to resemble an over sized transportation ticket. I added an antique, steam train graphic, drew from the traditional colors of conductor's fabric, blue and white, and added my son's favorite color, green! I absolutely loved the way it turned out, and the entire party unfolded from there!

Take a look at the beautiful photo collage created by my dear and OH SO talented friend, Kerri Gibbs, owner, photographer, and designer of With Love Studio!

AND, here is a picture of the stationery set created by Belle Paper & Parties for this Birthday Express Party!

Party Preview: Birthday Express

Here is just a small preview of an upcoming party!

As you can see, this party will have a train theme to it. It's less than two weeks away, and I am so excited to see how it all comes together.

Please check back in a couple of weeks to see more pictures of this party!

A Shower at Cotton Row Restaurant

Oh, I just started working on a new project that I am SO excited about!

The event is a bridal shower taking place this July in Huntsville, Alabama. The location the hostesses have chosen is The Cotton Row Restaurant. I have been poking around their website, and I am feeling so inspired by this location! It has so many beautiful, rustic elements, but is absolutely charming and has my mind spinning with all of the possibilities. I'm thinking "country-chic"!
Because this shower will be held in Alabama, and I am located just outside of Washington, DC, I will be designing a few different elements and sending them down for the occasion.
Check back for pictures of this event!

Hersey Kiss Gifts

I have seen these amazing looking Hersey Kisses a couple of times in different photos, and finally decided to give this idea a whirl!

I designed a set of these small (well, very small actually) circles, printed them, punched them out using a circle cutter, and attached to the bottoms of Hershey Kisses, with the sole purpose of dressing these kisses up! Since I was using these to accompany gift certificates to give to teachers for an end of year gift, I decided on a traditional apple graphic and "thank you" message. Because I was working with a very small surface area, I kept the design very simple. I piled mason jars high with the kisses, and tied them with a small tag and envelope that contained a gift card. Of course, I am missing a picture of the finished product, but they looked OH SO CUTE if I do say so myself!

I absolutely LOVED the outcome of my little project, and will definitely be doing this again...I'm thinking these would make a wonderful Valentine!!

Thank You, Teachers!

While poking around some of my favorite sites this weekend, I was reminded that it is Teacher Appreciation Week! For some reason, I never remember this, so I am so thankful to have come across this before I missed out.

Because we are nearing the end of the school year, and I will be purchasing other "thank you for a great year" gifts, I am looking for something on a bit of a smaller scale, that remains thoughtful, AND that my boys can help me with (tall order?!?!).....I'm thinking a cute baked treat! Two ideas immediately come to mind:

These are Apple Cake Pops from Bakerella! I have been making Bakerella's "standard" cake balls and pops with my boys for some time now, and they are always a huge hit. Not only are they delicious, but they are easy to make so that small children can help! Bakerella outlines all of her steps for making these cute Apple dessert pops. Wrapped in a cellophane wrapper and tied with a pretty ribbon, what teacher wouldn't LOVE receiving one or several of these from your little one!

My second idea comes from the book, What's New, Cupcake? I saw these in the book some time ago, and wondered when the perfect time to make these would present itself...NOW! The Family Fun website outlines all of the directions needed to transform your regular, old cupcakes into these cute apples, perfect for any teacher! These look so cute in this wooden crate, but I'm not sure I have time to make 6 apple cupcakes for 4 teachers. I'm thinking one cupcake wrapped in a small box or Chinese food container, secured with a pretty ribbon and a "Thank You" tag.

I'll let my boys decide and give you a peak when I'm done with my baking!

All About A Girl!

Over the past couple of months, I have been lucky to work with a local business, All About A Girl mobile spa parties. Have you heard of them??? Well, if you haven't, let me tell you a little bit about them...

The business was started by three friends in the Northern Virginia area, and they bring the spa to you! I am always looking for fun themes and activities for parties, especially children's parties. AND, I think this is an amazing idea!! The ladies at All About A Girl come into your home and transform it into a spa that will pamper your little princess and her friends. Some of their services include manicures, pedicures and facials. Now, as I am a mom to two little boys, I don't think I will be calling them to host a party in my home, but I would recommend them to any of you with little girls!

Please visit them at www.allaboutagirlspa.com

Here is a little peak at the invitations I designed for them!

A Baby Shower!

A few weeks ago, I was asked to design an invitation for a baby shower. The expecting mother and her husband were preparing to welcome their third little boy into their family, so I couldn't resist in making the invitation "All Boy"! Polka dots and jungle animals added classic yet whimsical details, which were easily incorporated to other party decorations as well.

Here are two pictures of the invitation (front & back)...

A small example of what the table set up looked like...I absolutely LOVE using polka dot balloons!

I saw the idea for these beautiful ribbon topiaries on another party blog site (link to come) and knew I just had to make them. They turned out beautifully and received so many comments.

Silverware is a "must have" on any table when a meal is being served, so I like to make it look pleasing to the eye. I wrapped the silverware used for this luncheon and made small decorative tags that coordinated with the invitations to tie the bundles. These tags could easily be adapted to use as cupcake toppers. We also needed forks to use with the cake that was served. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the cake, but it was frosted in simple, white butter cream and decorated with red, green and blue fondant polka dots - PERFECT! (It came from one of my favorite bakeries, so I KNOW it was delicious!) The dessert table also hosted beautiful elephant shaped cookies decorated in blue icing that came from a local source. Since the polka dots and elephants were already represented, I chose to fold napkins into the shape of a diaper, secure with a pin and tuck the dessert fork inside!

My New Look!

Ooooh La La!! I am so excited about my new look! Although I do my fair share of designing for stationery and invitations, I had absolutely no idea how to get my website looking anything like I had in mind! Enter Kristin from SimplyKlassic Blog Designs! She practically read my mind, and did an amazing job! I couldn't be happier with the results! Visit Kristin at www.simplyklassicdesigns.blogspot.com

Happy Holidays!

I just thought that I might share a picture of the Christmas card I designed for my family this year. From the very beginning, I had my heart set on a circular card...don't ask me how I got that stuck in my head! The design was no problem, but finding a printer to handle the job proved to be a little harder than expected. Thankfully, I have a good friend that specializes in photocards, and she put me in touch with a great resource . . . (Thanks, Kerri!) And, VOILA!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and Welcome 2011!! My poor blog has be neglected for quite some time and is in need of a little updating. So of course, this is one of my resolutions for this year! Cross your fingers and wish me luck. I have been busy, and have some fun things to share!