Boys & their Trains!

It's certainly something, isn't it?!?  I have my own little guy that has a sincere LOVE for locomotives, so when I get asked to design something with a train theme, I have a lot of help and input! 

 

I have worked with this family several times for their little ones' parties, and it's always such a pleasure!  Mom has so many great ideas and an amazing attention to detail.  And, well, I just love the moment when I get to deliver all of the finished products to her!  

 

 

Couldn't have been more pleased with the way the invitations came out!  Classic and Whimsy!

 

 

Everyone was welcomed with a small scale "All Aboard" banner tied to a

vintage suitcase that just happened to be found in the attic!  Talk about perfect!!

 

Cupcakes with custom toppers!

 

 

Party favors.

 

And, a SUPER SWEET Birthday Boy, who coordinated with his own party!

We took care of the T-Shirt design, and Katie, from The Wild Hare made it happen for us! 

(She has the cutest things in her shop - especially, if you have little girls in your home!)

 

 

 

 

Belle's Boys' Birthdays - Round 1

My own boys' birthdays are EXACTLY one month apart.  So, once summer arrives, I am busy planning their various birthday celebrations.  I usually plan a party for their friends and a small celebration for family.  And, because both of these rarely fall on their actual birthday, two days typically turn into two months of birthday activities! 

 

Birthday Round 1 belongs to my younger guy!  He was turning 4 this year and decided that he wanted to take his friends bowling.  It sounded perfect to me!  The bowling ally provided ample space for everyone to run around and have fun, as well as food and drinks! 

 

Now, I have to apologize for the quality of these pictures...It was pretty dark inside the bowling ally, and there was a tournament going on at the other end, so I was asked to take minimal pictures and not to use the flash.

 

We started planning with the invitation -- My little guy loved the bowling pins, and I thought the font gave it a bit of a retro feel. 

 

 I attached a few small circles to transform this 36 inch balloon into a giant bowling ball.  I added a few red and white polka dot balloons and had the perfect centerpiece for our table!

 

Table places settings.

 

Logan's favorite Snickerdoodle cupcakes!

 

 

I absolutely LOVE these plastic gumball tubes! There are so many cute things to do with them. I ordered black gumballs to mimic bowling balls! So cute!

 

We added the gumballs, chocolate bowling pins and a couple of other goodies to these galvanized pails for the kiddies to take home with them.

 A quick picture of me and my special guy!

It really was such a fun afternoon!

Peach Perfect...

A couple of my favorite clients asked for my help in putting together a favor for an upcoming baby shower.  They sent me a recipe for Peach Muffins that called for baby food peaches.  So we turned this pile of peaches into...

 

These!  Don't they look cute all dressed up!

 
We designed a simple recipe card to attach to the peaches.  The recipe was printed on the inside. It was folded into a small booklet and secured with pink satin ribbon. 

 

Truck on Over!

A party complete with tractors, trucks and DIRT!  What more could a little boy want for his birthday?

 

The John Deere company has made this party theme so extremely easy for parents of little boys and tractor loving girls!  Paper products, balloons and cake toppers are just a few of their items typically in stock at your local party store. 

 

And, chances are that if you are hosting a party with this theme, you have quite a few items hiding in your toy chest that will make great additions to your decor. 

 

Fit for a Rainbow Princess

This was such a fun project to work on!  A Princess Party with all of these fun, bright colors.  In addition to these tissue pom-poms (one of my favorite party decorations), I designed the party invitations, favor tags, signs for craft stations, and last but certainly not least, a "Happy Birthday" banner for the sweet birthday girl who was turning 4!

The party hostess, AKA Mom, sent me a few pictures once the decorations were in place.  She added quite a few of her own touches to make this day extra special! 

Paris in February!

During the last part of January, I received an email from the fabulous Misty Rodda, of Misty Rodda Photography, regarding her little girl's 5th Birthday, which was coming up just around the corner.  I met Misty a few years ago through a mutual friend.  Now, if anyone knows her, or has had the opportunity to work with her, you will understand why I was looking forward to working on this project.  And, while I took care of party invitations, cupcake toppers and some of the decorations, much of what you see can be attributed to her own creativity. 

First off, I have to share, looking at these pictures makes me smile a bit.  Only because the original plan for the party included transforming their home into a spa for 8 to 10 little girls.  It was once we began talking over ideas and colors and activities for the party that it somehow emerged into a beautiful, Parisian Soiree!      

Can you imagine being a 5-year-old girl and walking into all of this!  Not abandoning the "spa" idea completely, the girls attending were given a manicure in the Salon and played dress-up in the Boutique.  Misty drew a AMAZING Eiffel Tower for the girls to play a game of "Pin the Butterfly to the Eiffel Tower".  And of course, they were treated to delicious cupcakes! 

 

  And the look on that sweet face...

well, that is why I absolutely, positively LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what I do!

On a Roll in January!

Tomorrow is January 31!  And, well, it seems almost fitting that today I am shipping out one of the last few pieces of stationery designed for an upcoming Wedding in FABULOUS Las Vegas! 

He proposed on December 30th, and she said YES!  And, we jumped right into designing engagement announcements and wedding invitations.  I have had an absolutely wonderful time working on this Wedding Stationery.  There were so many elements:  invitations, announcements, separate reception cards, just to name a few!

Here is a little glimpse of the announcement that we came up with.  Because there will be only an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas, announcements were sent out to notify extended family and friends of the couple's engagement and let them in on their plans to marry. 

Now, you would have to see this in person to get the full effect!  Each piece of stationery was printed on a pearlized paper.  This gave each card a little shimmer, which in my mind, is just perfect when we're talking Vegas! 

Sneaky Peek! ~ Ooh, La, La!

Just a quick peek of an invitation I am working on!  If you think the reverse side is cute, just wait until you see the front.  Excited to put together a few more details for this party.  The party is taking place at the end of February, so check back then for more pictures!

Happy New Year!

2011 was a wonderful year for Belle Papers and Parties, and 2012 seems to be starting off with a "Bang"!  We can't wait to start work on some of these exciting projects and share them with you!

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!