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!)