Madison's One Year Birthday Invitations

Emily came to me a few months ago now wanting to know if I could make invitations for her little girl's first birthday party. I grew up at the same church as Emily and her family. I hung out with one of her sisters pretty frequently. I get my hair cut by another one of her sisters. And yet another sister used to go on youth retreats with us as a leader. Add in the cousins and aunts of Emily's that I know and I may as well be her relative, too. 

So when Emily asked me to make a pink and orange birthday invitation for her daughter Madison's first birthday, I was all in. She gave me an inspiration board of pictures to go off of, and here's what we came up with. 

First of all, I am head over heals for the pink and orange combo right now. And of course I love Samantha Pro as the script font and Champagne and Limousines (a new favorite) as the block font.

Not to rush to the back of the invite too fast, but there's something there that is my absolutely favorite thing yet...

A little Minnie Mouse head!

Emily wanted to incorporate Minnie in the party and I thought this would be a cute way to bring the adorable mouse in. I can't even tell you what it is about little Minnie that I love so much. How good she looks in pink and orange? How cute and small she is? I have no clue, but I'm anxiously awaiting the next time I can pull her out. 

So that is it. An orange and pink birthday party invitation for a sweet little one year old (I actually haven't met Madison, but I assume she is a delight). I happened to see Emily at a shower right before the party and there were going to be 50+ people there and a bouncy house, so I'm assuming they had a great time. :)

Want to see more invitations from Vivian Elle? Visit our Etsy Shop!

Liam's 1st Birthday Invitations

Psst - This invitation is now available at Vivian Elle's Etsy shop. Click here to order it for your own party!

Faithful blog readers, I'm so thankful for you. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for reading this blog (even if you just scroll down to the pictures...in which case, you may not be reading this). Thanks for actually caring about this little invitation business. When I think about you all, it makes me smile. 

This past week I took some time to step back from the blog and really work on meeting deadlines for my brides (my first priority, sup ladies) and when I did, I realized that part of the joy I get from this business is that I weekly share it with you all. It gives me a chance to look back and reflect on each project. My husband made the comment not too long ago that it's really cool that I get to be a part of so many people's celebrations. Yeah, I think so, too. 

So I'm back in the swing of things this week and today I have a 1st birthday invitation to show you that I absolutely adore. 

I met Tarrah way back when she took guitar lessons from my husband. Fast forward several years and she is now a mom to the cutest little boy, Liam. 

Tarrah contacted me a month or so ago because she was having a birthday party to celebrate Liam's first birthday and she wanted me to make the invitations.  She wanted it to be ducky-themed, but not be overly kiddish (oddly enough, my number one request from moms).

Here's what we came up with. 

Not too kiddish, right? You know I love to bring in some chevron stripes and I love love love the artwork I have access to through Envelopments (that's where I got the super cute banner). Fonts are Cafe Rojo and Antipasto.

Did you notice that the duck is blowing out the candle? I had placed the duck off to the side and put a candle over the one, but it was totally Tarrah's idea to tilt the flame to make it look like the duck was blowing it out.

And the envelopes. This is a nice touch for busy moms since it means they at least don't have to write out the return address for every invite.

Love these. Almost makes me want to procreate just for the fun birthday invites. Almost.

So I'm back in action this week on the blog. On Thursday I'll continue with my FAQ series and look at how to properly address your wedding envelopes. See you then!

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Brayden and Conor's Birthday Party Invites

Birthdays as a kid were the best.

I remember waking up on my birthday as a child and the "birthday ferry" had come. My room was completely decked out with streamers and balloons and it started off my entire day as a celebration. It probably cost my parents - errrr...I mean the "birthday ferry" - very little money, but it made me feel like I was the most special thing in the world.

Melissa reminds me of my own parents. I used to work with her and she is one of those moms who you know just loves her kids to death and wants to do anything to make sure that on their birthdays, they feel like the luckiest kids alive.

So Melissa came to me to create the perfect birthday invitation for a joint party she was doing for her two little boys at a gym. Here's what we came up with.

I've worked with Melissa enough to know that she loves to have invitations that match the theme of the day, without being too "little kid-ish." I knew if I sent her an invitation with a big teddy bear on it she would most likely fire me immediately. So instead we went for modern rainbow chevrons (man, I hope those never go out of style). 

I love how fun and happy these invites are, while also being distinctly for a boy's party. 

Melissa wanted to announce the ages of her two boys somewhere, but it just didn't seem to fit on the actual invite. Instead, we added their ages to a bunch of balloons on the envelope.

Melissa's boys are so fortunate. I wholeheartedly believe that every child should have someone in their lives that loves to celebrate them, and she certainly does that for her little boys.

Next week I'll share about a fun little trip I'm about to take this weekend and show off a little baby announcement I did for one my BFFs. And then...weddings!

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Vivian Elle's Birthday Invites

Let's just get right to it. 

I love my niece and nephews so much I could literally just eat them up. 

I mean, I fear I am the crazy aunt that comes through the door and kisses them to death. The one they will like until they are about 12, when I suddenly become super uncool to them and they dread when I come over. 

The last time I was with my niece and nephews, I literally scooped my four year old nephew (who is super tall for his age) up into my arms just so I could hug ALL OF HIM. I couldn't get enough. I think I heard him say "put me down." I can't remember. I was too busy kissing him. 

I've heard people say that when it's your own siblings' kids (my niece and nephews are from my husband's sister), it's even better. In that case, I fear for the lives of my brothers' unborn children. 

All this to say that when my sister-in-law asked me to do my sweet little niece's invitations for her third birthday party, naturally I was more than happy to help. 

The party was a purple party (Viv's favorite color). Ginny (the sis-in-law) wanted pictures of Viv at every age leading up to three years old. Here's what we came up with. 

Viv is the sweetest little thing.

I do have to confess that I did something I've never done before. These invitations were printed at Kinko's on regular old card stock that they have available there (gasp!). We were working with a shorter time frame, so I couldn't order from Envelopments like I normally would. I also grabbed envelopes at Hobby Lobby and printed the 3 on them for Viv's 3rd Birthday. Confession over.

I know I'm her aunt, but I would think it would be fun for anyone to get this invite and see how little Viv has grown throughout the years. It was such a fun idea on Ginny's part.

So we celebrated Vivian a few weeks ago and all wore purple and showered her with gifts. She is so precious and gets more and more fun as the years go on.

OK, so you might not remember, but last week I said that this week I would be showing a logo that I did. Well, I promise I'll do that next week now, since it clearly didn't happen this week. :)

Happy Weekend!

Vivian Elle, My Birthday, and a New House

Let's look at some numbers.

31 - number of years I celebrated living a couple of weeks ago.
3 - number of friends that traveled from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia to visit me on my birthday.
1 - number of pictures taken with an Oreo in Wal-mart while those friends were in town.

1 - tiara these friends made me wear when they took me out to breakfast on my birthday.
20 - approximate number of people that stared because of my tiara.

2 - number of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) books by Mindy Kaling I received for my birthday.

7 - number of times I considered not posting the above picture for obvious reasons (but then thought, "ehhh...who cares?").

1 - day it took me to exchange one of these books for Bridesmaids.

8 - days it took me to read my Mindy Kaling book.

20 - times I had to refrain from posting every funny quote I read to Facebook.

25+ - number of videos that my husband compiled for me for my birthday of friends and family from all over wishing me a happy birthday.

100+ - number of times I've talked about how much I loved the videos.

40 - number of Christmas cards I've completed so far this year for Vivian Elle's Christmas Collection.
3 - number of samples I will now reveal.

{All of these cards are now available at Vivian Elle's Etsy Shop. Click here to visit!}

54 - total number of days between first going out and looking for a home and signing on our adorable little bungalow. 

2 - pictures we had taken of ourselves in front of our new home right before closing. 

1 - number of pictures I was able to pull off the internet of our new home. 

Sigh. I love it.

16 - days until we need to be out of our condo.
5 - weddings I am currently working on, attempting to get each done in the 16 days before we move.
30+ - boxes I already have packed.
61 - number of days we have between moving out of our condo and moving into our new home.
61 - days we will be bunking it up with my parents, who have graciously offered their home to us.
99 - percentage of time I spend thinking about how I'm going to decorate our new home.
1 - moving announcement that I already have designed, but will keep secret until I send it. :)

too many to count - number of times Luke and I have said how grateful we are for the support we've had over the last couple of months.

There you have it. These are the numbers that have been floating around in my head lately. In the midst of it all, there has also been a lot of Vivian Elle activity - buying another new printer, having boxes of product left at our front door, printing, assembling, stuffing...I love it all. For the first time in my life I can say that I daily love the work I am doing. And all of my brides make that possible. So to them - and anyone who has used me for any kind of invitation - thank you!

Happy Birthday, Vivian Elle

I must take a break in my invitation posting to tell you that today is Vivian Elle's 2nd birthday. Not the invitation business Vivian Elle, but the little thing that I named it after:

Because this blog can only handle so much cuteness, I'll stop there.

Vivian Elle turns 2 today and I just wanted to take some time out to celebrate her. She's an inspiring little thing and a joy to be around. And just to keep consistent with posting some fun paper products, here's a little card I made up for her today.

Since her birthday was a rainy one, I thought the umbrellas were a nice fit.

And here's a blogged Happy Birthday from her uncle and me, since we weren't able to be with her today. Ginny, are you holding her up to the computer so she can see? :)

Happy birthday, Viv!

Jackson's Birthday Party

If you have followed my blog at all, you know that I have a niece named Vivian Elle. She is precious. I love her and will now share a picture of her, just for fun:

Oh, sweet little thing.

But Vivian has other members in her family too. Let me introduce you to her older brother, Jackson:

Jackson will be 3 this month. He is an adorable little boy. He likes making up games. He loves to read. He calls me Uncle Jenny and then laughs at himself. And he is seriously the most well spoken almost-3-year-old I know.

Together, Jackson and Vivian have bumped me from the "Not sure if I'll ever not be awkward around children" stage to the "Kids are the greatest (in moderation)!" stage. (Whether or not I ever make it to the "I need me a baby!" stage is still TBD.)

But on to the invitations...

My sister-in-law came to me last month and asked if I'd make invitations for Jackson's 3rd birthday party. He was going to have a rocket themed party and she gave me this blog post as inspiration.

My mind started racing. I went over a million different ways that I could do the invitation in my head. I was genuinely so excited to make them. I mean, it's my nephew's 3rd birthday party. They had to be good.

At this point, I really wanted to go into the entire process of making this invitation, but I opted instead to  give you the highlights:

-Ordered green and blue (Envelopments!) card stock to start the invitations.
-Decided to try to find a patterned piece of paper to add another dimension to the invite.
-Couldn't find patterned paper at Hobby Lobby...or Michael's...or Joann's.
-Couldn't find a rocket ship cutout to use.
-Became frustrated.
-Borrowed a Cricut from my mom.
-Made 15 star cutouts and 15 '3' cutouts in about 5 minutes.
-Found patterned card stock in old pile from about five years ago.
-Did celebratory jig around kitchen.
-Assembled invitations.

I can honestly say that this project was one of my harder ones (most likely because of the expectations I put on myself - envisioning my nephew harboring bitter feelings well into his old age because his auntie didn't put together an invitation that he loved). But it was also one of the projects I was most satisfied with in the end.

Here is Jackson to display the final product for you:

He never told me if he liked them or not, but I think he seems pretty pleased in the pictures. :)

Here are some close-ups, taken courtesy of my brother-in-law:

The font is so fun (it's called Stereofidelic) and I adore the wording. RSVP to Star Command? Please. Too cute.

The next picture is my favorite. I thought my brother-in-law was just going to take a couple of quick shots of the invitation, but no. His creativity kicked in and he came up with this little gem of a picture:

Jackson has been talking about his rocket party for a while now - may it be just as much fun as he's hoped it would be!

To end this blog post, I want to introduce you to the newest member of Jack and Viv's family. Here is little Charleston. He's just two and a half months old and as cute as can be.

Oh, and little Charlie's already told me that he wants me to do all of his birthday party invitations. It was amazing...truly a miracle. A two and a half month old that chose to talk only to make this one request...what an advanced child! :)