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. 

Our 2013 Calendar

Alright, friends, as stated in my last post, I'll be coming to you twice this week.

Actually, for the next few weeks I'll be showing off one side project and one regular project, most likely on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The difference between the two is that the side projects are usually just creative outlets for me, whereas the actual projects are customers who like to pay me (thanks, guys!).

For the first time, I'm scheduling this blog post, because Luke and I are going on a little Bed and Breakfast trip this week. So I'm writing this on Sunday evening, in an attempt to get it checked off the to-do list before we head out tomorrow afternoon. I'll schedule it to post on Tuesday and then say a prayer that it actually does.

This B&B trip is one of the things we scheduled to get us through the winter months here in Michigan. Sometime in November or December, I usually like to look ahead at January-March and plan some fun things because those are the months that just tend to be a little long, in my opinion.

So this year, I have more than a few fun January-March things to look forward to, most of which are still to come. I will now list them, if only just because it makes me happy.

-go to Cleveland to see the North American tour of Les Miserables (done last weekend with both sets of our parents and very much enjoyed)
-go to our favorite Bed and Breakfast and totally relax for a few days (heading out tomorrow!)
-go see The Lion King in Detroit
-go to Boston to see the BFFs

To say I'm excited about each of these events is an understatement. And the fact that they land in January-March just puts a smile on my face. If you're like me, you hardly have to schedule anything in spring/summer/fall to get excited about those seasons. But winter...I can handle winter through December 25 and then I'm ready for it to be done. So the fact that I live in a place where it typically lasts three months past that...well, let's just say I've learned to cope.

Anyways, all of this scheduling talk brings me to the side project I thought I'd share today: our 2013 calendar.

I had never made a calendar for our house before, so I thought I'd try it out this year. The calendar is not super functional, but it's a quick and easy way to see what the date is and have something cute up in our kitchen. I designed it myself and got the idea for the numbers at the bottom (each a significant number to us) from Young House Love (where all good ideas come from, let's be honest).

This calendar cost me $0 since I have so much extra scrap paper. The pieces are around 6x10 inches. 

Like I said, each month has a number that's significant to us. They are:

1 cute bungalow

2 sweet cats

3 years married

4 parents who love us

5 year age difference

6 letters in Haddad

7 siblings

8 years together

9 rooms in our house

10 years since college (for Jenny, 5 for Luke)

11 members of the Haddad family

12 more months we have to be thankful for

I also made sure to mark dates that were important in a different color - all major holidays, birthdays, our anniversary, and fun trips.

So now the little calendar is hung up on our kitchen bulletin board (yes, along with another calendar...a cheap one from Target that we can actually write on), among invitations, cards, and pictures. I look at it often and especially love the little saying that's on each month (well, the two so far).

On Tuesday, I'll be blogging about a logo I did for a very special photographer. Stay tuned. :) 

Sarah's Moving Announcement

If you asked me (you did ask me, right?), I would say that I don't really struggle with getting older.  I mean, there was the unfortunate incident on my 30th birthday when all of the sudden I moped about being 30 for a few hours before my husband asked, "Jenny...what is so horrible about your life?",  snapping me out of my funk (because the answer was nothing, and I was just being overdramatic).

But other than that, I firmly believe that you are only as old as you feel, and since I feel like I'm 23 on most days, I'm content with that. 

However, every now and then one of my college friends throws out how long we've known each other and then I think that maybe I should stop trying to convince myself that I'm 23, suck it up, and accept that I really entered into college 14 years ago this coming August. Which means that in October, our class will get together for our 10 year reunion. 10 years...since college. Which means it has been 14 years since I started the crazy/scary/surprisingly wonderful/life-changing experience in a little town in Tennessee.

14 years since I cried to my parents on the curb outside my dorm because I thought my life was over because I was so far from home and didn't know anyone (like I said, overdramatic). 

14 years since I sat in a meeting with the other girls on my floor, looking around and sizing them up, not knowing that they would be like sisters to me throughout our four years together.

14 years since I completely fell in love with the state of Tennessee.

14 years since I met girls that would become some of the best friends I've ever had.

14 years since I quickly realized - about two hours after my parents left me to head back to Michigan - that I had to admit that they were right and that college was kind of a cool experience.

And then I realize that even though 14 years since I started college means that I'm getting a little older than I'd like to admit, it also means that my life is so much better because 14 years ago, I decided to go to a tiny little college in Dayton, Tennessee.

Sarah was one of my freshman year floor mates. Our rooms were right down the hall from each other and if I remember correctly, we quickly became friends. In fact, we became friends with most of the girls on our floor and we ended up being a sisterhood of sorts. We all might go off during the day and do our own thing, or go out on the weekends with other groups, but we always came back to each other at night and to talk about our day, or have a late night snack together (snack of choice during freshman year was Raman noodles, upgraded to Easy Mac by senior year), or just goof off, or cry together...whatever we needed to do that particular evening. 

The thing is, we were just always there for each other. And as far away as we've moved from each other post college, and as many years as we've gone without seeing each other, there's always this bond that we share because we were a part of something pretty special when we all lived together for four years.

So when Sarah came to me and asked if I could do moving announcements for her, I happily agreed. And during our work together, I got to remembering all of those fun times we spent together, and even those hard times (we just happened to go through rough break-ups around the same time, which pretty much cemented our bond) that brought us closer together. 

In the last few year, Sarah and her family moved around a bit. In fact, in two years, they moved three times. And the funny thing is that the house they left during move #1 was the house they moved back into with move #3. 

And with Sarah being who she is, she wanted a moving announcement that fit their situation perfectly - that they had come full circle and were now right back where they belonged. 

So Sarah had the idea to have her family pose in the picture you see here. In a circle. And then we put that picture...in a circle. You see the theme, yes? :)

And then I thought some fun chevron stripes behind the circle would be cool and that using the font Chunk Five would be fun, too.

And then we added a picture of them on the back, on the steps of their new (old) home. Happy and content, right where they belong.

Each invitation or card I do becomes so personal to me, which is why I always share a little bit about my own life along with it. This one reminds me that no matter where you move, or how many times you move, you always have those people who will be consistent. Who will keep you grounded. 

Which reminds me of 14 years ago, when I would come back to the dorm after a night out, eager to see my forever consistent and loyal "sisters" and talk with them about life over a big bowl of Raman Noodles. 

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

Joe's Mad Men Graduation Party

Graduation is such a fun day. My own graduations are behind me (at least for now...I think about going back to school pretty much every other day), but 2012 was a big year in our family for graduations. 

First, my brother Jeff (who I affectionately refer to as Jeffé) graduated from the police academy in August. I travelled down to Virginia with my parents so we could be there with him and it was fun being the loud northerners in the audience of quiet southern folk (at one point we were like, "wait...are we not supposed to cheer?").  Here's my younger - but quiet a bit larger - brother officially becoming a police man. 

No big deal, but he did win two out of the six awards that they gave out that night. We were so proud. Here we are, later in the evening, back at their (super cute/adorable/I love it so much) house to celebrate. 

I'm still not scared of you, Jeffé.

In December, we had another family graduation. My other younger brother Scott graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a degree in Criminology. I went with my parents, and my sister-in-law and her family to his graduation ceremony (he didn't have enough tickets for everyone, so my husband was the obvious one to get the shaft). 

We all enjoyed the ceremony, especially the honorary alumni speaker who happened to enjoy stringing different quotes together to make up his speech. Luckily, Scott had his phone and was able to discretely send me some texts during said speech. 

My mom loves sharing some quotes on Facebook... 

Please tell me you know the Mean Girls reference. If not, you might just think my brother is insanely mean to me. 

Seriously though, we are so proud of Scott, too. He graduated with honors and plans to attend law school next fall. 

As always, folks...Derek Zoolander.

To sum up, my brothers are the best, and graduations are another great time to celebrate with family and friends.  

Which is exactly what Joe will be doing this month with his family and friends (my transitions are just phenomenal, aren't they?!).

Joe found me online when he was looking for some Mad Men inspired invitations for his own graduation party from law school. The invitation he found is by far the one that has been requested the most from clients who have happened to come across it on the internet. Here's the original from this blog post. 

(Fun fact - this is now available in Vivian Elle's Etsy Shop! You can purchase them for your own party here.)

I put this Mad Men invitation together for one of my BFF's husband's birthday party. And just with it being out there on the internet via my little blog, I've had several people email asking if I could design something similar for a Mad Men themed party that they were throwing. 

Joe was one of these people. He emailed me a few months ago about designing a Mad Men themed invite for his graduation party. We emailed back and forth about what he wanted and then I started putting something together for him. Here's what we came up with. 

Anyone who watches Mad Men or has seen the ads for the show should recognize the familiar format of the invitation. I really wanted to keep the front simple, since we had greater plans for the back. 

I love the wording he chose - Gents, look dapper. Ladies, get your heels on.

The glass of whiskey was the actual inspiration for the invitation. Very Mad Men like. (I've honestly seen four episodes...what do I know?) Instead of putting it on the front, I decided to use it on the back, along with this quote from Henry David Thoreau that Joe liked.

I'm always nervous when I work with guys that the invitations will not be "man" enough for them. Luckily, I think that we managed to make a masculine graduation party invitation thanks to Mad Men.  At least Joe was extremely happy with the result.

I honestly love working on these fun side projects, and during the wedding off-season I'll be sharing a lot of other projects I've been working on. Next week I'll be showing some super cute moving announcements that I did for a dear old friend from college. :)

Until then, congratulations to all of the graduates out there!

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

Jaime and Dan's Thank You/New Year's Postcards

It's the first blog post of 2013. 2013. Seriously? How has this happened? IT'S 2013. 

I do hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. We spent the night ringing in the New Year with some of our best friends and their little daughter (our goddaughter), Kaylin. We did the same thing last year (minus the unborn child) and I'd just like to say this: if being in our pajamas by 9, playing Pinochle for a couple of hours, and then being in bed by 12:30 is wrong, I don't want to be right. Here's hoping that you spent your New Year's Eve doing whatever it is that you really wanted to do, too. 

But onto a fun New Year's project. 

You've already met Jaime a few times on this blog. Here, and here, to be exact. And you will see her again when I blog about the wedding extras I did for her wedding back in August. (Yes, August of 2012. I'M BEHIND, OK?!) 

Jaime wanted to do something fun for her wedding thank you cards, and since the timing happened to be right around the new year, she thought mixing their thank you cards with a new year's card might work. 

I think it did. :) 

Jaime didn't have her wedding photos back yet, but she had this one that was snapped on their wedding day. Instead of doing the traditional thank you card, we thought thank you postcards would be fun.

(I got all crafty with our Christmas tree this year, if you can't tell.)

The back was simple, with a little New Year's greeting so she wouldn't have to write that on every single thank you note.

I have to say, as much as I love opening up a letter that's tucked into an envelope, I love getting a fun little postcard in the mail. Hopefully her guests feel the same way. :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

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

Merry Christmas

{This card is now available at Vivian Elle's Etsy Shop. Click here to visit!}

So...it's not Christmas anymore. But, I am still hearing a Christmas song or two on the radio and it's currently snowing pretty hard outside, so I think I'm safe to post this Merry Christmas blog, a day late. 

I truly hope your Christmas was a merry one with your family and friends. My husband and I spent Christmas Eve with his family and Christmas day with mine. However, we actually didn't get to see my brother and his wife yesterday, so we're about to leave to go see my family again and do one last little celebration together.

But first, I just wanted to show the Christmas cards that I designed for me and my husband this year. 

You know those cards that are all over Pinterest? The Year in Review cards? As you can see, that's where the general idea came from.

This year has been big for us, so I thought that another year in review card would work well, just like last year's card.

The beginning of 2012 had us wondering where we'd be living at the end of 2012. We knew we had to be out of our condo by April, but we had no clue what would come after that.

Well, on June 1, we moved into our new house. A house that I seriously still get a little giddy about each time I pull into our driveway.

And then in October, my husband got a full time teaching job, after we had just spent the summer discussing how we were completely content with him growing his guitar business (he had about 30 students and was doing really well with it) and substitute teaching on the side.

And then in November, I got a call from my regional rep from The Knot, who told me that my business - yes, this here little business - had been selected as one of The Best of The Knot for 2013. I have honestly never worked harder on anything in my life, so to say that I was excited about this honor is a complete understatement.

So it's safe to say that our year held a few surprises for us. And I just wanted to document that, so that one day when we're 80 and look back, we can remember that this was an exciting chapter in our lives.

Here's hoping that your year held a few surprises for you, too. Merry Christmas!

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!

Kara's Baby Shower Invites

I feel like I'm having major writer's block this week. I'm looking at the pictures that I've already uploaded for this post and several thoughts are coming to mind, but I have no good starting point for this blog. So here are the things that I am thinking, but am not sure how to organize into any kind of logical order. 

1. I really enjoy designing baby shower invitations. 

2. I'm extremely thankful to my mother-in-law, who has me to do shower invitations for her friend's children. 

3. I am over-the-moon in love with the color scheme we settled on for this invitation. 

4. I hope that when I'm pregnant, I look half as good as this mom-to-be, who appears not to be pregnant if you see her from behind (I already know I won't be as fortunate - I'm short and when I gain weight, it goes to my face first...this leaves me displeased with the thought of pregnancy and half thinking that maybe I should just adopt). 

Now that I have those thoughts out of the way, let's move on to the goods (AKA - the invitations). 

Kara is the daughter of one of my mother-in-law's good friends. She also happens to have grown up with my husband, and we've been fortunate to spend some time with Kara and her husband, Chris, over the past few years. Her mom decided to throw her a baby shower after Kara and Chris found out they were having a girl and my mother-in-law, Cathy, took care of the invitations (in other words, took that job over so she could have me do them :)).  

Kara and Chris had a gender reveal party a few months ago now. A friend of theirs wrapped up a little girl onesie that they opened to see if they were having a boy or a girl. Kara and Chris's friend, Christy, of Christy Lee Designs snapped this photo of them when they had just found out they were having a little girl. 

In addition to pink, Kara really wanted to incorporate Tiffany Blue into the invitation (you know, the color that Tiffany's uses for their little boxes). I love the pink and the blue together so so much.

We finished everything off by having guests' names printed in fun little squiggly frames on the envelopes.

I had the pleasure of going to this shower and can honestly say that the invitation perfectly indicated what was to come at the shower. It was a beautiful pink and (Tiffany's) blue shower with all of the details perfectly in place. The favors were even in little Tiffany's boxes - they were these chocolates that looked like pearls. SO beautiful. And yummy.

OK, so next week I'm going to be posting a blog on something I've never done before - a logo. Eeek!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Rew's 80s Halloween Evitation

(You know I love saying evitation.)

The Halloween fun continues on Vivian Elle's blog this week, and this time I have a super low maintenance evite to a totally rad 80s Halloween party.  And I'm excited.  Hurrah!

Heidi is pretty much one of the stars of this blog. So much so that I don't even have the energy to tag every post she's shown up in. She's asked me to help her with several projects now and came to me a month or so ago to see if I could help her get ready for her 80s Halloween Party that she was throwing this year.

You see, in case you don't remember, Heidi likes to throw parties, and she is good at it. She doesn't just throw a party; she adds all of these little details that make a party great. Like, one of the best you've ever been to. You can see her adventures in partying on her blog, Parties for Pennies.

So when Heidi came to me to help her with her very first evite, we just had to get a design down and we were all set.

Here's what we came up with:

It was super fun finding a bunch of 80s fonts to use. We used Ash, Age, Nova Solid, Novecento Wide, and My Girl is Retro (my personal new favorite).

I LOVE that Heidi wanted to use the phrase "no duh." How great is that phrase? Should I try to bring it back? No? OK...

And last, but not least, I love love love the bright colors she used. That's what I love most about the 80s being back in style. The brights. Give me bright colors or give me death. (extreme)

So that's it for the Halloween fun on the blog. Next week we'll start up with regular old invitations again. Until then, I just want to wish everyone a Happy (and safe!) Halloween!

Ohhh, one last thing...have you checked out Vivian Elle's Etsy shop yet? If not, check it out!

Melissa's Halloween Party Invites

I have a confession and I would like to declare it right here, right now on this blog:

I've never really liked Halloween. 

(You're judging me, aren't you?)

I know this admission will make me wildly unpopular with every other person on the planet. I know this because I've realized over the past few years that every other person on the planet LOVES Halloween. 

I mean, it was always fun as a kid (mom - all of those years of putting me in costumes and parading me around the neighborhood were not in vain!), and I love me a good piece of chocolate, so that was always a treat, but when it comes right down to it, Halloween is just not my jam. 

Maybe it's because I don't have kids yet, so I don't get to dress them up as a little pea pod or  a pumpkin or a turnip (does anyone do a turnip?). Or maybe it's because if we actually do go to a party, I'm too cheap to buy a cool Halloween costume so I end up just throwing together something five minutes before and it's just not as cool as everyone else's costumes. 

Whatever the reason is, it is just not my favorite holiday. I have to accept this and move on with my life. 

However, do not let this cranky old non-Halloween loving lady fool you. I will work on a Halloween party invitation any and every day. So when Melissa (from here, here, and here) came to me to see if I could make a Halloween invitation for a party she was throwing for her two little boys, I was on it.

Melissa emailed me, saying that she found these invitations on Etsy, but didn't like that they were printed on photo paper. She asked if I could do something similar, and I was more than happy to help. 

I liked the green/gray color pallette more than the standard orange, and I thought these ombré-like chevron stripes were perfect for the backdrop.

I did my best to freehand our little spider there. I think he's gangly and cute. :) 

We used plain white envelopes. Guest's addresses fit nicely in between the two chevron stripes that we included on them. 

Melissa is such a sweet mom to these two boys and I know that she will throw them a killer Halloween party.

Next week, I'll show a fun 80s Halloween party email invitation that I did for one of my BFFs. The Halloween fun continues and I promise I'm excited about it. :)

But reeeaaalllly quickly before I go, if you haven't seen Vivian Elle's Etsy shop yet, hop on over there, would you?  Click here to view our new shop and check out the Grand Opening special - if you purchase your Holiday Photo Cards before November 1, you'll get 25 free cards (you're overly excited, aren't you?).

Also, Vivian Elle's Etsy Shop now has baby announcements! Did you just have a new little bundle of joy? Show your beautiful baby off with one of our photo cards. Here are some of the new designs.

Winnie's Baby Announcements

Way more years ago than I want to admit, I began my junior year of college with a super cool R.A. She was a senior and just like her good friend Jenny (whose wedding invites were talked about here), she had the best design sense. In fact, to this day, I remember the little name plates she made for the girls on our hall because they were so cute. 

(Did people that went to big universities have their names on their doors or was that just because I went to a small private school? I've always wondered about this.)

Anyways, this super cool R.A. was named Winnie and she contacted me after her third baby boy was born this past April to see if I could do a baby announcement for her. 

And of course, I said yes. Because who would say no to helping someone declare to the world that this face was now here?

Is this picture not the cutest thing?

I just felt like a simple design would do since Samuel's picture says enough in and of itself.

Font is Big Caslon Medium. Free, of course.

I also love the wording that Winnie chose - "loved by brothers Jack and Henry, gracious gift from God for his parents Jake and Winnie."

I loved doing a little baby announcement for this adorable little guy's mom. He is one lucky baby and I'm sure he will always have the most well crafted name displays in his room. :)

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

Brandon and Mary's Rehearsal Dinner Invites

Every year around this time, I start getting excited for fall. It's not that I don't want to live it up in August, because I do (fun fact - August is probably my favorite month of the year). It's just that fall is so spectacular that I must take time just to anticipate its coming. 

The great thing about this particular fall is that Luke and I have two very special weddings to attend, both of which will include us traveling to different destinations. You'll hear plenty about this gal's west Michigan wedding in weeks to come, but today I want to show off the first of a few projects that I'm doing for a wedding of one of our close friends, Brandon, and his fiancée, Mary. 

In September, Luke and I will be driving down to Washington, D.C. to celebrate Brandon and Mary's wedding and Luke will be standing up as his best man. Luke is so honored to be such a special part of the day and we are thrilled to celebrate with them next month. 

Brandon and Mary asked me if I could help them out with some of the extras in their wedding. You'll see a few things that we're doing for the actual wedding day in the next month or so, but I wanted to share their rehearsal dinner invitations right this second. 

Mary had the idea to have a picnic themed rehearsal dinner invite. They're holding the dinner on the rooftop of her apartment and she wanted people to know that it was going to be a more casual event - something they didn't have to dress up for. She thought the picnic theme would do the trick. 

Here's what we came up with.

Coming up with a picnic themed invitation was actually a lot harder for me that I thought it would be. I didn't want anything kid-ish, and there are just a lot of ideas that come to mind right away that are a little kid-ish. 

So instead we went for the picture of a place setting on a picnic table cloth look. I thought this said, "cool and casual rehearsal dinner on a rooftop" rather than "pack a lunch and bring your kids down to the park."

Isn't the font delightful? It's Albemarle Swatches and it's free. I absolutely love those swirls. 

I love how the silverware just completes the whole look. And I must point out that in the picture you can see the texture of the beautiful white linen card stock that we used. It's one of my favorite Envelopments card stocks by far.

So that's it. Just about a month left and we'll be down in D.C. celebrating with Brandon and Mary. I'm so thankful to contribute a little bit to their wedding in my role as the best man's wife. That is an actual role, yes? :)

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

Ashley's Hostess Brunch Invitations

This is a blog post about Ashley, who happens to be my sister-in-law. More specifically, it's about postcards that Ashley had me design for a brunch that she's hosting.

You see, Ashley works full time AND sells Premier Designs Jewelry. She works Premier like it's nobody's business. She's very determined and does several shows a month. Here she is advertising her business, in a photo that has made me laugh no less than 16 times.

The clip art beret kills me. 

At this time next week I will be in Virginia with Ashley and my brother, Jeff, and we will be so delighted to see each other (since I get to see them about twice a year now) that maybe we will do this:

(Is it just me or was TGIF the best thing ever in the early 90s?)

Ashley's drive is only one of the things that is so great about her. If she says she's going to do something, she does it, and she does it well. She is well spoken and professional, but can also be ridiculously goofy with me, which is something I consider to be of utmost importance in any relationship. Above everything else, she is a great complement to my brother, and I'm thankful that she is a part of our family.

All this to say, I love Ashley and was more than happy to help her out with these postcards. Since she has her own Premier Designs jewelry business, she has a bunch of hostesses that have done jewelry shows for her. She wanted to have a brunch to show her appreciation to them and wanted to make it Parisian themed (is anyone else thinking about the Parisian shower in Bridesmaids?), so we came up with these postcards.

We thought the pink stripes were very Parisian and I loved the addition of the Eiffel Tower as the 'A'.

Placard Condensed and Lavanderia were the fonts we used for the front of the postcard.

On the back, we have all of the information needed, and we used the same fonts and added Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC for the basic wording of the invitation.

I love the way that the gold looked with the pink, and I love the little chandelier behind 'Parisian Getaway'!

Postcards are a great way to invite people to a party, announce your new baby, or announce that you moved. I love the simplicity of just stamping them and sticking them in the mail. I loved Ashley's vision and I am so glad she contacted me to carry it out!

Next week I have some really cool, modern (inspired by West Elm) wedding invitations that I can't wait to show!

**BONUS VIDEO**

While looking for a YouTube video to accurately describe how excited I am to see Ashley and Jeff, I also came across this gem of a video. Please enjoy.