Porter turns 2!
It's hard to believe, but our baby just turned two! To celebrate the day, we hosted a Dr. Seuss-themed birthday party at our house. Porter is obsessed with Dr. Seuss books so it seemed appropriate to devote the day to his books.
Using the "Cat in the Hat" image and polka-dot pattern in one of my favorite color combinations of red and turquoise, the invitation set the tone for the party. Seussical rhymes were a must for inviting guests and I also incorporated a rhyme to tell guests that there would be an Easter egg hunt, since his birthday party would be over the Easter weekend.
I chose fun red envelopes for the invitation set and printed “Oh the places he’ll go, the things he’ll do, now that Porter will be two!” on the flap and my return address at the bottom of the envelope.
The envelope flap:
To dress up the envelopes and make them one-of-a-kind, I created handmade envelope liners from old Dr. Seuss books. I simply went to Half Price books to purchase some of Dr. Seuss' popular books, and then created a liner template.With a pencil, I used the template to draw the liner onto a page of a book, and then trimmed it out. I adhered the book page to the inside of the envelope with double-sided tape. And voila, each envelope had its own unique Dr. Seuss liner.
The custom envelope liners:
I created a "Porter I Am" banner (an obvious play on "Sam I Am") by printing each letter on 8.5" x 11" cardstock, rounding the corners of each and threading red sheer organza ribbon through.
For the party, I printed out popular Dr. Seuss quotes and affixed them around the house.
A crumb even too small for a mouse (from the Dr. Seuss book "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"):
Peep and strawberry "pops" (I purchased foam squares and wrapped them with red and white striped wrapping paper to insert the lollipop sticks into):
I made “Green Eggs & Ham” by adding green dye to deviled eggs. The hot ham and swiss cheese sliders were a huge hit. I'm not sure if it was the Hawaiian buns or that they were drizzled with a tangy mustard and black poppy sauce, but they were gone fast! Recipe below.
A friend of mine, Brandie Davis, made the two cakes (her company is called More Than Cakes). She is amazingly talented and I recommend her to anyone! She hand drew all of the Dr. Seuss characters on the red velvet sheet cake. She also designed a Dr. Seuss hat cake. When you cut into it, the hat was striped with white cake and red velvet cake! Not only were the cakes beautiful but they were beyond delicious...so moist and flavorful.
The favor bags were filled with a home-made Dr. Seuss crayon case (purchased from Just Because Bowtique on
http://www.etsy.com/), crayons, coloring book and play-doh:
Photos of the birthday boy from birth to two years:
Easter egg hunt and cascarones (eggs filled with confetti):
Photo Booth with Dr. Seuss Hats:
I used the "Happy Birthday To You" book by Dr. Seuss as Porter's guest book:
Graphic design by The Inviting Pear
The Inviting Pear is a graphic design and stationery studio, specializing in custom, made-to-order wedding invitations & stationery, birth announcements, holiday cards, and corporate logos & branding.
Sources: By no means do I take full credit for the ideas found above. There are so many cool blogs out there with Dr. Seuss-themed parties. I recommend you search for them as I did and put your own take on it. Here's one blog that I loved. You'll also find the ham and cheese sliders recipe here: http://annies-eats.com/2010/06/28/andrews-second-birthday-party/ Labels: 2 year old party, Austin, banner, birthday party invitation, custom invitations, Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss quotes, photos, Shannon Ferguson, Texas, the inviting pear
Posted by invitingpear at 4:27 PM
Nature-inspired wedding
Save the dates:
Wedding invitation pocketfold (left image shows the outside of the pocketfold with monogram seal; right image shows the inside of the pocketfold with staggered enclosure cards):
Labels: Austin, bluebonnets, cattle brand monogram, custom designed save the dates, Custom wedding invitations, diagonal pocketfold, nature, pine tree, Shannon Ferguson, Texas, the inviting pear
Posted by invitingpear at 12:09 PM
Featured on Style Me Pretty blog!
Anna and Ryan's beautiful and eclectic "Flight of Fancy" wedding is featured on the Style Me Pretty blog. Enjoy the article!
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/04/19/austin-wedding-from-the-inviting-pear-clink/
For additional information on the details of wedding, please visit my blog at
http://theinvitingpear.blogspot.com/2010/11/flight-of-fancy-wedding.html
http://theinvitingpear.blogspot.com/2010/05/flight-of-fancy-save-date.html
Design by The Inviting PearLabels: Austin, Clink, custom designed save the dates, custom invitations, custom monogram, flight of fancy, Shannon Ferguson, Style Me Pretty, Texas, the inviting pear
Posted by invitingpear at 9:15 AM
Business Collateral for Pilot Knob Vineyard
When I met Ross at Pilot Knob Vineyard, he told me how they had gone through several graphic designers and weren't happy with the results. After meeting and going through my portfolio, Ross and Craig hired me. What more could I ask for than to design collateral for a vineyard?! Too cool.
With their corporate branding in place, I designed a 2-sided rack card, describing the vineyard, their wines and event services available. In addition, I created a custom-drawn map on the back. The card will be distributed at the vineyard as well as areas around downtown (the vineyard is only 45 minutes from downtown Austin!).
For their wine tastings, they wanted a "placemat" of sorts. The concept is brilliant: The flight of wine will be delivered to the guest, with each wine glass placed onto a number on the placemat. I designed table cards that correspond with the number on the placemat. Each number on the table card describes the actual wine that the guest is drinking. No more drinking a flight of wine with no idea which wine you are enjoying!
The grand opening for the vineyard is this Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information on the event, please visit
http://www.pilotknobvineyard.com/. I hope to see you there!
Front and back of rack card:
Front:
Back:
Wine tasting placemat:
Design by The Inviting Pear
To see past designs, please visit:
http://www.theinvitingpear.blogspot.com/Labels: Austin, branding, brochure, corporate collateral, Pilot Knob Vineyards, rack card, Shannon Ferguson, Texas, the inviting pear, wine tasting placemat
Posted by invitingpear at 11:01 AM
Notecards
I love designing collateral for businesses! Denise of Thompson Poole Photography (amazing photographers!) contacted me to create their notecards. She wanted them to be an unusual shape so we selected a 4" x 9" size (great size because it's different for a notecard but it still takes standard postage). Staying true to their branding, the notecards were printed on one side on white linen cover stock. Voila...fun and functional notecards!
Design by The Inviting Pear
To see past designs, please visit:
http://www.theinvitingpear.blogspot.com/Labels: Austin, Business collateral, linen cardstock, notecards, Shannon Ferguson, Texas, the inviting pear
Posted by invitingpear at 1:44 PM
Classic Invitation with Belly band
What's more beautiful than the classic color combination of sage green, gold and cream?! I created an invitation with a floral scroll design and affixed it to sage green and gold metallic backings. To add emphasis to the bride and groom's names, I designed a belly band that wrapped around the set. When mailed, their accommodations card (hotel block info) and response card/envelope were tucked under the belly band in the back.
Invitation set with belly band wrapped around:
Invitation with belly band removed:
Invitation set:
Accommodations and response cards:
Design by The Inviting Pear
http://www.theinvitingpear.blogspot.com/Labels: Austin, belly band, custom invitations, envelope addressing, Gold, sage green, Shannon Ferguson, Texas, the inviting pear
Posted by invitingpear at 2:01 PM
