Oh So Beautiful Paper

These birthday party invitations from Tara at Cracked Designs are so fun and creative!  Created for her son Beckett’s 2nd birthday party, Tara created a complete invitation field manual booklet inspired by old school camping manuals and Boy Scout merit badges.  Such a great idea for a birthday party theme!

From Tara: My husband and I often refer to our son Beckett as “Sass-quatch,” mostly because he’s had a case of the terrible twos ever since he turned one. When brainstorming for Beckett’s 2nd birthday party, I knew that a play on the name of the mythical “Sasquatch” turned “Sass-quatch” theme would be perfect for our little monster.

I’ve always loved vintage camping & Boy Scout images, and thought it would be really unique to plan a party with the idea of having an “Exploration of the Sass-Quatch” as the concept for the party invitations.  I wanted the invitation suite to feel very old school and earthy, with an overall camping vibe.  I turned the invitation into a booklet, complete with an “Official Sass-quatch Explorer Society” logo that drew inspiration from vintage girl and boy scout merit badges.

I had fun coming up with all the text for the invites, and wanted to make it feel like the guests were reading their very own Sass-quatch guidebook.  I printed out the cover of the invitation on heavyweight kraft paper.  Each invitation booklet was assembled and placed in a drawstring cotton muslin pouch with hand-drawn arrows, then placed in a kraft paper envelope and sealed with a round sticker.

For the actual party, we turned our house into a full on forest, complete with cardboard trees and a giant sass-quatch cut out hiding amongst the trees. Guests created their own little terrariums in vintage glass jars.  I kept the theme from the invitations running strong in all of the elements of the party, so everyone got the full sass-quatch exploration experience!

Thanks Tara!

Photo Credits: Cracked Designs

Oh my, how time flies!  It seems like just yesterday Lisa from Good on Paper sent over the circus-inspired first birthday party invitations that she created for her son Lucas.  Today, nearly a year later, we’re sharing the invitations that Lisa created for his second birthday party!  For this year’s invitation design, Lisa was inspired by some adorable photos of Lucas playing hide-and-seek – such a cute idea!

From Lisa: I used a photo that I just love of Lucas playing hide and seek.  He was being super quiet and still but then I saw his feet poking out from under the shades and it was the cutest thing.  I designed a little half moon enclosure envelope and put the other photo of him popping out from behind the shade on the actual invitation.

We are doing a “round” theme (balloons, round food items like meatballs, donut holes, mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, and renting a cute snow cone truck).  The entire invitation was delivered in translucent envelopes sealed with Japanese washi tape and a custom wraparound address label.

Thanks Lisa!

Good on Paper is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of Lisa’s amazing work right here!

Photo Credits: Good on Paper

I love a kid’s party invitation that is just all about fun and celebration, and these birthday party invitations from Nichole of Coral Pheasant definitely fit the bill!  Nichole was inspired by the uber-girly inspiration board created by the birthday girl’s mama, with lots of pink, playful fonts, and a scallop border – not to mention beautiful calligraphed addresses.  So cute!

From Nichole: When an old col­lege friend reached out to me to design a first birth­day invitation for her daughter Paloma, I knew we were in for some fun.  As an artist herself, Audra had been busy developing a pink piggy-themed inspiration board on Pinterest filled with graphic patterns and loads of tulle and ruffles.  With so much eye candy I quickly developed a super-sweet invitation for the most adorable little girl.

The design is a mix of a play­ful script and a chunky mod­ern font with vary­ing shades of pink and the scal­loped edge adds a play­ful touch to the piece.  A small photo card doc­u­ment­ing each month of Paloma’s first year was tucked into a glas­sine enve­lope and mailed with the invitation.  Hands down, my favorite part of the suite is the piggy snout and curly tail label that wraps around the shim­mer pink mail­ing box sealing it shut.  Audra com­pleted the suite by pen­ning the beau­ti­ful cal­lig­ra­phy on all of the boxes.  She is one talented mama!

Thanks so much Nichole!

Photo Credits: Coral Pheasant

Happy Leap Day everyone!  Julie from Duet Letterpress sent over the most adorable letterpress invitations that she designed and printed for a first birthday party last summer.  These invitations were inspired in part by the invitations that Julie created for her daughter Emily’s first birthday, featuring both an invitation to the birthday celebration along with a certificate marking important milestones during Lawson’s first year.

From Julie: To celebrate Lawson’s first birthday, his parents threw him a party inspired by Curious George.  They wanted something similar to Em’s invitations, but in the style of his party.  In addition to Curious George, the party was a vintage take on classic stories.  Rustic red, pale blue, navy, and a cheerful yellow made up the party’s color palette.

Lawson’s foot and hand prints were letterpress printed true to size.  Lawson was tiny at birth, and his feet were only 1 3/4″ long!  We made the “year of firsts” card a different size from the actual invitation and bound them together with yellow twine.  Finally, a two color, letterpress printed, wraparound mailing label was affixed to each pale blue envelope.

Thanks so much Julie!

Photo Credits: Duet Letterpress