10/02/2014

Bug Birthday Party

Hi there, Oh So Beautiful Paper readers! Audrey here again, and this timeÂ I’m giving you a peek into some of my family life at home when I’m not working at Urbanic. When my eldest son Javin came to me and said that he wanted a ‘bug party’ for his 6th birthday, I admittedly wasn’t too excited about this. I imagined that it was going to be tough to find a way to keep this party from becoming overly cutesy or un-attractively creepy. I spent some time searching for design inspiration and came up with a plan to make it work with a little bit of crafting and some food fun.

For decor, I mounted plastic insect ‘specimens’ to hexagon colored card stocks and strung a bitten leaf Â birthday banner which we had punched lots of holes in! All of the foods were healthy small bites inspired by insects. We had ‘lady bug bites’, ‘caterpillar kabobs’, ‘ants on a log’, and then sang Happy Birthday with a ‘dirt cake’ made up of chocolate mousse, whipped cream and cookie crumbs. The kids each had their own adorable serving crowned with a gummy worm!Â

The activities we hosted for the children consisted of a bug bounce and a bee toss. We also made kids sized play stations that involved little games and challenges with plastic bugs.

For favors, we punched holes in the lids of mason jars and turned them into lady bug habitats. The kids got to take them home and release into their yards. We added a little legend to each jar about how special lady bugs are and they ways they can benefit a garden. They whole thing was so fun … except getting those lady bugs into the mason jars!

– Audrey

PS Here’s where I found everything: ladybugsÂ ,Â dirtcake, cute signage,Â Â spaceships & laserbeamsÂ invitation download,Â plastic bugs, mason jars + magnifying glasses

09/22/2014

Caroline’s Strawberry First Birthday Party!

I’ve asked some of my favorite creative mamas to help out while I’m away with our new baby. Today, one of my oldest blog friends â€“ Kathryn from Snippet & Ink â€“ is sharing the amazing photos and incredible details from her daughter’s strawberry-inspired first birthday party! â€“Nole

I’m just so excited for Nole right now! Babies are the best! While Nole takes some time with her new little one, I thought it might be fun to share some pics from my daughter’s first birthday party. Starting with the invitations, of course… â€“ Kathryn of Snippet & Ink

Strawberries are pretty much my daughter’s favorite thing in life, so we made that the main motif for her birthday party. Courtney at Swiss Cottage Designs took our strawberry inspiration and created these darling invitations for us.

I don’t get crafty nearly as often as I’d like, but ever since I got my hands on Paper to Petal, I couldn’t wait to make some paper flowers. Party hats seemed like the perfect place to put them!

Each month of Caroline’s first year, we took a photo of her in a white camisole next to a chalkboard that said “1 month old,” “2 months old,” etc. I didn’t really want to do a big display with them, but I did think it would be fun to share them in some way at the party. I decided to make them into an album that guests could write in, and we had it on a table with a sign that read: “Please leave a note for Caroline, sharing advice, words of wisdom, or a wish or hope for her future.” (MyPublisher had a deal for new customers, so I used that for the album and ended up only have to pay for shipping.)

For seating we used tables borrowed from my mom and neighbors and covered them with checked linens from La Tavola. For centerpieces, we clustered terra cotta pots of white impatiens, bacopa, and strawberries â€“ we weren’t sure there would actually be berries on them by the time of the party, so it was a fun surprise when there were!

In keeping with the berry theme, I packaged the party favors in little wood berry baskets from Garnish. They included bubbles (wrapped in tissue paper), sidewalk chalk, a strawberry lollipop, and freeze-dried strawberries. We didn’t plan activities for the kids, and instead just let them run around with bubbles and sidewalk chalk.

We served mini sandwiches and pasta salad for lunch, and with the help of my mom and sisters, we did a dessert table: chocolate chip cookies, malted chocolate pots de creme, berry shortcakes, lemon raspberry cupcakes, caramel corn, and a sponge cake with strawberries and mascarpone whipped cream frosting. Not surprisingly, Caroline was way more interested in the berries than in the cake.

Since I look at pretty parties all day long as part of my job, it was really fun to get to actually throw one, but it was also exhausting â€“ there’s no way I could have pulled it off without lots of help from our families. In the end it was a really special day, which had little to do with all the details I planned, and had everything to do with the wonderful people who helped us celebrate our Caroline!

Photos: Leah McCormick
Invitations: Swiss Cottage Designs
Linens: La Tavola

08/12/2014

A Frozen Cocktail Party

It’s August, which here in DC means plenty of long and hot summer days. So for the next installment in our summer cocktail party series, we’re partnering with St-GermainÂ to offer some ideas to help cool off with friends. I was also super excited to collaborate with the amazingly talented ladies of Sweet Root VillageÂ for this project on both the photography and beautiful floral arrangements. The result is my favorite yet in the series: a frozen cocktail party!

Shannon from The Paper Cub designed the invitations â€“ I’m a huge fan of her unique hand lettering style! The invitations also feature illustrations of fruit, cold drinks, and other summer motifs perfect for a late summerÂ gathering. Lauren from A Fabulous FeteÂ (and one of our talented DIY contributors!) addressed the envelopes in her whimsical style using bright pink watercolor.

Okay â€“ now onto the party! Our overall inspiration came from bright summer colors â€“ specifically aqua, pink, and yellow â€“ and anything beachy or summery. I’m a big fan of creating individual stations at a party to keep guests moving around and avoid a bottleneck around the bar. So for this cocktail party we designed three cocktail stations, each featuring a different frozen recipe designed to be enjoyed with a group of friends. Our first cocktail station features our first ever cocktail granita: a St-Germain and blackberry granita! (On a related note: I now want to granita everything.)

Remember Lauren’s DIY tutorial for these awesome spray painted acrylic menu signs? Here they are in action! The giant pink and blue popsicle was made withÂ crepe paper fringe and gold mylar fringe based on this tutorial from Jordan.

The floral arrangements from Sweet Root VillageÂ included bright shades of yellow and pink with air plants and succulents mixed in â€“ along with a few smaller arrangements with fragrant tuberose and succulents in small terra cotta pots. I love the combination of different textures in all the arrangements!

For our second cocktail station, I created a bar sign using paper flowers piecedÂ together from differentÂ Paper Source flower kits and giant letters cut from cardboard boxes. We mixed in some colorful honeycombs in our party colors â€“ and of course more beautiful floral arrangements. It was the perfect backdrop for our second cocktail: a frozen St-Germain daiquiri!

Our third cocktail station features another acrylic cocktail sign that I made using Lauren’s DIY tutorial â€“ and what might be my favorite idea from the entire day: build-your-own St-Germain margarita snow cones! We mixed our margarita base with three different syrups inspired by our favorite summer flavors: mint-basil, watermelon, and blueberry. You can also enjoy the syrups by themselves for a non-alcoholic version, or even turn the syrups into popsicles!

I love the idea of repurposing party decor as favors â€“ so our air plants and tiny potted succulents became favors with the help of a beautiful watercolor calligraphy sign by Lauren.

Â Stay tuned for theÂ cocktail recipes in just a bit!

Invitation Design: The Paper Cub

Calligraphy:Â Lauren Saylor ofÂ A Fabulous Fete

Floral Design:Â Sweet Root Village

Styling: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photo Credits:Â Sweet Root VillageÂ for Oh So Beautiful Paper

This post is brought to you in collaboration withÂ St-Germain.Â AllÂ content, photos, recipes, and words are our own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!

04/08/2014

Mother’s Day Brunch Inspiration

Nikki from Akula Kreative sent over this lovely brunch that she and her family put together to celebrate her mother’s 60th birthday. Nikki and her co-conspirators drew inspiration from her mom’s favorite activities â€“ cooking and reading â€“ to create this library-inspired brunch. And not only is it a beautiful birthday party, but with Mother’s Day coming up it also provides some fabulous Mother’s Day brunch inspiration!

From Nikki: As far as hobbies go, my mom loves two things: cooking and reading. We (her kids) always joke about how “fancy” her book club is because the ladies spend WEEKS preparing to host. Each meeting is centered around a multi-course dinner in which the food, dÃ©cor, and even music corresponds to that month’s book. So, when it came time to think of a surprise for her, I decided on a “brunch party” set on the library patio of a local inn. Over the fireplace, we hung tassel garland in gold and pink (the colors of the party). Under it, we placed a framed sign that read, “Welcome to the Li-brary :: food and drink required.” (Our family name is Li.) Flanking the frame we placed my mom’s initials: giant wood letters covered with pages of a vintage dictionary.

For the invitation, I made a mini book titled “The Book of Momisms.” On the inside cover, I defined “momism” as “a mother’s spoken phrase or word (real or invented) that provides endless entertainment to her children.” In other words…if my mom isn’t making up a new word, she’s making up a new definition for an existing word or saying something ridiculous. It’s endearing, frustrating, and funny all at the same time, and my brother and I record them on a regular basis.

On subsequent pages of the invitation, I included brunch details, a map, and a few prime examples of momisms. One of my favorite details is the custom wax seal of a fork and spoon. We glued these to ribbons that guests could use as bookmarks for cookbooks.

On the tables, we used a kraft paper runner printed with giant silverware. On top, we placed small groupings of vintage books (borrowed from the library) next to the existing vases of flowers at the inn. Inside each vase was a stick-mounted sign that read “Shhh” on one side and “Less talking, more eating” on the other.

Sprinkled throughout were votives (also mod-podged in vintage dictionary pages) and the fork-and-spoon motif cut from gold paper.
Table tent cards were designed to mimic library cards, each highlighting a classic momism. For favors, my aunts baked homemade biscotti. Attached to each bag was a mini tear-off bookmark that read “Eat, read, and be merry.” Last but not least, we splurged on tray-passed Mom-osas.

Thanks Nikki!

Photo Credits: Caroline Tran

03/05/2014

Wedding Stationery Inspiration: Best Day Ever

Your wedding day is the “best day ever,” so why not scream it from the rooftops!? I love seeing couples incorporate the fun phrase into their wedding stationery and decor. It’s perfect for casual, light-hearted weddings where the couple just wants everyone to have fun. If that sounds like a wedding you’d like… here are some of my favorite “Best Day Ever” ideas for you! â€”Kelly

Day-of Wedding Stationery Inspiration: Best Day Ever via Oh So Beautiful Paper