Valentines

My son is obsessed with tractors, especially John Deere tractors. He has a John Deere cap that he wears  everyday -- it's the first thing he puts on in the morning, and the last thing he takes off at night. His teachers joked that they might not recognize him without it.

So when my friend Becky sent me this pin, I had to scrap the bubble-themed valentines I was originally planning and put my spin on these.

We used some fun valentine's Washi tape and attached little Valentine themed bubble wands from Michael's to the back. Hope everyone enjoys them!

Construction Party details

Yesterday I shared the invitations I made for my son's Construction themed birthday party. Here are some of the details we had.

Sawhorse set up at the end of the driveway with balloons (including a dump truck mylar balloon from dollar tree!). A sign read "Builder's Entrance" and the sawhorse was flanked by traffic cones. A sign that said "Dietrich's Construction Site" hung near the mailbox:

A "Hard Hat Area" sign was taped to the gate door, and 2 saw horses were set up and held construction hates, each with a personalized sticker. The stickers had a "3" ghosted in the background with "DGRR 3 Builders Construction Crew" running around the edges:

I made a banner that hung from the fence and read "Dietrich is 3!". A "Dig In!" sign was taped to the fence above the food table, and some small wooden toolboxes I built from Home Depot kits held napkins and silverware:

Playtime! We had the regular sandbox (which we labeled an "Excavation Site" and hid bags with candy and easter eggs filled with coins for the kids to dig up), the truck sandbox, and a wrecking ball game using the cardboard brick blocks and a ball:

The cake was a chocolate layer cake and I decorated it with a dump truck toy filled with chocolate cake balls which ran down the side of the cake. We also had chocolate and funfetti cupcakes with homemade chocolate tool disk toppers:

The favors were sand buckets filled with Construction Dough (cans of play doh with custom labels), construction tools (some playdoh tools in a cellophane bag), bubbles, construction truck stickers, and builder's chalk. Each was wrapped up with some yellow cellophane and had a tag with each child's name on it. A large round sticker said "Thanks for Digging with me!"  For the adults, I made dump truck lollipops and small chocolate dump truck candies. They were individually packaged in cellophane bags and then went into the yellow chevron bags with a small tag stapled on. All of the pieces used orange & white baker's twine as an accent.

Andrew & Carly's Wedding Stationery

My cousin, Andrew, and his bride, Carly, tied the knot back in October. 

Their wedding was wonderful -- good food, great music, and excellent company.

When we talked about what they wanted for their invitations, Carly wanted to create a heart motif made using their fingerprints to create the shape, but was open to other ideas as well. I've always wanted to create this tree design and their wedding was my perfect opportunity. We incorporated the heart into the tree trunk and carried it throughout the rest of the stationery.

Purple metallic pocket invitation with silver accents:

Close up of the monogram:

RSVPs incorporated meal choices for the guests:

Custom map on the back of the directions cards:

Since their colors were purple and silver, so we used different colored tents for each dinner entrée -- dark purple, light purple, silver, and a handful of off-white tents.

Sign for the cupcake display:

Tented table numbers incorporating the thumbprint heart:

Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness!

It's a girl!

My family welcomed a new baby this summer -- a little four-legged girl! Here are the puppy announcements that I created and sent out with our Christmas cards. Better late than never! It's fun to see how much she's changed since we brought her home. :)

These are a great size card and give lots of room for photos -- I've gotten so many messages from friends and family about how much they have loved Gracie's announcements!

Airplane 2nd Birthday -- Details!

I posted yesterday about my son's Airplane Themed 2nd Birthday. Here are some of the details from the party:

Arrivals sign with some balloons -- I love the blue ones with the clouds I found online!

Welcome sign attached to our backyard gate:

"Happy 2nd Birthday Dietrich" Banner hanging from the fence above the food table:

Custom water bottle labels:

Red & White Paper straws with disks:

Decorate your foam glider craft:

The cake -- airplane shaped chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. I ran out of time (lost my motivation) by this point, so we just kept it white:

Make a wish!

Not-so-great pic of me and the birthday boy (note our pilot's wings!):

 Baggage Claim Area: Black "luggage" favor tags for the kids and the suitcase filled with favors for the adults:

Inside the bags were a pair of sunglasses, temporary tattoos, a punching bag balloon, and a lollipop:

Custom-made favor pouches held 1 oz. bags of Planters Peanuts for the adults -- it's just not an airplane party without peanuts! 

The Departures sign had everyone leave through the backyard gate instead of going through the house:

This child did not stop playing until we brought him up to bed...

Airplane themed 2nd Birthday Invitation

My sweet boy started to obsess about airplanes a few months ago, right around 

when I started planning his second birthday. Here are the invitations 

that I came up with for him.... 

I was torn between doing a traditional flat 5x7 invitation, a boarding pass, 

and a passport. I decided to just go for it with an airplane ticket folder

 and a boarding pass-style invitation. 

The folder:

Close-up of the pocket of the folder -- 

the Dietrich Airways logo was carried through on all of the stationery:

I love the "2" that the plane makes in the background -- if you look closely, 

you'll see it in the middle of the invitation, too:

One of the many details -- pilot wings for all of the kids, plus ones for hubby and I!

I purchased foam gliders online as a craft for the kids -- everyone had an opportunity to use markers, stickers, or paint (for the older kids) to customize their own glider. Here's the one I made -- after they decorated their glider, they got the pair of wings made with their initial.

Close-up of the wings: 

Twist it up, Holiday Style!

I'm incredibly late in posting these, but they are too cute (if I say so myself!) not to share!

front side

reverse side, along with the message

Puppy Love

My first baby turned the big 1-0 today. Double digits is definitely a big deal, so we had a little family birthday party for him this past weekend. He was thrilled!

The invites are a bone shaped invite in tea length (approx 4" x 9"). I used a photo of him from our vacation to Maine last year for the top half, and my husband came up with the little poem. These were hand-duplexed, so the red layer on the back was printed with the bone/heart pattern and adhered to the front layer before they were all cut out.

Enjoying his Carvel cake!