One of the highlights of my crazy week was co-hosting a bridal shower for John’s sister, a topic of much discussion on this blog. Her wedding is coming up in just less than one month, so I figured it was high time to show you the finished project! To recap, I gathered inspiration here, shared our inspiration board here, and sent out these invitations. See all of the credits on the original post! One of Marget’s best friends graciously allowed us to host the shower in her apartment, and it turned out to be the perfect size for our intimate gathering – about 15 gals. The food table was the main focal point, and I have to say, I’m pretty proud of our spread! I designed a menu in Illustrator to match the invitations (I used the Love*Jenna clipart from this PDF for the frame – great resource!). The individual servings of fruit salad with washi tape-secured cocktail forks were a big hit! (I was inspired by this birthday party.) The plastic cups and forks were from Party City. Rounding out the edibles were individual cups of cut veggies (we added the ranch dressing right before guests were scheduled to arrive), delicious cucumber sandwiches (we loosely followed this recipe), and deviled eggs. The veggie cups were also from Party City, and happily, we were able to save and hand wash many of them for use at a future party! We did a really fun “mix your own mimosa” bar for drinks, with orange, grapefruit, and strawberry apple mix-ins. Finally, for dessert, we had quite the spread: a fruit tart, a carrot cake, and a donut croquembouche! One note, if you’re thinking of making something similar: buy a lot of donut holes!! I think we used about 75 on this baby

Hello, friends! Today I’m in New York on a work project. I flew into JFK yesterday, rented a car, drove it all around Manhattan picking up various packages (a hair-raising experience for this small town girl!), and then headed upstate. Once out of New Jersey, the drive couldn’t have been more beautiful! Up the side of one mountain then down the other, over and over. And in each valley, a diminutive town, reliably consisting of a church, a tree-lined main street, a few very enticing antique stores, and a restaurant or two. Farther up, the mix weighted more heavily to farmland, healthily dotted with cows. The only word for it was picturesque. I’m glad I had that restful drive, because I’m in for a whirlwind week, y’all. Tomorrow I’ve got the big work project all day, then Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll be at the National Stationery Show. My week culminates with Marget’s long-awaited bridal shower on Saturday. I’m so excited to surprise her with all we’ve been planning! Here’s a little teaser of a project I was finished up this weekend: Can’t wait to share!!

[Note: I am offering a downloadable PDF of this invitation in my Etsy store!] After getting inspired and nailing down a few details, it was time to whip up some invitations for my future sister in law’s bridal shower! After coming across this pin, I knew I had my jumping off point. I played around in Illustrator until I had a design I was happy with, and this is what I came up with! The fonts I used were Brandon Grotesque (the sans serif) and Baskerville (the italic, the same one used by Kate Spade itself!). I originally intended for the invitation to be two single-sided pieces of paper held together with a brad of some sort, but as I was formatting everything for printing, I realized it would be better (and cheaper!) to print it double-sided. I used UPrinting for the job and was very pleased with the results. I did have to do some fiddling around with my file to make sure everything was aligned correctly, so don’t be discouraged if you have to do the same! The card size is 4.25×6 inches, on 13 pt uncoated cardstock. Let me tell you, it’s worth it to have things professionally printed just so you don’t have to cut each piece to size by hand!! With a double-sided project, that was an especial relief. I jazzed the invitations up a little more by hand-gluing gold sequins to each one. I know that sounds time-consuming, but it really wasn’t! Here’s the side by side comparison: I ordered raspberry A6 envelopes from Paper Presentation, and was so relieved when they were a perfect color match. Initially, my thought was to punch a heart-shaped cut-out in the flap of every invite, glue a square of gold glitter paper to peek through, and then

There is almost nothing I enjoy more than throwing a party for someone I love. I’ll take any excuse, really, but when I actually have a legitimate opportunity to go all out, all the better! This is just one reason why I am delighted to be throwing a bridal shower this spring for my future sister-in-law, John’s sister. Speaking of which, Miss M, this would be your cue to step away from the blog :) Marget is one of the most stylish people I know, and I think she really embodies the “Kate Spade girl,” if you will. She is quick, and curious, and playful, and strong, indeed! Marget’s sister and I quickly decided the world of “live colorfully” would be a perfect theme for her shower, and my first step was to put together this inspiration board to guide us as we collected and planned. Details: Bold red lipsticks by Kate Spade in O Magazine (via Kate Spade), mini strawberry pancakes, stripe-y table setting by Amber Karson Events via Inspired By This (photo by Katie Stoops) Dahlia, garden rose, and ranunculus centerpiece from D Magazine, pink and red arrangement by McKenzie Powell (photo by Char Beck via Coco + Kelley) Colorful Kate Spade magazine ad, gray and white polka dot linen photo from Lonny, gold glitter mason jars photo by Paige Newton via The Sweetest Occasion Check back tomorrow to see the invitations!