Free Printable | Love is in the Air

I'm excited to share my latest post for Honest to Nod, the Land of Nod's blog. It's the first of a brand new inspiration series I've developed for them called Party On.

If you like the Love is in the Air theme, you'll love that I also designed a freebie to go with it.  Click over to Honest to Nod for the download and all the details.

Family Tradition | an Ornament Advent Calendar

Hi friends- today I'm sharing a special family tradition post on the Land of Nod's blog- it's our ornament advent calendar.  I'd also love to hear about your unique family traditions if you'd like to share in the comments.

Click over to Honest to Nod for the complete post.

Our Minted Holiday Photo Cards

Using Minted for our family holiday cards has become a bit of a tradition the past few years and they never disappoint. Minted is headquartered here in San Francisco, and I love supporting their community of independent designers.

Our family always does a photo card and the options are endless- with lots of ways to tailor them to your personal style.  As you can see, I'm a fan of rounded corners and kraft paper envelopes, and I'm pretty sure all you metallic lovers will get on board with the gold foil stamping.

I also learned a new trick I wanted to share with you guys... if you upload your family photo first, just click the 'find it fast' button and you can see your photo placed in each different option to know at a glance what looks best. Very cool timesaver.

This year I was super excited to try the new Minted Envelope service and they turned out better than I could have hoped. You can choose from a bunch of beautiful envelope designs and for a limited time, the recipient addressing is FREE!

It it so easy you guys. All I had to do was export my google address book into Minted's template and upload to the site. I picked out this simple greenery graphic that coordinates with our cards and now all I need to do is stamp and send.  I'm telling you- your biggest holiday card challenge is going to be how to choose your favorite design!

images © cake. | events + design

This post was sponsored in part by Minted, but my good opinion of their products is all my own. 

Season to Sparkle | The Party Hop - Day 5

As the week comes to a close, so does our Season to Sparkle.  So last, but totally not least I bring you our final 3 party hop projects.

Whatever Dee Dee Wants glitters up the partyware...

Squirrelly Minds DiYs the fun on the holiday napkins...

and KoJo Designs sparkly favor bags will definitely send guests off in style!

I hope you've enjoyed sharing in the holiday inspiration this week.  Do you have a favorite project?  Thanks so much to Sara for bringing this fun and stylish event to life!  We'd love for you to share + pin your favorites with the hashtag #thepartyhop.

For more from the Season to Sparkle party hop series, click here.

Season to Sparkle | The Party Hop - Day 4

Lucky you! Another day of fabulous holiday crafts!  Hop on over to these blogs and get all the deets:

Bump Smitten is rocking the giant balloon fringe...

Paisley Petal Events topping her cupcakes with the cutest glitter bows...

and Modge Podge Rocks is hanging the holiday garland...

For more from the Season to Sparkle party hop series, click here.

Season to Sparkle | The Party Hop - Day 3

Are you having fun yet?  Hope you enjoyed yesterday's projects! Today we're sharing even more holiday goodness, starting right here with a mouthwatering turtle recipe from lgrollins...

You-Make-Do is livening up the cocktails with these sweet drink stirrers...

and Me And My Insanity is prettying up her party hats...

For more from the Season to Sparkle party hop series, click here.

Season to Sparkle | DiY Sequin Holiday Wreath

Welcome back to the Season to Sparkle party hop.  Today I'm sharing my DiY tutorial for a sparkling sequin wreath... So shiny! So colorful!  This thing gives off some serious holiday bling.

Now in theory it's super easy to make. So easy a four year old can do it.  But I'm going to tell it to you guys straight... this is a time consuming project.  It took about 4-5 evenings of sequin pinning to get it finished. I even enlisted my daughter Caitlin's help because her nimble little hands made her the perfect assistant.  Yes, for a while there I was afraid I was running a sequin sweat shop, but she promised she was having fun. The whole time she just kept saying with awe "it is SO beautiful mommy!".  Sequins will do that to a four year old (and some of us grownups too I guess).

Supplies:

- standard sequins in a variety of colors and sizes

- sequin pins (plan for 2-3 packages of 500)

- foam wreath

- satin ribbon for hanging

Directions:
1. Pick a spot on the foam wreath and begin pinning your sequins. There's no rhyme or reason to it, but I recommend working out from a single spot and covering the front area first, then working your way around to the back.

2. When you're satisfied with the amount you've covered, loop your satin ribbon around the top of the wreath and tie a simple bow. That's it!

Tip: The larger the sequins the faster the process will go, but make sure your pins are large enough for the hole in the larger sequins. Otherwise they'll just keep falling off. I learned this the hard way and ended up using sewing straight pins for some of the larger ones.

Okay, so you ready for more?  You bet!

The Frog Prince Paperie is sharing these fun fringe cupcake toppers...

And Confetti Sunshine is crafting up some sequin filled envelopes...

Come back tomorrow for more... there's may be something sweet in it for you.

For more from the Season to Sparkle party hop series, click here.

Season to Sparkle | The Party Hop

I know it's been a while since I've posted, so let me make it up to you with something really special this week... my friends, get ready to party hop!

To help inspire your holiday party planning, I've joined Sara of Confetti Sunshine and a team of talented creative bloggers to bring you the 'Season to Sparkle'. Cheerful color meets modern design in this glitzy party setting and I love everything about it.

There are loads of shiny happy DiYs planned throughout the week, but first a shout out to Tiny Prints who joined us to sponsor this event and provided some great ideas of their own.  Just look at this clear acrylic serving tray... I want one on my coffee table stat.

Be sure to stop by throughout the week to find out how to bring this party theme to life.  Tomorrow I'll be sharing my tutorial for that super sparkly sequin wreath, and more!  

#thepartyhop holiday bloggers:  Confetti Sunshine  // Frog Prince Paperie // LGRollins // You-Make-Do // Me and My Insanity // Bump Smitten // Paisley Petal Events // Mod Podge Rocks // Whatever Dee Dee Wants // Squirrelly Minds // Kojo-Designs //  
 
The following Tiny Prints items were featured in the Season to Sparkle:

pillow // invitations // custom gift wrap // tray // easel art

For more from the Season to Sparkle party hop series, click here.

Over the Moon | Birth Announcements

Today our baby boy Theo is a month and a half old. The part of me that's sleep deprived can't wait for the next few months to fly by so we can get back on more of a schedule, but as a mommy I'm in awe of how quickly time is passing and how big he is already.  As in like 12+lbs big...eek.  I'm so glad I have my phone nearby to snap quick pictures because it's pretty crazy to watch the changes happening overnight.

I finally understand how second babies tend to get neglected in the memories department- my hands are so full between him and my daughter that stopping to record the milestones can be such a challenge.  Honestly I haven't been quick to accomplish much since he was born, but I have to give myself credit for remembering order his baby announcements.  

I had such a positive response over the Minted cards we sent out at the holidays that I already knew I would be ordering from them again. I instantly fell for this design... it's such a sweet, simple style and I keep telling people that we're 'over the moon' about Theo's arrival.

I've said it before, but one of my very favorite things about Minted is all the options they offer for customization.  I ordered rounded corners on the cards, kraft paper envelopes and best of all... coordinating return address stickers with a personal message.

So cute right?  I'm just so glad to have something with his stats and a good photo to hang onto, even if I never do get around to making a baby book. Here's the original picture I used for the card... boy oh boy do I love this little bundle.

images © cake. | events + design

This post was sponsored in part by Minted, but my good opinion of their products is all my own. Images are for personal use only.  If sharing them on your site, please link directly to this post.

Holiday Cards + Letting Things Go

I absolutely love the holiday season.  The lights on the trees... the chill in the air... the traditions... the peppermint hot cocoa... you with me?  I even enjoy most of the little nagging holiday to do's, but this year I'm nine months pregnant and energy is in short supply.  So, in the interest of keeping things stress free and simple I'm allowing myself a few shortcuts.  

The first thing I'm letting go of is designing my own holiday cards.  You guys know how much I love to design, but I spend way too many hours agonizing over the details.  So instead I've opted to order our cards from Minted this year.  Their founder spoke at Alt SF this summer and I really admire their business model.  They source selections from independent designers worldwide, and I love that you can add extras like rounded corners and kraft envelopes (check + check) to personalize everything.  I had trouble narrowing down my options, but the card below was my second choice.  That's Caitlin with her 'best friend' Andy the giraffe.  I decided not to share our official card with you yet since I haven't sent it out family and friends, but it might possibly be even cuter than this... I'll share it on instagram after they've hit the mail.

Oh, and another thing I'm taking off my to do list (possibly forever)... fighting crowds at the mall.  Sorry Black Friday. My goal is to do as much of my shopping online as possible, which is a new thing for me, but working out great so far.  I still prefer to have the gifts shipped to our house so I can wrap them myself... because honestly I think that's my favorite part of gifting.  When I was shopping for the Minted cards I discovered they now have a gift wrap section too, complete with custom wrapping paper and some of the most beautiful ribbon that you ever did see.  Why hello, gold glitter and red velvet!  I think some of these beauties need to be paired up with my geometric gift tags, wouldn't you agree?

I'm not sure if I'll be back here again before Christmas or the baby arrives, so if not I wish you all a safe, happy and party filled holiday season.  I'll be back as soon as I can to keep you posted with the big news.  Merry happy everything!

This post was sponsored in part by Minted, but my good opinion of their products is all my own. 

Free Printable | Geometric Holiday Gift Tags

Can you believe the holidays are just around the corner?  For me the season holds extra significance this year because we're expecting baby #2 just after New Years. I honestly feel like I should be due any day, but I'm trying to be patient and enjoy these final months as the mom of an only child... I've heard that the transition from 1 to 2 kids can be quite the adjustment! 

With everything else we have going on I'm keeping the holidays simple, so I was excited to team up again with The Tomkat Studio to plan ahead and design these festive geometric gift tags.  I'm in love with gold and emerald right now, so I'll definitely be using them for our family gifts- paired with kraft wrapping paper and red baking twine.  These printables are being featured along with many other designs, recipes and easy holiday ideas in Tomkat's 2013 Holiday Gift Guide.  I sure hope you'll check it out and enjoy all the fabulous inspiration.  Here's to another happy holiday season!

These tags will look their best printed on white letter-sized card stock.  Just download, print, cut and enjoy.

To see last year's confetti themed gift tags, click here.

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Gift tags and images are ©Merry Happy by CAKE. and are for personal use only. Please do not re-distribute. If sharing them on your site, credit CAKE. | events + design and link directly to this post.

A Modern Minted Birthday Breakfast

All printable party supplies for this post were provided by the good people of Minted.  Thank you for supporting all of our loveable sponsors.

If you're following along on instagram, you may have read that June is a busy month for celebrating at our house.  Yesterday was Father's Day, next weekend is Caitlin's 3rd birthday party (more to come on that soon), and last weekend we hosted a little breakfast in honor of my mom's birthday. Since things have been so busy around here, I knew I wouldn't be able to design everything myself.  This time I ordered The Porch collection from Minted's new line of party supplies, and you can see how well it brought everything together.  Of course, I can never resist doing a few projects of my own, so keep reading for details and some quick DiYs...

The breakfast menu was delicious, though perhaps not quite nutritious.  We started with mini veggie quiches and greek yogurt with honey + fresh strawberries.  Michele of Cakewalk Baking brought over a yummy lemon cake and muffins with lemon curd + cream cheese frosting.  And then we had a few apothecary jars full of mini donuts... because obviously we didn't have enough sweets already.  To drink (in addition to coffee), I offered grapefruit or apple juice to mix with Prosecco for a unique twist on mimosas.

I topped the cake with a few scalloped stickers and strung them along a length of twine, then grabbed a big rose from our garden to coordinate with the happy birthday banner.

The table runner was easily made by stamping black circles on kraft wrapping paper using a round sponge brush.  Notice how it again ties back to the banner as well as some of the oversized table confetti?

In my favorite project of the day... the hand drawn dotted planter and dessert plate were made with dry erase marker.  Obviously you don't want it to touch your food, but it's such a fun way to add a finishing touch that won't ruin your ceramic dishes. After the party it just wipes away!

I'm always a sucker for a bit of washi tape, so this time I used it to make toppers for the muffins as well as tails for a little prize ribbon that served as the gift tag on my mom's presents...

It was so cute to see my mom wowed by the details that were just for her.  And this one was easy to put together on a tight schedule... aren't breakfast parties the best?

photos + styling © cake. 2013 

Special thanks to Minted + Cakewalk Baking for helping bring this celebration to life.  These images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please credit CAKE. events blog and link directly to this post.