Showing posts with label horses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horses. Show all posts

Mystical Unicorns | a 5th Birthday Party

4.11.2016

Time sure flies when you're raising kids. My daughter is now almost 6.  But here at long last I'm back to share her 5th birthday party, because unicorns are always a good idea.  This was a small and simple backyard party, with bright cheerful color and some easy handmade touches.  You can find the invitation and most of the graphics in my shop, and the rest is detailed below.






The world's cutest plush unicorns came from the Land of Nod and were the party favors, along with bags for the unicorn pinata treats.  The other unicorns were all sprayed gold... and you may notice that I got a little liberal with the spray paint and sprayed the tops of the balloons gold too.  You can't see much of the effect in the photos but I highly recommend trying this- they looked awesome.







For party activities, the girls first beaded their own rainbow necklaces and had their faces painted.  Then after a (mystic) pizza lunch we had them design their own unicorn horns.  The 'horns' were chocolate cupcakes baked inside ice cream cones and they got to frost them and decorate with chocolate stars, sprinkles and twizzlers.  It was a super fun ridiculous mess!







We also had a game of pin the horn on the unicorn - on a poster I printed using the invitation design. And last but not least of course... the pinata, filled with sparkles, tiny rubber unicorns and an abundance of pink and purple candy.



As you can see, the girls had a blast. Though clearly having the streamers as a photo backdrop backfired on me... they doubled as a hiding place for those pretty faces.  Also, one final tip for you. I used a roll of recycled art paper to make the brush painted table covers, and not only did they add fun color, but they made for the easiest clean up ever.  See? Small and simple, as most of my favorite parties are these days.


Images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site or social media, please link directly to this post. Sources: Invitation + party graphics // Plush Unicorns

Eclectic Hay Loft Wedding Inspiration

3.01.2012
Love everything about this rustic winter wedding shoot, submitted by Erin Johnson Photography.  Inspired by books, candlesticks and a pug named Hank, this eclectic collaboration offers much eye candy and some truly unique inspiration.  Read on below for all the details...




















photos © erin johnson photography


From Erin + Carly: The inspiration for this shoot came from some black and white striped candle sticks, our love of books and my pug, Hank. {Check out the canvas of Hank!} In Seven Oaks Farm's huge hay loft, we hung a 9ft love story poster between huge, velvet drapes. {The 9 foot banner is Carly's love story--it tells how she met and dated her now husband. It has some great lines...she tells how he drove on their first date and says: "What was she thinking?! He could have been an axe murderer!" He taught her to shuffle. She watched Lord of the Rings.} 

We centered the dining table on top of our black and white cheveron rug and covered it with a steely-lavendar pin-tuck tablecloth. We set the table with a neural floral arrangement dotted with succulents and dogwood, striped black and white candles in mercury glass candleholders, vintage mis-matched china and silverware.
 
The centerpiece stood atop a covered coffee table book and "The Dangerous Book For Boys." Inside the glass cloche stood a handmade "6", a bingo card with the 6 highlighted, a domino adding up to six, an old six of hearts playing card and more... The escort cards were strung up on old birdcage stands. Each escort card had a personalized button for each guest, the table number and a book title to help guest find their seat.
  
Sarah, from On Solid Ground Vintage Rental, and Ashley, from Simply Elegant Bridal Consulting, put together the darling dessert table and seating area.  Our set-up is inspired by our love of books, typeface or fonts, black and white stripes, and Carly's pug, Hank.

The invitations are based on the 9ft sign and pull in Hank, the pug. The RSVP offers guests the chance to “enthusiastically decline” or check a box that says, “think you’re just out for the gift."
The favors are handmade key chains with each guests first inital. The brown boxes are die-cut boxes from Archivers. We folded them, filled them with excelsior nests and our favor. The handmade tags say "thank you for joining us today."

The escort cards were strung up on old birdcage stands. Every escort card has a personalized button for each guest and the table number and book title to help them find their seat.  Local artists, Allison and Rachel Pegoraro made a thumbpring guest book.

We put together a type of “Smash Book” as a more organic type of guestbook. Lots of sentence starters, fill in the blank decals and loads of stickers allow guests to put their own spin on the guestbook.  Pictures of Hank, the pug, are in frames near the seating areas with piles of our favorite books. The postcard carousel on the coffee table holds cards for the bride and groom.

We collaborated with some of our favorite vendors in the Twin Cities to bring this shoot to life...

Seven Oaks Farm: Venue- opening in 2013
Erin Johnson: Photography
Girl Friday: Design/ Production
Simply Elegant Bridal Consulting: Coordination
On Solid Ground Vintage Rental: Rentals and Styling
Lime Canary Vintage Rental: Rentals
Festivities: Rentals
Chowgirls Killer Catering: Catering
Brides of France: Estate Furs and Vintage Jewelry
Something Borrowed: Headpieces
Jen Mar Creations: Designed the dress for the occasion
Rosan Konieczny: Calligrapher
Sweet Peas: Florist
Allison and Rachel Pegoraro: Custom thumprint "guestbook"
Salon Rox: Make-up
Salon Etica: Hair
Models: Maggie Klein, Hannah Jackson and Nina Jackson