Fridays with Fin :: Apples & Pumpkins

The fam decided to hit up the local apple farm and had a blast picking apples and finding our pumpkins for the season! We'd never been to this farm before, so mostly enjoyed turning our day into a photo-op!

Fin LOVED to eat the apples straight off the tree...

Yes, I used some seriously ghetto post processing tools in photoshop to "pretty" these photos up. Remember, I'm a designer, not a photographer, so bear with me! 

Mom and dad were loving our day at the farm just as much as Fin! It was so nostalgic and cool.

And here is Fin in front of the pumpkins we picked ourselves... he was one proud puppy!

And yes, if you made it this far, and are freaks, like most of my friends & family, then you analyzed that there ARE in fact 4 pumpkins... Yep, this is my formal announcement that we are expecting another little punkin' in March! Fin's gonna be a big bro! :)

Customer Approved! Camping Birthday Party

Oh man, was this fun to receive all these photos from one of my recent customers! You have GOT to see how Lauren used all the printables from my camping party set {with a few customized items}...

A sweets table set the tone of the party with a chocolate/white polka dot backdrop, burlap printed banner and sweets and treats galore!

Check out this gorgeous entry way! Oh wait, this post is about the decorations, not my love for her house! :P Lauren added some chocolate, tan & red balloons with wooden signs to spruce up the entry way and welcome guest's to a fabulous camping themed party! Even the tent in the backyard was adorned with a banner and balloons!

Every detail was met... down to the "outhouse"...

How fun is this watermelon hedgehog! I think every camping party needs one! :) Lauren asked me to create a "mini banner", which she used as decoration in a cool basket of grass! Mini anything is always fun!

Favor bags were filled with snacks topped off with fold over bag tags and mini waters were wrapped with personalized labels. {Even the wooden spoons were personalized!}

Each little hiker was given their very own, personalized water bottles in blue or pink!

Look at all this yummy food with perfectly labeled cards by each plate. And how great are the personalized wooden utensils... so great for that rustic camper feel! Lauren even labeled the condiments! Again, no detail was missed!

Fire logs, dirt cups, bear claws and more! I love the gingham and burlap table cloths underneath and the chopped-log serving as a plate for the treats!

Even the veggies at this party look irresistible!

 

And no camping party can be complete without a s'more bar and special fresh-squeezed drink! Yum.

And finally, I leave you with the cake, a cutie-pie birthday boy and some pretty adorable campers!

I just LOVE getting photos back from my customers! This one was pure success! YOU too can have a party just like this... Head over to my etsy shop and get the invites here and the party package here! I've got a rustic-chíc-hotpink version for all you girly-girls too!

Fridays with Fin :: End of Summer

Sadly, it's starting to get cold here in Wisconsin, and our summer has come to a close! On, pretty much, the last warm day we had here, Finley finally got up the courage to run through the sprinkler on his own! {oh yes, mommy, daddy or grandpa had to run with him previously!} So, check out my little dude having the time of his life!

One of Fin's favorite things to do with Daddy this summer was to water and check on our vegetable garden! This was the first year we made a "raised-bed garden" and we had minor success! Here was our most successful grower...

And with the end of summer, comes "fall classes"! We signed Fin up for a gym class and swimming lessons through our park and rec department. Here's Fin and daddy splashin' it up in the pool!

Here's some of Fin's pre-swimming smiles...

And here's Fin's class... I was pretty impressed by all the dads participating, but I have a feeling it's because moms don't like to get into their swim suits! ;P 

Don't know if any of y'all noticed I missed last week's Fridays with Fin post... If you were waiting on your tippy-toes for it, I apologize! I just totally slacked off. And, I might be simmering down on the weekly Fridays with Fin post's to "A Friday with Fin", haha, so I'm not obligated to do it every Friday, 'cause Lord knows I don't like to be tied down to writing every week! ;) What an awesome "blogger" I am!

Have a great weekend! As sad as I am to see summer go, is as excited as I am to see fall in Wisconsin come! I love sweater & jeans season, pumpkin farms, leaves changing colors, fire places roaring and more!

Glamorous Wedding :: Plum, Silver & Black

A long-time friend of mine recently got married in the charming and nostalgic Door County, Wisconsin. The affair was glamorous and classy with beautiful embellishments, gorgeous details and a fancy ambiance! I had the pleasure of designing all the paper pieces for this wedding and had a ball going outside of my "simple/preppy/nautical" style to glamorize things up a bit!

It started with the invitations. We chose high quality ivory and metallic silver cardstock for the papers and worked with a Moroccan-feel motif to carry throughout all the pieces of the invitations and other wedding-day paper goods.

The invitations were secured together with a metallic "belly band" adorned with the matching Moroccan motif.

All the accessory cards {RSVP Card, Reception Card, Accommodations & Map} stayed consistent with the invitation with the same script font and Moroccan embellishments.

Then came, the BIG DAY! Guests were greeted with this adorable program attendant and sleek wedding programs...

Each guest found their seat with these personalized place cards. The bride added small, different-colored jewels on each card for the waitstaff to know which entrée the guest's selected!

Every table was numbered with these folded tent cards and guest's confirmed their seat by looking at the sign near the guest book...

Take a look at this gorgeous wedding party! Each bridesmaid wore a deep-plum cocktail dress with amazing white flowers and the groomsmen were in black tuxes. And that bride's dress... yep, pretty breathtaking!

The wedding party took some great photos by an old, graffiti'd-up, boat house in Sister Bay, WI...

And to close up this beautifully detailed wedding, the bride and groom gave each guest these Thank You cards with custom rubber stamped address on the envelopes.

So, I broke out of my box {okay, not too much} and glamorized my style a bit for my very chíc friend and her hubby! Contributing my design was a joy and being at their wedding was a blast! Congrats Kristin & Eric!

P.S... all really great wedding day photos are attributed to Tammy Lutze of Art of Expression Photography!

Nautical Knot Wedding

You may remember me sharing the designs for my sis-in-law's nautical-knot save-the-dates here, or highlighting her preppy-pink-seersucker bridal shower here! Well, it was all in preparation for the BIG EVENT... their wedding! The day was gorgeous, the couple was glowing and the nautical theme was a'flowing! But, as I'm sure you all know by now, the tone for this day gets set by a little something that you receive in the mail... the invite!

I can NOT take {full} credit for the design of this invite! My sis-in-law saw some photos of an old co-worker of mine's wedding on Facebook. Yes, she fully admits to FB stalking her photos! So, I contacted this old co-worker {and good friend!} and asked if we could totally steal her wedding! ;P She happily obliged! Now, let me justify this by saying that I use to work very closely with this friend and even contributed a little bit to HER wedding invite design to begin with, so its not totally ghetto, right?! Here's a peek into my friend Katie's wedding...

Pretty amazing, hey? Can you see why my sis-in-law was so awe-struck by this wedding! {And P.S... I provided a link above to my friend's home-makeover-blog, if you're impressed with her wedding, you'll definitely like her blog!} So! With the inspiration in place, we moved forward with a few changes! Changed a couple colors, added a nautical knot motif and had the invite secured by a "belly band" rather than "gate fold"! Big changes, hey? Take a peek...

After the invites were made, everything else fell into place! Programs, place cards, favor tags and more all shared the same colors and motif to tie everything in together.

And take a look at these adorable table number cards! Each table had a different and adorable photo of the happy couple...

Here's some of the wedding moments taken by their photographer, Manning Photography, capturing the fun and happy feel of the day! The guys wore khaki suits with navy ties and the girls wore navy dresses! So crisp, preppy and comfortable!

You know its hard for me to make a blog post with out my little guy included! Check out the adorable khaki-seersucker suits the little ring bearer's wore!

And here's some beautiful pics of the happy couple! Their smiles and glowing faces exude the feeling of the day!

So, there you have it, a classy, nautical wedding that I was so happy to be a part of and have contributed to!

Fridays with Fin :: Go Pack Go!

That is all.

please excuse the super sketchy, grainy, nakey-baby phone pic! The game started during bath time!

Company Branding :: Leisure Living

My sister-in-law, Lora, recently started her own furniture refinishing business and asked me to help with the design of her logo and business cards! I was happy to help, especially for a coastal-inspired look!

Here are the two logos we came up with... We decided to have a long horizontal and round version to use it in different ways on different things, but still have the same feel.

 

Here is the Business Card design...

 

You've got to check out Leisure Living's blog, go and "like" their facebook page for continual updates and just wish you lived close so you could be an owner of something like one of these...

Or these...

 

Or these...

Have I lured you in enough with some of Leisure Living's pieces! Pretty gorgeous, hey? Well, you can check out what's available here and sadly, what is sold, here! Leisure Living even does custom work! Just contact Lora to get a quote to restore and renew YOUR plain/old/dingy piece of furniture today!

Looking to have your company branded? Check out my pricing and services and contact me for a quote today!

Fridays with Fin :: Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Hey Y'all! Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Weekend! I'm starting the holiday early by slacking with an easy post ... just some cute pics of Fin helping daddy water the flowers!