Katie's 7th Birthday

Katie's mom, Angie and I brainstormed some theme ideas for her 7th birthday party. Katie wasn't really set on a specific theme so it was up to us. Katie loves a group of books titled Groovy Joe, so we decided on a disco dance party. While I couldn't actually use images of Groovy Joe himself, I did use a pretty groovy pink disco ball and we had fun with the graphics. 

Address and rsvp info changed to protect privacy.

Of course, AFTER these were printed, we realized we should have called Angie "DJ Spin Master Ang" or something equally hilarious. 

As a fun party favor, Angie made these VIP passes for all of Katie's guests to wear. I LOVE how they turned out.

I may or may not have been wearing this VIP pass around my house the other day. 

Happy, happy birthday Katie! I hope you disco dance party was a blast!! XOXO!

Alice's 1st Birthday

I was thrilled when Jen asked me to create an invitation for Alice's first birthday, everyone calls her Allie Mae. She was having an Alice in Wonderland themed party and it was so much fun to work on graphics for her big day.

Here's the invitation:

At the party, Jen set up plain donuts and lots of glazes and toppings so everyone could decorate their own. It was SO much fun, my boys had a blast decorating their own. 

Jen made Mad Hatter hats for eveyrone with plastic headbands and paper cups. They turned out SO fun!

It was such a fun party, thanks you so much for inviting us Jen, and happy birthday Allie Mae!

Jackie & Michael's Baby Shower

Jackie and Michael had a super fun, camping-themed baby shower with Jackie's family and friends. But before that shower, they had one with Michael's family and friends at his mom's home. It was low key and really casual, and they didn't want to do any specific theme, but they still wanted to send an invitation. 

Here's what we created for the shindig:

It's a straightforward design that is similar to the Panda baby shower invitations, I created a while back. It's a fun invite that I can create with lots of different color combinations. I may add it to my Etsy shop later this month.  

That isn't their real address.

Cecile & Francis

Cecile and I have been friends for just over 20 years. She grew up in southern France and we met when she stayed with my family through an exchange student program when we were teenagers. The following year, my brother and I saved our summer job money and spent a couple of weeks exploring France with her family hosting us. It happened to be the same summer that France was hosting the World Cup and while we didn't have the funds to attend any games, we got to watch from bars and public venues as France made their way through the quarter and semifinals and eventually won the World Cup. It was an amazing trip, and one I still have very fond memories of. 

Cecile went on to attend college in the United States and fell in love with Francis; an expat from Uganda. They settled in Minneapolis with their kids and this past summer, I was honored to work with both of them on the printed items for their long-awaited wedding. 

Their wedding invitation paid homage to their backgrounds with a world map marking Uganda, France, and their home in Minnesota using their wedding colors in teal, navy blue, coral, and copper. I absolutely LOVE how this turned out.

They went with Panel Pockets from Cards and Pockets in Imperial Blue with matching envelopes. These are an awesome solution for wedding inserts if you don't want the pomp and circumstance of a traditional pocketfold. The 5x7 panel simply has a pocket on the back for any inserts.

The two inserts included R.S.V.P. information along with maps and directions to each of the two venues.

A fun detail that I have been doing more and more for clients is a custom return address stamp. I created what we later named their "family logo" and had it made into a 2" rubber stamp with Hello World Stamps.

Don't stress, the magic of Photoshop allowed me to change their home address.

Kelly with Hello World Stamps is amazing to work with and HIGHLY recommended. Cecile went so far as to emboss the stamps for all 200 envelopes that were mailed out. They look wonderful with the metallic copper finish!

My oldest son and I had the privilege of attending Cecile and Francis' wedding this past August. My son is eight and had never attended a Catholic wedding ceremony before. He was confused about why we kept standing up and sitting down, and why he couldn't use the rail for kneeling as a foot rest. But he made it through and had fun dancing with new friends he made at the reception, including Cecile's oldest son.

When guests arrived to the reception there was a red carpet and this step and repeat backdrop that Francis had printed with their "logo" and their wedding hashtag. It was so fun to take photos!

Cecile sent me a few photos from their wedding photographer: 

For wedding favors, Cecile was originally planning to use traditional Ugandan kikoy fabric and sew it into small bags to hold Jordan almonds. But the fabric connection fell through. Then I suggested we create our own kikoy print and have fabric custom printed. She sent me a few photos of different kikoy stripes and I created one that used their wedding colors. Cecile ordered the fabric from SpoonFlower and it tuned out really beautiful! 

In this process, I also learned that Jordan almonds are originally from France! I will try and find my favor and take a closeup photo.

There were also a handful of Reserved signs for family.

These little signs were scattered throughout the reception too, reminding guests to share photos with their wedding hashtag. 

They printed this giant map in lieu of a traditional guest book. Everyone was encouraged to sign with well wishes and love. It will look wonderful in their home with messages from their guests!

Finally, a few weeks after the big day, we created this thank you card that they sent out to guests.

We continued the travel theme with the map and turned it into a mock postcard with two of their wedding photos. I really love how this turned out. The back was left with empty space so they could handwrite a thank you message.

Cecile and Francis, thank you so much for thinking of me when it was time to create beautiful printed items for your wedding. It was truly an honor to get to play a tiny part in your big day and to actually be there too was just the icing on the cake! Congratulations and I wish you many, many years of joy. XOXO!

Hike it Baby T-shirts

After my youngest son was born in 2014, I finally had the motivation to explore some of the fantastic hiking close to where I live outside of Salt Lake City. With my husband working and my oldest in school during the day, I didn’t want to hike by myself and many of the trails local to us get pretty crowded on weekends. My husband isn’t a huge fan of hiking either, but he comes sometimes when our oldest asks really nicely (or begs).

I also have a love for babywearing, so when I saw a post in my local babywearing Facebook group about an organized hike where babywearing was encouraged, I jumped on the chance to join and see what it was all about. And I discovered Hike It Baby.

June 2015, Albion Basin, Alta, UT. He was so little!!

Hike It Baby was created a couple of years ago by a mama named Shanti in Portland, OR who had the simple desire to get outside after having her son. She didn’t want to hike alone and wasn’t quite ready for jogging or long bike rides and she didn’t want to juggle finding a sitter so she could join a gym. She invited friends to hike with her and word began to spread. Now she inspires and encourages families to get outside and explore with their kids, all over the country.

Through social media, families can hike together, make new friends and encourage and support each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced hiker or a beginner, they all have your back and no hiker is left behind. Local chapters are led by volunteers and, best of all, hiking is usually free!

From my first Hike it Baby hike! Bells Canyon, UT.

About a year ago, Hike it Baby held a design contest for a new t-shirt design. I entered and won! My t-shirt was made and sold to Hike it Baby members. Even my dad bought one. This was the design:

Shortly after, Shanti contacted me about designing a couple more t-shirts for various fundraising campaigns. Here's what we made:

My oldest has the Earth Day shirt and he still proudly wears it.

Provo River Falls, Kamas, UT

Cut to now, I'm thrilled to work for Hike it Baby, providing as much as they need when it comes to graphics, whether it's a t-shirt, a sticker, social media graphics and more. These are some of the more recent t-shirts I've done for Hike it Baby:

This t-shirt with the moon and mountains was sold during the January 2018 Hike it Baby 30 challenge. There will be new t-shirts for the April, September, and November challenges this year too.