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giveaway- safari party & stuffies

February 20, 2012 | 8 Comments »

How about a little Safari party Giveaway? Blue elephants, Pink flamingos, Green zebras, Orange monkeys and this entire Safari Printable Party can be yours. The Safari Printable set is so cute, and can be used for a baby shower or a baby’s first birthday party. These designs were featured at Operation Shower‘s Sunshine Safari event last month.

Included in this giveaway:

-All 4 handmade stuffed animals: Zebra, Elephant, Flamingo, and Monkey

-25 polka dot paper straws in assorted colors

courtesy of Polka Dot Market

-8 Favor Boxes

ready to fill with goodies for your party

-Safari Printable Party!

includes:
Invitation (fits A7 envelope) +
Cupcake picks +
Napkin wrap / Water bottle wrap
Favor tag +
Front Door sign +
Favor box
Directional Signs
Large Animal cutouts
Small Animal cutouts
Pennant Banner +
Bag toppers / Place cards / Party food labels +
2″ Round Alphabet block stickers – “Zebra, Monkey, Flamingo, Elephant” only
Full Patterned sheets

+ Customizable item

All together the value of this giveaway is over $65! All you have to do is “like” paper & CAKE on Facebook! You can do that right here…easy peasy. Good Luck!

(more…)

new party! rockstar printable birthday party

February 17, 2012 | No Comments »

Rock-n-roll, purple houndstooth, guitars and stars…. sounds like a rockin’ party already! We designed this printable set with a special birthday girl in mind, who was turning 10! We wanted her to be center stage at her party and feel like a total rockstar!

Rockin’ cupcake wrappers

Star banners can be put everywhere.

Star Straw Toppers and Party Food Labels!

Party favor bag toppers for chocolate microphones, if you can believe it.

Purple Houdstooth pennant banner- yep!

Let them sing their little hearts out, surrounded with cool decor that will set the stage to party like a rock star! In this Rockstar Printable birthday party set:

Invitation (fits A7 envelope) +
2” Rounds (cupcake picks or garland) +
Cupcake wrappers
Favor Bag Toppers
Snack box +
Mini Popcorn box +
Thank You Note (fits 4Bar envelope)
Star Straw toppers
Karaoke Sign up sheet
Star signs +
Jar Labels / Party Food Labels +
Pennant Banner +
Full Patterned sheet

+ Customizable item

part 2 ~ operation shower: sunshine safari

February 17, 2012 | No Comments »

Ready for some more photos? You’ve seen the set up day, and now I am so excited to share with you these gorgeous pics of the Operation Shower event tables! With printables from yours truly, and cute products from Pottery Barn Kids, 10 designers put together some of the most beautiful and original centerpieces I have ever seen! And thanks to Jackie Culmer Photography and Nicole Benitez Photography, you get to see them too.

Paper & Cake was honored to decorate 3 of the tables. Here are our centerpieces and napkin treatments.

E is for Elephant! Each table we designed featured one of the safari animals, handmade into a cute stuffie, next to a large wooden letter from Pottery Barn Kids. We also incorporated globe alarm clocks and newborn onsies with embroidered animals.

Adorable Flamingo table! We mixed in different elements to get an “explorer” feeling to our tablescapes. Check out the vintage cameras and binoculars.

The Zebra table was a hit! I mean look at those stuffed animals! To round out the centerpiece, we paired small patterned favor boxes (filled with chocolates) with mini succulents in jute wrapped containers.

And now a look at the other designers beautiful work!

The TomKat Studio took a bright and colorful approach to their table with a gorgeous chair back design.

Tori from Thoughtfully Simple used some beautiful pops of orange and pink, with just enough greenery. It reminded us of the rainforest- gorgeous!

Cupcakes and Cutlery showcased the safari theme in such an elegant and sophisticated light, we were so excited to have our table next to theirs!

Rebekah from A Blissful Nest amped up her table with a bundle of patterns and colors, and topped it off with some ridiculously cute animals like this giraffe. Personal favorite- those chevron napkins! Umm hello?

Fab. Giraffe. Figurines…..beautiful! A to Zebra Celebrations‘ simple, yet lovely table design won over the moms to be with those party favors!

This table design from Your Bash towered above the rest with a fun and bright ribbon centerpiece. And of course we loved the huge safari animal cutouts!

Tea party anyone? Soireé-Event Design created one heck of a cute safari tea party table. Love the mini pacifier napkin rings!

More stuffed animals… yes please! Shawna Brockmeier Styled Events came up with this cute and cuddly design. The moms and their husbands who sat at this table just loved it!

Maddycakes took us on vibrant safari with her eye popping use of color and fabulous attention to detail. Check out those felt flowers around the lip of the table!

SUNSHINE Safari is right! We could not miss this amazing table from Hostess with the Mostess (and not because it was right next to our Zebra table). The bright, yarn wrapped sun centerpiece shone in a room full of beautiful designs. Favorite party favor of the day-her chair backs with PBK cutlery!

Still more to come! A post with smiling moms, and sweets galore!

Ten

February 3, 2012 | No Comments »

Happy 10th Birthday to my sweet little baby girl. What a journey we’ve been on together! Please don’t grow up too fast… I love you.

sweet heart: new printable party!

January 30, 2012 | No Comments »

We styled this party with a vision of the perfect little brunch for 6 of your best friends. Coffee and sparkling wine paired with delightful little breakfast treats are yummy and right on budget. Heart shaped strawberries, spoons of greek yogurt and boxes of biscotti to go will certainly impress!

Whether you go all out on Valentine’s Day, or just invite a few close friends for brunch, this argyle themed printable party in pink will do the trick! Included in this new Sweet Heart Printable party set:

Invitation (fits A7 envelope) +
2” Rounds (cupcake picks or garland) +
Cupcake wrappers +
Water bottle, Milk Carton or Juice Box Band +
Wine glass tags
Favor Bag Toppers +
Party Food labels +
Snack box +
Pennant Banner +
Full Patterned sheet

Everything you need for a stylish party! Be sure to check out our “how-to’s” for this set, the confetti wine bottles and chocolate dipped pretzel favors.

part 1 ~ operation shower: sunshine safari

January 30, 2012 | 3 Comments »

I am a sucker for Operation Shower. They say “jump”, I say, “how high?” If you haven’t heard me talk (gushing profusely) about them in the past, then you may be hiding under a rock. It all started with an email from Amy asking if I had anything in my shop with animals, that could potentially be turned into a design theme for their upcoming event in San Diego. Of course I didn’t, but what I said was, “of course!”

As I began to figure out the look of it all, I found out that whatever designs I came up with with would be paired with Pottery Barn Kids products as part of the decor. Also, for the first time ever, PBK would host a Design Event in which 12 event stylists would each design a table centerpiece at the shower incorporating the theme and Pottery Barn Kids products. Cool, right?

The first thing that popped into my head was my daughter’s first birthday party. My very good friend, Cindy, illustrated the cutest little elephant and monkey for our jungle themed party. I have been looking at that invitation for 9 years – hoping that one day I could incorporate it into a Paper & Cake printable set – but never did. What she started, I took and ran with, turning it into our baby shower theme, “Sunshine Safari”.

Okay, enough talking, lets see some pictures! Thanks to Dez & Tam Photography, we have some great photos of set up day. Following are all (most?) of the tablescape designers on set up day.

Tori of Thoughtfully Simple

Tonya of Soiree-Event Design

Shawna of Shawna Brockmeier Styled Events

Sharon (in the blue) of Cupcakes and Cutlery

Rebekah of A Blissful Nest

Nancy of A to Zebra Celebrations

Michelle of Maddycakes

Kim of The TomKat Studio

Jenn of Hostess with the Mostess

Everyone working hard to transform this empty space – it’s amazing what a few hours, and a few super creative women can do! There are so many more photos, and so many people to thank for this amazing event… come back tomorrow for more!

Sweet heart: valentine’s day decor

January 26, 2012 | 5 Comments »

If you are looking to decorate in pink, we have a project that is easy, easy, Easy! Especially if you are reusing the spray painted bottles from another craft/decorating project. There is little to no cost to this diy decor – paper, a hole punch and tape.

Supplies:
glass bottle, spray painted solid white
hole punch holes (we used 2 sheets of double sided paper)
double sided tape

Directions:
1) wrap the double sided tape around the bottle at least 3 times
2) sprinkle the work surface with the hole punches
3) roll your bottle in the hole punches and press additional hole punches on as you go

You can even have the kids help with the hole punching! We designed this little project to match our Sweet Heart Printable party collection- the paper we punched was the patterned page that is included. It’s a set that can be used for Valentine’s Day – or really any party that you want a shot of PINK.

So Long 2011… it’s been fun!

January 3, 2012 | 5 Comments »

What. A. Year. Sometimes I can’t believe this is what I get to do as my job. I’m just so grateful that this is what I get to do as my job.

How about a little timeline?

January…

a once in a lifetime trip to see Martha Stewart at the Dreamers into Doers conference

new party release complete with a feature on Hostess with the Mostess

got to work with Operation Shower for the first time! met Amy from Operation Shower and Jenn from HWTM.

February…

Doer of the Week feature on Martha’s website

my cute daughter turned 9… we had the best party!!

was so thankful to collaborate with Terri!

so excited to have the Art Party featured!

April…

the Today show featured the Royal Wedding photo booth props!

May…

my crazy son turned 6… I think I’m still tired from that party

thankful for the opportunity to work with Brittany

my son’s Shark party feature! did I mention how much I love Jenn from HWTM?

brand new LOGO! thanks Chris…

June…

a brand new Rainbow of Bugs party… all for my niece

Bugs – featured on Kara‘s!

July…

perfect sunshine filled day for a 4th of July block party! I think this was really the first (of many) shoot done completely by my sister.

HWTM feature shared with Social Couture, Meringue Bake Shop, Porch Pies and Missy Marie Photography

August…

Invited to be a part of Wonderlandia – a launch party for HWTM

me and my tablescape… and lets not forget my fab contributors! Edible Details and A Twist of Cake.

the set I designed for the launch party turned up a couple of weeks later in my shop, Imagine a Journey

a new website!

September…

new party release… a Wicked Halloween

clearly I need to send this woman a gift basket!

craziest day ever! so much traffic, my site crashed… yay and boo!

November…

totally honored to have had the opportunity to design for Operation Shower – and went to Kentucky for the first time!

the ultra fabulous Jordan comes on board… employee of the ~~month~~ year!

December…

Wrapping it all up (after the worlds longest post), I certainly could not have done any of this without you. You are my husband, my kids, my sisters, my mom, my aunt, my family, my friends, my customers. You are the best!

What’s coming up for next year? Well, some big changes coming in February, another Operation Shower event (or two), some super cool party sets including one for a Rock Star and of course more crafts and baking tips.

yummy: cocoa gingerbread cookies

December 17, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Are you madly baking holiday treats this weekend? Did you need a recipe for a cookie with all the goodness of gingerbread, with the added surprise of chocolate? Cause I just so happen to have just the thing for you.

Cocoa Gingerbread Cookies

1/4 cup butter softened
2 tablespoons shortening
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Icing

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Cream butter, shortening, brown sugar and molasses in large bowl. Add egg; beat until light. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cloves in small bowl. Blend into creamed mixture until smooth. (If dough is too soft to handle, cover and refrigerate until firm.) Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut out with cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool. Decorate cookies with icing.

We used teeny tiny gingerbread man and woman cutters, and can of vanilla frosting to make life easier. Bake on a silicone mat and you won’t have any sticking issues, and use the smallest pastry tip you can find. Now, I didn’t make up this recipe, and sadly I can’t remember where it came from, but I’ve been making these for years and they are a HIT!

how to: holiday gift bottles

December 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »

With Christmas now just mere days away, I have been trying to figure out my “bag of nuts” for the year. What is a “bag of nuts” you ask? Well, that’s just my way of describing the neighbor gift, teacher gift, 2nd cousin twice removed gift, you get the idea. To start this particular craft project, you will need to drink some Starbucks Mocha in a bottle drinks, and get whatever your heart desires to put into the bottle when the crafting part is done – ie. hot chocolate powder, chocolate covered espresso beans, red and green liquorice pieces, etc.

After you pull together your goodies, and your clean and dry bottles, you will need supplies for one of the three styles of bottles; snowman, candy cane or Santa Claus.

white felt, black felt, snowman template download, glitter/sequins, red ribbon, black ribbon, glue, scissors and marker

red ribbon, silver ribbon, bells or glitter or sequins, glue and scissors

santa template download, glitter/sequins, red ribbon, black ribbon, glue and scissors

…and decorate to your heart’s content… hope to see photos of what you create!! Happy Holidays!

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