Pepper Design Blog

Liv’s 1st Birthday: DIY Invites & Envelope Liners

Back with a few more details from Liv’s 1st birthday. When it came to creating little invitations for her party I was a big time procrastinator. Actually, it was during my few days off between Christmas and New Years that it suddenly dawned on me that her birthday was just a few weeks away! and we needed to get something in the mail asap.

It was fairly simple to throw these guys together quickly. I used Photoshop to add some cute, bold text to two of my favorite photos of Liv (I couldn’t pick between the two! So half of the invitees received one and half the other), but you could use one of the free programs reviewed here to do the same.

I sandwiched that photo between a smaller red card (bought a set of red envelopes and matching cards at Michaels and printed the party info in fun fonts directly on to the red inserts, then cut them to size) and a piece of brown construction paper.

Inspired by this creative girl’s Christmas card and this beautiful invite from Pinterest, I tied up the bundle with Martha Stewart’s striped baking twine (found in the scrapbooking department in a pack of 6).

The other half of the fun was creating envelope liners that for me really made the entire invite. I love the peak of red and white striped paper and it tied in perfectly with the rest of the party. It was a little teaser of what was to come!

To make the envelope liners (by the way, they’ve been on the back of my mind since seeing this adorable version), I created a simple template of the inside of the envelope (trace the shape of the envelope on to thicker paper, cut out and then snip off about 1/3″ of an inch from each side) and then cut out about 25 from 12×12 striped scrapbooking sheets of paper from Michaels. I used double sided scrapbooking tape to adhere into place.

My last addition was a failed attempt. I had originally hoped to sandwich the information card and photo of Liv between a piece of paper bag brown construction paper (that was the specific color I was on the hunt for ) and a top piece of the same size but with cute, colorful bunting (a la a few images from my Pinterest board on Liv’s party).

Sewing paper is seeeeeeew difficult (see that crazy stitching above?), and after a half hour of testing, tearing, tangling and tormenting I decided to omit the addition.

But I was thrilled with the results of the invites and we got those puppies in the mail just in time to notify friends and family that there was a par-tay coming up!

Total cost was about $.25 per invite and from the time I hit ‘send’ on my online Costco photo order to the time I picked up my pics at our local Costco, all of the supplies at Michaels and assembled the invites, it took just a day or two to get them finished and in the mail.

And just for fun, here was my assembly workstation:

Wait, you don’t have a toilet in your living room? Just us?

DIY Entertaining Idea: Paper Flowers

Here’s a fun little tip for all of that left over wrapping paper you might have lying around.

I’m a huge fan of using a roll as an impromptu table runner or cut up as individual place mats (it helps incorporate beautiful patterns and colors – plus you can toss it when you’re done), but I love the idea of using this simple Martha Stewart tutorial to create small flowers for either a bouquet or even as individual stems wrapped around your silverware or wine glass.

Here’s the full DIY instructions.

Beautiful, right? Perfect for a shower, birthday or even a wedding. I love how simple and classic it looks!

{Floral Inspiration} for a Pink & Sage Dessert Buffet

Every once in a while you come across one of those ooh & ahhh images that causes you to pause, stare and ogle for a good while. When Chris over at Celebrations at Home shared this beautiful Petites Bouchees Dessert Bar a while back I immediately filed it away into the ogling brain folder.

How wonderful are the colors? That’s what I think draws me in most to this display. Rosey reds and sage greens (with a bit of yellow mixed in) is one of my very favorite combinations. The floral details are pretty wonderful, too!

I love the idea of using wallpaper as a backdrop for the table. I’ve hung fabric (even my duvet cover) behind tables in the past for that extra ‘pop’ – but wallpapering a piece of plywood sounds like it might be genius.

And a photo of a few more florals…. yum. One of the neatest day classes I’ve attended was a fondant flower making class – the little guys above are super easy and they make the cupcakes so professional looking.

This is the perfect theme for a bridal shower, baby shower or even a wedding!