Everyone Loves A Prize!

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to share with you a fantastic giveaway happening.  Check out Little One's Crochet on facebook, she is hosting a fabulous giveaway, with over 30 prizes!

Sealed Expressions is participating in this contest- we have donated 25 free 4x6 glossy birth announcements or invitations, like the ones below:

So hurry up and check out this great giveaway!

A post - long overdue!

Wow - I have been gone awhile! Between starting the new school year and a busy schedule, I have neglected my poor blog.   Today's post features a few projects so I can catch you up on all of the things I have been creating:

Earlier I blogged about the wedding stationery of Suzanne and Chris.  Their wedding set was classic and regal and their final piece completely coordinated with their overall theme and feel.  Below are the thank you cards created for them.  The cards were printed on white cardstock, with the swoosh design that adorned their stationery and featured the same fonts and colors as the rest of their wedding stationery.  What we finished with was a simple and classic thank you note that completed their set perfectly:

Next up is a baby shower invitation that I am in love with.  These shower invites were created for a mommy to be that does not know the gender of her little one just yet.  The clean gray, yellow, and white added a sophisticated touch to this adorable baby buggy design:

Finally, I get to show off these fun invitations!  These are so special because a) they are for a super special girl and b) this special girl had a hand in the design process.  Her birthday party was tie-dye themed and these invitations were such a fun way to invite her guests.  The birthday girl is quite the little budding artist and it was so fun to have her work with me to design something perfect for her party.  The end result was bright, cheery, and pretty much awesome invitation!

Later in the week I will be sharing with you a new pea in the pod baby shower invitation & some fall wedding postcards.  Stay tuned!

Fall Fashion Giveaway!

My friend, Katie, at Remaking Memories, is hosting a fantastic Fall Giveaway!  Head over here to enter!

Cake Balls - A 2 Day Adventure

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Samantha turned 21.  Her mom hosted a fabulous party filled with food, family, drinks and CAKE BALLS.  I had never heard of cake balls but was quick to try one at the party.  I quickly found out that I was in love.  These things were amazing!  I proceeded to eat a few too many cake balls throughout the night and found myself thinking about them in the days after the party.

I was snooping around online and came across the website for Bakerella.  She has an entire section of her website devoted to these tasty treats.  Her recipe for red velvet cake balls had me drooling and it was then that I realize that I had to try to make these myself.

Now, a little background about my culinary skills.  I have none.  My sister Heather is the baker in the family, as are my grandmothers and aunts.  I have the creative gene, however that gene really has not influenced my skills in the kitchen.  I was really set on making these cake balls though, so I psyched myself up for them by telling myself it was simply an Art project with a new medium.  I could totally handle that, right?

Well, Day 1 of the cake ball adventure started.  I was following this simple recipe:

-Bake any boxed cake mix (I chose devil's food)

-When cake is done, take it out of the oven and crumble immediately

-Let cake cool

-Once cool, mix crumbs with one jar of frosting (I chose cream cheese)

-Roll mixture into bite size balls, lay on cookie sheet lined with wax paper

-Freeze for 30 minutes or until cake balls are firm

-Once firm, dip in white or millk chocolate, refridgerate, and serve

Sounds easy, right?!  WRONG.

I started the adventure with my sister -she had high hopes in making some rather fancy cake balls.  I was sticking to plain chocolate.  By the end of the evening, I had burned 2 batches of chocolate and ruined one strawberry cake.  I still had my devil's food mix and was able to dip them.  Online you will find photos of beautifully smooth cakeballs that look divine, like this example from Bakerella:

Now, please feast your eyes on the tragedy that was my first set of cakeballs:

How awful!!!  This nightmare was the result of hours of work and frustration.  I had watched 2 YouTube videos, read articles and researched my dipping skills.  Obviously, it is not as easy as it looks!

So, I went to bed feeling defeated, but I wasn't ready to give up just yet.  The next day, my cousin and good buddy, Emily, came over and we got to work.    We made our next set of cake balls a little smaller and worked hard to perfect our dipping:

Emily was a good dipper and this was what we got in our 2nd round - a big improvement I must say!

In the meantime, my Aunt purchased Bakerella's book and brought it over.  After some more research, we realized the key to great presentation would have to involve a candy mold.  So, we got one and the results were so much better than before!

However, as we worked, we realized we still had some issues.  Note the size difference of these two!:

 After we put the cake balls in the molds, we let them sit in the freezer for about 5 minutes.  We then spooned chocolate on the top and the result was so irresitably cute!  I was so proud of us!  AND, the kicker is, not only did they look great, but they tasted awesome!

So, all in all, the cake ball process was pretty intense and fun.  One boxed mix made 112 cake balls - that is a lot of work!  However, they were cute and delicious and I was finally able to put my craving to rest.  My final thought - I'm sticking with creating stationery and purchasing tasty treats.

Some Goodies to Share

Throughout this past year I have been branching out and creating invites and stationery far beyond just wedding invitations.  One trend that I love is having all parts of your wedding coordinate, like this wedding set I created last year:

(Photo courtesy of Elizabeth K Photography, isn't she talented?!)

It allows the bride and groom to establish their own wedding "brand" per say, and it also allows me to play around with other stationery.

Coordinating invitations and programs seems especially important to brides.  Earlier in the summer I created this invitation:

And recently was able to create a coordinating program:

I also create a lot of misc. invitations and stationery.  Recently I was asked to create a bachelorette party invitation that was girly and fabulous.  I came up with this black, white and hot pink invitation, featuring a little bling:

I thought these invitations were simple, yet fun.  I am sure these girls will have a fun night on the town!

Stay tuned to the blog later on this week to read about my adventure attempting to make the oh so delicious cake balls, it was quite the experience!

Wordless Wednesday

Zebra, Bling, and Pink, Oh My!

Recently I had the honor of designing a few items for my cousin's diva style 21st birthday party.  My cousin is a fabulous girl and she loves all things shiny, bright and fun.  So, in coming up with a theme for her party, the idea of bling was a no brainer.  I designed these 4x6 invitations to give guests a hint of the party to come: 

For the party I was also able to make one of my favorite products - personalized water bottle labels.  I customized these labels based on a previous design that I had and tweaked it so it fit Samantha's party theme.  The water bottles looked sleek and they were a nice addition to add to the decor and overall theme:

Earlier in the year I had designed these labels for a bachelorette party.  I was able to easily tweak the design so that it fit this party.  The photos below were taken by my friend at Elizabeht K Photography - she does such a great job!

These water bottle labels can be created for any event - how fun would it be to have these at your next party?!  It's the little details that make the difference and this product will surely wow your guests!  Whether you have a wedding, shower, birthday party or girl's night coming up, consider these personalized labels to add a little fun to the decor!