Savannah's Orange Birthday Party ~ The Invitation

Miss Savannah has a real thing for orange at the moment.  It's her absolute favorite color.  Who knew she would be so en-vogue with her color selection? Seeing as though 'Tangerine Tango' is one of the Pantone Colors of the Year she is staying right ahead of the current trends.  Just kidding......she obviously doesn't have a clue about that, but I just thought it was kind of funny.

Anyway, Miss S. is crazy for orange, so she decided she wanted an orange birthday party this year.  What does that mean?  It means that everything is going to be orange ~ the food, drink, candy, flowers, balloons, her birthday outfit, the guests attire, the invitations and if she has her way, her fingernails too!  If you hang with us over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page, then you know that I wasn't sure about this theme at first, but now I'm really excited about it.  I can't wait to start designing her orange party outfit!

The invitations went out this last week and I designed them in Picnik.  I was going to show you all exactly how to make something like this of your very own, but since Picnik has decided to close, I'll have to wait and show you in a different program (once I decide my favorite alternative).

Here are Savannah's orange birthday invitations:

On the backside of the invitation I included a recent picture that I took of the birthday girl.  I know invitations usually get thrown away right after the party, so I thought some of our family members could enjoy it a little longer with the picture on the back.

I had these invitations printed through VistaPrint.  I really love this site for inexpensive custom printing options. I print a lot of my business pieces for The Cottage Mama through them such as business cards, postcards, stickers, return address labels, ect.  I've had really good luck with this company.  Our Christmas cards had a little bit of a printing issue, but they fixed the printing problem and rushed delivered them several days later, no questions asked.

VistaPrint allows you to upload your own custom design which is great or you can use one of the many templates they provide.  You can design your cards or printed material in any program that you have (i.e. Photoshop, I-photo, Picasa, Picnik) and then just upload it to the site.  The thing you will want to keep in mind is to make sure you've resized your design to fit whatever size card you are printing.  Savannah's birthday invitation was designed to be printed on a 5 x 7 postcard.

So, here is a blank version of the invite I designed for Savannah's party in case you want to throw your very own orange party.  You can save the picture to your computer or you can head over to Google Docs where I've uploaded it and grab it HERE.  Just pull the invite into any program you have and add your text.  If you decide to bring it into Microsoft Word then you will need to add a text box on top of the picture to add your text.

I'm looking forward to sharing more details about the party as they unfold.  

Have you ever thrown a color-themed party?  

If so, I'd love to hear about it!

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Free Valentine's Day Printables

I've had Valentine's Day on the mind today.  I'm not quite sure why (my husband and I don't do much for the holiday), but whatever the reason,  I decided to create some printable graphics/designs for you all to use for Valentine's crafts, cards or whatever else you can think of to use these fun graphics for in your life. 

I hope you like them.  The first one is one of my favorites.  My husband and I just watched the movie "Julie and Julia" and I cannot get this quote out of my head.

The next two would be great to attach to a gift or for school treats.

The following five graphics are all similar, but I've changed the "us +" number in each one so it is customized to the number of kids you have in your family.

So just right-click and save any of these fun graphics to your computer.  I would love to see how some of you end up using these.  You all are so talented, so I know you will do some creative things!

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Living Locurto - Creative Ideas & Free Downloads

Have you heard of this website - Living Locurto?  I only recently discovered this fabulous site!  Amy Locurto started this website and it has free printables, menu plans, recipes, fun party ideas and crafts.  I can't believe I am only now just discovering this wonderful resource - Amy, where have you been all my life?

As far as free printables, she has everything from cute valentines, invitations, different fonts, printable cards, and the list goes on.  And these aren't just any printables - they are incredibly stylish and modern. 

Here are a few of the free printables that I adore:

 

 

My favorite part of this site is the weekly meal plans.  Amy has super-delicous weekly menu ideas, she links to the recipe for each one, and then gives you a printable grocery list to shop for your meals.  I really appreciate all the time and effort she puts in to creating these different menus.  And the meal plans are so delish - I'm really looking forward to trying her avocado enchiladas - YUM! 

Here are a few samples of weekly menu planning from Living Locurto:
Week 1
• Chicken with Olives, Raisins and Spinach Rice
• Margherita Pizza
• Slow Cooker: Beef Stroganoff
• Grilled Ham and Cheese with Pears
• Real Simple Lasagna

Week 2
• Avocado Enchiladas
• Salina-Style Spaghettini with Cherry Tomatoes
• Turkey Burgers with Horseradish & Cheddar Cheese
• Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Here is a sample of one of Amy's free weekly meal planning sheets so you can just fill in your meals and ingredients needed for each one:

Here are some free printable, customizable calling cards from Living Locurto - they are just beautiful!

I can't say enough about this great site.  Head over to Living Locurto and poke around, you will find lots of great ideas and inspiration!


Cottage Mama's Note:  Amy Locurto also has a wonderful list of resources for different cooking websites, decorating, arts & crafts, photography, and simple living. Pin It

Templates!

I was browsing the internet looking for my next crafting inspiration - I have a couple of Savannah's friends birthdays coming up and I haven't quite nailed down what I want to make for them yet.  So I thought I would check out what Martha has going on (I haven't caught her show much lately).  By now you know I really admire her, yes she may be a bit stuffy for some, but I don't mind, to each his own.  Well, while on the Martha Stewart site I came across some wonderful clip-art and templates that she has available for free!!  Yes, that's right free!  All you have to do is download them.

Martha had some awesome organization templates and great nursery clip-art as well.  I have included the links to some of the templates that I think might really help you get through the holidays.  

1) Recipe Cards: Great to have on hand when your guests ask you for the recipe for that AMAZINGLY delicious dish you served.  If you are going to a pot-luck and know that you are bringing a dish where the recipe is highly requested - go ahead and have some recipe cards with you on-hand.

http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf2/keepsake_recipe_cards.pdf

2) Jam Labels:  Tis the season for giving gifts.  Maybe you are going to try to do a handmade holiday this year (I know I'm going to make that my goal this year)!  Why not whip up some large batches of jam with custom labels for all of your friends?  Handmade gifts are a great way to show your friends how much you love and care for them.  

http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf1/0603_jamlabels.pdf

3) Luggage Tags:  I'm sure many of you will be traveling this year.  I thought these luggage tags were super cute and stylish.  Print them up and place them in a clear luggage tag holder.  It's also a great way to tell your black suitcase apart from all the rest.

http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf1/0605_luggagetags.pdf 

4) Book Labels:  This holiday season you may get requests from family and friends to borrow cookbooks, crafting books, sewing books, ect........put a label on them so they won't get lost in the shuffle.  These labels from artist/fabric designer, Laura Gunn are really great!  Laura is also the sister-in-law of one of my favorite fabric designers, Heather Bailey.

http://lauragunn.typepad.com/booktagprintout.pdf 

Get some really nice card stock and run any or all of these templates through your printer.  I think some of these could turn out to be real keepers.  You're thinking, card stock through my printer?  Yes, don't worry, you'll be surprised how thick of paper your printer can handle.

Have a great Weekend!

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