Mom's Fishy Birthday Party

So this past weekend, we threw my mom a small surprise birthday party. She is really into fishing so I took that theme and ran with it! Here are some of the projects I did.

Birthday Banner

I set up the outlines of the fish and letters on my computer in Illustrator. I bought kraft cardstock paper from Hobby Lobby, printed the fishies onto the cardstock, and cut all of them out. Then I put two whole punches at the top of the fish, threaded some jute string through, and hung up my banner! I added some bobbers and netting to finish the look. 

Birthday Cake Table 

I recycled table clothes and burlap runners from my wedding, and used them in the dining room for the cake table and outside on the food tables.

I dressed up my chandelier with some net, bobbers, kraft paper fishies and a big bobber.

To make the big bobbers, I bought some paper lanterns, covered part of it with painting tape, then spray painted the tops white.

Kitti helping decorate...

Mini Fishing Poles

I decided it would be fun to have some mini fishing poles to surprise my mom with. I tied little bells at the top of the "pole" with red and white baker's twine for everyone to ring when my mom came through the door. I cut out little fishies (2 per pole) and used double-sided sticky tape to attached it to the twine and the fishies back to back. I finished it off with a tiny bobber.

I think Kitti enjoyed the fishing poles the most....

Fish Cake

I made my mom's favorite chocolate cake for her birthday. But I decided to make in into the shape of a fish this time!

I wanted a basic fish shape, and it was really rather simple to do. I just baked the cake in a 9x13 pan, used a template I made to cut out a fish/oval shape, then used the extra piece to make the fins and tail. Then I covered with yummy frosting and ganache!

Outside Food Tables and Decor

While digging around for my mason jars, I found a few fun fishing items of my husbands: fishing poles, tackle box, a minnow bucket, etc. They helped complete the look!

Mason Jar Fishie Straws

I found some cute paper straws at the store, and decided I needed to put fishies on them! I printed out a bunch of fish, cut slits into them and slid them on to the straws.

Some of these items are on sale in my Etsy Store! Check them out here: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CreateShareRepeat?section_id=14006941

We definitely surprised my mom and had a good time. I love themed parties and coming up with all the decorations and little details that make it special. I wish I could do it for a living, but I wouldn't know where to start!

Blowing out the candles!

Mother and I with some stinky little kids... her grandchildren/my nephew and nieces: Lucas, Maddie and Natalie

❤ Emily

Read More

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Burlap Door Hanger

This weekend is St. Patrick's Day so I thought I would share a recent project I made!

I had been seeing pictures of door hangers lately made out of burlap so I decided to make a shamrock!

My supplies

Green Burlap

Green Paint

Paint Brushes

Scissors

Hot Glue Gun

Raffia

Brown wire

Shamrock Stencil

I made and printed out a stencil on my computer.

The shamrock is about 20in x 20in. 

Download template here: Shamrock Door Hanger Template

This will need to be printed using the "Poster" settings.

You will need to cut and tape the pieces together to make the shamrock.

I cut out two panels of burlap into the shamrock shape.

I painted one panel to my liking.

I started hot gluing the two panels together.

I left a large opening at the top and stuffed the middle full of plastic bags.

After it was stuffed, I finished gluing the panels together.

Lastly, I added the brown wire and tied a raffia ribbon to it.

Finished door hanger!

This was SO easy to make! Took me about two hours. I want to make one for each holiday! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

❤ Emily

Read More

Ghostbusters Birthday Cake

It's never too late to post a cake that I did back in July, right? While I was searching through pictures from the last year to start blogging about all my wedding projects, I can across a birthday cake I made for my husband (my fiance at the time)! It was his 30th birthday, and since Ghostbusters is one of his favorite movies, I made him a Ghostbusters cake!

My man loves two things: Funfetti cake and chocolate chip cookies. So I decided to incorporate BOTH into this cake! The top and bottom layer were Funfetti and the middle was a giant chocolate chip cookie!

 I covered it in "slime"!

On top, I wanted to put the Ghostbusters logo, so I used a cookie as the base!

I cut the shape out using an X-Acto knife.

I used the Wilton method of transferring images using piping gel to put the outline of the logo on the cookie.

Then I outlined everything in black icing and then filled it in with red and white icing!

Thought I would throw this cake in for fun. In September, fiancé (now husband) and his friends went to Gulf Shores for his bacholer party weekend. I decided that they needed a cake, but didn't have a lot of time to work on one because I was busy getting ready for my wedding shower! So, I threw together this cake. I think he liked it. :)

I need to make more cakes..... I love it so much! :)

❤ Emily

Read More

Etsy Shop

HOW embarrassing! It's been such a long, long, LONG time since my last blog post! I think I have an good excuse though... getting MARRIED and all! :) It was such a wonderful day! I had SO many projects I did for my wedding. Everything turned out exactly how I imagined it. I plan on posting those projects eventually so keep an eye out for that!

Here's one of my favorite pictures from my wedding day. Taken by Janey Pie Photography.

In other news, and the reason I am writing this post today...

I have officially opened an Etsy shop! YAY!

I love making invitations so I decided to sell some online! I only have a few up there right now... variations of ones I have made before. I opened the shop at the end of November, and finally got my first sale today! I was SO excited! Hopefully it will lead to more sales! :)

I love doing custom orders so next time you are needing an invitation for a birthday party, shower, wedding, etc., consider me! :)

Merry Christmas!

❤ Emily

Read More

Project of the Week: Learn a lot with Mrs. Scott Blog Design

My sister-in-law, Katherine, started a new teacher's blog recently and needed some help with the design of it. She had been getting a lot of views so she wanted it to look good. She knew she wanted it to be blue with green polka dots and to have an owl. That's where I came in! In just a few hours, I revamped her blog! Check it out!

http://learnalotwithmrsscott.blogspot.com

130 days until my wedding!  I'll have a lot of fun projects to post from it the months to come! :)

♥ Emily

Read More

Project of the Week: Save The Dates

My wedding is only 6 months away, and I think I am on schedule with everything I need to get done! In March, Janey Pie Photography took our engagement pictures, and last week, I sent out a save the date postcard that I designed featuring one of those pictures! We have a lot of family from out of town (especially on Will's side) so we wanted to make sure everyone had an heads up so they can plan to travel! And well... it was also just a fun little project for me to do! :)

Front of postcard

Back of postcard

The process for this save the date took awhile because, as a graphic designer, I wanted to set up a brand for all my wedding graphics. So in order to design my save the date, I had to design my wedding invitation. It was difficult (as I knew it would be) to decide what would be the perfect design for my wedding day. I wanted something that said "fall" but wasn't overly fall... No orange leaves or pumpkins.  After I finally was satisfied with my invitation design (which you will have to wait and see!) everything else, like the save the date, fell into place!

I also have been working on my wedding website, www.barlettwedding.com (A hint of what the invitation will look like). I wanted someplace for my guests to go to learn a little more about the wedding, especially places to stay.

The wedding invitation, save the date and the website were the biggest projects for my wedding lately, so now that they are complete,  I need to start focusing on what's next!  :)

♥ Emily

Read More

Project of the Week: Wedding Cake and Photos

Hello! Long time, no speak! I know, I know... I haven't been updating my blog like I should... BUT! Rest assured! I have been VERY busy and creative! Planning a wedding is like working on one HUGE art project. The most fun/biggest/hardest project of my life! I have been working on my invitation, save the date, website, decorations, etc.... So many things! I can't wait to show y'all everything, but I can't yet! :)

My wedding hasn't been the only thing on my plate. I made my first ever wedding cake a couple of weekends ago for my dad's wedding. It came out nice. I just did a two tier cake with some piping ( I piped a bunch of S's to represent my dad's last name). I tasted great! Chocolate cake with white buttercream icing! Yum!

Also, in March I had a little photo shoot with my two nieces, Maddie and Natalie. Here are some of my favorites!

I also would like to recommend the leisure classes at the Louisiana Culinary Institute. I have taken a pie making class and two cake baking classes. They are a lot of fun, and you learn a lot of good tips that you wouldn't know just looking at a recipe!  They have other classes besides baking. Check them out!

♥ Emily

Read More