{Style Idea} #2 love

kraft bags

Imagine how excited your guests would be if they were sent home with one of these filled with a little treat! 

 Here’s how you put it together. 

1. Trim a kraft bag using a Martha Stewart edge punch (available at Spotlight or your favourite scrapbooking store).

2. Tie with some natural twine.

3. Personalise a manila tag using stamps or rub-ons stickers.

{Inspiration} the sweetest things for your valentine

ideas for celebrating valentine's day

1. Heart garland | handcrafted decoration for your sweet one | The Party Studio 

2. Heart sugars | add a little sweetness to your tea party | The Party Studio

3. Bookmark printables | a valentine gift for your little one and their friends | MG party impressions

4. Heart tea bags | make your loved one a special cup of tea | Martha Stewart

5. Sweet Heart stamp set | add a little touch to your love notes | Kikki-K

6. Valentine cookies | sweetie valentine cookie tutorial | Bubble & Sweet

7. Cookie box with heart window | fill this box with a sweet treat | The Party Studio

8. Valentine Heart cookies | dazzle your valentine with these cookies | Karen’s Cooking

{Style Idea} #1 Valentine’s Day

OK, so it’s only the 4th day of the year but I’m jumping ahead to Valentine’s Day ~ a day for you to “officially” declare your love to your loved ones.  I must admit, Valentine’s day is no big event in our household, but I thought I’d dedicate my first styling shot to it anyway cos I just love these cookie boxes available from The Party Studio (of course!).   These would also make a great party thank you gift for your little girls.

Happy New Year!

Hello 2011 and happy new year to you all!

This year will be a big year for The Party Studio and it’s sister company Sophisticated Yum. With a huge relaunch of The Party Studio in a few months time (we’ll keep you posted) and the official launch of Sophisticated Yum, it was certainly fitting to start the year off with a bang! That, and the fact that I didn’t want to feel boring and old and find myself falling asleep on the sofa at 10pm on New Year’s Eve meant that it was time to gather family and friends together for a catch up and a celebration.

After seeing some glam NYE printables (see them here), I set about creating my dessert table – black, teal and a touch of pink. The girls at Anders Ruff were kind enough to allow me to change the colours slightly.

Here’s a few pics of the celebration, but if you want more photos, click here.

Black, teal and pink

Wishing you a year filled with much love and happiness and looking forward to sharing our year at The Party Studio with you all.

{Inspiration} Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful time of year.  Busy, chaotic, sometimes crazy, but nevertheless, wonderful.  It’s a great time for families to get together, a time for people to celebrate Jesus’ birth, a time to give to others and a time of food and festivities.

So, with the countdown to Christmas well and truly on, I thought it would be good to share some photos of our recent photoshoot and give you some inspiration and ideas on how you can celebrate this Christmas.

1. If you are having a large outdoor get together, a great way to present your meal is to use a kraft box, paired together with a spoon and fork.  Bundle it together with a strip of Christmas paper or coloured paper that matches the colours you have chosen for your celebration.

2. Use a small christmas tree,wooden cutout tree or branches and hang Christmas decorations with each guest’s name.  You can then use these as small gifts for your guests to take home.

3. It’s always great to include kids when you are organising your Christmas celebrations.  A fun way to do this is to use Christmas cookie cutouts to make some cookies that the kids can then decorate on the day, using icing and lollies.  To make it even special, package it in a small box that they can then take their creation home in and label it ‘handmade by ______’  This idea could also be used as a cute little present for children to give their nanna and pop or teacher at school.

4. Fill small clear boxes with candy in the colours of your party, whether it is the traditional red and green or something more modern like pink and turquoise. Tie with ribbon, add a small gift tag and voila!  Another easy, cost effective little pressie.  You could also fill these boxes with cookies instead of candy.

Christmas inspiration board

Top row from left: Cupcake wrappers, cupcake topper flags; red polka dot lanterns, giant red pompoms; kraft cameo boxes, divine twine + Sambellina Christmas tags

Second row: Cake by Sharon Wee; clear boxes, green polkadot ribbon

Third row: kraft noodle box, wooden cutlery; wooden cones, cocktail forks

All the above are available from The Party Studio.

Photography by Eclektic Photography + Design

Furniture supplied by Splendid Days

Christmas cake by Sharon Wee Creations

Styled by Sophisticated Yum

Where’s your Mo?

In Australia, the month of November is also known as Movember, a month where men grow a moustache (aka ‘mo’) to raise funds and awareness in men’s health, something often neglected by men and women alike.  See if your man will grow a mo for this wonderful cause or maybe you could host a mo party.  But you can’t grow a mo, I hear you say?   Well, check these out. 

These Whisker Sticks (above) are all handmade by Whisker Works but if you want to keep it simple, these printable ones designed by JD Digi Designs on MyGrafico would be just as effective for your mo party. 

Happy Movember!

I {heart} etsy

With three little kids, two little businesses and one hubby to look after, finding time to wander through markets is certainly a rare opportunity.  Enter Etsy, and a whole world of little market stalls are right there before my eyes.  I can browse and shop in the comfort of home, with pjs on and a coffee in hand. 

Etsy is not new, but for those who haven’t yet discovered it, etsy is a community of buyers and sellers of handmade goodies from all over the world.  There are some amazing things out there, so certainly check it out.  Here are a few of my favourite things that I’ve found in the etsy marketplace:

Some etsy favourites

Clockwise from top left:

1. Kawaii sticky stick-it note pad – things I love 1

2. Felt cakes and tarts – July Hobby

3. Antique style alphabet set – Pretty tape

4. Pretty pink & cream tickets – Leesie Bella

There’s so much more, but I’ll leave it to you to explore at your leisure.  Happy shopping!

{Thank you}

From the moment we wake, I think many of us live busy lives, with very little time to stop and think and reflect.  Well, this would certainly be true for me.

But this morning, I happened to wake up early and as I sat at the computer, I came across a post from Frog Prince Paperie on Thanksgiving.  Now thanksgiving isn’t something that we celebrate here in Australia…yet.  (Though if marketers have anything to do with it, like Halloween, it might just make its way onto our shores.)  And so, I was challenged to take a few moments to think about all the things that I could be thankful for.

We’ve just had a bout of gastro in our household, so I’ve recently been reminded how important our health is.  I can be thankful for our health (now we are all back to full health), and also for my dear husband who looked after us sickies with such dedication, even though I’m no sympathetic shoulder to cry on whenever he’s sick.  I can be thankful for the three beautiful children that God has blessed me with, for their love and energy and little ‘I love yous’, even though sometimes their energy really takes all my energy out!  And I can be thankful for the beautiful home that I live in and for the family and friends that surround me each day.   I’m also thankful for the smaller things that I often take for granted in life like the sound of rain pattering on the roof (I’m not going to complain even if it is raining at school drop off!) and chilli (I truly believe that a dash of chilli can make anything taste delicious – try it!).

OK, so this one’s a bit of a serious post, but if you do end up having a Thanksgiving celebration, what would you hang on your little “Tree of Thanks”?

Thanksgiving centrepiece

"Tree of Thanks" created by Frog Prince Paperie

Olive Manna

During my daily blog browse, I happened to come across a store called Olive Manna.  After one look, I knew that their gorgeous products belonged in our store.  Here are just some of the goodies that will be in our store soon.

Hope you love this new range as much as I do.

Lemonade 50c

Saw this gorgeous lemonade stand yesterday at a nursery and was bursting with a pink and yellow lemonade party inspiration.

I’m thinking mini lemon meringue tarts, lemon cupcakes, small bottles of pink lemonade and jars of sour lemon candy. What would you include?