Mazzie's Turning Two!

So, your kid’s birthday is coming up, and you’re fresh out of party ideas.  Sure, you could just invite over a bunch of children to run-a-muck in your backyard like everyone else does, OR you could do what this mom did and come up with a cool, totally unique idea to make your little one feel special on her big day.

    

Megan came to me a few months ago with one of the most out-of-the-box party themes I have yet to encounter.  Megan is a teacher, so she knows all about popular children’s books, and one book in particular had the attention of her {soon to be} two year old, so she decided to center her daughter’s 2nd birthday party around the book!  VERY COOL! 

The book was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Don’t worry, I will spare you the book review, but I will tell you that it’s immensely fun to read and its simple, colorful illustrations are very eye-catching.  

I used a picture of the two-year-old cutie along with some of the same colorful eye-catching elements to design the invite…look how great it turned out, and a big thanks to Megan for letting me use a few pics from the party!  As always Megan, it was a pleasure to work with you! :)

Favorite Valentine's Day Fonts

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so today I wanted to share my top five favorite free Valentine's Day fonts with you.  I love fonts.  Love, love them and I love any excuse to add new fun {especially free} fonts to my library.  These are perfect for printables, homemade Valentines cards, gift tags, decorations, and more.  Enjoy!

1. BJKellybean
2. Abbleberry
3. Juleslove
4. Sweetiepie
5. Jandacurylygirlserif

All of the above can be found here

A Rustic Coral Wedding

If the winter weather has been getting you down lately, cheer up with this bright, sunshine filled rustic barn wedding photographed by Alisha & Scott.  With a happy color scheme of coral pink and light gray, this fall wedding was full of fun, DIY details. 

The Scene:

Jess and Scott chose the Simpson Barn in Johnston, Iowa as their ceremony location.  The venue had just the right amount of modern mixed with rustic charm to make everyone feel relaxed and right at home.  The reception was held at the Stoney Creek Inn just a few miles away.  I absolutely love the rustic lodge décor in this hotel, it was the perfect place to end the night.  From the maids [yours truly was one of them] to the men and the flowers to the cupcakes, everything was wonderful, and everyone enjoyed the day immensely!

Photo Credit: Alisha & Scott, RPSDesigns

The Paper Goods:

When Jess contacted me, she know exactly what she wanted when it came to the design of her wedding stationery; it was just up to me to make it happen.  Jess picked a dark gray textured pocket invitation and decided to accent it with a rich watermelon layer.  As for her neutral color, she wanted to bring in cream instead of a standard white to match her dress.  Two fonts were used in this design, a simple classic font mixed with a more modern, curly font.  The invitation inserts, save the date card, and ceremony program were all made to coordinate with the style of the invitation.  Simple. Clean. Modern.  I love how it all came together!

Photo Credit: RPSDesigns

Photo Credit: Alisha & Scott Photography

Holiday 2013

Is it just me or does it seem like the Fall season is blindly busy and tends to accelerate at a pace that seems faster than any other?  I guess it's especially busy for me because Fall represents the upcoming holiday card season, a season for me that is dominated by creativity!  Each Fall (for the past three years), I've set out to design custom holiday cards, and recently I have come to realize that the word “custom” has become very over used these days.  It often times gets replaced with the word “personalized”, but in reality, the two are actually very different.  Personalized means you take a design that is already done and add your personal text or photo.  “Custom” means the design was created solely for you.  Clients come to me with very specific ideas for their design and others come to me with no idea at all and let me just run with it.  My card designs vary with those that focus on one photo to others that use more than one.  My goal is simple, to create a process that is as easy and efficient as possible, and my prices (each one of these cards was designed and printed with envelops for $65 or less) competitive so to address the needs of my clients.  Doing this makes me happy, and ultimately, I hope my clients are happy in return!  With that being said, I wanted to share a few of my favorites (including mine) from this year!  Happy Holidays!

Seasons of Change - Save the Date & Invitation

This past spring/summer I was given the chance to design a coordinating save the date and invitation for another wonderful charity event. This event, hosted by The Polk County Women Attorneys', is a charity basket auction to benefit the Young Women's Resource Center here in Central Iowa.  The Young Women's Resource Center helps support, educate and advocate to girls and women between the ages of 10 and 21 in central Iowa by providing free, confidential counseling...very cool!

The theme of the event was "seasons of change".  The save the date was sent out in postcard format this past spring and incorporated lots of bright colors to give off that warm, sunny "summer is coming" feel. The invitation then followed a few months later and displayed a wide array of leaves splashed in rich, reds, oranges and that perfect "fall yellow".

If you are someone you know is interested in supporting the Young Women's Resource Center check out their website and the Polk County Womens Attorney's site on ways to get involved.  Also, a big thank you to Whitney with Fiedler & Timmer for her wonderful cooperation during the design process!

 

Custom Holiday Card Design

Well, hey! Sorry for the lapse in blog posts recently.  The past three months have been a bit of a chaotic mess, however, things are finally settling down and I am back on the Blog.  As usual, I've been working away on a number of invitations and announcements, which I will soon share, but for now want to switch gears for a bit because...

...Tis the season for Christmas cards! Christmas is one thing in life that always gets me giddy, and Christmas cards are no different! I really enjoy creating custom designs that will be unique and unlike any other that your friends and family will receive in their mailbox.

If you or someone you know want a custom RPSD design this year, you can go ahead and get on my list!

Here's how it works:

COST:

·                     $30.00

WHAT YOU GET: 

·                     A design unique to you and your family with up to three revisions.

·                     The final design will be emailed to you in high res jpeg form so that you can print however and wherever you'd like, and/or add it to your blog, Facebook, email, etc.

WHAT TO DO: 

·                     I will have 15 spots on my waiting list for custom designs.

·                     To reserve your spot, please fill out the contact form in the sidebar, or send me an email at RPSDesigns@aol.com

·                     Once I've received your email, I will send you a design form. First come, first served. Once I have received your form, AND your pictures, I will let you know your estimated wait time for your initial proof.

·                     I will be taking orders from now until the 15 spots are full, or until Friday, November 8th.

Here is a peek at a few cards I've made over the past couple of years...

Our Little Ladybug Turns 1!

About a month ago, we celebrated my daughter’s first birthday!  I cannot believe how fast this first year has gone by!  The day could not have been more perfect, it was a bit windy, but it was warm and sunny and that was enough to please me!

My sister was my biggest help in planning this party!  I keep telling her that she needs to open a party planning business, but of course she wont listen to me.  Anyways, I spent the last few months deciding on the perfect theme for the big bash.  I knew the party was going to be outdoors and wanted a theme to go with the setting.  So after scouring through hundreds of Pinterest pictures and other blogs I finally found the perfect theme...LADYBUGS, and I had a great idea for the invites!

 Now normally everything I do is digital (I have zero patience for crafts), but for this party I made an exception.  Each ladybug body was hand cut and then assembled onto a card stock invitation.  In the beginning I was really nervous that the final product would look like a third grade art project, but was pleasantly surprised how good they looked when all was said and done!  I finished off the invitation with a bright red envelope a fancy wrap label (love them!) and a thank you card to match! {For a tutorial on these invites click here}

I rented out a local park shelter for the location, and then drove straight to Hobby Lobby to buy up everything ladybug-ish I could find to decorate!  The main colors were red, black and white with pops of yellow and green added in for more of a summer look.  It turned out great!

Next came the food.  We did a grill out for everyone and then had cupcakes for the guests and an 8 inch smash cake for the birthday girl!  I ordered grass green cupcakes with little ladybugs and a simple, white smash cake with red piping.  I then found a lady on Etsy to design a custom cake banner!

We had an incredible turnout of family and friends and we felt so incredibly blessed to have our little girl surrounded with so much love and support on her big day!  

The girl is 100% spoiled rotten!  There is no doubt about it!  She received tons of new toys and clothes for her birthday, more toys and clothes than we know what to do with!

Thank you to everyone who came, celebrated, and wished our little lady well on her 1^st birthday.  Even though she may not remember it, the pictures/videos and memories we will most definitely share with her someday as a reminder of the amazing people she has in her life!

Photography by Alisha & Julie Photography

Invitations: Rock Paper Scissor Designs

Ladybug Dress: Dillards

Ladybug Bib: A Baby Notion

Cake Topper: Especially Paper

Cake/Cupcakes: Bevs Cakes

Picture Banner: DIY 

Ladybug Frame: DIY 

Flower Pots: IKEA & DIY