Winter Wedding Gift Ideas for Bridal Party and Guests

Last Monday, I talked about the great color palates for Winter Weddings. While I was day dreaming about the different color combinations you could use, my mind wandered to what could be wonderful gifts to give to your bridal party as well as guests if you are marrying in a snowy month.

For your bridal party, what better gift than a cashmere scarf? This one, found at Nordstrom would be a beautiful accessory to compliment the day of wedding attire, but also could be a great item to use year after year...and any time one of your bridal party members (men or women) wrap themselves in the cashmere scarf, they will remember who they received it from and what fun they had on your special day.


As favors for your guests, give them a thermos with some deluxe hot chocolate. You could personalize the thermos with your wedding design either from your invitation or wording such as "Cheers" and the date you got married. This thermos from Golfballs.com allows you to personalize the outside and offers some great quantity discounts.

Another idea that you could give guests is a basket with all the items needed for s'mores (graham cracker sandwich with chocolate and fire roasted marshmallows in the center). Wrap each basket with a pretty bow and add a tag that says "For s'more fun after the wedding...thank you for celebrating our special day with us."

I hope these wedding gift ideas for your bridal party and guests get your creative juices flowing. Let the celebration begin!

Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas-Fabulous Finds Friday

It's inevitable. You forget someone on your Christmas list; someone stops by with a small gift and you have nothing to reciprocate; you're invited to an open house last minute and you don't have a small something to bring...well, here are some great homemade Christmas Gift ideas that you can make ahead of time and have ready to go.

The first homemade Christmas gift idea is from Sunset magazine. They have several unique Christmas gift ideas, but this hot chocolate mix caught my eye and my stomach. It has such a nice presentation and several can easily be made at once. Just add a ribbon and a tag that says "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" and this simple, yet delicious peppermint hot chocolate mix is ready for giving.

For a more adult beverage, this homemade Christmas gift is perfect for vodka lovers.

The recipes for vanilla, lemon or lime infused vodka can be found at Real Simple. Again, several of these vodka gifts can be made at one time and make beautiful and tasty gifts.

If you're in a more crafty mood for your unique Christmas gifts, why not make your own candles? The idea below is simple enough and makes for a beautiful gift. Just find some pretty paper, some pillar candles and you're in business.


Instructions for both candles and matching match books can be found at Martha Stewart.



The above idea from Better Homes and Gardens is such a simple, yet thoughtful gift. Just by taking plain hand towels and adding some embellishments makes for a great gift. Add some pretty soap and you have a complete package.



If you want to stick with food as a homemade Christmas gift, give them something that doesn't have to be eaten right away. This Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Recipe from Sunset is a simple dump and stir recipe with great results.

I hope you can put these ideas to good use and hopefully they will prevent you from forgetting someone on your list this year (or at least you'll have something on hand when you realize you have).

Let the celebration begin!

Unique Photo Christmas Card-Take Ours and Make it Yours

Every Thursday, I am going to share with you how creative our customers get with our designs. This Thursday Series (called "Take Ours and Make it Yours") is something I am very excited to share. Customers call us and ask if they can do this or that with our designs and most often the answer is "yes!" The below photo Christmas card is a result of a customer wanting something that said would work as a holiday card, but with a "beachy" feel. She said she had noticed we had a sand dollar design and wanted to know if we could make it into a photo Christmas card. She also requested more blues and greens for her final design. I decided to combine one of our Christmas photo cards with the sand dollar design and the final results are below (the one on the left is the original design and the one on the right is the final design...I kept the pictures and the names the same as the original design as to not share personal information).





The design is a subtle change, but with a great result. I added in the sand dollar on top of the tag (so it looks like an additional part of the tag) and changed the colors to subdued greens and blues. The customer also wanted a caption underneath the picture and move the greeting off of the tag. The customer was thrilled with the final look of her photo Christmas card and I was excited to help create her unique, one-of-a-kind holiday card.

Let the celebration begin!

Winter Wedding Color Inspiration

Image credit: The View Point Inn

Winter weddings can be so beautiful that you forget it is freezing outside and you can hardly feel your toes...You can see it now: snow lightly falling outside when the bride and groom kiss, the crunch of snow under feet when you head off to the reception, the rosy cheeks on everyone's faces from the cold...It truly can be a captivating time of year to be married and there are so many color palettes you can choose to make it magical. Depending on the colors you choose you can have a result that can be majestic, funky, modern fun or simply beautiful. Here are a few winter wedding inspiration boards that I found that just shows you how different colors can create such a different feeling during this time of year.





The above inspiration board from bestweddingsites.com combines greens, blues and silvers to create a happy winter wedding. The colors just make you smile and want to join the fun.

The above colors give a sense of glamour, sophistication and a more formal affair. This inspiration board came from brendasweddingblog.com and is a beautiful combination for a winter wedding.





For a traditional winter wedding look, go for reds and greens. This inspiration board (found at brendasweddingblog.com) gives the sense of comfort, holiday tradition and wedding merriment.




The deep purples, blacks and reds make for a very dramatic, sultry setting. Set this against a snowy backdrop and the result is truly stunning winter wedding. This inspiration board can be found at the Whiskey Break Blog.


With white as a backdrop, any color combination you choose will work. Just think about the mood that you are looking for and carry your colors throughout your event. From your stationery, to your flowers to your favors...I hope that these ideas have inspired your winter wedding affair.



Let the celebration begin!

50% OFF sitewide!

For the next two days, Urbanitystudios.com is offering 50% off when you spend $75 or more. Seriously...this is a smokin' deal and something you can't pass up. Get personalized stationery for friends, get your holiday cards ordered, get cool holiday invites for your upcoming party, etc! You can combine any products to get to the $75 minimum...hurry, the deal ends tomorrow, November 18th.

50% off at Urbanitystudios.com

Holy moly...I am just so excited about this sale that I didn't want to keep it a secret any longer. For two days only, November 17th and 18th, you can get 50% off your entire order at Urbanitystudios.com. Just spend $75 minimum and you get everything you put in your basket for 1/2 off. We have never done a sale this big and it is so exciting! Just think of the items you can check off your holiday list with this sale:

• Personalized stationery sets for your friends/neighbors/coworkers (you'll be the bell of the ball if you give such a wonderful gift)
• Holiday cards that you send to family and friends
• Holiday party invitations for New Years or Christmas
• Personalized stationery for yourself

The list could go on and on...but you can only take advantage for 2 days. So, shop around, pick out what you like now and then all you have to do is enter code DEAL09 during checkout on the 17th and/or 18th. Yippee! Let the celebration begin!

Elegant, Beautiful Decorations for a Tea Party, Bridal Shower, Baby Shower or Little Girl's Birthday Party

I came across this beautifully, elegantly, tastefully styled party and I thought to myself, "What a wonderful way to decorate for a tea party, bridal shower, baby shower or any other garden type party." From what I can gather, this event was for a baby shower and was crafted by Mindy Weiss. It is so wonderfully done, that I wanted to share a few of the pics. It makes me yearn to have a tea party or bridal shower, or baby shower or garden party luncheon...too bad winter is just around the corner. The flowers alone would make the space smell amazing. The ribbons, bows, and soft pastel colors make this event softly say "Welcome to a wonderful event ladies...relax, enjoy and indulge."
Everything about it just makes me smile...and gets me thinking how I could create something just as wonderful. Though my budget for a tea party, bridal shower, baby shower, birthday party would not be this extensive, I think there are many things I could incorporate. I could certainly hang beautiful umbrellas from the ceiling, wrap pretty bows around my chairs and place bouquets of flowers around the room...maybe add in some rhinestones on the napkins or napkin rings, create beautiful menus at each place setting and have bowls of decadent white chocolate on each table...now all I need is a reason to host such an event, or maybe I don't? It could be a "just because" tea party. Let the celebration begin!

Great Stationery Gift Idea

Looking for an inexpensive, yet thoughtful gift to give coworkers, neighbors and or acquaintances for the holidays? Consider personalized stationery sets.

We recently had a customer who wanted to give a small gift to her fellow school teachers at her local school for the holidays. She gave us a call and we recommended personalized stationery. She took a design from our wedding category and changed it to the school colors where she works and put in the first letter of the recipient's name in the design. The result? A stunning, and very thoughtful gift...Every time the recipient uses the stationery, they will think how thoughtful she was to get them something so useful and personal.

And, because she ordered so many, she was able to take advantage of our bulk discount. Oh, how sweet.

Now through the end of December, Urbanitystudios is offering FREE cards with your purchase. Learn more and let the celebration begin!

Baseball Baby Shower ideas

I recently designed the following baseball baby shower invitation and it got me thinking how great it would be to host a baseball baby shower. By sticking with the colors of the invitation shown below, the result is a stylish, not kitschy, baby shower.

For the Mom

During the party, have the guests sign a baseball with a comment or two. This will be a great keepsake for the mom-to-be and could even be used as a decor element for the baby's room.

Hit it out of the park with your table decorations

From the ceiling, over your buffet table, hang large, white round paper lanterns. Glue ribbon on the lanterns to make it look like the stitching of the baseball. Oriental Trading has large white paper lanterns that would be perfect for this. Or, if you're feeling really ambitious, you can create white carnation flower balls that hang from the ceiling... Just be sure to put in blue carnations for the stitching.

In the center, on the table, create a "baseball bat arrangement" by placing several bats in a large container, such as a large vase, metal vase or just tie several together with a beautiful satin ribbon and stand them up vertically. To make sure the baseball bats "match" your colors, find scrapbook paper and with double sided tape, tape the paper around the "grip" of the bat. In a smaller glass vases next to your bat arrangement, fill them to the brim with baseball wrapped candies, Carmel corn or peanuts in the shell. Place little white bags next to the vases with the baby's name or "little slugger" written on them for guests to scoop the treats into. In long skinny containers (placed on either side of your arrangement of vases) have either fake or real grass growing out of them.

The Food

For the food, create mini sandwiches adorned with flags that say "#1 Fan" on them. Make tall, skinny bread sticks that you put in slender vase-like containers. Create labels for bottles of water that say "Oh Boy!" with the "o" in boy being a baseball. Whip up some cupcakes with the top decorated like baseballs and if it fits the crowd, offer hot dogs.

The Gifts

Encourage guests to bring items that will help mom get through the "bottom of the ninth". By the time you have the baby shower, she is most likely well into her seventh month or later, so have them bring a small something (whether it is a good book, some great advice or even some bubble bath) that will help relax her, prepare her, sooth her for her "last inning" of her pregnancy.

What NOT to say on a wedding invitation

I recently heard about an invitation that was sent to a friend of mine and at the bottom of the invitation it said to please give cash and included a bank account number. This is an example of what NOT to put on a wedding invitation, response card or any other wedding collateral that you send to guests.

I have received invitations where the couple has included a small card that tells me where they are registered. Again, this is considered inappropriate and should not be included with the invitation to guests.

Just keep this in mind...an invitation to a wedding is just that: An invitation for your friends and family to come and celebrate your fantastic day with you, not an invitation for them to bring gifts.

Now, including where you are registered on your bridal shower invitation is more accepted, especially because the invitation is most likely coming from a friend who is hosting the shower for you.