Robot Party Inspiration

I had blogged a few weeks about my new Robot Birthday and Baby Shower collection. Well today I found a few more items that would make the party complete!
If you're having a Robot theme birthday, you can have your little guests craft their own robots. This would make a fun activity and they get to take home a one-of-a-kind toy.
Believe it or not, the robots above were created using silver spray paint and recycled packaging, such as water bottles, juice boxes, plastic cups, buttons, lids, fruit cups, and more. Read more about the creative process at AlphaMom in this story by one of my favorite bloggers, Brenda Ponnay.

If it's a Robot Baby Shower your having, then you can create these little metallic friends ahead of time and use them as center pieces or as part of the decorations.

What can be more fun than Robot cupcakes? Everybody loves cupcakes! Have fun creating them, mix and match body parts for a more electrifying desert.
If you need any other party elements such as birthday banners or gift tags, thank you cards, or any other stationery items, check my website as I'm always adding more items to my existing collections, and new designs on a weekly basis. If you don't find it in my shop, just send me a message and I'll be glad to create what you're looking for.
Also, feel free to comment with other ideas that may make this party theme complete.

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Pickles & Ice Cream Baby Shower Invitations

I just finished adding a few more items to my Pickles and Ice Cream Baby Shower collection. I originally only had 5x7 invitations in blue and pink, but they are now available in postcard format as well. The collection also includes gift tags, stickers (you can make cupcake toppers with these stickers), custom postage and thank you cards.


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Assembling your handcrafted invitations

As you may already know, I have been designing custom handcrafted invitations for 5 years now. I'm actually transitioning into flat stationery design at this point, but I will forever love the textures and process involved in creating unique invitations for special events. When it comes to designing invitations, the possibilities are endless. There are so many fonts, papers and embellishments to choose from, and they're all available on-line or at any scrap-booking store. I learned early on while working on my first custom wedding, that no matter how beautiful a design may be, if it is not assembled with the highest quality products, you might as well be sending fliers out. In my case, I had presented a beautiful paper ensemble to the bride, which she immediately approved for production. At the time I thought any double sided tape or glue would do the job - wrong! After assembling the third set, I knew I had to search for a stronger higher quality adhesive, because the metallic stocks were too heavy and wouldn't adhere to the other layers. So I did a little more research and found the Scotch 700 ATG tape gun, which made my life a lot easier and allowed me to take pride in my work every step of the way, from design to assembly!
Here's the deal, glue sticks tend to warp the paper as the glue applies wet and then dries hard. Regular double sided tape is too weak and doesn't always hold layers of heavy card stock together, but the ATG tape gun is, in one word, awesome. It applies a dry adhesive that's pressure sensitive and easy to work with. One of my favorite things about it is that if you happen to apply the tape in the wrong place, you can simply rub it off with your finger. It forms a little rubber ball which you can just throw away, it doesn't ruin the paper, and your invitations never fall apart. Yes, it is a bit pricey, but so worth the investment. You wouldn't want your precious designs to fall apart as they're being pulled out of the envelope, would you? No, I didn't think so.


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Monkey Photo Invitations

I just added a few more monkey designs to the shop. I'm going bananas with this theme, so there's more coming soon!

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Housewarming Party Invitations

Hi! I'm back from vacation and ready to tackle the holiday season! In the meantime, while I sort my pictures and settle in, I thought I'd share a couple of my popular designs for housewarming party invitations. They're ready for you to customize and purchase!

Modern Beads Design by Paisley In Paris

Whimsical Housewarming Party Invitations by PaisleyInParis

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"I'll be back"

I won't be updating the blog as much in the next week. I hopped in a plane this morning and headed out to the state of Illinois. I'm pretty excited about being able to spend some quality time with my grandmother and the rest of the family here in the midwest. It's a nice escape from the California desert heat, and always heartwarming to reconnect with my loved ones after not seeing them for 5 years. Pictures coming soon!

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Takin' the kids to the bar

No, not that kind of bar, this kind of bar...The Popbar! With the weather still in the triple digits around here, I'm sure my girls would love to go to The Popbar with me. My mouth is watering just thinking about their handcrafted gelato on a stick. Unfortunately, I'm on the west coast, and their only location seems to be in NYC (of course). I'm sitting here hoping someone around here decides to buy a franchise so we can put these suckers to the test. They look amazing, don't they? Lucky NYC peeps. They get all the fun!

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Back to school shopping

If you're still doing your back to school shopping, you might be interested in these cute little bookplates. They're fully customizable, meaning you can change the message and the name on the label to use on as many school items as you need! For example, instead of the traditional "this book belongs to" your labels can read "this notebook..." or "this crayon box belongs to..."
This is especially useful for little kids that still need to work on their penmanship and for those who don't know how to write their names yet. They also make great gifts for teachers!


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Food Art

Art comes in all mediums, shapes, sizes and yes, flavors too! Today I'd like to feature the work of a talented little momma over at Little Food Junction who so graciously shares all her little creations on her weekly posts. Below are just a few of my favorites.




Eye candy that's nutritious and fun! Okay, break time. I think I'm hungry now.


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Cake Pops

I'm so excited! Bakerella's book on Cake Popsis finally out on the market! For those of you who are not yet familiar with these artistic little edibles, they're actually cake on a stick (giving them a lollipop effect), which you can shape as any character imaginable. In this book Bakerella shares her secrets, tips and recipes. Can't wait to add this book to my collection!


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Butterfly Birthday Invitations & More

I've recently added a Butterfly collection to my shop. It includes invitations, magnet favors, round address labels, favor tags, thank you cards and other items that can be customized for birthday celebrations or baby showers. I'll be adding cupcake toppers and candy wrappers to my Etsy shop soon to complete the collection.

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Reusable Snack Bags

Only a few more weeks and my little girl begins 1st grade. I'm so excited, yet nervous for her. What can I say? I'm a mom, I worry. It's as if mommyhood suddenly activated a worry chip in my wiring that has no "off" button. Prayer will always pause it, but sooner or later life kicks in and activates the worry feature in my mommy wiring. I know she'll love it though, she's very social and was at the top of her class last year in kindergarden, so I guess all I really have to worry about now is purchasing a few uniforms, shoes and school supplies. I've also added these adorable and reusable snack bags to my shopping list. I'm a sucker for fun eco-friendly products that help me save money along the way. You may pay more upfront, but you'll save in the long run by being able to reuse them.

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Cute and colorful Mommy Calling Cards

Next time you meet a great mommy (or daddy) with a kiddo as fabulous as yours, don't loose touch! Be prepared with one of these super fabulous calling cards and schedule your next play date. No more looking for scrap paper to jot down numbers, just hand over your calling card and watch how your children's social skills begin to blossom as they interact with other children their age.

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"How do I become a wedding stationery designer?"

Every now and then I get a bit of fan mail. People just stopping by to let me know how much they like my work. I love it! It keeps me inspired and it motivates me to continue creating more and more each day. About a week ago, I received an e-mail from a fan who aspires to become a wedding stationery designer and she wanted to know if I could give her a little more insight on what it entitles. Let me tell you...it's a lot of work! But it can also be very rewarding if it is your true passion. Click here to read the post.

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Toilet Decor, Just for Fun

What? Someone's hiding in the toilet? An alligator may bite my toosh while I'm relieving myself? Uh, I think I'll hold it 'till I get home, thank you very much.

(Decals found via Etsy)

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A "Summer Nights Cookies & Milk" Birthday Party

We celebrated my daughters 6th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We kept the party small to ensure there was enough room for our guests to remain indoors and enjoy each others company in the cool AC. It's usually in the triple digits outside during this time of year, and I personally don't like going outdoors until the sun goes down. I'm sure I'm not the only one around here who feels this way.

Party Theme
We went with a "Summer Nights Cookies & Milk" theme. My daughter loves colors so I had to make sure the decorations were as lively as she is. I was so busy the day of the event that I didn't have a chance to take any pictures while the party was going on. However, I did manage to capture a few during setup, and I'll probably be shooting a few more in the next few days of all the cool things I made for the party.

Set up & Decor
We set up the tables to look like beds to tie-in with the theme. As guests arrived I gave them crayons and white bag to decorate. They would later use this bag to hold the candy they gather from the piñata.
I made hanging flowers that I hung from the ceiling on one side of the room. We had the ceiling fan on, which made them turn softly throughout the night.
I also made paper garland and paper pom-poms that we hung above the dessert table, outside in the patio, the living room and kitchen. It made the rooms look very festive!

Menu & Order of Events
We chose a menu that didn't involve much cooking or any outdoor grilling. Neither one of us wanted to grill out in the heat, that's for sure! So we served Taco Salads, Hot Dogs wrapped in bacon and Sloppy Joe's. We used my sister's indoor George Foreman Grillto cook the hot dogs, it didn't take much time and didn't warm up the kitchen - I love that thing! Gonna put it on my wish list. =)
After everyone ate, we went outside to break the piñata, followed by a hula-hoop contest that gave our guests a chance to win a cash prizes! When the winners were all paid up, we came inside to sing happy birthday while the birthday girl blew out the candles then we all enjoyed ice cream cupcakes (pictures and tutorial coming soon), cookies and milk.
The night ended with a splash, the kids went swimming for a while after their cookies and milk, and they all went home with a goody bag filled other bedtime snacks, such as ingredients to make your own s'mores, peanuts granola bars.


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"About to Pop" Popcorn Favor Boxes

These little popcorn favor boxes gave me a good laugh! I guess they would make cute party favors for a mom to be with popcorn cravings, or a couple whose enjoys goings to the movies often. They would also make great favors for a themed party such as Carnival Baby Shower, or "One last movie date before the baby" coed baby shower. Hey, I think I found what my next invitation design will be!

Shopping for an 80's Kid

I think the Pac Man shoes I found the other day have me reminiscing about the 80's. Knowing that the holidays are just around the corner gave me a good excuse to search for a few 80's theme items to add to my holiday shopping list. I know there's others like me who'll appreciate some of these finds.


So what where your favorite TV shows back in the 80's? For me it was Growing Pains, Different Strokes and The Facts of Life.
I also loved cartoons! My favorite were He-Man, She-Ra, Smurfs and Heathcliff.






I remember in 4th grade when all the boys were into their Atari games. I was never into video games, I was more into the Madonna look and music.



Remember when we would listen to cassette tapes? Better yet, remember when we would make our mixed tapes with songs we'd record right off the radio or from one tape to another? Well, technology has now made them a thing of the past, but you can still have a cassette tape dispenser.


Then there was the Rubik's Cube. I was never able to solve that thing, in fact I think I even broke a few of them trying to solve them. They might not be a popular toy now, but you can still enjoy them in the form of salt and pepper dispensers.


Even though fashion has improved significantly since then, and I don't think I can now live without the technology that came with the new century (such as internet and cell phones), there will always be something special about the 80's. ~ Enjoy your holiday shopping!


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