You're Invited...

Hello, Dear Readers!  Please excuse my blogging absence for the past few weeks.... as Catherine let y'all know, my husband and I just welcomed our first baby.  As those of you who are mothers will understand, my life has been a blur of
feedings, swaddlings, diaper-changings, and other such glamorous activities.  But when I look at that sweet face, it's all worth it! 


My husband and I are also in the midst of moving... and into a house that has been freshly renovated by none other than Catherine's talented husband, builder and renovator Blake Shaw.  Check out his beautiful website here.  We are thrilled with our results, which I will no doubt be blogging about in the future.  If you want to build a custom home or renovate one in the greater Atlanta area, be sure to check him out!


However, today I want to blog about invites.  Reason being is that we are having a party for our dear friends Joanna and Charles in the next few weeks (yes, at our new home!) and so I have recently had invitations on my mind.  Charles and Joanna are expecting a baby in September, so we are throwing them a coed party to celebrate the momentous occasion.  We just know our babies will be the best of friends, just like their daddies.  :o) 


In my invite search, I first checked out one of my personal favorites for unique items, the handmade craft paradise etsy.com.  I quickly found an adorable seller of invitations, cards, and other paper party goods, especially for children's birthday parties and baby showers.  The shop is Loralee Lewis, and the goods she sells are simply precious.  Many things have a vintage vibe, which of course I adore.  Our party coming up has a bit of a circus theme, so I particularly liked the invitation below. 

However, unfortunately for me, time was not on my side in my online search, and Loralee needs a few days to create your invitation masterpiece.  So these were not to be for me this time.  But I will definitely be using one of her creations in the future!  Look at these other beauties that are available: 

Love it all!!


Another etsy gem is PaperFinchDesign.  The owner and creative force behind this online shop is none other than one of our Bunco girls, Amy.  Amy also tends to design paper goods and other pretty images with a slant towards vintage loveliness.  Here are some of her shop's offerings:

Besides invites, Amy offers digital downloads for do-it-yourself paper crafters.  


Now I also must brag on my go-to stationer, the fabulous calliespondence.  Headed up by my sorority sister and good friend Callie, she is the person to talk to when you want high-end, custom paper goods.  She did our Christmas cards last year, aren't they adorable?

Callie also created Catherine's and my Buncolator notecards!

Here are some of Callie's other custom creations.... oh, and be sure to check out her always-entertaining blog, too!

Callie can be contacted regarding orders here.  She is currently working on three orders for me: our baby announcements, our moving announcements, and some business stationery for my hubby.  Can you tell I adore working with her??


And finally, now on to tinyprints.com.  This online invitation and greeting card powerhouse is where I ordered my invites from this time around.  While not as creative (or custom) as the above three sources, I needed to order from an online source that could speedily get the invitations out for me.  Tinyprints offers the service of addressing and mailing your invitations for you, and for a very reasonable cost with a very quick turnaround.  For a new mom in the process of renovations and moving, this was indispensable!


Another plus about tinyprints is the selection.  I typed "circus" in the search box, and these are some of the fun products that popped up:

The one above is the invite I went with - cute and simple, I thought!


With all the fabulous invite options that I want to use, I think I am going to have to have at least a half dozen more parties this year!


Lindsay