Handy Dandy School Envelopes

Have I mentioned that these are one of my most favorite things? LOL. I use these several times a week to send in notes to the teacher, book orders, lunch money, you name it... Find them HERE.

If you are not a fan on facebook yet, now is the time to do it--giveaway coming soon exclusively for Facebook fans! Click the link over there to find us --->

Holiday Card Preview

Sneak Peek of one of the new holiday card designs I have been working on...

Are you thinking about Christmas?

Wow, this past week has been absolutely crazy, and not in a good way. I have had a string of bad days, and its been an adjustment getting into gear with our new fall schedule--2 out of 3 boys are playing baseball this fall, and we have practice/games 4 days a week, which is a big change to our routine. Following a holiday weekend and a birthday here, I have been struggling to get back on top of everything & into a groove. Hoping to feel more accomplished by the end of this week! I typically do all of my own Christmas shopping in Sept and early October, so that I can focus on orders during my busiest season of the year...I am lagging behind this year! I also like to debut holiday cards around the end of the month but I think I will be a tad later this time. I feel like I have been on a hamster wheel, spinning around, since school started here! I did list a few holiday stationery items. I am really liking these new gift tags, which I have a feeling will be adorning our packages this year!

Blog Hopping! Focus on Artwork

I have been meaning to do another Blog Hop for awhile now, as I had so much fun browsing other people's blogs, but I kept missing the boat, lol! This week's theme is sharing your artwork. Well, I have lots of my own "artwork" since my website is a creative outlet. I will share one of my newer photo card designs. Here is a sweet new birth announcement I created:

I have always enjoyed drawing and creating...as a kid I filled up dozens of notebooks with drawings and as I got a little older and got my first computer, I spent loads of time creating all kinds of dot matrix black & white projects with the original Print Shop! In college, and then as a teacher, I enjoyed creating activities with lots of graphic design & then when I became pregnant with my oldest son, now 6.5, I started scrapbooking (the good ole paper kind of scrapping!!) so my journey into designing stationery and photo cards seemed like a natural path for me. I love digital expression!

It's funny because now I have sons who fill notebook after notebook of pictures. They all love to draw, and my older two could literally spend hours at the drawing/writing table. They both love to write & illustrate books too. We have artwork displayed everywhere...so much, that this summer, I hung a wire for displaying their pictures in our playroom... Its pretty much the first thing you see when you enter our house, which may not be the ideal decor, but our home is pretty child-centered, so I guess it represents us pretty accurately! Here is a close up of their displayed work (excuse the less than stellar photography; this was a phone pic!)


And here is some of the kids recent artwork...

Monogrammed Stationery Goodies

I have been working to add more new items to the website. Be sure to check out WHAT'S NEW! I still have a lot of samples to catch up on getting added to the online inventory, and before too long it will be time to debut Holiday designs!

Here's a look at some new monogrammed stationery items. These are so versatile! I have customers purchasing these for gifts a lot, and they are perfect for all ages. This particular line is shown in a popular pink & lime green color combination with accents in brown, but these may be customized with any set of colors that suits your fancy!

Address labels:


Personalized Notepad:


Personalized Notecards/Thank Yous:


Calling Cards/Business Cards:

Updates this week

This week is a busy week in my home...we have a birthday, and I am working outside the home a few days, not to mention coming off a holiday weekend! Response time may be a bit delayed, and samples will likely take an extra day or two to complete...please keep this in mind if you place an order.

In honor of my son's birthday, you can use the code COOPER10 all week to save 10% on your order! This weekend, I spent a lot of time adding many new items to the website, so be sure to take a peek.

Here is one of the new items added... Fill in thank you notes are perfect for children to use to write their own thank yous...these are fully customizable, and you can leave as much or as little text as you'd like. They are also available in many designs. This is a cardstock option, but they are also available in press printed papers.

It's A Circus! Party theme & Stationery

Another theme that has become very popular for birthday celebrations is the circus theme--what fun!! Kara from Kara's Party Ideas planned an AMAZING circus party...here is an excerpt from Kara... (check out her blog more even MORE details!!!) I am sooo envious of this party...it must have been a HUGE hit for the guests!

{most photo's are courtesy of my amazing photographer, Lyndsey @ seenboxphotography.com. She did SUCH an awesome job! it was SO hard to pick out my favorites. that's why this post is so long!}

the balloon arch we made for the front yard... the walkway leading to the BIG TOP circus...

open the curtains and......let the fun begin!


here's the party favors each child was given as they walked through the 'door'... the boxes had tickets {that they used at the game booths} and fun circus items inside...i made/painted the ticket booth...it used to be a plain wooden puppet stage!
i bought this cute circus spinning shelf on amazon.com. the brand is guidecraft. there's a whole bedroom collection that matches... i wanted it all!


{i made their birthday shirts out of circus fabric pieces}...
a view of the party from up above...

i took this picture from our upstairs window...the cupcake table inside the tent...

i put some of the cupcakes on a cardboard circus scene {found online}...

we served hot dogs, chips, lemonade, and sugar sugar sugar! notice the cups...they're cute circus animal noses as well as matching 'welcome to the circus' cups...
some of the items on the dessert table... the clown cupcakes i made...

i found the cute clown heads and clown shoes online. they made the cupcakes so adorable!...
the plates and napkins looked like this... a cute lemonade cart i found on ebay...

i put carnival candy {carousel twists, circus peanuts, animal crackers, gummy popcorn} and fireworks in plastic

big top hats turned upside down.... here's my snow cone cupcakes and popcorn cupcakes!

i wanted to serve snow cones at the party but didn't want the work and mess. so after brainstorming one night, i came up with these! fun, huh?!

i made the popcorn cupcake sleeves out of cardboard popcorn boxes...and then attached a popcorn label to the front. the 'popcorn' is marshmallows {i cut an x into each marshmallow with kitchen sheers} sprayed lightly with yellow food coloring spray...

and here's the cake i made {more detailed pics below}. since this party was suppose to be last week {we got rained out BIG TIME and had to cancel/postpone it a week} the bottom part of the cake was kinda hammered. i re-made the top part though. i made the fun happy birthday banner in photoshop {the paper was a mix of adorable circus paper}...

you can also see the napkins/napkin rings

i made out of tickets {got the idea from hwtm}...

and the cake stand..it's a tub that i painted to look like a circus elephant step! i got the idea from one of my followers, briattany {perfect harmony}. thanks brittany!...

the dessert table...

the food tables...

the circus canopy table...

i bought the canopy and matching fabric {that i sewed into tablecloths} at ikea...

and, one of my favorite parts of the whole party....the photo booth {i made it out of painted cardboard, polka dot fabric, and small chairs}!... the clown bibs i had out for the little ones...
i made the centerpieces out of plastic popcorn containers, glittery batons, balloon suckers, swirly lollipops, circus peanuts,

and ceramic circus figures...
i also had ceramic circus train cars and

metal noise makers out on the tables...

the gumball ferris wheel... guess what this is suppose to be...a bird feeder! i found it on ebay and about died because it was so cute {don't worry, it has NEVER been used as a bird feeder..it was brand new}!... we rented a clown {joy-geous} to do face painting and balloon animals. she was GREAT!...

we also rented a popcorn machine. the air smelled SO GOOD with this baby going...

the fun circus photo op...
the cardboard megaphones...

the candy table...

i made all the candy labels & lollipop stickers in photoshop {they matched the invitation}...
the booths...

i bought the games all over...the party store, oriental trading,

amazon, hobby lobby...wherever i could find them!

i made the poles out of pvc pipe and ribbon, and stuck them in the ground with rebar {i've come to LOVE pvc..i used it for so many things for this party}. they won goldfish soap at the goldfish toss {i made the soap out of glycerine, scented oil, and plastic goldfish, and small plastic bags!}.

the kids won tickets at each booth to redeem for

prizes and cotton candy! here's a few pics of some of the prizes...
circus tattoo's....

circus frog tic tac toe & an elephant toss...

here's the circus blanket i found at target.com...

i set it out on the lawn for people to sit on...
we filled our bounce house full of beach balls. the kids loved jumping with them. a bouce house is always a hit... you just can't have a circus/carnival without cotton candy

{the cotton candy was ordered online,

and the labels were made by me}...
.zoltar the fortune teller...

i bought this circus tent on orientaltrading.com {along with a lot of other circus items}. we put all the gifts underneath it...

a cute circus top {that i found on amazon.com}, the metal noise makers i was talking about earlier, and a bunch of balloons :)...

a project for the kids to make and take home... my make shift ball pit {i found the child awning at dan's!}... some of the circus crowd {you should have seen our lawn afterwards. hehe}!...
the body boppers...

the kids LOVED these things!...

here's the birthday tins i passed out at the end of the party. they had little rainbow candies inside...
Of course, Cutie Pies Custom Creations offers adorable circus themed stationery to make your party complete... Here are some invitation options...

Big Top invitation can also be modified to include a photo if desired.


Colorful primary dots circus photo invitation

Have your child practice good etiquette with these matching fill-in thank yous, which may be fully customized. Add a photo from the party for a unique guest keepsake!!