Ellery Designs

Decor, Design & DIY

1500 Facebook Fans Giveaway!

Wow!! July marks THREE years for I DO invitations by michelle. Crazy how time flies and how far my little biz has come along! I started out making a few wedding invitations for family and friends that has turned into party mayhem, thanks to Hostess with the Mostess and so many other fabulous sites for featuring my daughter’s Elmo party. WHO KNEW?! I sure didn’t…but I absolutely L*O*V*E what I do….and guess what? I LOVE my fans too! You guys ROCK! I just hit 1500 fans on Facebook – so freaking exciting! So with that said and to celebrate my 3 year anniversary, I’m hosting a FABULOUS GIVEAWAY that includes some amazing prizes from the following amazing shops/vendors. Don’t miss out on this fabulousness – free custom tees, desserts, invitations, party supplies, photography sessions and hair bows, oh my!! Drumroll please…..the winner will receive the following:

$30 Shop Credit to I DO invitations by michelle
$25 Shop Credit to A to Zebra Celebrations
1 Custom Tee (up to $50 value) to *Golden* Shop
1 Dozen Platter Sized Cookies to The Cookie Jar
Free Mini Session ($50 Value) + One 8×10 to Chelsea Corinne Photography
Free Mini Session + One 8×10 to Photos by Vitella
 1 Dozen Classic Lillycakes
$20 Gift Card to AMK’s Boutique
Ready, Get Set, ENTER! Here’s what you need to do:

Required:

Check out all of the fabulous vendors above and leave a comment below on this blog post as to what you are most excited about winning. (ie: a custom tee from golden or photo session with Chelsea Corinne. Also, please try to remember to write if you are local to me or not)

For Extra Entries:

(leave a separate comment for each – so you could have up to 8 additional entries )

Become a fan of each of the giveaway vendors on facebook. (See links below) Leave a new comment below on this blog post for each vendors page you “like” on facebook. (For example: “I am a fan of A to Zebra Celebrations” would be one additional entry, and so on.) Again, please try to remember to tell me if you are local or not.

{WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN ON MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2011 at 8:00 PM CST.}
Winner will be selected using random.org. If the winner is not local to me, I will use random.org again until I pull a local winner who will receive the giveaway portion for our local vendors only – Chelsea Corinne Photography & Photos by Vitella. (They are local Northern Illinois photographers so they are unable to provide services to everyone like the other vendors can). 
Thanks for the support and good luck!!!

Happy Summer!

Woah, I haven’t blogged in forever!! I have so much to talk about and fill you in on — lots of exciting things to share with you next week 🙂 Super excited to be styling two weddings sweet tables back to back next weekend and also a zebra-themed baby shower for twin girls at the end of the month! So excited to see everything come together!! 🙂

If you haven’t already heard, Jenn from Hostess with the Mostess (my favorite site EVER) just launched her new social website for fabulous party inspiration, parties, and some seriously gorgeous eye candy! I can’t get over how addicting it is – it’s like facebook for people who love parties!  I was lucky enough to be one of the beta-users before the site went live. It’s fantastic! Now, go check it out and sign up! 🙂

The weekend after, I setup a candy buffet table at a another wedding that we attended. (Which was also the same day we celebrated our FIVE year wedding anniversary!) Time sure flies when you’re having fun 🙂 I also made the invites, fan programs, table numbers and seating chart  for their hot pink and black wedding. So fun!

 
Can’t wait to style the other sweets table next weekend! One wedding is hot pink and lime destination themed and the other is eggplant and black!

I’ll be back early next week to blog about two amazing features from Cami’s Elmo Party that are supposed to be featured this week on Hostess with the Mostess (squeel!!!) and Baby Lifestyles. I am so honored that a few of the photos from her party were featured on NBC’s iVillage.com! Pinch me! You can view it here.


XOXO, Michelle

Vintage Circus Collection

I’m soooooo super excited to share that the fabulous Courtney from Pizzazzerie featured my recent Vintage Circus Birthday Party shoot!! Her site is one of my favorites and is beyond inspiring! You can check out all of the photos and details here! Everything was styled on a budget and I just love that it is a party for all ages, boy or girl! 🙂 You can purchase all of the DIY printables in my etsy shop! All photos taken by the fabulous Ellie of Photography Studio 37.

Is it really May?!

WOW!! I can’t believe it’s already MAY! So crazy how fast time flies by! Well, Cami’s Elmo Inspired 2nd Birthday Party has come and gone and I cannot thank you all enough for all of your kind words, etc. about the party! It was such a fun day and I had so much fun planning it! I’m hoping to have some pretty amazingly fun news to share within the next few weeks so cross your fingers for me and I’ll keep you posted! 😉

Easter was a fun day but we were all pretty exhausted being the day after Cami’s Party. Isn’t she just the cutest? My mother-in-law setup a cute outdoor Egg Hunt! LOVE the banner, of course! 🙂

Also, I just got word that my interview will be featured on Circle of Mom’s next week for being named a Top 25 Party Plannin’ Mom!! I’m SO excited and I can’t wait to read all of the other winning interviews since many of them are my most favorite party planners/bloggers that I gather much of my inspiration from 🙂 I’ll keep you posted and share the link as soon as I have it! 🙂 Thanks again to all who voted! My fans are the BEST!!

I’ve been busy as a bee these past few weeks with party invitations and wedding orders! I just love it! I assembled three pocketfold style invites this past weekend and I forgot how long those take (but of course, they are so pretty!) One is a zig-zag invite that is by far my new favorite style ever! Isn’t it FAB?

I’m also having so much fun creating all of the paper products for my BFF’s Wedding this June! I’m saving everything to share til after the Wedding….can’t wait for you to see – she has the cutest ideas and it’s going to be such a beautiful wedding ! Her theme is Vintage Country with the newly popular gray and yellow color theme. LOVE.

My etsy shop is also keeping me busy and ever since Cami’s party, my Elmo invite has become increasingly popular! So fun! I’ve been wanting to create a new Mickey/Minnie inspired invite because really, every toddler LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse it seems, so here’s the invite I created that was inspired from the Elmo invite! It’s listed in my etsy shop so go check it out and of course, the colors can be changed to red for Mickey 🙂

I feel like I could talk about a million things but I got to get back to editing proofs, etc. before my hair falls out! 🙂 Thank you for following and I’ll be back soon to share some exciting news (hopefully!)

XOXO, M

Cami’s Elmo Inspired 2nd Birthday Party :)

I can’t believe our little girl is TWO! I know everyone says this but really, where has the time gone?! She had an absolute blast at her birthday party – all of her favorite people in one room, what more could a little girl ask for? I had so much fun planning her party this year, it was Elmo themed but I am not big on character themed parties so I tried to make it so it wasn’t completely revolved around just Elmo, instead more focused on her party colors and polka dots with some Elmo love mixed in 🙂 I styled a full sweets table that was a big hit thanks to many of the fabulous vendors I will talk more about shortly.
First off…the color scheme. Doesn’t it just make you happy looking at these vibrant colors? Instead of the traditional red and orange I wanted to add a few other colors so everything was revolved around red, orange, yellow and pink polka-dots 🙂 I immediately knew as soon as I decided on the color scheme I wanted to incorporate paper lanterns and tissue flowers – they are so fun and inexpensive.
Here is the invite I created that the guests received. It’s a *huge* hit already in my etsy shop. I will be selling all of the other paper products I created for the party as well. Just haven’t had time to list them yet 🙂 
The birthday girl’s shirt came from none other than the amazing *golden*. Her handmade tees are to die for and I’m a new addict 🙂 Isn’t it just perfect? I told her some ideas of what I wanted but when I got it in the mail I could have screamed with excitement 🙂 So darn cute! I got her tie-dyed leggins from We Love Colors. They have every single color tights/leggins you can imagine!
Now on to the dessert table….I just love how this turned out! Thanks to many fabulous vendors for making the most beautiful and yummy sweets imaginable! I stayed local for a few things, the pretty and yummy cake from Sweet & Sassy Desserts and the always popular and delicious cake pops and cupcakes from Lillycakes. I’ve seen the delicious oreo pops made by Sweeties by Kim on etsy displayed on many other dessert tables so I just had to order some for Miss Cami’s party and WOW, are they not only tasty but they are SO SO SO pretty! The little “cami” and #2 oreo pops were just so darn cute! Flourish Sweet Shop’s amazingly yummy cookies were a big hit and a HUGE shout out to Lisa for making the #2 cookies at the very last minute! They were PERFECT!
 
When you first walked in, I made a little sign that asked the guests to sign a vintage Elmo book, which just happened to be a “birthday” book as well. I found it in my mom’s stash of old books we had from when I was little a few days before the party!! How PERFECT?! 🙂

Thanks to Target, the kids goodie bags were filled with many Sesame Street items I found in the dollar section! 🙂 Also included were Elmo cake pops made by Lillycakes. I stuck little characters we had from home in between the bags 🙂





How cute is the “Cami Street” sign? My wonderful hubby made that for me last minute. I just printed out the wording and he adhered it to his fab design. It turned out perfect! I’m going to put it in her room now and set her little sesame street characters around the bottom of it 🙂

Added note: You can now purchase this street sign in my etsy shop 🙂

We had such a fun day and most importantly, Cami had a blast! Happy 2nd Birthday to our precious Camryn Jolee. We love you SO much!
P.S. I didn’t get any pictures of the kids coloring table. I made cute coloring sheets for each child that said “Happy Birthday Owen”, for example. They colored for about 4 minutes, haha 🙂

Fabulous Vendor Credits
{All Paper Designs & Party Styling} :: I DO invitations by michelle 
{Birthday Girl’s Tee} :: *golden*
{Cupcakes & Cake Pops} :: Lillycakes
{Birthday Cake} :: Sweet & Sassy Desserts 
{Chocolate Covered Oreo Pops and Polka Dot Oreos} :: Sweeties by Kim
{Elmo & #2 Cookies} :: Flourish Sweet Shop
{Tulle Poof Wands}:: The Sugared Ribbon 
{DIY Cupcake Tower}:: Created by my hubby and I but inspired by Joy’s Hope blog tutorial.
{Gumballs, Small Tissue Daisies & Small Paper Lanterns} :: Polka Dot Market
{Large Tissue Daisies, Polka Dot Cups & Polka Straws} :: Shop Sweet Lulu 
{Polka Dot Balloons} :: The Sugar Diva
{Orange & White Polka Planter} :: Pizzazzerie
{Birthday Girl’s Tye-Dye Tights} We Love Colors
{DIY Ribbon Wreath} :: Created by me using pieces of ribbon and pins. Inspired by a photo I saw online 🙂 Ribbon from Hobby Lobby

Most of the Paper Lanterns, Umbrella’s, Pail’s, Ribbon, Pinwheels, etc. came from my home away from home, Hobby Lobby 🙂 Thanks so much to my sister, Rebecca, for taking these fabulous photos!
*Dessert Table/Party Inspiration came from so many fabulous ladies of various blogs that I gather stunning inspiration from. Just to name a few…Hostess with the Mostess, Pizzazzerie, The TomKat Studio, Amy Atlas, and the list goes on. Thank you for loving parties just as much or even more than I do :)
XOXO, Michelle

Cami’s Birthday Month!!

Couldn’t be happier that the month of March is over. Between my daughter and I, one of us were sick the entire month and actually we just started another cold/sinus infection. Spring, are you there?! Cannot wait for warmer weather!!

Well, it’s my FAVORITE month! For the past two years that is 🙂 Little Miss Cami is going to be TWO on the 20th and her party is on the 23rd! We are so excited! I’m busy working on lots of fun things for her Elmo themed birthday party! I’m putting together a full sweets table with lots of yummy goodies in her party colors (red/orange/yellow/pink). It’s a fun, girlie twist on the traditional elmo colors. Since I don’t blog nearly as often as I update on facebook here is the invite…..Ta-da! It’s a huge hit in my etsy shop so far too! Love it! 🙂

This past weekend my hubby was busy spray painting in the garage a little project I had wanted to do for what seemed like forever. 🙂 I found the overly creative idea on one of my favorite blogs, Joy’s Hope. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already. She even gives a full step-by-step tutorial! I wrote her thanking her for the awesome idea and a picture of our finished product and she wrote me back that “Elmo would be proud!”. Love it. It was super easy, fun and cheap! Simply purchase glass candlestick holders and round or oval silver trays from the dollar store and spray paint in your party colors to create a pretty cupcake stand in your party colors! Didn’t it turn out perfect? We did another one in alternating colors. Can’t wait to use them!! Ryan was even impressed when they were all done 🙂

LOTS of fun things planned for this party! I know most people would think why do you waste so much time planning a party that she won’t remember, spend so much time on one party, etc. (I’ve heard it all)? Well, b/c I have a passion to be creative and mostly, I just LOVE to see her happy and it’s not about what she will remember but the excitement she will have on the actual day with her closest family and friends and of course, her littlest BFF, Ry-Ry. I’m going to be showing lots of sneak peaks over the next few weeks on my FB page so if you’re not a fan already, be sure to “Like” my page! (www.facebook.com/idoinvitationsbymichelle)

Tulle Pom Wands courtesy of The Sugared Ribbon on etsy. I just spiced up the vase with some pretty rope ribbon 🙂 I got her custom elmo tee in the mail a couple of weeks ago and about screamed with excitement! It’s honestly the cutest little shirt and I can’t wait for her to wear it! If you don’t know about *golden* yet, you need to check her out! She creates the most amazing tee’s for any party theme or holiday! I’m addicted 🙂

I have sweets coming from all over and cannot wait to see what these fabulous ladies whip together! I will talk more about them in my next blog post 🙂 Gorgeous cookies from Allyson Jane, Cupcakes and Cake Pops from Lillycakes, Cake from Sweet and Sassy Desserts, Oreo Pops from Sweeties and more fabulous cookies from The Cookie Jar.

XOXO,
Michelle

New Bachelorette/Girls Night Out Collection

I’m super excited to show you the pictures my sister, Rebecca, took of my Bachelorette Party Collection setup I styled last week. Super easy and fun to throw a fabulous party for your friend, sister or cousins last night out! 🙂 I wanted to stick with the typical hot pink and black theme b/c after thinking about it – what bachelorette party isn’t pink? 🙂 Of course, all colors can be changed to your liking and color scheme 🙂
First Off: The Invitation. Sets the tone for the event 🙂 Purchase at my etsy shop for only $15 and print them yourself or upload to your favorite photo finisher (Target, Shutterfly, etc.)
We all know how expensive weddings can get but I assure you a similar setup to this can be created under $100 so if everyone pitched in $10 you could make it extra special for the bride-to-be. The satin linens I had laying around since I use them for my Bridal Expo’s. You don’t need to use as much as I did — but since I had a bunch, I used it all 🙂 You could simply buy a piece of Fabric from Hobby Lobby (I swear it’s 40-50% off every other week) and simply use it to cover a table. Bring Martini/Wine/Margarita glasses from home. I filled mine with decorative crystals that I had from my daughter’s room but you wouldn’t even need to do that – just simply fill with your beverage of choice and add some ribbon.
I made vanilla cupcakes and bought the zebra liners from The Sugar Diva {also got the balloons from there too– such a fun site, check it out!} and borrowed the cute cupcake stands from my mother-in-law. Add these fun cupcake toppers I made and you have yourself a cheap but pretty little display.
P.S. Why didn’t I make chocolate cupcakes?? Insert a big DUH here. They would have been wayyy cuter with these cupcake liners. Guess I was only thinking of myself since I like vanilla 🙂

Flowers courtesy of Town and Country Gardens (they were actually flowers my youngest sister, who is a florist, made my daughter for Valentine’s Day) and the fun Vase Corset is from Social Couture. (Another fun site you must checkout). Only $15 and you can change the ribbon for your next event 🙂

Here’s the banner I created. Banners are my must have for a party. If you’re not going to decorate at all at least put up a fun banner – it totally adds to the party! 🙂
I got the chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby (I think they are $1.49 each) and traced matching scrapbook paper to spice them up! Super cute! I made similar ones for my sister’s Wedding Sweets Table that spelled out “Love is Sweet”
Saving the best for last….Lillycakes! If you haven’t tried one you must – they are SO yummy! I knew I had to order these and Kelly made them so cute to match my theme! There are tons of flavors to choose from, but red velvet is my fav so that’s what I ordered 🙂

Thanks for looking! Everything else not mentioned I got at Hobby Lobby on sale. (Zebra rug, small zebra buckets and feathers). Everything will be listed in my etsy shop VERY soon to purchase for your next Girls Night Out! Invitation, Banner, Cupcake Toppers, Water Bottle Labels and Favor Tags/Signs 🙂

XOXO, Michelle

{Vendor Credits}
Cake Pops: Lillycakes
Vase Corset: Social Couture
Cupcake Liners/Balloons: The Sugar Diva
Photos taken by: Rebecca Krueger

Bachelorette Collection

Well it’s all ready to go! Just waiting for my sister to take some pictures later today of the setup I styled for my Bachelorette Party Collection! Super cute! I went with the typical black/hot pink/white zebra theme b/c really what girls night out or bachelorette party isn’t wild and pink? 😉 Other color schemes will be available as well though for the “I’m so over pink” ladies. Full post coming early next week. Happy Friday!

XOXO, MK

…and another three months go by!

So another good three months have gone by since I blogged and it’s starting to become quite the pattern. I really wanted to start blogging regularly but I just get too busy and totally forget! Anyways…here goes another try at a new blog beginning 🙂
Since it is 2011, I’ve started obsessing over Cami’s Birthday Party (yeah, not til April but don’t judge). It’s Elmo themed this year and I’m sooo pumped about it! I’m going to style a dessert table and well, if what I have envisioned in my head actually turns out the way I have planned, it will be fabulous. (HOPEFULLY). Thanks to the fabulous blogs I follow of various party planners that give me wonderful inspiration. Lots of fun DIY projects planned. I already created her invite but I’m just waiting for her custom elmo tee from *golden* to come in the next few weeks so I can incorporate a few photos for the card. If you haven’t heard of *golden* be sure to become a fan of hers on FB. She’s amazingly talented and creates the {cutest} stuff! So excited to have many fabulous sweet makers on board too to make this one SWEET party! <3 I will rave about them individually when it gets closer 🙂
I’m keeping busy with my biz that’s for sure! I was at the NIU Bridal Expo last weekend and will be at the Rosemont Bridal Expo this weekend. Keeping busy with invites for all of the upcoming Spring weddings! Yay for wedding season quickly approaching!
Coming in just a few weeks is another “FREE Save the Dates” contest on Facebook so be on the lookout for that! 🙂

Thanks for reading!
XOXO, MK
:: {go all out….tomorrow isn’t guaranteed} ::

Rebecca & Jake’s Wedding & more

OK, so I’d just like to say sorry about the whole blog for a couple weeks and then go MIA for 5 months thing! Haha 🙂 Life just got so busy so I put this little blog on the back burner. Had a WONDERFUL Summer keeping more than busy with invitations and other orders. I created some of my most favorite pieces these past few months! I love what I do and so glad things are starting to pick up to where I’m not so “little” anymore. I’m currently working with a vendor on designing invitations for her “Launch” party (more details to follow), created some super cute cards for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois and recently created everything paper for my sister’s wedding last weekend! Her wedding turned out SO perfect. The candy buffet table was a BIG hit and turned out FABULOUS! Here are some of the pictures. (Professional pictures taken by the fabulous Photos by Vitella).

Suuuuuper cute, right?! I made the “LOVE IS SWEET” letters out of scrapbooking paper added to letters I got at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents each 🙂 Some of the candy included M&M’s, Sixlets, Gumballs, Jordan Almonds, Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Assorted Chocolate Bars, White Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Jelly Beans, After Dinner Mints, Saltwater Taffy, Rock Candy and more! I’m OBSESSED with themed sweet tables and glad my first one turned out the way I envisioned it 🙂 Can’t wait to style more!!

Currently working on a few Fall photo cards….here’s ours for this year…Cami had a blast at the pumpkin farm! I got her cute little pumpkin shirt on etsy.com 🙂 (Of course, I did!)


I’m also starting to create my Holiday Card Collection for 2010! I’m having soooo much fun creating them this year and can’t wait to show them off after October 31st!! Pricing is my lowest EVER this year and is comparable and even cheaper than Shutterfly, etc. My cards are printed on a heavyweight cardstock, not the thin photo paper like you would get at Walgreens, etc. I’m having fun creating this ugly sweater holiday party invite for my cousin….love it! 🙂


I hope you all had a great Summer! And when I say “you all” I’m probably only talking to about four family and friends who read this 🙂 Haha, hoping to increase my “followers” as things get moving along 🙂 As always, thank you SO much for your continued support, business and referrals! I appreciate you all more than you know!

Lastly, here is a recent picture from Cami’s 18 month pictures taken by the fabulous Ellie Dennin-Piper with Vitella Dennin Photography! She is amazing so you must check her out!
Isn’t she the cutest little thing you ever did see!?!?! We sure think so! 🙂 She’s 1 1/2 going on 4 🙂

Oh wait…one more…sorry, but this may be my most favorite picture EVER!! (Photo taken by Chelsea Corinne Photography, www.chelseacorinne.com)

I’ll be back real soon…..I promise this time! 🙂
Xoxo, Michelle

#ElleryWear ON SALE NOW!

#ElleryWear ON SALE NOW!

Our Pantry Makeover

Our Pantry Makeover