{our moving announcements + free printable}

When we moved to Chicago I had every intention to send out some fun snail mail moving announcements, but my good intentions got overtaken by the moving process, busy schedules and lots of travel.  I promised myself I would find the time to get some simple address change announcements out to our friends and family this time around.  Inspired my obsession with palm prints (evidence here & here) and wanting another reason to use color seams envelopes, I designed these simple 4 bar sized moving announcements.  I absolutely love how the color palette of stark black and white with pale peach and the punchy palm print work off each other.  I have also removed my personal text and made this simple design available for free download!  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for sources and download links.

SOURCES:

envelopes:  black color seams in 4 bar size
paper: 120lb cardstock uncoated printed at Columbia Printing
liners: DIY using this template kit
fonts:  Sackers Gothic & Engravers MT

Free template downloads for FRONT & BACK.  

{easy dinner party menu}

You're busy, I'm busy....everyone is busy right now, but that doesn't mean you can't still have friends over for dinner and cook them an amazing meal in a short amount of prep time! We whipped up this simple menu last night for a group of 4 in almost no time at all by using fresh available ingredients and straightforward unfussy recipes.  A platter of charcuterie accompanied by fresh bread and a quick ricotta spread to start the meal followed by an easy watermelon feta salad and a marinated flank steak on a bed of arugula with sliced heirloom tomatoes.  Rather than make a dessert from scratch, I opted to pick up a selection of mochi ice cream flavors from our local Trader Joe's and skewer them for easy serving.  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for links to all the recipes and a download for the menu printable!

Honey Lemon Thyme Ricotta Spread served with fresh bread & selection of charcuterie

Watermelon Feta Salad

Pan Seared Rib Eye Steak served on bed of fresh arugula with Lemon Vinaigrette and heirloom tomatoes

Mochi Ice Cream in Mango, Strawberry & Chocolate

MENU PRINTABLE

{manly beer tasting party invitations + free printables}

Remember this masculine party inspiration for a fun craft beer tasting party that I posted a little while back?  Well today I am back with the invitations to accompany this fun party.  Inspired by some amazing specialty paper from Paper Source that I picked up the other day, I created a simple invitation suite using a neutral color palette of off-white, black and kraft paper.  I used the specialty paper as both a liner for the main envelope and as a handmade envelope for a mini details card.  I kept the rest of the invite straight forward with a bold to the point front to the invite and simple party info on the back.  See more details on assembling these invites below as well as links to download the printables!

Main Invite: Sized in a 6.5" square and printed on off-white 100lb cardstock. Download the front and back of the invites.  To type your own message/details on the back simply drop the jpeg file into Microsoft Word or Adobe Illustrator and type in your party details.  Fonts used are "Bebas" for the words "Beer Tasting" and "Engravers MT" for the words "Come Celebrate."

Main Envelope: I used leftover kraft envelopes from our wedding invites which you can purchase here. Or you can purchase this envelope template kit and make your own from a roll of kraft paper.  The liner is a hand-painted specialty paper from Paper Source- you can find similar ones here, but since this one is brand new it isn't on their site yet.  Use this envelope liner template to cut out the liner.

Details Card:  Download the front and back details card pdfs. These are sized to print 8 to a page.  Print the back first since it has less detail and then flip the paper and print the front side.  I recommend using a paper cutter like this one to cut these out. They are sized 2" by 3"

Details Envelope:  Use the mini envelope template in the this pack to make a custom envelope or buy mini envelopes right here. 

Here are all the download links once more:

Main Invite Front

Main Invite Back

Details Card Front

Details Card Back

{charity cocktail class video + printables}

A few months ago, I helped out on the committee for Kellogg's annual Charity Auction Ball which is the annual charity formal that Chris' MBA program puts on (check us out at the event here, here, & here).  This year they raised over 70K for three different local charities through silent auctions.  The auctions are made up of typical items like sports tickets and vacations as well as the very popular "student donations" where students "donate" social events or outings that fellow students can bid on.  Chris and Josh donated a cocktail class in our home for 6 lucky students to enjoy.  We hosted the lucky winners a few weeks ago and had such a great time (although it didn't feel too terribly different than a regular Saturday night around our place!)

Chris and Josh created a menu of 6 different cocktails for our guests including classic recipes (like this one), a fabulous punch, and one original recipe the guys came up with.  I designed a small booklet for each of the guests to take home with all of the recipes from the evening because quite honestly after 6 cocktails, I dont expect anyone to remember cocktail recipe proportions!  Inspired by this amazing wedding program, I placed the recipe instructions on top of fun summer-inspired images that I altered into almost transparent backgrounds.  I then printed the recipes four up on a regular letter sized page, cut them out and assembled them together with a simple gold brad in the corner.  You can download the full files for these cocktail recipes at the bottom of this post!

After having so much fun creating the video from our anniversary weekend, I decided to try out making a short video from the cocktail class and I am equally pleased with how this one turned out!  I hope you enjoy taking part in the evening through this video as much as I do.

{download the files for these recipe booklets right here}

{kentucky derby jersey stirrers}

Who's ready to watch the fastest two minutes in sports this weekend otherwise known as the Kentucky Derby?!?! Well you will be most prepared if you download and print these drink stirrers that will allow your guests to mark their pick for winner by showcasing it in their mint julep!  The stirrers showcase each of the horses that will be vying for that awesome rose wreath this weekend.  As of now, I think my money's on "Fear The Kitten" because well...that's about the best name for a pony that I have ever heard (who cares that he is placed at 50 to 1 odds!).

Click here or on the image below to download the 2-page PDF printable of the drink stirrers!

{DIY round menu cards}

Ever since Chris and I moved in together, our tradition for Valentine's day has always been that Chris cooks an amazing meal for us at home and I make the table look cute.   Lately I have been really obsessing over the round menu cards I have seen popping up all over pinterest like this one or this one.  I can design and print a menu card in a matter of minutes usually, but I knew these round cards would take a little bit extra effort so I figured they would be perfect for our Valentine's dinner.  

I absolutely love how these turned out! At first I was only planning on printing the one side with the menu and circular border, but then I thought I would present you guys an option for a double sided menu.  I especially love the double sided version for weddings or bridal showers so that the menu is immediately given away when people sit down.  While printing on both sides of the paper is do-able, it is also something that would drive me crazy so instead I have printed one side and used an embossed stamp on the other side.  Scroll to the bottom of the post for instructions and free downloadable template!

 {I also mocked up a pink version to see what I preferred.  I like the clean look of the white, but the pink would be adorable for a bridal shower!}

what you need:

• cardstock in your desired color- the thicker the better. at least 90lb
• printer 
• circle cutter- I use this one, but quite honestly I don't love it and would welcome some recommendations on a new one
• menu stamp- similar one here
• gold embossing powder
• gold stamp pad
• embossing heat gun
• download the circle template by clicking here!

1. download the circle template right here and type in your menu selections. 

2. print using the rear tray of your printer if possible

3. using the circle cutter, cut out your menu

4. stamp back side of menu with desired stamp, immediately cover in embossing powder.  Tap off excess powder and then seal with embossing heat gun. 

5. enjoy your dinner!

{golden globes free printable ballot}

I created this little ballot to go along with our viewing of the golden globes 

tomorrow night.  Just click on the photo or link below to download one for yourself! 

GOLDEN GLOBES PRINTABLE BALLOT

{DIY table number napkins}

Today I'm sharing another simple DIY project we created for our wedding, the custom napkins we created that also doubled as table numbers.  This was definitely one of those projects that was a labor of love.  Table numbers are usually staked in the floral arrangements or set alongside them and you simply have to create one per table, but I chose to make this project which would have the table number displayed on every single place seating.

I fell in love with this project when I first saw it on Twig & Thistle, but I figured it would be way more work than it was worth to create 130 napkins for our guests.  I changed my mind as soon as we decided to do long dinner tables put end on end.  We would still need to assign table numbers to the 13 tables so that guests could locate their seats, but I was concerned that guests might get confused about where a certain table started and ended since the tables were placed together.  These DIY napkins offered the perfect solution and allowed us to make some tables hold more than others by simply making 10 napkins for a certain table number rather than 8 which helped tremendously with the fully assigned seating.

This project took a good amount of time, but the effort required is minimal as long as you have the right tools.  The 3 inch circle punch is an absolute must for this project as is a high quality cotton napkin that doesn't have any texture (i.e. a waffle textured napkin wont work!).  You can see the full instructions and download the file for the numbers over at Twig and Thistle here. 

 {image via Twig & Thistle}

 {we could not have finished this project without the help of chris' mom!}

{for Chris and my seats, we created our crest on the napkins instead of the table numbers since we were pretty sure we would know where our seats were!}