Tessa’s birthday (part 1 - the invitations)

Last weekend was my daughter’s 1st birthday. Such a huge milestone! My husband and I just wanted to have a small party for her, but I also wanted it to be really special. And since I assume that for future birthdays she’ll tell me what she wants for her party theme, this was a time when I could put together a party that was really more for me and the other grown-ups.

I firmly believe that good parties begin with the invitations. (Which is not to say that you can’t have a great party without invitations, I just really love setting the tone and anticipation in an invitation, and I think in our digital age receiving a piece of mail is really nice. Many of my friends said they really loved opening the invitation when it came, and appreciated receiving an actual paper invitation, which is rare these days.) I found a wonderful silhouetted image of Little Miss Muffet in an old copy of The Real Mother Goose (the 1916 Rand McNally version), so I scanned it to use as the art for the invitation.

I photoshopped out the spider and the bowl and spoon in her hand, and replaced it with a cupcake. Then I wrote a little poem for the occasion. I printed them on my Epson R1800, and mounted them with brads and ribbon on square cards from Paper Source in their beautiful seafoamy blue color which they call pool (which is very similar to the color of the birth announcements I made when she was born, and of her room color -- pictures of both of those to come...). I lined the envelopes with an exquisite decorative paper I found at Paper Source which had a vintage feel and which complemented the silhouette.

I was going for sophisticated and sweet with a vintage feel, and I was really happy with the way they turned out. One of the nicest compliments I received on them was from a woman who works at Paper Source, who told me that upon first glance she would never have expected that these invitations were for a child’s 1st birthday party, and that the invitations were so classic and pretty that she wanted to be invited. So, mission accomplished, I hope. What do you think?

For more pictures and details of the party, please visit again soon!