Grown-up Goodie Bags

Why should little ones have all the fun? Stylish bride turned bridesmaid, Sonja created these beautiful favours using pretty paper bags brimming with fresh blooms for her best friend's hens lunch. Love them! No doubt the gorgeous girls from Paper Eskimo would be proud as punch to see their `baby' bags looking all grown up.

But the gorgeousness (new word?) did not end there . . . . Sonja and a clever friend designed and crafted unique and thoughtful brooches for each of the girls to wear on the day.

(images via Tied with a Bouw)

Sweet bridesmaids. Lucky bride. More here.

Too kind

We were overwhelmed with blog love last week after posting details of Zoe's 1st Bird-day. Thanks so much to readers and friends, old and new, who made us smile with your comments or shared our celebration with your own community. We were thrilled and honoured to feature on some of our favourite blogs and also to discover some great new reads - thanks for the shout out guys. Many of these have lovely ideas for celebrating or for the little people in your life - check them out!

Drooling . . .

. . . . over everything to do with this photo shoot on Style Me Pretty. Not even quite sure where to start there are just so many details that are well . . . . drool -worthy! Oh, the colour palette. Oh, the candy store backdrop. Oh, the fabric bunting and sign. Oh, that ribbon candy ring.

(images via Style Me Pretty)

Off to clean myself up while you pop over here and agree with me. Be warned, it could get messy.

Hello Cupcake

When it comes to decorating cupcakes we are buttercream swirl kind of girls - not because we have a preference, more because that is about as far as we've gotten with our mastery of cake decorating skills - and even then it's possibly a stretch to say we've mastered it! The gorgeous creations of cupcake couturier and caterer, Hello Naomi, have long held our admiration, fascination and intention to one day try our own hand at a little fondant colouring, rolling, cutting and sticking. So we were most excited to see Naomi will be running a series of tutorials over at the prettiest little online baking store Little Betsy Baker, and have vowed to tune in regularly. Check out the first one now for tips on making these little sweethearts.

(image from Hello Naomi via Little Betsy Baker)

Hip Winner!

Thanks so much to those who entered our very first blog giveaway for a pack of delightful invitations by KatyJane Designs. My girls had so much fun crinkling the names, making drum roll noises and digging in to draw out a winner. Congratulations goes to . . .

Amanda was our first entry and said `I'd love to win some of the Umbrella invites. Would be so lovely for a little girl's birthday - as for a prop, I think cute gumboots (preferably spotted) would be perfect :)'

We think so too, Amanda, and would love to see the party you might create one day - spotted gumboots and all! We are also going to throw in a little umbrella cookie cutter, because frankly we just can't bear the thought of it not being part of such a cute theme.

Real Hip Hooray: Tied with a Bouw

The most heart-warming thing in our business is to get to see where our little parcels, carefully wrapped with love and affection, end up, and the celebrations that are styled using them. We all lead such incredibly busy lives, and it is a rare customer who finds time to share their pics with us.

So how delighted were we to see this most beautiful wedding created and styled by Sonja Bouw, clearly with love and affection in abundance. Sonja's attention to `the details', most of them she created herself, is perfect. We love the unique poster-inspired theme, the sunny but sophisticated colour palette of yellow and black and that fun cake of Krispy Creme donuts! Sonja shares more of their gorgeous celebration - and lots of other lovely things - over at her blog.

(images via Tied with a Bouw)

And the Oscar goes to . . .

Kathleen of Twig and Thistle for her sublime art direction of a great night in with friends next Monday.

Such fun, stylish details including popcorn bags, candy bag toppers and a ballot form to keep track of all the action on the telly - who will get your votes? Easy printable files mean there is still enough time to pull off a fab red carpet affair so head on over to this beautiful blog for all the downloads and a few entertaining tips you need to create the night of nights for your friends.

The Oscars will be telecast in Australia live at 11.30am AEST Monday 8th March on Nine Network, and again at 9.30pm.