30 by 30.

Tomorrow is my 29th birthday and I’m just a wee bit freaked about it. 30 is absolutely looming and my 20’s are absolutely almost over. In reflecting on what my 30’s might have in store and all the things I’ve done/accomplished in my 20’s, I thought it would be a fun idea to spend my year as a 29 year old crossing some things off my “gotta do that list”. So I created a “30 by 30” checklist to try to light the fire under my rear to accomplish some things I’d really like to achieve before the big 3 – 0. I plan to keep you all updated (and me accountable) from time to time, by crossing things off the list as I go.

We are packing the car up at the moment for a surprise birthday weekend away (I have no clue where Adam is taking me but I’m pretty sure there is a ferry boat involved!) so I’m happy to say I’m already working on crossing #19 off the list.

Here’s to year 29! Happy Friday friends!

photo cred : {jenn elliott blake}

birthday guy.

Today my favorite guy in the entire world is turning 30.

Happy birthday my love.

photo cred: {where monsters meet}

happy birthday bailie!

Bailie Bug Blake is turning 7 years old today!

It feels like just yesterday I was bringing her home for the first time – just a bundle of furry wrinkly skin. She was the sweetest, most adorable puppy and even now there is no one who can make me speak in a baby voice or smile from ear to ear quite like B-Bug. She’s my best friend.

I love you to pieces Bailie-Bug! Happy 7th Birthday!

 

photo credits: 1 {My Family by MoHinesPhotography } 2 {#7 via I need nice things}

bow tie & bustle

It’s official! bow tie & bustle is here! Yep! After months and months, and weeks and weeks of working on this new business, my website is officially launched! Check it out at: www.bowtieandbustle.com. Bow Tie & Bustle is an event design and coordination business in Seattle, WA with a focus on the unique details that make us who we are. My time in Europe reminded me of how much I love the little details in life and this business is a clear reflection of that love. My hope is to continue incorporating my love for paper as well, so if you know anyone who is in need of a unique design or decor styling for a wedding, photo shoot, party or paper product, keep me in mind : )

There is still much more to be done: a new blog (coming soon!), a networking and inspiration blog for brides/grooms and vendors alike with a focus on the Pacific Northwest, an upcoming Parisian inspired (who could forget about Paris!) photo shoot with my dear friend and photographer Monica Hines and much, much more! I can’t wait to share all the details of the new biz, and am so excited and thrilled to be following my heart AND my gut! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Bow Tie & Bustle!

Thanks to all who have supported me in getting here. I couldn’t have done this without the love, hugs, listening ears, and word of mouth that so many of you have kindly offered! Thank you! Thank you!

For now, a sneak peak at the “Bun in the Oven” photo shoot I was involved in a couple weeks ago…thanks to MoHinesPhotography for the amazing photographs!

Me setting up the shoot at one of the most adorable couple’s home. Thanks to Jenn and Ryan Strom for allowing me to be involved in their baby bump shoot!

The entire design for the shoot came from an idea that literally made me jump out of bed one morning…bun in the oven…a vintage timer…baby bump…oooooh! Look for an upcoming blog post on this adorable photo shoot!

50 and Fabulous

A couple of months ago, I received an inquiry from one of my sister’s closest friends, Dani. Dani is absolutely adorable. She has one of the biggest grins I have ever seen, and she is amazingly sweet and kind to my sister (a BIG plus from a sister’s point of view)! I got to know Dani a whole lot better when we were both bridesmaids in my sister Sarah’s wedding this past August, and was tickled to get the opportunity to create a paper design with her.

Like Dani, her mom is this beautiful woman that just exudes radiance, and appears to have an energy that people gravitate towards. I’ve only had the opportunity to meet Dani’s mom once, but I knew the moment I met her that she is one extremely special woman. So, it was an utter surprise, and total thrill for me, when Dani sent me an email asking me to help her create a birthday invitation for her Mom’s 50th surprise birthday party this October.

I asked Dani to share a few things with me about her mom: “My mom is extremely outgoing, vivacious and the life of the party. Everyone wants to be her best friend, you can’ t help but love her. She has the biggest heart of anyone I know and loves making the people she loves feel special“…she went on to state that her mom loved earth tones, and that she wanted the invitation to have a “50 and Fabulous” type theme.

It only took me a split second to find the perfect decorative paper that completely inspired my design. Just like Dani’s mom, this paper was something I instantly gravitated towards the second I entered the store, and one I couldn’t help but love. This exquisite Italian paper is laced with varying shades of gold, orange, green, yellow and bits of blue; it is stunning. I bought every ounce of the paper from the store, and rushed home to begin the design. Coral was chosen as the primary color of the invitation, because it just seemed to be the perfect compliment to Dani’s mom’s personality.

Dani, thanks for giving me the opportunity to be included in such a special celebration for your Mom. I hope the surprise party goes splendidly!

Birthday Balloons

I have a friend. Her name is Vanessa. “V” for short. She is a doctor. And very cool. And very smart. And someone I admire. And my BFF. She lives far away. In Peoria, Illinois to be exact. And I miss her. A lot. I mean, A LOT.

I’ve known Vanessa for more than 8 years now, and I am so lucky to have her in my life. She is, to this day, the closest friend I have from my college years, and any time I spend with her is such a blessing. I was fortunate enough to get to spend some time with her in Chicago a few months back, and I had the time of my life. Vanessa is one of those friends that is just so easy to be around. You never have to question where you stand with her, and she is always able to shed some amazing light on anything for which you are seeking advice.

I love her to pieces, and wanted to send her a birthday card along with her gift that would hopefully bring a smile to her face. V works REALLY LONG hours, and is so dedicated to her career, so I wanted to remind her how important it is to take time for self-care, and pampering time. I filled a basket with all things “spa” like, and included a card with fabric birthday balloons as a finishing touch.

Happy birthday V! I love you!

Birthday Puzzle

My supervisor (really my AMAZING friend), Barb, is one of the most fantastic, thoughtful, and kind women I have ever met. When I first made the transition to Becoming Parents Program from my previous hospital position, I was a bit nervous; but Barb’s bright and smiling face immediately put me at ease. For the past two years, Barb has been one of my biggest cheerleaders when it comes to my career (and life) decisions including my decision to pursue my paper passion…thanks Barb!!

I love Barb so much and was so honored to be able to spend Wednesday evening with her and some of my favorite colleagues to celebrate her birthday. We went to this YUMMY italian restaurant on Capitol Hill called Machiavelli’s and ate pasta and tiramisu. To celebrate the day, I created a “puzzle” birthday card to wish her a happy birthday. I used bright colors and balloon character font to really make the card sing “happy birthday.” I had a blast making this one and was so excited to see the smile on Barb’s face as she turned the various paper colors to reveal her “WISHING YOU A HAPPY BIRTHDAY” message.

I cannot imagine my life in Seattle without knowing Barb, and I hope that our friendship continues FAR beyond my time at BPP. Happy Birthday Barb!

A Birthday Box

I was REALLY excited last week when my good friend Apple asked me if I could make a little box for her stepdaughter Kameko for her 9th birthday. She was planning to give Kameko some little Japanese trinkets, and wanted something in which to place them. I asked her to give me an idea of who Kameko is and what she likes, and after Apple listed off a few things I immediately had something in mind.

When I was younger, my grandmother taught me how to decoupage and I have adored it ever since. That same year, I made a special wooden box for my mom that included 3 little wooden eggs inside it, representing one for myself, and one for each of my sisters. I decoupaged the outside of the box with all the things that my mom loves and also decoupaged each egg with things that represented each of her daughters. I remember my mom really loving the gift, and to this day she still has the box sitting on my grandmother’s hutch in her bedroom.

I wanted to make a box for Kameko that would hopefully be something she treasured and would keep for many years to come, just like my mom. I started with a plain wooden box that I found at a craft store and used some bright and colorful Japanese, Italian, and Indian papers to decorate the outside of the box. I also included various beautifully ornate paper pieces that I was gifted for my own birthday this year.

To top the box off, I included Kameko’s name on the side of the box using these fantastic cardboard vintage school letter cards I found while browsing an antique fair in Chicago last month. I also added a gorgeous gift tag to the box so that Apple could write her own personal greeting to Kameko.

I had a total blast making this little birthday box, and look forward to hopefully creating more in the future. I want to wish Kameko a VERY “Happy 9th Birthday” and thank Apple for giving me the opportunity to create a personalized gift for someone so dear to her.

Funky Fonts

I spent hours yesterday searching for new funky fonts to add some spunkiness to my newest designs. I fell upon this AMAZING typewriter font, which is my new *favorite*, and is sure to make it onto many of my upcoming creations.

I had never really contemplated much in the past about how important fonts might be to my paper projects. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when I got my first tattoo with my sisters (weird right?!) that I really started thinking about the significance of a “good” font.  I had spent a few weeks searching through hundreds of font styles for our tattoos, and realized that there are some fantastic fonts out there that I hadn’t even thought to use in my designs. The only other time that I can remember having “serious” thoughts about fonts was when I was creating mine and Adam’s wedding invitations last year.

When I 1st started designing our wedding invitations, I found a “cute” font style on Word and decided I wanted the lettering to stream across the invitation from edge to edge. It was not something I had seen offered by the stationary shops in our area, so I thought “why not make our own?” After hours and hours of Adam sizing the wording to the invitations to fit “just right” we decided in the end that the look was a bit too informal for the style of wedding we were hoping to create.

Working with new fonts over the past couple of days spurred my memory of that first draft of our wedding invites. I decided this morning (at 2am when all my ideas usually start brewing) to use my new favorite font to create a birthday card. I used all lowercase lettering and typed the words “happy birthday” over and over again until they covered the entire span of the card – edge to edge, just like I had wanted last year on our first draft of invites. I think it’s my new favorite design…

18 and road tripping…

Last month I got to spend an amazing few days with my sister Coli. Coli is my youngest sister, turning 18 (holy cow!) on March 6th. Coli, like me, LOVES to travel and just recently obtained her very 1st passport! She had yet to leave the country and I thought it a prime opportunity for us to take a little road trip up to Vancouver B.C. during her visit to Seattle over her spring break.

I wanted our trip to not only be filled with fun, sightseeing, laughter and lots of shopping : ), but also be a moment in time that was memorable and meaningful for the both of us. I have struggled a bit (okay a whole bit) in the past year realizing that my baby sister is “growing up” and will soon be heading off to college. I knew this trip had the potential to be incredibly special and I kinda viewed it as our last “childhood” trip together.

As a means of also making the trip a birthday celebration, I decided to include an overnight stay at the St. Regis  (gorgeous hotel by the way) as a birthday gift to Coli.  I didn’t tell her I was planning to have us stay overnight or what we would be doing during our time in Canada, but instead sent her a birthday box with a paper creation tucked inside, in the hopes of clueing her in on our trip details and to get her excited about our trip.

Using cardstock, scrapbooking doodads, and ribbon, I created a trip itinerary flip book. I filled the pages with all of the sights and adventures we would see/do during our time in Canada. I attempted to use as many bright colors as possible to make it fun and eye-catching and also included these cute little red envelopes that I found at a paper crafting store . I attached the red envelopes to a few of the pages and included little “tickets” inside for Coli to redeem on our trip ; )

I am so lucky to have a sister like Coli. She is intelligent, beautiful, creative, amazingly gifted, and a woman I greatly admire in my life. I love her to tears and had the time of my life on our trip. Here are some pictures of my paper creation for Coli and my favorite picture of her from our time together. I love you Coli!

Birthday Trio

I am so excited for dinner tonight! I’m celebrating my birthday with 3 fabulous women I work with at Becoming Parents Program.  It just so happens that Melissa, Apple, Emma and I all have April birthdays which are within a week of each other (Em and Melissa on the 16th, Apple on the 20th and myself on the 21st!).  We decided to celebrate our birthdays together by having an office dinner party tonight at Via Tribunali (a pizzeria on Capitol Hill near work).

I wanted to not only make birthday cards that represented the personality of each gal, but also create a sort of card “trio” that complimented each other as well.  My goal in the future is to create greeting cards that can be part of a set or package, and I thought this might be a great opportunity to try out some of my ideas.

I fell in love with a dark purple color (which is weird b/c I usually hate purple) while looking through cardstock colors this weekend, and decided to make it the signature color for all 3 of the birthday cards.  I chose a paper design that I felt was unique to each personality and added both green and black to complement the color scheme.  I also added Apple, Emma and Melissa’s names to their respective cards as a way to personalize the cards a bit more.  The birthday cards also have inserts inside each one to write a birthday greeting on, and I carried the color schemes of the front of each card onto the insert as well.  Take a look!  : )

Happy Birthday Em, Melissa and Apple!! Can’t wait to celebrate with you tonight! JB

The Map

My father-in-law Pete, and mother-in-law Linda are coming into town to visit Adam and I today! We’re very excited to have them and are looking forward to a weekend full of relaxing and catching up!

One thing we will be doing this weekend is celebrating Pete’s birthday. When I sat down a couple of weekends ago to figure out how I wanted to wrap Pete’s birthday gift, I realized how many amazing things have happened for Pete in the past year.

One of the most major things was that Pete retired from Continental Airlines after 26 years of service as a pilot for the airline. Adam and I, including Adam’s 3 brothers, his mom, and my sister-in-law Cindy were able to accompany Pete on his last trip. Over Thanksgiving weekend last November Adam and I met the Blake Fam in Houston and then we flew (Pete was the pilot) over to Honolulu for a little getaway. Although short lived, the trip was AMAZING! We hung out at the beach, soaked up some rays, and ate some fantastic food. We then hopped back on the plane and accompanied Pete on his very last flight as a commercial pilot. It was emotional to say the very least and I felt so honored to share the trip with my husband, and my new father in law.

I have always wanted to use maps as wrapping paper and thought what better way to celebrate Pete “the pilot,” who has flown all across the U.S., than by using a map to wrap his birthday gift! I bought one of those HUGE wall maps of the United States and cut it to the shape of Pete’s gift. I then added a very “masculine” looking ribbon (tweed looking actually) as the finishing touch.

Happy Birthday Pete! I’m looking forward to celebrating your birthday this weekend! What a year you have had and I hope you have many more years of monumental and amazing events to come! Love you!

25 Years

I came home from work last night and immediately knew what kind of birthday card to make for Alexis.   I met Alexis over a year ago and have had so much fun getting to know her.  She is absolutely one of the sweetest people I have ever met, and she is so enjoyable to be around.  She found a wonderful job a few months ago at the Seattle Art Museum, as art is something that she is passionate about.

I wanted to make a card that was fun, vibrant, and artsy just like Alexis.  I loved the idea of using bright colors and the number 25 to really make the card say it all…Alexis is turning 25!!   Happy Birthday Alexis! I can’t wait to celebrate with you!