Vintage Silhouette Party on the Bella Bash Boutique

Say hello to my very first printable party! I was inspired by the timeless beauty of a simple black silhouette, framed by one of my favourite colours, vintage-y blue-y green. Is vintage-y blue-y green even the name of a colour? Nope, but I can't think of anything else right now. The photographs don't capture the exact colour that I used, so just imagine a faded Tiffany box, or a vintage teal stove.

This party would be PERFECT for a bridal shower or a birthday party, but I've created it in a way so that it could pretty much be used for any kind of party (well, except for your husband's birthday... he might not appreciate it).

This party includes:

Invitation & Envelope
Thank You Card & Envelope
Cupcake Wraps (for Regular and mini cupcakes)
Cupcake Pick Toppers
"Celebrate" Banner
Napkin Wraps
Candle Wraps
Favor Box
Favor Bag
Gift Tags/ Place Cards/ Labels
Gift Log
Patterned Paper

Want some creative things that you can do with your party? Try out some of these great DIY ideas:

1) Use a napkin wrapper and a candle wrap to customize a wine bottle as pictured above! Not serving wine? Use the wraps for water bottles, vintage soda bottles, paper cups, etc. You get the idea!

2) Punch 2 holes in the circular tags and put a straw through it for an adorable drink accessory.

3) Use the large blank tags for labelling your candy buffet, or for tagging your gifts for the guest of honor.

4) Print one side of a page with the full pattern, and the other side with the template. When you cut and assemble your favor box or bag, you'll have the pretty pattern on the inside instead of just plain white. This makes your work look uber professional!

5) Blow up the silhouette to fit an 8.5 by 11 inch page, place in a glass-less frame, and give silver pens to guests to sign their name on the black silhouette. Perfect guestbook and gift all in one!

6) Make a silhouette chalk board. Using the same enlarged silhouette, trace the image onto a purchased piece of chalkboard decal (Winners and Homesense has some right now). Stick your silhouette decal onto the wall, the door, or a frame. Use chalk to write any message you like, or list the menu for the fabulous meal you'll be serving.

Check out my etsy listing here for the Vintage Silhouette Party.

Introducing... the Bella Bash Boutique!

I am so excited to announce to opening of Hello Bella's very own Etsy shop! As many of you may know, I love etsy, and I love paper, so it seems only natural to open up a shop selling printable paper party wares!

Some may already know what a printable party is, but for those of you who don't, well here's the low-down. You purchase a party from the Bella Bash Boutique, decide if you want it customized with a monogram (free for November!), and then wait. For customized parties, you will receive an email in your inbox within 48 hours (non-custom parties it's just 24 hours). This email will include all of the pdf files you need to print off your very own party. For best results, I suggest emailing the files to your local Office Depot print shop and getting them printed on a minimum of 80lb white cardstock (18 cents a piece), but you are also welcome to use your printer at home. Once you print as many copies as you need, you cut, assemble, and party! Every party is accompanied by easy to follow directions and a supply list.

Why a DIY printable party you may ask? Well, as an event planner I am well aware that not every one can hire a designer or planner for parties such as birthdays and showers. People have come to accept that custom and stylish event design is just for a wedding (or for a host with mad graphic design skills or an enviable budget). My goal with the Bella Bash Boutique is to make sure you never have to walk down that craft/party aisle again to buy over-priced, over-used, and often tacky party wares for the event that you're hosting.

What do you get in your party? Everything from invitations, to favor boxes and bags, to cupcake wrappers and more. Essentially, add the food and treats and you've got yourself a party!

Currently I've got 3 parties created and ready to go, which I will be rolling out on my blog over the next few days (complete with fun DIY projects to compliment each party). Also expect to see custom digital invitation design for weddings and more!

I have more parties in the works, but I want to hear from YOU what themes you think I should create for my next collections? Please leave your feedback, and I will select one poster at random to receive a free party of their choosing!

Hello Kitty, Hello Baby!

Erin, the mom-to be, and Tracy, the Hello Kitty loving hostess with the mostess!

I love a good challenge ( a country rooster themed wedding would certainly be an unfortunate challenge), but I also love a theme that takes advantage of things I have a penchant for.

When Tracy asked me to help design a pink and brown Hello Kitty baby shower for her friend Erin, I was over the moon. HK and I are pretty good friends. She hangs out with my house keys, she adorns my notebooks, and helps me keep things organized in folders. Much to my husband's dismay, HK is a rather permanent fixture in my home (more specifically, and to appease the hubs a bit, in my office). I thought I was HK crazy until I rolled into Tracy's house. This girl has more Hello Kitty than the Richmond Night Market, possibly more than Japan.

Although she had lots of Kitty goodies that could be used throughout, I decided to take a more custom approach and designed the HK labels which were inspired by the storefront sign of the Hello Kitty Sweets Shop in Japan. Tracy was the PERFECT client, as she was very hands on and made pretty much every suggestion I gave her come to life. I sent her a picture of adorable hello kitty cupcakes- so she made them. I introduced her to Bakerella's cake pops, so she went out and got the necessary supplies, and we made them. She literally constructed an army of tissue paper poms that were hung throughout her home, and her creative touch made the shower really come to life. Did I mention she made her famous almond roca recipe for the take home favors? Yup, she's Martha Stewart. Or shall I say Martha Kitty?

Pink Wedding. Does it get any better than this?

While I continue to work on my little *surprise* project, I thought I would share some eye candy with you. From a pink girl's perspective, this wedding photographed by Our Labor of Love is just devine!

New and exciting things to come!

I am truly sorry for my lack of blogging as of late. Rest assured, I am being extremely productive with my non-blogging time. Hello Bella is headed in new and exciting directions and I can't wait to introduce you to what I have in store. There's nothing better than that feeling when things just click... and I can honestly say that this is one BIG click for me and the company. I feel, and I hope, that I've found my niche; my little place in the world. Stay tuned over the next week and I'll fill you in!

Homemade Biscotti Treats for Fall Favours

For our (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to have a go at making homemade biscotti favours that would also double aa place cards. I found the EASIEST recipe, and I was so excited to try it out. Anyone with a coffee/latte/cappucino addiction like myself should understand the yumminess that is biscotti dipped in some piping hot java.

Something about the crunchy texture of this italian twice baked cookie, that turns to a soft moist cake when emersed in coffee, makes this treat an absolute favourite of mine. Whilst the recipe looks incredibly fool proof, I found a way to mess them up a bit (when I turned the timer off for the first batch, I inadvertently turned off the oven, so the next 2 batches were just hanging out in the oven for about 10 minutes with no heat). To compensate for the oven mistake, I left them in a bit longer than I should have and they were a tad bit on the overcooked side. I was able to salvage most of them except for the chocolate ones (which were eaten despite their burnt aftertaste by my hubby's best friend).

Although Thanksgiving up north has come and gone, there's still US Thanksgiving, Halloween, and of course any random dinner party, that you can use these for. I packaged mine in clear cello bags with orange ribbon, then put each package into a small kraft bag. I grabbed some leaves from outside and wrote the names of each guest in gold pen, and secured it to the bag with green ribbon. If you'd like some fun, free halloween templates like the one above, head on over here.

Now how to make easy peezy biscotti:

1 Box Betty Crocker Cake Mix (any flavour but Super Moist White is great for regular biscotti)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 eggs

Your choice of flavour/topping ( I toasted pumpkin seeds and almonds, used some in the mix and some for sprinkling on top)

1.Heat oven to 350, or 325 for dark/non-stick pans

2. In a medium bowl, mix cake mix, eggs and oil until a dry dough forms (there may be some extra cake mix left in the bowl). Stir in your flavourings ( pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie spice/ gingerbread spice/ almonds/ m&ms).

3. On an ungreased cookie sheet, shape dough into a 15 by 4 inch rectangle using greased hands (crisco!). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

(If you want to do 2 different flavours in one batch, separate into different bowls to flavour and then shape on your cookie sheet. Here I've done almond on the left and pumpkin spice on the right.)

4. Cut rectangle crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are a deep golden brown. Cool for 5 mins, remove from cookie sheet, and cool for another 30.

5. Melt some chocolate chips in a double boiler, dip your biscotti in and place on parchment paper. You can also drizzle melted chocolate over top if you like in different colours. Sprinkle with crushed nuts or other topping and let stand until set!

There you go... It doesn't get much easier than that! It is fairly time consuming, however, so next time I might just head over to Costco ;) At least I can tell my husband's italian family that I made biscotti!

etsy love: Stationery picks for October

Letterpress Above: Smallprinter

Destination STD: Lanodesignstudio

Damask above: ellaspaper

Above: the CRAZY talented rubyandwillow

Program Fan and Wood Veneer Suite: baumbirdy

Above: inkylivie

Above: Modern Museum

Above: greenquince

Above: baumbirdy

It's that time of the week again...and, well, this week I actually remembered it was Tuesday, so yay for etsy finds!

I've got quite an assortment of pretty printed papers for you to feast your eyes on, as I decided to forgo any sort of themed set and just went all out for everything that I love. You may wonder how I choose my stationery picks (or maybe you don't, but I will tell you anyways).

First, I obviously look for an overall pleasing aesthetic that grabs me the moment I lay eyes on it. Just because there may be certain elements that are gorgeous (graphic, font, colour) doesn't mean that it all blends together to make one cohesive "pretty".

Second, and unfortunate for many designers out there, is that I immediately toss away any designs that use specific fonts. I have a quite impressive collection of fonts that I use when I do any sort of design, and to see a designer work with a completely over-used, stock font is alway disappointing to me, especially when I like the rest of the design. Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with these certain fonts, and many others may absolutely love them (or not even notice at all) but working, even a small amount, in design has definitely turned me off of few.

My third criteria is originality. I like a fun, bold, unique design that truly shows off the personality of the couple. What better way to do that than to set the tone with the first part of your wedding that your guests will see? It should tie into the theme of your wedding, but really speak volumes about who you are as a couple. When I look at each of the stationery sets above, I feel like I've gotten to know a little bit about each bride and groom (well, the ones who may order them I guess) and I can envision their perfect day tied into their lovely invitations.

Side note: For all you spelling police out there, I only just recently learned the correct spelling of stationery (with an E). Please excuse my inconsistencies from previous posts, where I have used the common mistake of spelling it "stationary" (which is used when something is still, e.g. stationary bike, and not for the printed materials I so oft speak of). I always thought of myself as somewhat of a spelling bee, but I guess this one just passed me by until the ripe age of 25!