One of my friends recently asked me for a few ideas for her daughter’s upcoming 1st birthday.  She wants sweet … classy … pretty.   So many ideas came to mind so I put together a little inspiration board …

1. cake (via pinterest, original link) 2. flowers (via pinterest, original link) 3. birthday shirt (via Modern Frills) 4. drink container (via pinterest, original link) 5. party favor (via pinterest, original link) 6. easy snack (via pinterest, original link) 7. party crowns (via pinterest, original link)

Happy Friday!

Garland is just fun!  I keep things pretty simple around my house … but i can’t say no to garland.  I love it all!

A little bit of color …

images via … 1.Kristina Marie 2. A Beautiful Mess Blog 3. Sheek Shindigs

Or keeping it neutral …

images via … 4. Be Different Act Normal 5. Beautiful Nest 6. Somewhere Splendid

Loving this fall table I came across over at 100 Layer cake.  Love Me Sailor, Mr. Caballero Creative and Geronimo Balloons collaborated on this photo shoot and it is amazing.

[images via 100 Layer Cake]

If that doesn’t get you in the mood for Fall … I don’t know what will!

The backdrop of Ava’s dessert table was made up of the Happy Birthday banner from Anna and Blue Paperie and simple fabric flowers…

I found some amazing kitchen towels and loved the vintage look but wasn’t sure how I was going to use them for the party.  Then I came across this simple tutorial over at Jones Design Company for gathered flowers.  It clicked…love that feeling.

Using the kitchen towels and some scrap fabric I had, I created these…

The only change I made to the tutorial was the addition of fabric stiffener, since  I needed my flowers to hold their shape while attached to the wall (another fabric stiffener idea here).  I treated the fabric with the stiffener before cutting the petal shapes from the tutorial…it worked perfectly!

See more of Ava’s Strawberry Lemonade party here …

Absolutely perfect…amazing…loving every thoughtful detail.  This sweet party was thrown by Emily of Jones Design Company for her little girl.  Stop by Emily’s blog for the full party post.  While you are there, check out all of her tutorials and design inspiration.  She has amazing style!

Here is some major eye candy from one of my favorite blogs… Mrs A in the Cove.

Every detail is perfect…I would like one of each please!

Hop on over to her blog to check out even more amazing party and dessert table inspiration!

PS … She is super nice too!

While digging around in Amy Atlas’ blog, I discovered this…

[image from Clara French Ceramique via Amy Atlas ]

OH….MY….GOODNESS!!!

I am in planning mode for Ava’s upcoming party and can’t seem to think about anything else.  I was inspired by Kim from TomKat Studio’s with the fabric she used as the backdrop decoration for her dessert table.

[photo via TomKat Studio]

My set up is a little different but I still wanted to do something similar.  I started with a few great fabrics….

Created my shape background and letter stencils…

Cut out the letters, fused the fabrics and stitched around the edges to give a little extra dimension…

I think I will hang this up in Ava’s room once the party is over…

It’s pretty big…24 inch x 24 inch square.  Now I have to figure out where I am going to use it for the party!

I just have to convince Ava Kate that a party at home with these invitations…

[invitation via TomKat Studio, photo via  Vicki Lynn Photography]

…is way better than a certain location with games, pizza and a giant mouse.

Don’t worry…after she sees my other ideas, it won’t be hard!