jackson’s debut

As you know, we welcomed a beautiful, new little man in our lives at the end of July. While we are adjusting to life at home with 3, it can be quite busy and stressful at times, but the priceless time of having a baby is fleeting and we are trying to take it all in. Yesterday, Jackson was smiling and cooing as I was talking to him, and I had tears of pure joy in my eyes. I was so incredibly happy as he looked at me with so much love and wonder. So, in light of my blissful {and sleep deprived} state, I wanted to share some pics of our family photo shoot back in August. The talented Meredith of Meredith Moran Photography, drove up from Denver to spend the day with us. After many poop stained blankets {during the naked shots, Jackson’s insides were definitely working}, and unsuccessful props {Jackson refused to sleep most of the shoot, especially posed in a cowboy boot and cowboy hat} Mer was able to capture some great shots. Here’s a sneak peek.

 

For those of you interested in a family photo session, Meredith is offering Tutto Bella readers $50 off a mini photo session. Just mention our blog, and you can schedule a 1.5 hour session {and cd of images} for only $99. And since its time to order holiday cards, once you get your adorable photos, call Jenna and Jodi at Fleur de Lis to order your holiday cards today. Even if you live out-of-state, they will design and/or find a card perfect for your family.  And, lucky you, Fleur de Lis, is offering 20% off all orders through the month of October.

{images via Meredith Moran Photography}

Tangerine and Teal Party Ideas

I was thrilled to be asked by the fabulous planner, Melissa Nemitz at Tiny Bubbles Wedding and Event Design, to be a part of this style shoot and design and print the paperware. At Fleur de Lis we enjoyed coming up with something modern with a chevron design for the invitations, save the date, escort card flags, and ordering the cute bubble gum favors. As I always say, invitations set the tone for a wedding day (and any occasion!), so it was fun to see the whole package come together for this shoot. I love the color combination of tangerine and teal because it is modern, colorful, and different. What a FANTASTIC group of vendors, and what a beautiful shoot at this beautiful Boulder, Colorado location!
For your chevron lovers, we have this collection at our etsy store – the save the date, and the invite.
From the planner:
This wedding styled shoot was photographed in the beautiful surroundings of the flatirons of Boulder, Colorado, at Historic Chautauqua Park. The combination of the mountains, foliage, and historic cottages made for the perfect backdrop for an outdoor shoot. The shoot was inspired by tangerine, the new “it” color of 2012, with accents of teal, and a bit of whimsy with a white vintage gumball machine, striped paper straws, and rock candy. Add a gorgeous bride with an elegant Pronovias dress, and we ended up with some incredible shots!
save the date
chautauqua bride
tangerine and teal wedding invitation
orange water
wedding sweets table
style shoot bride
gumball machines
wedding tangerine bouquet
wedding favors
teal blue wedding shoes
wedding table decor
place cards
tangerine and teal bride
wedding table sweets
wedding oranges
wedding dress, wedding hair
centerpieces
table sweets
mason jar lanterns
escort cards
wedding table setting
boulder chautauqua
Vendor Love:
Event Planning and Design:  Tiny Bubbles Wedding and Event Design
Floral Design:  The Ruffly Rose
Invitations, Paperwares, Accessories:  Fleur de Lis (a paperie)
Cake Pops, Push Pops, Cake:  Goblin’ City Bakery
Tables, Overstuffed Chair, Accessories:  A Vintage Affair Rentals
Chairs, Flatware, Glassware, China:  Allwell Rents
Dress:  Pronovias at Dora Grace Bridal
Bride:  Suzanne Kaufman
Hair and Makeup:  Marisa Dominguez

FREE halloween printables

Jenna, sis and owner of the fabulous Fleur de Lis, created Halloween printables for me to share with my kids’ friends…and we wanted to make sure you were in on the action too. Click on this link: happy halloween printables, for your free printables. Ah, don’t you just love that word…free.

All you have to do is…
1. Purchase glow sticks, Reese’s Pieces and small cellophane bags from your local Michael’s and grocery store.
2. Print and cut the labels.
3. Punch a hole through the label and use festive ribbon to attach the label.
4. Save a few Reese’s Pieces for yourself to enjoy.
5. You have yourself a sweet and adorable Halloween favor and/or placecard.

 {images via Tutto Bella}

 

dinosaurs and divas

Dinosaur and Diva – two simple d-words that sum up my children’s interests at this point in their lives PERFECTLY. My son does not do anything throughout the day without a dinosaur in hand, and my daughter has a purse hung on her shoulder, glasses on her head and sparkly shoes on her feet all hours of the day.

Being 9 months preggo made this year’s party planning more exhausting than most years, but I LOVE parties, details and DIY projects, and swollen feet and Braxton Hicks contractions weren’t going to stop me from throwing a cute and fun party.

I was on a budget as always, but with some creativity, the help of good ole’ Pinterest, hot glue, friends and family and food and drink, the party was a success.

ON THE MENU
Apps
Mexican 7 layer dip
Artichoke dip with chips and veggies
Queso and chips

Dinner
Taco bar
Fruit skewers
Smothered burritos

Dessert
Homemade dinosaur and flower shortbread cookies partly covered with Ghiradelli chocolate
Candy bar with my kids favorite candy: Red vines, Cinnamon bears, DumDum suckers, Starburst and Ring Pops
Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes topped off with toy dinosaurs and tiaras

DIY PROJECTS
{All DIY tutorials to follow in the coming weeks}

Turquoise-dyed Coffee filter #2
I wanted to create a fun background for the dessert table. Something different, affordable and eye-catching. I’ve seen coffee filters added to lamp shades, and they looked great with their ruffly effect. So, I tried color dying coffee filters for the first time, and creating an ombre, floral-esque #2 for my daughter}. Check back in for the DIY tutorial…

{p.s. if your interested in purchasing the #2 made of coffee filters or the #4 made of twigs below, please email me at trejsorelle@gmail.com…I no longer need and will sell for cheap}.

Tree branch #4
While playing outside with the kiddos and noticing a lot of dead branches on a nearby bush, I broke off about 50 branches from the bush with the creation of a #4 in mind. With a foam board, burlap, wire and hot glue, here’s how my #4 turned out.  

Dinosaur eggs made of yarn
I saw a lot of yarn eggs around Easter time, so I decided to use the same idea, only to create dinosaur eggs in green and orange. Stay tuned for a DIY tutorial…

Paint chip place cards
I gathered paint chips that coordinated with party colors from my local Home Depot, and within 10 minutes, I had place cards. I used Microsoft Word to type the names of the kids friends, and manually fed the paint chips into the printer. Once all names were printed, I used a blade to cut a slit above and below the names to create the perfect napkin holder.

Plate and utensil place setting
I used Kraft paper as a table linen, and used a sharpie marker to trace the kids’ place settings. This was a great linen for the kids table because they could get it dirty and once they were done with it I could throw it away, they could draw on it and it was affordable. 
For the rest of the kids table, I spray painted terra-cotta pots orange and filled with plants made to look like trees, and I spray painted olive oil glass containers pink for the white hydrangeas….something for the boys, and something for the girls! Each child had a mason jar with a curly and colorful straw too!

For the adults table, I kept it simple. I bought tiny twig wreaths {to appear like a dino nest} from Wal-Mart for $2, and put a mason jar and hydrangea in it. Then, for a more rustic touch, I lined up the three mason jars along a 6 ft antique piece of wood.

Another notably cute table setting was Jameson’s drink and volcano table because for a unique and free table setting, I used extra grass turf sitting in the garage from my parents putting green in their backyard.

Dumdum tree for candy bar
Living in the mountains, my staples for DIY projects, like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby are not an option, so good ole’ Walmart had to do. But….no styrafoam balls! What? Who doesn’t carry those? So, my dreams and love for a Dum Dum topiary will be made a reality at the next party maybe.

Plan B…a Dum Dum tree. Walmart had adorable turquoise and pink striped buckets and a florists green tree-shaped Styrofoam, so I went with it…

Volcano
I remember building a volcano for a grade school science project, so my mom, Jameson and I went to work on creating one for his big party. Stay tuned for a tutorial…


D
uct tape water bottle label
My sister {also my own personal graphic designer} just had a baby, so instead of adding another thing to her already busy plate of running an adorable boutique and being an awesome momma, I tried to find another creative water bottle labels not requiring graphic design}. I removed the labels and added pink and orange duct tape around the water bottles. Then, while playing outside with the kiddos I found small twigs that were damp and easy to bend, which made for the perfect J for Jameson’s initial, then I found .29 cents turquoise necklaces from Party City that I cut and shaped into a G, and glued to water bottle.


Dinosaur and girl footprints
I found online photos of dinosaur footprints and toddler size footprints, print copies on color paper on my computer, printed and tape to the floor.

ACTIVITIES
Dino-fabulous egg hunt: the boys hunted for eggs in  the backyard filled with dinosaurs and the girls hunted for eggs filled with rings, bracelets and candy. The kids used their Ikea favor bags as baskets for their hunt.

Erupting volcano

Manicure and pedicure station and Dress-Up Station
The girls could dress like divas from head to toe, and get their nails painted to match their dress-up outfits.

FAVORS
Ikea bags {orange for boys and pink for girls…75 cents each} at each place setting with custom thank you labels filled with: dinosaur noses, dinosaur egg gumballs and dinosaur figurines for the boys and comb and mirror set, white sunglasses, mini-size nail polish and chapstick rings for the girls.
 
Invites and Labels
Done by none other than my fabulous sister at Fleur de Lis, a paperie, Jenna.
The invite is now available in our etsy shop, click here.
VENDOR LOVE

Cupcakes: Mountain Cupcakes, Vail, Colorado
Photography: Meredith Moran Photography
Frames: Ikea
Favor Bags: Ikea
Invitation and paper accessories: Fleur de Lis, a paperie {online Etsy store available here}

chanel baby {shower}

Thanks to my three fabulous aunts and grandma, I had the most beautiful baby shower before my son was born. We didn’t know the gender during my pregnancy {best surprise ever in life!}, so my aunts had the challenge of pulling off a gender neutral shower – but {with everything in my life} I didn’t want the cliche “gender neutral” thing of yellows and greens and “baby-looking” stuff. Similarly, I am not one for cliche shower games – I just like to socialize, eat and drink :). Is that so wrong?!?

I believe that a baby shower is a shower for the mama-to-be. Of course the gifts received are preparing for the baby, but the shower is one last gathering for the woman before the baby comes – much in the same way that a bachelorette party or wedding shower is one last fling for the bride before the big day. So, that being said I chose a Coco Chanel baby shower. I went for black, white, grey and pink – girlie, chic and stylish. We posted the invitations and inspiration board before in this post. And yours truly, me at Fleur de Lis, got to design the invitations. It was a wonderful day full of love, style and pampering. I cannot thank my family enough!

During my pregnancy, I ate yogurt with fruit and granola every morning for breakfast – so we had cute little yogurt parfaits at every place setting. I also love wine {very much missed during my pregnancy!}, so my aunts made little wine glass charms for everyone’s mimosa glasses – each with an italian baby name ideas, boy and girl. We ate wonderful brunch foods, and chocolate covered strawberries. Everyone at the shower got to write a message to us parents-to-be and our baby on newborn diapers. Fun!

{images via Tutto Bella and Fleur de Lis}