me

If you have any interest in moi, click on over to English Paper Co. for an interview.

p.s. I'm so excited for Kayce's house story in Country Living!

dinosaur birthday

Dinosaurs (which my son is currently obsessed with), dino-mite ideas and a Hicks invitation-inspired dinosaur cake...how can I resist this party? Answer: I can't. I'm preparing myself for a dinosaur bash when my son turns three in November, so I love when I stumble upon great inspiration like this. Check out the dinosaur jello jigglers, the dino dig, and the deviled dinosaur eggs, among other things. Much more at delaney family blog.

spring is around the corner...

There is such a delay between when I complete the designs for a collection and when it gets to the stores, that I almost forget when new things actually arrive. I was so excited to see some of the spring Hicks Paper Goods collection is now available at Polka Dot. I had so much fun designing it- I hope you like it, too!

A couple of selections, above: ballerina; party cow; pink candle cake; easter bunny; easter eggs; ice cream sundae; and moving announcement.

valentine packaging

Not sure I've uploaded this correctly for your use...I'm a bit technology-challenged. Hopefully it will work!

and the winners are...

for giveaway...

#1 Lindsey who "loves the tree bird cards!..."

#2  Jennifer who said, "I love to bake, so I love to make chocolate goodies and cinnamon bread for friends, family and neighbors!"

#3 Holly from California who said "I love the pink chevron cards!..."

Winners-congrats! Contact me at hickspapergoods@yahoo.com to claim your prizes. Thank you to everyone who entered!

HIcks Paper Goods GIVEAWAY #3 + DISCOUNT!

Our last giveaway is a doozy- a set of 50 Hicks photo cards (holiday or other) will go to the lucky winner!

With a $142 retail value and the option to upgrade the winner's order at half off, this is quite a prize. View the photo card collection right here.

You can either tell us about an item you'd like to see in the Hicks collection that doesn't currently exist, or tell us your favorite design in the comments section.

LASTLY- for those who simply just love a good discount, you won't want to pass up this deal Lemon Tree Paperie is offering to Party Perfect readers for a limited time. 15% off all Hicks Paper Goods orders (that's on anything and everything we offer- 1400 items!). Just enter HPG15 at checkout.

I'm now giddy with excitement about the giveaways *and* the baby! Best of luck...

Hicks Paper Goods GIVEAWAY #2

Two words for you...GIFT STICKERS! If you are a sticker person like me, this might just be your favorite giveaway of the three.

We're giving away a set of 30 Hicks Paper Goods personalized stickers (a $40 retail value) to one lucky reader. Get ready to adorn your holiday (or everyday) packaging! View the full sticker collection right here.

Just tell us what your favorite gift is to give or receive during the holidays!

Hicks Paper Goods GIVEAWAY #1

For the first giveaway, we're offering a personalized Hicks Paper Goods stationery set of 50 cards- either from our folded or flat collection. A retail value of $104!

View the full Hicks collection here... for the folded stationery collection click here, for the flat stationery collection click here.

Simply tell us what your favorite design is!

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

What better way to celebrate the impending arrival of our little bundle of joy with not one- not two- but THREE giveaways!

I was starting to feel guilty about abandoning you all for a bit while we head off for the hospital tomorrow, but now I just feel jealous that I can't win the giveaway myself. I just ordered these monkey invites for my son's 2nd birthday and officially now have the paper bug...I want more, more, more! Lucky for you, you CAN have more (and for free)!

Here are the rules:

-You can enter each giveaway only once.

-Enter a comment in the 'comments' section to qualify (please do *not* email me!)

-Make sure there is a way to contact you (either through reading the blog or leaving your email with your comment/ID)

I will announce the winner when I return to the blog world...hopefullythat is around a week... definitely no sooner then November 5th and no later then November 10th!.

GOOD LUCK!

bird themed shower

I'm particularly fond of these baby shower invites I did for my dear friend, Catherine. We've got no less then seven of our close friends from college having babies within months of each other! (With almost all of them expecting girls- so fun!).

paper party idea + atlanta wrap-up

I just returned from the Atlanta Gift Show last evening, and am playing catch-up on a myriad of things. 

First of all- the show was fun. I always love getting to see Whitney and toss around ideas. She's my tech/internet guru, and gets me up to date on the latest (last year's conversations led me to bloglines, this year, she's turned me on to alice.com and blurb). We also dined briefly with Ashley, sampled some extraordinary fare in beautiful surroundings at Abattoir, and were introduced to Seed Factory via Ash (a sister store to Sprout). I also met some kind fellow paper people, including Robin, Karen, and Lori (love those stamps!). Being in that atmosphere is energizing and always makes me want to go home and create. 

We spotted these amazing paper t-shirts (see above) in the window of Seed Factory, and it immediately got my wheels turning. What about doing onesies for a baby shower instead of t's? If you're slightly crafty it looks easy enough... The paper was lightweight, and stitched together (with a sewing machine) over the hanger. If you didn't want to include a hanger, you could easily do this without- and string on a line with clothespins instead. I think it would look just as nice without lettering, but a stamp either spelling out the name of the baby-to-be or mother-to-be might be lovely as well. So many ways to go with this! 

p.s. If you're looking for baby stuff, and haven't yet seen the new market slings from Serena & Lily, they are drool-worthy. I am considering indulging for baby #2.

will you be my fan?

Hicks Paper Goods in now on Facebook. Will you be my fan, pretty please? 

...link right here

national stationery show

I can't believe the National Stationery Show is under way! I hope those of you attending the show will stop by the Hicks / Whitney English booth. I'm really excited about this collection...it's always the culmination of so much work on behalf of so many people. Whitney sent me this snap from her iphone. 

very exciting...

Whitney and her team have been working tirelessly (on many things and) on the Hicks Paper Goods website. I'm so excited to finally have a place where the collection can be viewed in its entirety! There are still some kinks to work out, and some tweaks to make- but stay posted and check back frequently.

derby

Whitney and I were honored to be asked to design a collection of invitations for the official Kentucky Derby party website this year. It's the first time we've ever collaborated with another company, and it was fun to do something a little different. 

The party website is chock full of great tips for throwing a Derby party, if you've got one planned. Lemontree paperie has the full collection of 'official' invitations, including ones that incorporate this year's Derby logo. 

spring is here!

No- not officially here (it's cold and rainy in Nashville), but I can see the beginnings now that the HPG spring line has started to hit the websites! A couple of my new favorites, above. From top: robot, candle cake, blue coral, fiesta hat, cupcakes, and lattice table. 

what to do with those holiday cards?

What to do with all of those holiday cards when the season is over? As a stationery designer, I like to hold on to each year's haul. ALL of it- the good, the great, the bad and the ugly. It's a great way to do 'market research' and to see what else is out there. It's also serves as a reminder as to just how many cards I need to order next year (I WAY under-ordered this year...I hadn't taken into account the new friends via my son factor). I used some pretty leftover cord from present-opening, tied them all up, and slipped them into a large envelope from Paper Source and labeled them 2008. I put my own card on top, so I can keep track of our holiday cards each year as well. Do you do anything creative with your cards?

decisions, decisions

I'm trying to decide what holiday card to use this year, and am having a tough time making a decision. Above are my current contenders... bird wreath, brown chevron, and deer antlers-red(I think the white one would be really cute, too!). I'm going to have to take a look back at my photos and see which will match up best.

And speaking of photo cards...I just saw that Whitney is running an amazing promotion! Submit your holiday photos with a chance to win 50 free photo cards if they use one of yours for a sample card. I love freebies...

HPG favorites

It's so nice to finally see the HPG may collection in stores and online! Here are some of my favorites. Have a great weekend!

dear Party reader: the alterna-bachelorette party (a very wordy post, i apologize)

The bachelorette party my bridesmaids threw for me six years ago was textbook. There was a sex toy shower/party hosted by a 'friend' from college, who had just started a sex toy business (don't ask). There was dressing me up in penis paraphernalia and making me go out on the town decked out as they chose (with my underwear on the outside of my jeans), drinking from a penis sippy cup. Then there was the all-male revue, which involved many other bachelorette party attendees, as well as some more serious onlookers. There were tears at the end of the night by many, because most people had become so intoxicated that they were either causing drama (there were accusations of credit card theft!) or they had become sentimental about one thing or another. Lucky for us, we were in NYC and could take taxis home. Ahhh...the memories.

And that was actually from a fun bachelorette party. I've heard horror stories of male strippers thumping penis' on the bride-to-be's forehead and some where the stripper has shown up in gross, red saggy cotton bikini underwear. I could go on, but I won't. I am really not that racy of a person, nor are my friends- so I'm sure there are plenty of these types of stories to go around by many of you. But why, oh, why, ladies- do we feel the need to throw these types of bachelorette parties? My suspicion is that it is the 'rite of passage'- and that friends really don't know what else to do to send off their bride for the life of monogamy. While I imagine at least some guys actually enjoy having ta-ta's danced around in their face, the majority of women, I think- actually find the male equivalent repulsive (though possibly fun). 

A Party reader recently wrote in with the plead... 'HELP! I've been asked to throw a bachelorette/lingerie shower for a friend. Here is my dilema...I kind of cringe at the through of penis necklaces and toilet paper veils, but am at a loss for decor and theme excitement that isn't the above.' 

I won't typically do posts that involve a whole lot of party planning or specific ideas...mainly because the fetes I envision don't really exist, and I don't have the resources to create parties for every type of occasion, but I can sense the desperation in this dear reader's voice, and will walk her through some written ideas. I also steer away from these type of posts because I'm more into visual inspiration, then the written word. So- for those of you thinking 'why are there so many words here?'- bear with me. These posts will be few and far between.

here's my take on it:

The point of the bachelorette party is to show the bride that a) you care for her; b) you've put some effort into putting together something for her; and c) to either celebrate your friendship with her or the marriage she is about to embark on. If you keep those things in mind, then really anything you do will be great. 

some ideas:

1) make this the time to give toasts to the bride. I can't tell you how many times I've been at a rehearsal dinner where the guy gets all the great toasts and the girl ends up with one or two crappy rhyming poem group toasts from her friends (no offense). My suspicion for the prevalence of these kind of toasts is that the ladies don't feel nearly as comfortable speaking in public in front of a large group. The bachelorette party is usually a much smaller crowd made up of people that know each other pretty well. It could be a much more appropriate place to reminisce about her poor choices in previous boyfriends and funny stories that involve inappropriate behavior. The bride will probably be much more relaxed in this setting, and you don't have to worry so much about what you say- just that you make a tribute to her of some sort (that is from a kind place in your heart).

And just so those of you who will miss making a rhyme...you might word the invitation something like this, "let's raise a glass to our bride-to-be, she's glowing and happy and full of glee, here's our very last chance to give her a roast, and tell her how much we love her with a little toast'

Ask the attendees to bring their toasts with them, rather than setting it up as an impromptu thing (ladies seem to do better with planning in advance). You could ask that everyone bring a bottle of wine that goes with their toast, as well. Make this the focus of the evening and the bride will feel loved. 

2) Spa days (or nights) have become increasingly popular for bachelorette parties. You could spin this idea as a grown-up pajama party for adults. Instead of painting each other's nails- hire someone to paint your nails for you. Instead of chocolate milk, have wine served or a favorite cocktail (I would just choose one signature cocktail). The pajama party could also be a good way of tying a lingerie shower into the evening's activities (you could assign half the party to give a 'sweet' lingerie gift and the other half a 'sexy' one). You could rent your favorite love-story dvd's (When Harry Met Sallie, Sleepless in Seattle, etc). And no one has to spend the night, if you don't want them to! 

For the decor, I would stick with either a color or pattern theme. You could make everything pink (or white or blue, or whatever the bride's favorite color is). You could do everything in dots or stripes. I would choose one, cohesive look though. 

Much luck with your party-planning, dear reader, and please do report back with how it went!

image from Hicks Paper Goods via Polka Dot