Garima Dhawan, I love your art!

There are some times when my affection for something or someone is so instantaneous and passionate that I surprise even myself (and I've known myself for a really long time!). It can be for something as inconsequential as a graphic t-shirt, as simple as a song (Jolene by Ray LaMontagne) or as powerful as a new friend, but when I feel the love I am annoyingly loud about it. Anyone near me will hear about it, like it or not.

This is the love I felt when I saw this print from the print and textile artist Garima Dhawan. I saw the print on Pinterest, clicked frantically to find her work and gawked for several minutes (which, as you know is a very long time in cyber-world). My God, how I love the colors! The simple organic shapes of the stones! The graphic lines of the stripes softened by the texture of the printed ink. I loved all that before I even remembered that I've been obsessed with fluorescent pink for some time. And that I love smooth stones. It was like she made that design just for me, Margot Madison! Needless to say, I ordered a print immediately and sent it to myself as a Christmas present. And then I liked Garima's facebook page and followed her on Pinterest. And then I sent her a note to say how much I loved it. Hence, the annoying super fan in me rears it's ugly head...I swear I can't help it. I also feel compelled to say that my affection is not dangerous, just annoying to people like my sister, friends or husband who have to hear about it 12 too many times.

Here is some more work from Garima, which is available in many forms (print, t-shirt, iPhone case etc) from her store at Society 8.

A Beautiful Woodsy Wedding

My super singer friend April Combs Mann was showing me pictures from a wedding she attended last weekend and I was so in awe! I begged her to send me more pictures so I could show them to the world. The wedding was designed and created by April's extremely talented sister Janet Ivas, who is a professional artist and illustrator. The bride is her niece, and is one lucky girl to have such talent on her side of the isle. Janet put this together in about 2 or 3 months, with much of the propping and craft supplies coming from Save On Crafts website. If you don't know about that amazing website, set aside a few hours and take a look at that.

Here are some of the details captured by April. I'm heading back over to Save On Crafts to figure out how she did all that awesome stuff...

I love how she added natural elements like leaves and wood to the delicate lace on the table.

Folks, this is the best fake/dried flower arrangement I've EVER seen! Texture, tone and color...and it never fades or needs water!

A cute detail of the mossy monogram.

Don't you love that cake sign?

Margot Madison Holiday Designs on MyPublisher

I've had a few people ask exactly which cards are mine on MyPublisher. Since you can't do a "Margot Madison" search, I've got the links right here:

4 Square Birdwreath
Top Photo Birdwreath
Block Sled
Birdwreath Horizontal
Pick-up Sticks

This invitation went to the President!

I thought this election day was a good time to post this great idea. My client invited President Obama to her daughter's Bat Mitzvah! I noticed the very curious address when I was preparing the envelopes for her and asked if she was close and personal with Obama. She said that they always send an invitation to whoever is president because it's so fun to get a response back. They did the same with their wedding invitations when Clinton was in office. I love that idea...no matter what your political inclinations. It's great to put in the scrap book for posterity!

Here is the address:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

So, do you think I'm in line to design his daughter's next birthday party???

A First Birthday Party for Lizzie!

Ah, the sweet first birthday party we designed for Lizzie! This was such a fun party to work on--the client was dreamy, the birthday girl adorable, and the party details came together so well. This was a party I designed with my event planning and styling company Stellar Party.

As you can see, it was a girly pink party with lots of color and pattern. We used a fun fabric for the backdrop and added custom details like illustrated borders for photos of the birthday girl. One feature of the party that I especially loved was the kids area we created within the party room. It was a play space just their size with wooden toys, a playhouse and two comfy plush chairs that the kids could crawl on and off all afternoon. It was also a perfect place for the children to gather while Miss Christine sang songs and led the musical entertainment.

A big thanks to the folks at Kenwood Country Club for accommodating all our special requests and to Emily Morel who captured the event in photographs.

Beautiful flower centerpieces were created by Sprouts in vintage containers provided by Stellar Party.

I also loved the custom sippy cups created for us by The Social Butterfly AR etsy store. No wondering whose cup is whose!

I pretty much don't book a party until I can confirm the cake by Sugar Realm. Ileana never ceases to amaze me! The cake topper was designed and created by me. It was one of those "if I can't find it, I'll make it" moments. I'm not getting into the cake topper business, trust me!

All other decorations and ephemera were supplied by Stellar Party and are available for rent in the Cincinnati area if you have an ambition to create a fun party like this for your own special birthday girl. See the Stellar Party website for details.

Barn Wedding Sneak Peak!

While I wait *patiently* for the official photographs of the barn wedding I helped style in October, I thought I'd put out a few photos of my own to tease you a little. It was a beautiful day for a wedding in the country...

A moss and flower covered monogram looks great on the 100+ year old horse barn.

This sign was created from an old door found in the barn when clearing it out! Miraculously, 6 metal bins fit perfectly within the old horse trough.

This sign was in the front of the house.

Bridal bouquets set to dry after the Big Event.

So much of the original barn "decor" was used.

Again with the Fluorescent Pink!

I thought that after I'd gotten this tablescape out of my system, that maybe my passion for fluorescent pink was waning, but apparently it's not. I saw this absolutely beautiful vignette of fluorescent pink and gray in the 2012 Autumn issue of Marie Claire Idées. I had been pairing it in a similar way; tiny pink details that pack a delicate but impactful punch in a natural, neutral colored setting. But I'd been using the goldish-beige neutral. This spread in Marie Claire Idées pairs the pink with a grisaille background, along with some absolutely beautiful pastel pinks. Don't you just love that dresser?? They used fluorescent pink masking tape, which I just happen to have. What a great way to temporarily update your furniture, right?

Here is a photo from my last project with the neon pink:

A Pink and Gold Parisian Party for Nina

I have been dreaming of doing this party forever it seems. I'm completely smitten with pink and gold and it just seemed like a perfect party for a sweet girl with lots of 'Joix De Vivre'. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to meet Nina and her mom who fit the Paris Pink and Gold party theme perfectly. Nina even has golden red hair! What are the chances that the honoree even matches her own party theme?? Not many, I tell you. It was a stroke of creative luck.

This was planned and executed by Stellar Party (my complete party planning company with Nora Martini and Brigid Horn-Nestor). I was thrilled with the results but most importantly, so was Nina and her mom.

The party took place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Blue Ash. Kathy, Diyor and her crew were super accommodating and the room was a lovely space to work in. I'll walk you through the event just like you were a guest.

Outside the doors was a seating chart created with individual gold frames hung on a pink covered bulletin board. This was propped up by a black floor easel with fleur de lis accents. Trés cute, oui? A bonus benefit to this method for a seating chart is that it is easy to fix last minute guest rearrangements. Just pop out the card and put in a new one.

The tables were covered in light pink linens. Centerpieces were loose and eclectic; we were going for that effortless french café feel. (Which, by the way is not effortless at all for this American girl!) Each centerpiece included a vintage gold rimmed highball glass with pink sweetheart roses, french pressed glass juice cups with baby's breath, a gold picture frame with the table number hand drawn in gold marker, a customized glass bottle (Ikea) filled with fresh water or French pink lemonade (find the same great black labels from JenMarie on etsy), a brass candlestick (from the client's stash) and some frigging adorable Photofetti. Each place setting had a gold charger and a stick of pink rock candy tied with a simple black ribbon.

Of course, we couldn't have a French themed dinner party without a French patisserie themed dessert table. I took some design cues from the famed French patisserie Ladurée and created a custom table skirt with the gold banner drawn on charcoal gray canvas and a pink and white backdrop. A fanciful gold frame bordered Nina's name written in gold. The dessert table was really just to provide a beautiful space to display the amazing desserts created by Kim at Garnish Catering. Filling the cake plates were rich chocolate pots de creme (ok frenchie grammar sticklers, I'm missing the proper accent circumflex over the 'e'. I can't find it on my keyboard), vanilla cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting, pink macarons with real gold flake embellishments, chocolate covered profiteroles (think eclairs), creme brulée, chocolate cupcakes and raspberry tartes de fruits. Our client reported that the dessert table was ravished by the guests, who left nothing but the spoons!

My Holiday Cards on MyPublisher!

That's my card on the silver box ^

So I'm at my sister's house for our weekly Sunday family dinner and I see that her most recent photo book was created on the MyPublisher website. I mentioned that they were going to be selling several of my holiday cards on their site and she screams, "I KNEW that was your work in their catalog!!" Turns out that she'd seen my cards in their catalog that had arrived last week and was highly suspicious. Ha!

I'm super excited to be represented by MyPublisher and I must say that I admired lots of the other holiday card designs offered on their site as well. The artwork is sweet and slightly modern, with lots of color and pattern. Of course, your family photos will look great on any of the styles and I love how you can add a few more photographs on the patterned back of the card. Cute, cute.

I know it seems early, but you know how the holidays whiz past us. Take a look at the MyPublisher holiday cards and see if you can't take care of at least one part of your holiday duties. The design shown on today's post is listed here.

Laser Party designs!

If you were ever wondering how to use blank printable invitations and ephemera available online, you should take a look at this party for inspiration! Larissa from Sweet On Parties blog purchased a set of blank printables from my laser tag party (available here from my etsy store) and took the party design to a whole new level of fun for her son Byron!

Since the files are purchased without any text, Larissa was able to use them in so many creative ways. She repurposed the invitation template into signage, used the armband artwork for water bottle labels and the circle templates for cookies, tags and additional signage. I love that backdrop and that sweets station!

For more photos (and frankly, some other delightfully styled birthday parties), visit her blog and enjoy!

I picked a good one for this Halloween...

Even though life seems impossibly busy, I still try really had to make Halloween fun. Mainly because my kids insist on it. "Are you going to make those mummy hot dogs again this year, Mom?" (*sigh* yes), "Are we going to get more skeleton bones for the yard, Mom" (yes, even though you lost half of the body by using them for golf clubs this summer), "Mom, how about a toxic waste theme for our house decorations this year?" (alrighty...) Every time we do one fun thing, we have to add to it for the next year. It's equally exhausting AND inspirational.

Anyway, enough of my fake complaining about how hard it is to be a mom in a creative household.

I just saw this recipe for Zombie Boogers from Paper and Parcel and had to share it. It's got everything a kid wants for Halloween: sugar and parent revulsion. You can get the cute little bags from her etsy shop here. It seems like a great party snack or fun surprise for lunch, doesn't it?

I've been amassing some other great Halloween ideas on this Pinterest board if you want to peruse.

Color Inspiration: Blue and Pink from Pip Studios

I've been enchanted with this sweet color combination that I saw on Coco Rose Diaries, featuring Pip Studio fine china patterns. I'm usually a one or two color/low contrast kind of girl, but this photo had me thinking differently. How can I bring in opposite colors and make them work without being too brash? When I studied the image, I saw that if you use the two colors but incorporate hues of those colors it softens the contrast. Still very feminine and sweet but not so much pink as to make you barf with girly overload. No offense to pink only combos...you know I love me some pink. But everyone can use a fresh look at it, right?

I encourage you to take a look at all the products from Pip Studios, in Amsterdam. You'll see this color palette and romantic style incorporated into many other products like bedding, bath and textiles. I'm on my way to check it all out myself.

Peacock Wedding Invitations

These have been a long time waiting to get photographed and shown to the world. It just seemed like I couldn't get my camera out and take those pictures!! Now that the kids are in school and I have no more excuses (other than a bunch of other work obligations) I finally recorded this for posterity.

The bride was very specific about her color scheme--she loved the dark blue and peacock green. Well, you can't go wrong with those, can you? I painted the feather with watercolors and used it not only on the invitation, but on the envelope and reply cards as well. The envelope had the peacock green liner and custom calligraphy to match the font on the invitation. I love having all those details come together so nicely. Congratulations Jennifer and Ryan!

How much food and drink do I really need??

I came across this super cute chart from Chickabug and thought I'd share. Aren't you always wondering how much and how many when planning a party????

A sweet cake topper

I designed this cake topper for a first birthday party I'm working on with Stellar Party (my event planning and styling company). She resembles the birthday girl and I'm hoping this will be an heirloom for all the cakes to come. It has a holder for one candle, which will forever more be the "one to grow on". The cake is the real beauty and will be created by Ileana from Sugar Realm. Now THAT'S going to be the real masterpiece! Can't wait to share all the goody details later...

Citron Yellow Inspiration

I've reinstated my potentially dangerous habit of going to estate sales. It is my opinion that those who frequent such places are merely recycling stuff that someone else purchased impulsively at an estate sale. I suppose it's a good way to keep perfectly good crap from a landfill, but I'm wary. One never goes to an estate sale because one is looking for a citron yellow enameled bowl with pretty pink flowers. It just happens. So the fear is that if I go too often to estate sales, I will have a house full of stuff that requires my children to hire some estate liquidation company to get rid of said stuff when I'm gone. Or put my house on that Hoarders show. *shudder* Side note: I'm so horrified of hoarding that I actually refuse to watch that show.

Now perhaps you can appreciate how much I really loved this sweet little dish. Citron yellow isn't even on my short list of signature colors but I have recognized the error of my ways and have added it in. Bright, cheerful and quirky because citron is not really yellow and certainly not green but a funky hybrid of both. And the impulse purchase clincher was that I'm a sucka for flowers. Bam! I bought it AND a couple of other weird useless things. After all, I was going through the trouble of standing in line to deal to the withered woman who did not like to bargain anyway. I might as well make it worth the trouble.

When I got home, I put it on a shelf to wait while I contemplated it's seductive qualities. A few days later, my daughter Julia (who really and truly has that magic 'touch' with displays and interiors) placed it on a set of vintage song books and man, did it look perfect there. It's as if my subconscious mind knew exactly what I was doing all along! And now, it's preconceived uselessness is replaced with the purpose of beauty and joy. Well, and also inspiration because I'm going to do some pattern making and painting this weekend and little Citron Bowl will be joining me.

Pink First Birthday Party inspiration

I'm working on styling a really fun first birthday party over at Stellar Party. While some of the details will be ready to show after the event has occurred, I thought you might want to see what is inspiring the party theme. There are more inspirational photos and links on my Pinterest board here.

1. Some sweet roses in a vintage tin. Flowers by Modern Day Design.
2. I love these customized paper cups. Add any initial and make the drinks look so cute! From Oh Goodie Designs.
3. The dessert feature table is not actually a table, but a salvaged dresser painted white. So dainty. (image source unavailable)
4. Cake decorations can be a simple ruffle pattern. Sweet and a little sophisticated. Photo via Style & Elegance.
5. Why not decorate the high chair? There will be so many pictures taken there anyway. Image via Chickabug Blog.
6. I never get tired of the patterned paper straws. Similar ones found at One Of A Kind Party.
7. I love the bold polka dot pattern in these cupcake cups. Bake the cupcakes first, and then insert. That way you get a full color from your paper. Available from Sweet Baking Supply.

Dessert fans, follow this blog

My friends, if you love desserts, dessert tables and creative design, or any combination of those things, then you will surely love Shauna Younge's blog Sweet Tooth. It certainly lives up and beyond her slogan "where dessert meets design".

Just look at this beautiful table scape for pink and pomegranate red desserts.

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Source: shaunayounge.blogspot.com via Margot on Pinterest

Let me tell you how much I love that raw urban setting! Can someone tell me where I can get a space like that, please? Of course the pink and red hues are beautifully combined in the delicious desserts. And the pomegranate jewels are perfect for tiny confections. No more decoration needed when nature does it so well on it's own. Good stuff, people. Good stuff. When you go, prepare yourself for a rabbit hole of Pinning. That's pretty much what I do when I'm there too. :o)

Decorating a barn for a wedding

Source: weddingsbylilly.com via Margot on Pinterest

I've got some of my favorite inspirational photos for decorating a barn on Stellar Party today. If you like those, there are more where that came from on this Pinterest board!

DIY Friday: Neon Pink and Classic White Pottery

In the spirit of the neon pink styling, I just saw this appropriately timed tutorial for making a neon pink serving set from Shop Sweet Things. It definitely affirms my theory that a little bit of neon on white is a delight!

Covet Garden is inspiration

Although I received the link to the latest issue of Covet Garden yesterday, and had to wait until my tea and toast this morning to give it the proper viewing it deserves. And what a lovely way for me to start an otherwise hectic work day! Covet Garden is an on-line magazine and blog highlighting homes that are decorated by the people who live in them, not professional interior designers.

Love the starfish over the door!

The photography and magazine design is charming, poised and so relaxing to view. Perhaps it was the calming tea, but I found myself resting on each page and really looking into the photo to reveal the beautiful details captured by the camera. I also enjoyed delving deeper into Heather's world, even beyond her beautiful home. We meet her family, see her in her unique style in her favorite clothes, her favorite food, her studio. In a manic world of  quick! show a little bit of everything! it was a joy lingering longer on a lot of something. Beautiful work!

This drink just makes me want to invite the girls over!