Party Board #2 - Snowflake Party

A snowflake party is the perfect theme for a neighborhood holiday party or a winter birthday party. Here's what we found:
Invitation: Snowflake Party Invitation (available with or without photo)
Cupcake Liners: Winter Splendor by Wilton
Snowflake Cookies: Frosted Sugar Cookies from cakebox cookies
Snowflake Marshmallows: Let Martha Stewart show you how to dress up your hot cocoa!
Cool Mountain Creme Soda: From Soda Samurai
Snowflake Cupcakes: Here's a tutorial by Wilton
Snowflake Tableware: available on amazon.com
Snowflake Cutouts: from Target

Party Board #1 - Rainbow Birthday

This is a new series to help you plan the perfect party inspired by an invitation from our shop!A rainbow birthday party is perfect for anyone who loves color! Set the tone with the rainbow stripes and cupcake custom photo invitation. Set the table with each place setting of a different color and provide an assortment of fun colorful beverages (izze sparkling juice featured here). Let them eat cake with beautiful colorburst cupcakes (easy instructions on Our Best Bites) and send them home with rainbow whirlypops at the end.

What do you think would make the perfect rainbow party? Share your ideas in the comments section!

Featured on Our Best Bites

Over the weekend our favorite cooking blog did a special feature on... Sugarhouse Ink! If you've never visited Our Best Bites, I suggest you head over now -- they've got tons of amazing recipes, helpful tips and tricks and pretty photos to go with it all. Plus you get the occasional great deal from companies they love (like a special discount codes and giveaways). So hop on over and check them out!

More New Holiday Designs!

Check it out - even more new holiday photo card designs! These designs (and many more) now available for purchase in our Christmas gallery.

New Product - Gift Cards!

Just in time for the holidays, we're happy to be offering gift cards in our shop! Gift cards can be purchased for any value and are customized with a personal message to the recipient. You can purchase them here.

Holiday Family Photo Tip #2

This is part of our holiday family photo tip series, giving you some great tips on taking the perfect family photo for your holiday photo card.

image via designmom.com

Today's tip is to plan your clothing. Remember the popular "all in denim" photos of the 90's? Yeah, that's not what we're talking about. Isn't the above family photo scrumptious? Well, it didn't just fall into place - design mom spent some significant time planning the outfits with care. It's a good idea to have everyone wearing similar color tones (i.e. bright saturated colors, dimmed hues, muted tones, etc), but not the same outfit. Try and choose color tones that will complement your setting and background.

Holiday Family Photo Tip #1

Over the next few days, we'll be giving you some great tips on taking the perfect family photo for your holiday photo card.

From now until the new year, everyone will be bustling about, with busy schedules and packed calendars. It can be especially difficult to get your family together for a photo shoot! Aside from the fact that many families are sprawled across the country, most of us have other priorities and short attention spans.

Tip #1 is to plan your photo shoot!

Send out an email before everyone packs to come home for Thanksgiving so they'll know that it will be part of the weekend. Set a specific time and day (preferably within an hour of sunrise or sunset if you're doing an outdoor shoot) and make sure everyone is on board. This will help you avoid complaining and conflict when the set time rolls around. After you set the date (and time), scout out your location a day or two in advance. Try and go during the same time of day you're planning your shoot and make sure there aren't any weird shadows or anything. Hopefully making a plan will make shooting your family photos that much easier!