GOOD LIFE

little boy blue


There is no denying that Kathleen from Twig & Thistle is a huge inspiration to all, and her blog surely is one of the best in the world. Not only is it because of her amazing sense of style but Kathleen comes up with the no. 1 DIY tutorials - testament to this fact alone is that she has been featured on both Style Me Pretty & Sweet Designs. Here is a recent baby shower she thew for her sister and we have highlighted a few ways that you can really DIY.

THINGS WE LOVE:
The colour palette of white and blue, with very small touches of green and yellow. This I think is the first secret that Kathleen shares. Rather go for two colours and no more and you are sure to make your occasion look good from the onset.

The custom letter pressed invitations are breath-takingly cute! Whilst many of us wouldn't dream of having such fancy invites for a baby shower, the idea here is priceless. Select a motif that you want to "theme" the party around - in this case Matryoshka dolls. It could be anything, but before you incorporate this into an invite ask yourself how will you incorporate it into the party? Like Kathleen - do you have a mini toy elephant for a cake topper, or maybe you want to use little bird nest with almond "eggs" for favours, or have rocking horses for centrepieces or one big giant balloon for each table? By working backwards on this one, you are not left with awesome aeroplanes on the invite but not one in sight on the day. (on a side note: less is more, note how Kathleen only has the doll cake topper).

Personalisation is what makes this party stand out from the crowd and this is what makes it most memorable. The dolls were hand painted to look like the couple, the bunting spelt BABY (Couple's Surname) and the activity was a crossword about the couple. Consider how you can bring the "people" into the "party". It can be as simple as having the Mom-to-be's photo on the guest book table (her and her husband's baby photos would be real cute too). 

If you are like me you are intimidated by the "MENU". Kathleen shows that a gorgeous cake and lemonade look far more chic than an entire buffet of goodies.

Last but not least, the hand made favours: little sewn fabric bags filled with shortbread and sealed with a safety pin. Could anything be sweeter?


IN GOOD COMPANY SHOP
Email us for a customised stationery suite or buy one of our already-made printable parties, including our latest collection Baby Shower Games.
Guess what is coming soon? Pre-order your Goose Grease paint your own set.
Hire one of our gorgeous cake stands and pre-order our stripe straws.
Package it pretty with our gable boxes, party bags and pretty ribbons.

SOMETHING GOOD

who & where


One of the items that are actually critical to a big event is the seating chart, so rather than seeing it as a chore, or something that looked like it was thrown together in a minute: make it a real feature!


Like look how awesome this one is spotted over at Sweet Designs. It is your "typical" list of tables with the list of names but the "good" factor in this version is that under each name the bride and groom have described who is who! I love this idea especially if you want to make it fun and you can share lots of details and "secrets" about your guests for a good laugh. It may take a lot of prep. but sure to bit a hit!

GOOD EVENTS

click for better view

GOOD LIFE

little ladybirds


Alannah Rose is one of our number suppliers and Suzi (their Creative Director) does the most amazing children's invitations with matching tags. Her new range is no exception and we are in awe how she took inspiration from her Lovely Ladybird invite and incorporated it in all the details throughout her daughter Ella's 4th Ladybird Garden Party.


THINGS WE LOVE:
The grass table cloth - definitely going to have search for some plastic turf - what do you think? In the meantime if you are desperate for some "lawn" we have some grass squares 20 x20cm available for hire.
The bunting and tissue paper poms overhead - here's the DIY, or how about some of our paper daisies?
The little tiny ladybugs that are stuck onto the leaves - Suzi didn't miss anything!
All the printables that Suzi designed - do something similar and shop for our ladybird printable party here.
The pink lemonade glass bottles (Woolies have these albeit grown up size) and guess what just arrived at the IGC showroom door? Striped straws R2 each. YEAH!
The dessert buffet and that cake - sigh! Get all the goodies: glass jars, scoops, cake stands compotes and platters in our hire section. 
Suzi is truly inspired with her party games. She sourced small fishing nets (the kind for fish tanks) and then had the girls go and "catch" hidden ladybug chocolates. Instead of the traditional pass the parcel she filled little paper bags (plain and new stripy ones in the IGC shop) with little goodies, placed these in a big bag and each child got to "lucky dip" when the music stopped!
Last but not least, she set up a colour-in table with a garden scene, popped coloured pencils in white tins (hire ours for R5 each) and each little girl got to sport ladybird feelers made from alice bands and pipe cleaners!
All I can say is Suzi - you are an inspiration and such wonderful memories for you and Ella!

SOMETHING GOOD

personal pashminas


For a small intimate destination wedding, these favours from Style me Pretty are a great choice. The embroidery is something that can easily be done as most major shopping centres have a Home & Bath Shop that customise towels. This is also a great way to bring in the colours of your wedding to the ceremony either in the pashmina itself or a sutle touch in the embroidery cotton.

GOOD WORDS

cute courses


Spotted over at Style Me Pretty, why not title your different courses as THE STARTS, THE EATS and THE SWEETS. A little detail that won't go unnoticed.

SNEAK PEEK

c is for cup


Yeah! Look what just arrived! Aren't these the coolest paper cups ever! So many ideas, but I love the idea of placing the person's initial at their place setting. What would you do with a set of these?

IN GOOD COMPANY SHOP
ABC Paper Cups
There are 30 paper cups in the assortment. Each cup has two different letters, one on each side of the cup. There are multiples of the most commonly used letters so plenty of words can be spelled at a time! Two cups also have a heart on them for even more fun combinations. Cups are made from paper and are disposable. 
R150 for 30

IN GOOD HANDS

make it your own


So I have been planning Cow's First Birthday (Zara's no.1 toy)/Swiss National Day (the 1st August) and have been doing quite a bit of DIY. The whole party (our summer holiday project to keep the little ones busy), we will obviously share later but I couldn't resist sharing a little project in the interim.


Basically I took some plain green and white paper plates and cups (these are from IKEA but you can pretty polka dot ones in our shop or plain ones from the supermarket) and then all you need is one of our printable parties (this is from our new Teddy Bears' Picnic one), paper, PC & printer, scissors and glue.


So print the paper food picks, cut out the circle tags and stick to the centre of paper cups and plates. I even stuck some onto paper napkins, and then ironed them on for extra adherence. (you could use iron on transfer paper, but I figured paper on paper is not such a bad thing?).

GOOD ON PAPER

if you go down to the woods today...


You are in for a big surprise! How cute is this new Teddy Bear's Picnic printable party collection that we have available in the shop right now! Not only has it got the "usual" goodies like invitations, food picks and bunting but we have added in some super cute extras:
- Editable labels for water/milk bottles/sweet jars
- A bear badge (editable number for child's age) to be printed on cardboard as a badge or iron on transfer paper for custom t-shirts.
- Bear ears, which you can out and let the little ones wear, bows optional for girls!
- And my favourite giant bear posters that you can print all different sizes and fasten to the wall, or cut out and adhere to dowel sticks and insert into the ground as if the little bears are strolling through the wood!

IN GOOD COMPANY SHOP
Teddy Bear Printable Party
R50 for the pdf. file


For customisation contact us. We can change the colours, add your own text or make something completely new for you. Priced from R20 to R100 per item depending on the complexity of the change.

SNEAK PEEK

NEW STOCK JUST IN

ONLINE 1 AUGUST 2010

GOOD TIES

paper and bow bouquet

IMAGE

IN GOOD HANDS

stacked box cake


Just spotted this over at Hostess With The Mostess. What a brilliant idea. Basically you stack some hatboxes of varying sizes, top it off with a framed cake topper, and use as accent decor or table centrepieces. You could even do the top tier filled with flowers, and wrap ribbon around each "layer" or like they did use matching paper bands. Oooh! Going to try this out real soon!

GOOD LIFE

gorgeous gingham


Kate Landers has done it again! She recently did a whole party photo shoot for Life: Beautiful magazine and shared the photos on her blog. How gorgeous is this collection for a little girls tea party!


THINGS WE LOVE:
The stunning printables: who knew just gingham alone could be so lovely. We have a Pretty Pink Party Collection in our shop, but seeing Kate's we may just have to make some little extras - like the little milk carton boxes - just darling!
Pastel hues poms are just the best thing since sliced bread - check out our latest Good Newsletter for the DIY.
The ruffled party hats are just the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Just have to figure out how to make these, so my mom can sew some for all of us!
The napkins are just darling, each one trimmed with ric rac - now that is something I think I can get my mom to do right away.
The Birthday Girl customised plate. Visit a nearby studio to craft your own - like there is The Seed Pod Studio in Broadacres.