party – Elizabeth Smillie

a storybook themed baby shower, part 1

August 31, 2016 Elizabeth Smillie

A while back we had the privilege of welcoming a new nephew into the family, and we celebrated with a storybook themed baby shower! His mama loves reading, so we thought a party filled with children’s books would be a perfect way to welcome the little man to the world.
Babies and books – love them both! Since this was a storybook themed baby shower was for a baby boy, I used lots of neutrals (“vintagey” colors), whites and blues, and scattered stars and vintage books about liberally – and I think it all came together beautifully.We split up the hostessing duties a bit – I got to hostess at our home and provide the decor and drinks, my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law took care of the food.
Most of the decor were things that I either already had, we had in the shop and tweaked a little, free printable from Pinterest or that I made just for the occasion {children’s book page pinwheels and pennant “BABY” banner! And an adorable table runner from vintage children’s book pages, too – so cute.}We went with a simple color scheme – white, light {and a little dark} blue, kraft brown and vintage papers. The colors were a perfect backdrop for the children’s books, and played well together. :) I used a mix of vintage and new(er) linens, a variety of mixed metals and some wild grasses instead of of flowers. Stacks of vintage books (of course!) in brown and blues came into play, too.
I was delighted with how my table runner turned out! My mom has a knack for finding gorgeous old children’s books, some of which are sadly too worn to be enjoyed by our children. I used the pages with colored illustrations, arranged the pages a few times until I was happy with how the colors looked together, and secured them in placed with some double-sided tape. Super cute! (it was inspired by this table runner)One of the details I loved adding to this party were the framed storybook quotes and artwork. I found several through Pinterest, and a few through a basic web search – all were free, and when placed in frames I already had, made a fun addition to the shower. And the new mama enjoyed keeping a few for the little guy, too!

Stay tuned for more party photos, including more decor, the super darling and delicious food (all storybook themed!) and the guest of honor!

shop items featured:

customer love – Chefs For Farmers

March 31, 2016 Elizabeth Smillie

You know the feeling when you realize you forgot to do something? Um, yeah …we had an amazing customer a while back who shared some gorgeous photos, and I completely forgot to share them with you. So …Chefs For Farmers!

Chefs For Farmers is an organization that brings “chefs, artisans and culinary influencers together to celebrate supporting local and regional farmers”, and their event decorator contacted us at the last minute to see if we could help decorate their banquet – our answer? Yes, of course!

They were kicking off their season of celebrations, and needed lots of bunting style garlands to add drama and texture to their modern industrial style venue. The planner needed something that was classy but also rustic, and she decided to use our Vintage Book Triangle Garlands in extra long lengths to mix in with some cafe lighting and twinkle lights -the final result was amazing!I love how the individual elements she used for the event – white cloths, wood chairs, flowers in glass bottles, kraft paper, string lights and bunting – are all so simple by themselves, but when they’re put together create a sense of refined, industrial drama. Gorgeous!

The bunting style garlands are amazingly versatile, working in rustic and classic venues alike {and, because they aren’t event specific, they can be reused for other occasions!}.

Thank you to Chefs For Farmers for the photos – the event was such a feast for the eyes, and it looks like it was for the stomach as well! {more photos of the lovely event here}

Items featured:

Vintage Book Paper Triangle Garland

an engagement party for a bride-to-be

May 18, 2015 Elizabeth Smillie

{I originally posted this this a few weeks ago, but it got lost in the Great Blog Erase of 2015 – thankfully, most of the blog content was recovered after about a week, but a few of the most recent posts were gone for good. So here it is again!}

One of my husband’s brothers is getting married this fall {yay!}, and several weeks ago his mom, sister and sister’s-in-law and I had the privilege of throwing the bride-to-be a “welcome to the family” brunch. It was so fun! We had lots of ideas of ways to make the engagement party special without breaking the bank, and we kept track of them on a group Pinterest board {have you ever tried using a group board for something like this? It’s so handy!}.

We used our home as the location on a Saturday morning, and for decorations were able to stick almost entirely to things I already had in my stash, and I made a few banners and personalized cake toppers for a special touch.
Over the table, I had John {he so graciously offered to help with the decorating as I was pulling together the last minute details!} hang up a few of these pink lanterns, mixed with white lace lanterns and some white honeycomb balls, all of which were in my party decoration box. I’ve had all of them for a while now, and they’ve been used over and over and held up so well!

party planning tip: Having re-usable party decoration items in your hostess arsenal is a great way to keep costs down, allowing you to focus your party budget on other areas! Each place setting had one of these gilded frames on it as a favor for the girls to take home – I found the frames in the dollar bin at Michaels, and then personalized them with little prints {that I made on our computer, and then “dry stamped” a large heart over the text} and some lace trim in a bow.One of the things I made up just for the party was this pair of Bride To Be banners – we have a version in our shop, but I wanted them to be even a little bit more special, and in two layers since I had this vision in my head of decorating her chair with them. I used doilies that I dyed a light pink to back the white letters, and the resulting effect was quite romantic!
I made a #BecomingASmillie {her new last name} banner for over the window in the same style, and everyone loved it! It was quite cute, and the hashtag may even get used as the one for her wedding prep. :)For the chair decor, we took my stash of vintage embroidered pillowcases and slipped on over the back of each chair, and then tied each with a pink satin bow.
It was John’s idea {don’t tell him I told you!}, and was gorgeous!!! The table came together beautifully. I used a white, every day table cloth layered with a vintage pink damask table cloth and vintage damask napkins. For the table settings, I layered our white every day plates {these} with some vintage salad plates, and used the vintage silver plated table ware I inherited from a family member. The goblets were find at Marshall’s a while ago, and the tea set was from my grandma. It all came together so beautifully! To accent the rest of the room, I had John hang up a Lace Doily Garland {looping back and forth across the room}, a Glitter Gold Confetti Garland {in the area over the table} and a Large Paper Hearts Garland in pink around the doorway. The garlands added an additional air of romance and festivity, taking the room from feeling like I had just set the table for the party to feeling like this party was an event. Such a difference!
I loved having a reason to get out my special tea set! My sister-in-law made the Strawberry Iced Tea, and – wow. It was good! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I each made a few dishes share, and the resulting buffet was delicious! The future Mr. and Mrs.’s initials are E and T, so a pair of glittery gold monogram dessert toppers {with a darling ampersand in a vintage style print!} seemed the perfect choice to top off the platter of Mango Scones. To the left there was a platter of {delicious!} Asian Salad Wonton Cups, and to the right a dish of Grapefruit Curd to accompany the scones.As we were planning I came across this picture of donut holes on heart-tipped skewers, and quickly added it to the must try list!
The tea sandwich size BLTs were cute and scrumptious. The little girl cousins had their own table :)

It was a special time to welcome Tessa to the family. We all had full, hectic weeks leading up to the day, but taking the time to prepare for a special, out of the ordinary occasion and to visit with each other for a few hours was a blessing to each of the girls. Times like a wedding only come along a few times in a family’s history, and making them with a little fanfare is worth it!

Have you had a chance to celebrate your family recently? I’d love to hear about it!

Items featured:

Bride To Be Banner

Paper Lace Doily Banner

Glitter Gold Confetti Garland

Large Paper Hearts Garland {in pink}

Monogram Cake Toppers

Gold Heart Cupcake Toppers

Vintage Floral Cupcake Flags

{ you can see more photos of the party here}

customer love: winter baby shower

March 1, 2015 Elizabeth Smillie

Customer love time again! I love seeing all these fun ideas, don’t you? For today’s customer love edition, I have some photos that a customer{who happens to be an event planner} sent to share with you! Paula chose a variety of our snowflake items, and used them as part of this gorgeous winter- themed “Baby It’s Cold Outside” baby shower:

The snowflake stir sticks were a custom order for Paula, and they turned out so amazingly that we are planning to add them to our shop soon!

Paula shared more photos of this amazing shower here on Facebook – I love it!

Do you have photos that you’d like to share? If so, you can either email them to me at elizabeth@pltmarket.com or tag them with #thepathlesstraveledmarket on Instagram {as long as you have a public profile :)} – we’d all love to see your ideas! Also, I often send “thank you” coupons to the lovelies who let me share their photos with you – so if you’re looking for a coupon for your next order, sharing photos is a great way to get a discount!

edit: we have added the stir sticks to our shop! You can now find them here.

customer love – a gorgeous baby shower for twins!

November 10, 2014 Elizabeth Smillie

A few months back I was contacted by a woman who was throwing a baby shower for her friend who was having twins {a boy and a girl!}. She wanted the colors to be gender neutral {but not boring}, and our Navy, Mint, Coral, Cream and Gold Confetti Garland caught her eye. She loved the colors, and had a few ideas of other things to add to round out the decor she had in mind. But first Andrea had one important request – the decorations had to be in Texas by the following Saturday. Wow-ee! I was in love with the idea, though, and we made it happen. :) Andrea wanted a bunch of paper pinwheels in a variety of sizes, and in colors to coordinate with the garland. I had been wanting to make some for a while {have you seen the pins of some of the lovely pinwheels floating around Pinterest? Soooo gorgeous!} and was delighted to have a good excuse to learn how! Everything got made up quickly and shipped in time to arrive with a day or two to spare {I love FedEx!!!!}. Afterward the tea party, Andrea sent me these photos of how everything came together: She threw a gorgeous affair, didn’t she? The baby shower had a tea party theme, and the food she served looks amazing.

I love how Andrea used the garland as a front drape for the buffet table – it added such a classic, elegant feel to the party!She requested some custom cupcake toppers in mint and coral, and once they arrived she paired them with these lovely navy blue cupcake wrappers for a clean and elegant look. {if you’d like to achieve a similar look for an event, we have since added cupcake wrappers to our shop!}

Andrea, the party was absolutely gorgeous. Thank you so much for allowing to share in the joy of the occasion us by sharing the photos, and blessings to the new mama and babies!

Do you have photos that you’d like to share? If so, you can either email them to me at elizabeth@pltmarket.com or tag them with #thepathlesstraveledmarket on Instagram – we’d all love to see your ideas! Also, I often send “thank you” coupons to the lovelies who let me share their photos with you – so if you’re looking for a coupon for your next order, sharing photos is a great way to get a discount!

products featured:

Navy, Mint, Gold or Silver and Cream Confetti Circles Garland

Custom Cupcake Toppers

Custom Confetti

Custom Paper Pinwheels

Cars themed birthday party on the Path Less Traveled

the Cars party

July 29, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Ah, the last installment of the Cars party – and the last one of {what turned into being} the series!

It was such a fun, relaxed type of party. We kept it pretty low key {as far as three-year-old’s parties go} and kept the guests to just family. Ian loved showing his cousin how to use the car track that John made and “do racin’!” We listened to the Beach Boys channel on Pandora, and the younger guests played “pass the Parcel” and had a small water fight {it happened to be raining during part of the party, so why not get wetter, right?}. Ian absolutely adored the Cars cake, and it was the sweetest thing ever to see how excited he was to stand in the middle of us all, soaking up the love and attention as we sang “Happy Birthday” to him! :)

He received some of the sweetest things – and even got his very first tool bag {with real tools!}. Isn’t it amazing how much delight kids can get out of a simple gift?

Here’s the sneak peek, part one and part two of the party {since I have apparently made it into a mini series :)} The balloon garland tutorial is here, and the party supplies that I didn’t already have, make or use from my shop are from the Dollar Tree.

And that wraps up Ian’s Cars themed birthday! There are so many other things that I could add, but I think I might have said enough :) Do you have any tips for throwing a kid’s birthday party? What are some of your favorite games?

I’m hoping to have a sweet party-themed How Tuesday for you tomorrow. In other news … the Facebook fan page is getting close to 200 fans! As soon as we reach 200 I’ll have a giveaway {hint: the prize is going to be sparkly!} for a brand new, yet to be released shop item. Share the fun with your friends to get us there even faster :D

some lovelies

July 29, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Oh wow, I’m so thrilled to share these lovelies with you this morning! One of my local friends, Vanessa from Violet Vintage {we became friends through our shops – I LOVE how having a handmade business brings new connections into my life!} recently threw a gorgeous watercolored Thank You luncheon for her lovely support team.

The lovely event was featured on Style Me Pretty, and Vanessa was kind enough to let me share it here, too!

Did you know that you can request custom items from our shop? Vanessa had commissioned a custom version of my doily garlands and the result was the amazing peach and mint garlands made from vintage paper doilies that graced the luncheon in such a gorgeous way! They really were the perfect finishing touch to a unforgettable time. What a perfect way to thank the ones who’ve been with you through everything!

The lovely photos of the event are curtesy of Emily Weis and the venue is the Historic Ambassador House in Fishers, Indiana.

Cars themed party on the Path Less Traveled

the Cars party! {part two}

July 25, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Ah, the best laid plans! I started out the week planning to share all sorts of birthday ideas with you lovelies, and then … a {most precious and adorable} teething baby {who wanted to be held all night}, kids with colds who needed their mama and somehow my {sleep deprived, foggy and semi incoherent} thoughts just didn’t make onto the blog. But now, the little are better, I’m more rested and ready to share!

Anyone ready for part two of the Cars party? {looking for part one? or the sneak peek? You can find them here and here}

I had seen a super fun pool-noodle turned car race track on Pinterest, and picked up a noodle at the Dollar store when I was getting the a few other things for the party {side note – the Dollar Tree is an excellent source for streamers, cake plates, napkins, mylar balloons and plastic tables cloths!}, and it turned out to be a bit too small for the cars {but perfect for marbles}. John improvised and made a track using a large piece of cardboard, and it turned out even better for Ian, since most of cars are bigger than Matchbox size :) The kiddos loved hurling the cars down the “track”, racing to catch them at the bottom and then running back to the top to do it again. Ian was soooo tickled with his Cars cake from Sam’s Club! And with the stickers and temporary tattoos that we used as party favors :)the indoor eating area – at lunch time {the birthday boy requested corn dogs for lunch}

The balloon garland was so fun – and easy! – to make! You can find the tutorial that I made for it here. And do you see the “road” style table cloth? It was another thing that I had found on Pinterest, and super simple to make happen. Just cut a black plastic cloth in half the long way and then attach 1″ x 6″ strips of yellow construction paper down the middle using double sided tape.view of our dining room from the front of our house – I love the added dimension and pop of color that the red and blue paper stars added!from the kitchen toward the dining room – there were fire engines on the shelf under the photo wall and presents on the piano
another one of the Lightning McQueen printouts

The outdoor eating area, with another “road” style table cloth. I used a bunch of red and white streamers and red and white paper stars to bring a party feel to the tent, and they were so lovely as they swayed in the evening breeze :)

So there you have part two – I’ll be sharing the rest of the party soon!

xoxo

the Cars party!

July 22, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Part one of the Cars party, here we come! Do you remember the sneak peak of Ian’s party that I shared? Here’s the {beginning of} the rest of it :)

If you remember, here’s the Pinterest board that I used to brainstorm party ideas for the Cars/fire engine/mechanic/Americana birthday that Ian asked for. There were sooo many amazing ideas that would have been fun to make happen, and John and I managed to pull off a few … and Ian was more than thrilled with the result!

a pre-party shot of the snack/dessert table that was one of the focal points of our indoor decor {note the absence of the drinks and other cold items :)}
I used a piece of burlap from my fabric stash {stashes of goodies like this come in super handy when pulling together parties on a budget!} to cover the table and rounded up all the galvanized bins that I could find to hold snacks and add some height to the spread.The wall signs were inspired by this Radiator Springs party and this “Route 3” party – all done free hand by moi while the birthday boy was taking his pre-party nap :)The Red, White and Blue Stars Garland added the perfect bit of color and texture to the front of the table, don’t you think?the snacks and goodies included watermelon, nuts, chips and salsa, pretzels, carrot sticks and dip, Chex mix, S’mores {the vintage blue Ball jars are perfect for serving and displaying goodies like this!}, and a variety of cold drinks {including this punch which is delicious and really easy!}.Do you see the little cars and tools scattered across the table? Ian got quite a kick when he realized that I had used some of his favorite toys for his party decorations {he’s such a sweetheart!!!}
the Tow Mater sign – Ian is still holding onto this! He has it in his room now next to his bed. From a distance you can hardly tell that I whipped it out using a sheet of cardboard, a foam brush and some white acrylic paint. ;)I made the Lightning McQueen sign using a free printable that I found here and some red construction paper – it turned out so cute that I ended up making several to scatter around the party!

So, there you have it – part one of the Cars party!

This is going to be a birthday themed week here on the blog! Today the world is welcoming a new royal baby {congratulations, William and Kate! And blessings upon the newest successor the British throne! <3 } and later this week my husband and three of his brothers will be having birthdays. Imagine the amount of cake that we’ll be eating! {not that I’m complaining at all!} How do you and your family celebrate birthdays? Do you have any special traditions?

how Tuesday: DIY Balloon Garland Tutorial!

June 25, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

as promised, today for how Tuesday I have a tutorial for the DIY Balloon Garland!

It makes a big impact for an incredibly small investment, and can be customized in an almost endless array of colors! Want a rainbow? No problem. Monochromatic more your style? Again, no problem. Seriously, you can use this for any of life’s celebrations from baby showers, birthdays, graduations (school colors!}, bridal showers, casual receptions, housewarmings … even retirement parties!

materials: balloons in your preferred color{s}, a needle with a large eye {hole for the twine}, twine {or narrow ribbon}, scissors, and thumbtacks {if you’re planning on hanging it outside, you might prefer to tie the garland up and not need the tacks} step 1: measure the length you’d like your garland to be and choose your pattern – I decided to use red, white and two shades of blue for Ian’s party – {You might like a monochrome look, a random look, or some other variation!} and inflate your balloons. Having an assistant for this step can be very helpful! step 2: thread your needle with the twine – I chose to use twine for this due to it’s strength {thread just wasn’t going to be strong enough!}, but you could also choose to use a narrow ribbon or some other narrow type of cording. step 3: begin sewing the garland – poke the needle through the “tag” of the balloon, not too close to the end or it might rip out, just somewhere in the middle ……pull the needle and cording through, and continue with the rest of your balloons.

step 4: tie a loop in the end of your cord to prepare for hanging. If you’re hanging the balloon garland outside, you might choose to skip the loop and leave a long tail {to use for tying} instead. step 5: put a tack through afore mentioned loop and stick ‘er up there!

step 6: string out the garland across your desired distance and repeat step 5 …

…while taking a moment to admire how pretty it looks hanging across your room. :)

And that’s it! You can make several strands and hang them together, leave it to stand alone or, as you can see from the first photo, combine it with crepe streamers! Each option looks great – with a project like this, it’s hard to go wrong :)

If you haven’t taken a moment to enter the giveaway, you might want to click over and do that – it’s super easy to enter, and you might win a set of the newest red, white and blue star garland and matching cupcake toppers!

sharing this on Sew Can Do and C.R.A.F.T.

Elizabeth Smillie

The Path Less Traveled

Browsed by
Category: party

a storybook themed baby shower, part 1

August 31, 2016 Elizabeth Smillie

customer love – Chefs For Farmers

March 31, 2016 Elizabeth Smillie

an engagement party for a bride-to-be

May 18, 2015 Elizabeth Smillie

customer love: winter baby shower

March 1, 2015 Elizabeth Smillie

customer love – a gorgeous baby shower for twins!

November 10, 2014 Elizabeth Smillie

the Cars party

July 29, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

some lovelies

July 29, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

the Cars party! {part two}

July 25, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

the Cars party!

July 22, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

how Tuesday: DIY Balloon Garland Tutorial!

June 25, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie