Party Time Tuesday - Lovely Luau!

This week for Party Time Tuesday I am featuring baby Katelyn's first birthday luau. Katelyn's creative mommy found some adorable fabric that she used as an inspiration for the entire party. I worked with her to create a custom version of our "A year in pictures" invitation design . I have done several different versions of this invitation to incorporate various themes and I always love seeing the progression from birth to one year.

The flowers were also incorporated in this cute banner...

and in the cake too!

Finally, here is the birthday girl in her adorable hand made outfit.
I love the idea of picking a single pattern or fabric swatch and using it as inspiration for the rest of the party. I think Katelyn's mom did a great job of adding a unique twist to a luau party theme.

Have you had a fun birthday party that you want to show off? Send your photos to me at meredith@addiekate.com and we will feature you soon!

Fresh Friday - New Apple themed invitation

One of my favorite custom invitations from last year was this adorable apple themed invitation.




I love the green, red and white color combo and the little girly touches. The beautiful photo by canyon photography really completes the look of this invitation. I hope you agree that this apple invitation is a great addition to our photo card gallery!

Work at home Wednesday - Starting a home based business - part one

Throughout the three and half years I have been running Addie Kate Creations I have encountered many moms both online and in real life that would like to find a way to work from home. In my opinion one of the best ways to accomplish this is to find a way to turn an interest or hobby into a service or product you can sell online.


I have learned quite a bit through the years about getting a business off the ground and thought I might be able to share some advice with others hoping to do the same. Today I will cover one of the first steps in getting started with an online business.


Choosing what it is you will be selling or offering.


When choosing what type of product or service you will be selling consider these important questions.


If you are making a product what is the time involved to produce it?


When considering this question think about the time involved in gathering needed materials, producing the actual product, packaging the product and shipping the finished goods. It is a good idea to go through all the steps for a prototype to get an accurate timeline. Many aspiring business owners are overwhelmed when they receive their first order and realize the entire process is more involved than originally expected.


What are the cost of materials?


Research the costs of your supplies as extensively as possible. See if any of the supplies you need can be acquired with a wholesale discount once you have your business license. Order sample materials to ensure they are of a quality you are happy with. Don't forget to consider packaging and shipping supplies when calculating your costs.


What are similar products selling for?


Spend time creating a list of competitors and finding the range of prices of your product. Consider whether you want to be at the high end, low end or somewhere in the middle. Pricing is a complicated process and I will create a more specific post about pricing in the future. To start though ,seeing the range of prices in your market is a good first step.


When will I have time to produce the product?


When deciding on what to sell think about your time constraints. Are you hoping to work form home with your kids present? Will you continue to work while building your business? These questions can help you choose a realistic venture when first starting out.


Asking yourself these questions can help you narrow the scope of your business venture to include items that can be produced in the time you have available. It will also help you determine if your item has a profit margin that will generate a decent income for you.



Hope this tip helps! I look forward to sharing more next week!

Party Time Tuesday!

I really enjoy seeing the creative ideas my customers incorporate into their children's birthday celebrations so I decided to showcase one party each week. I am hoping this can help inspire others when planning their children's parties.


This weeks party is an adorable animal themed bash for little Nicholas (who is also my Godson). Back when his mom was awaiting his arrival we worked together to create animal themed wall art designs to match her nursery bedding. She decided to incorporate the same patterns and graphics in Nicholas' party, and if I do say so the result was adorable!


First we worked together on a custom double sided invitation..

Next my friend incorporated the graphics into this adorable banner and decorations






Finally the cake (that was to die for by the way)...
It was a great party and everything came together wonderfully! There is nothing better than celebrating a babies first year of life.


I hope you enjoyed these fun ideas! If you would like your own party pictures and invitation showcased on posh parties and products please e-mail me your photos at meredith@addiekate.com . Happy celebrating!

Introducing Fresh Fridays!

What better way to end the work work week than by showcasing our newest work! Custom design is a huge part of Addie Kate Creations and one of my favorite things to do. I love creating new photo card designs as well as t-shirt designs for our cafe press shop. I can't wait to share what's new with you every week!



This week's feature is our new giraffe big brother/sister shirts . I have been obsessed with giraffes lately as evidenced by the theme of my baby girls birthday party and all the giraffe designs I have been creating for AddieKate.com . That obsession naturally lead to new t-shirt designs.


Both the big brother/ big sister and little brother/ little sister shirts can also be customized with your child's name. Just send me an e-mail with the name at meredith@addiekate.com and I will add it to the shop. Have any design ideas you would like to see added to our shop? Let me know in the comments below!

My baby girl's sweet safari party!

It has been a wild year with our newest addition Emilia so I thought a safari themed party was a fitting way to celebrate.

I wanted the party to be fun, girly and modern so I decided on a hot pink and lime green color scheme. With that in mind I created this double sided photo invitation

I love the versatility of a double sided invitation as you can make a statement with one large photo on the front but also include more photos on the back.

Once the tone was set with the invitation I set to work on the decorations. My favorite (and most time consuming project was creating these party hats.

I love how they looked on the cake table. We all know that pretty scene didn't last long though, once the little ones started to arrive.

I made the hats out of scrap book paper and curling ribbon. I also added a sticker I designed for the final touch. I was actually really surprised how many of the kids kept the hats on for the party. Here is my oldest modeling hers.

Another decoration that I loved making was the banner I created using the photos I took of my daughter each month. It was very simple to make.

I also designed a sign for the door so that our guests would know they were at the right house.

No party would be complete without goody bags, so I enlisted the help of my older daughter and put together these brightly colored bags for our littlest guests. We included sunglasses, Slinky's, bubbles, a kazoo and safari stickers. I again used the stickers I had designed to seal the bags.

We had a blast celebrating Emilia's birthday. It was wonderful having all our friends and family together in honor of our sweet girl turning one. I'll end this post with a couple of pictures of the guest of honor. Happy birthday baby girl!

Recent Etsy Banner and Avatar Design

I recently was asked by a friend and fellow work at home mom to design some graphics for her Etsy shop. Her business name is Heartfully Handmade so naturally she wanted to incorporate hearts into her design. First I started with her Etsy banner. This is what we settled on. I love how it turned out so girly and cute.

We also created this business card. We wanted to be able to showcase her work as well as convey the vital information about her business and I think we accomplished that with this card.

Finally we created a few avatars for her Etsy shop.

I really had fun with this project and am hoping to do more similar work soon. Designing without photos is always a fun way for me to leave my comfort zone.

I am hoping to add some logo and business identity packages to Sweet Rosie Studios in the very near future. In the meantime if you are interested in a business identity package feel free to contact me through my etsy shop or through my online store Addie Kate Creations.