Happy Saturday to you all – hope everyone’s having a great weekend and making the most of the crisp and clear winter weather! It was on the news yesterday that we’re to expect a month of ‘Siberian Winter’ soon – (got to love our ever dramatic British media hey?) …Regardless of what the skies are up to, you can count on this blog to bring a bit of brightness (goodness me, that sounds a bit cheesy doesn’t it? Sorry!) – Today we’re bringing you some citrus-inspired wedding sunshine which I felt inclined to share with you after transforming this lovely ‘Save the Date’ magnet from our ‘Bird on a Cup’ range into yellow and lime green for Sarah & Nick, a lucky couple getting married in Portugal…

When Sarah first contacted us about designing the Save the Date in these colours, I wasn’t sure it work initially, as sometimes yellow doesn’t stand out too well against this type of antique paper background – I said I’d give it a go, and am really pleased with the result – the background can indeed carry both colours really well, and the result is so fresh and pretty. Our Save the Date magnets are proving really popular – looking at the photo, would you even guess it’s a magnet? They’re postcard size and printed directly on to magnetic vinyl material which gives a really professional finish, and much more effective than just sticking a bit of magnetic strip on the back.

Anyway, all this yellow and green loveliness got me a little bit inspired and I’ve created a mood board for you, with loads of zesty, fabulous wedding inspiration – don’t you think these details would be perfect for a spring wedding?

I love all these details but some of my favourites would have to be the fabulous lemon slice vases, the mini lemonade jam jars and the beautiful styling of the Bride with the lime green headpiece & yellow shoes…

(Image credits as follows):

Citrus Vases: http://www.brittanyjanellephotography.com/ Bride shot and the fabulous shoes: http://www.lovemydress.net/blog/2011/11/lime-green-wedding-inspiration.html Cute little lemonade jars: http://intimateweddings.com/ Yummy looking cakes:  http://cachicdesign.com/color-palettes/seasonal-delights-green-and-yellow-wedding/ Bridesmaids dresses found at http://bouquetbridal.blogspot.com/2010/05/yellow-pom-pom-and-cactus-wedding.html Umbrella shot:  http://victoriasouzablog.com/ Table Decor & Bride and Groom’s funky shoes & socks combo: at http://cachicdesign.com/color-palettes/seasonal-delights-green-and-yellow-wedding/ Orange Bottles: http://www.lovemydress.net/blog/2011/10/a-yellow-outdoor-wedding-inspiration-shoot.html

Hi all.. Hope you’re all well and having a great week! A blog post I’m really excited to bring you today, as I’ve been meaning to design these for some while now. It’s an addition to our Free Printables Library, which is available to all our clients (past and present) and our lovely facebook ‘likers’. Photo booths are big business in weddings these days, and it seems it’s a trend that’s not going away any time soon – and it’s no surprise – goofing around taking photos of you,  your loved ones and friends is pretty good fun, and ensures a lovely little keepsake which you’ll cherish long after the big day… We’re offering this set of 10 moustache and lips DIY props to you all in the hope that you’ll have fun making them and using them…

All you need to make them is one printed page (for best results, have it printed on card at your local independent print co. or alternatively, print on paper at home, then stick to a piece of card before cutting out), a pair of scissors, some stripey straws, skewers or lolly sticks and some sticky tape.

So, if you’re wondering how to join the Free Printables Library, it couldn’t be easier – email us at info@inthetreehouse.co.uk or use the form to your right with the subject Free Printables Library. If you’re a facebook liker (http://www.facebook.com/pages/In-The-Treehouse/147194918669981) or client, we’ll invite you to join ASAP!

If you make these, we’d love to hear from you and have a peek at some photos of them in action! Please feel welcome to get in touch and keep coming back for loads more great additions to the library soon….

This week, I’ve started to think about my little girl’s 3rd birthday party in April (trying to do a little bit of organising every week so it doesn’t just creep up on me!) - I know I want some watermelon there somewhere, so did a bit of research and am feeling just teeny weeny bit inspired by these cool ideas… Hope you like them! x

I love these cookies! (although somehow, I doubt they’d look quite like this if I cooked them!) http://glorioustreats.blogspot.com/2011/05/watermelon-shaped-cookies.html

Watermelon Frosty: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/05/watermelon-frosty-or-margarita.html

Watermelon Ice Cream Cones: http://www.bakersroyale.com/fruit/fruit-salad-ice-cream-cone/

Now this one is ambitious! Watermelon Shark: http://www.watermelon.org/Carvings/Shark-30.aspx

Watermelon Lollies – these look fun! http://hiphiphoorayblog.com/

Watermelon Stars - little bitesize chunks of fun! http://hiphiphoorayblog.com/

Probably the easiest DIY project we have ever featured – I made this button lamp for my little one as an extra Christmas present. I mean ‘made’ in the loosest sense of the word – I literally used strong glue to stick buttons (Which I bought for £1) all over a lamp (which I bought for £3.99 – both from The Range – www.therange.co.uk). She loves it though and it looks lovely and bright in her room, shining pretty buttony light over the bed time story! I think a more boyish colour lamp with blue, yellow & red buttons would be great too! x

We can all think of a special, lovely little girl who brightens up our days in some way or another – whether she be a daughter, neice, flower girl, Bridesmaid etc. I have had the pleasure of spending the day with mine (playgroup, then lunch date, then play date! – exhausting but fun!) She’s now fast asleep and I’m in my little office, working what will (hopefully) be my only late night of the week, and wanted to share with you some little-girl-gift inspiration. Here’s a selection of presents which are bright, fun and a little bit special…

Morning all, – hope everyone had a great weekend… We had a beautiful blustery walk on the beach yesterday which has got me raring to go for the week. Today I’m posting a new weekly feature ‘Studio Update’ to give you an insight into just some of the stationery leaving our studio each week. January has been crazy busy so far, and there’s lots to show for it already:

We couldn’t feature all orders  but this should give you an idea!

It’s all about this kids on the blog this week, starting with a post tonight on gift inspiration for little girls, and particularly Bridesmaids. We’ll also be adding to our Free Printables Library, and featuring a great DIY project for little ones – watch this space! x

So thrilled to be sharing some beautiful wedding photos from a lovely Bride and Groom we worked with in the autumn last year – Fiona & Mark have been together for over 10 years and are soon to be upping sticks to start a new life in Dubai with their two daughters. They invited friends and family to a Farewell Tea Party on 30/10/2011 and then by suprise, whisked all the guests off in a vintage Devon double decker bus to the church, where the Groom was awaiting the Bride’s arrival. To many of our readers, you yourselves are probably knee deep in wedding planning at the moment – now imagine you had to do it in complete secret. In a small town. Using local suppliers. But low and behold, they totally pulled it off and I’m sure that everyone who went would agree it was more than worth the effort!

Fiona & Mark were married in St. Eustatius’ Church, Tavistock, followed by a reception at their friends’ beautiful barn conversion in the countryside. Bright reds, deep pinks, purples and lilacs really complimented the vintage afternoon tea party styling.

We designed their ‘on the day’ stationery  to fit with the vintage theme, the hints of beautiful vivid colour as well as the travel theme to represent their impending move to Dubai…

Place settings were designed as vintage style luggage tags which make a lovely memento for guests to take home:

The beautiful old bus which transported the (unsuspecting) wedding party to the suprise ceremony..

We created a table plan for Fiona & Mark using a fabric-backed frame and pegging vintage style luggage tags to ribbons. These are great as after the big day, they can be used as a memo board at home, or a display for you to peg on special bits and pieces from the wedding with some photos.

Our heartfelt thanks go to Fiona & Mark for allowing us to share these beautiful photos, as well as to the talented photographer Tracey Wood for giving her permission for us to feature them on the blog.

Credits to the following suppliers who contributed their talents & services to the couple’s big day:

Catering: Food Dreckly – www.fooddreckly.com

Cake – Pippa Squire at Food Dreckly

China Hire – Lilac Rose – www.lilacroseteaparties.co.uk

Happy Tuesday everyone, hope you’re all well today… Just wanted to show you a poster we recently designed for the Vintage Wedding Fayre, which is taking place at Devonport Guildhall, Plymouth: As the title aptly describes, the theme for the event is vintage, which was the biggest inspiration for the poster… Hope you like it!

The design takes inspiration from vintage dress patterns – my mum being a fashion designer, I’ve grown up with lots of fashion illustrations and sketches around the house – (in fact, I think I’ll do a blog post about those soon!)

I chose a pale pink and green colour scheme to give it a soft, yet bright and eye catching look – it’s a colour scheme lots of our Brides and Grooms are planning for their big day too.

The fayre is set to be a great event, and I’m so excited about exhibiting there – it’ll be our first wedding show so we’re having fun planning our display and getting everything together already… Devonport Guildhall is a truly beautiful wedding venue I know there’ll be a great buzz about the place on 12/02 – loads of exciting bespoke suppliers are showing – all with a vintage theme. It’s also pretty rare to find a free wedding fayre these days, so make the most of it and come and say hello. x

(quick double take – yes that’s right, knickers!) THE HEN PARTY KNICKER GAME – (is that its official name?! – not sure, but we’ll go with it for now).

Ladies – I urge you not to miss out this great game when planning your best friend’s hen party. It’s simple – everyone invited is instructed (in secret) to buy a pair of knickers for the Bride – they can be as funny, silly or saucy as you like. Ask people to wrap them anonymously and on the weekend, get everyone together and get the Bride opening each pair individually – she has to guess who gave them to her. If she gets it wrong, there’s a forfeit for the Bride (I’ll leave this up to you)… It’s a funny game to play and the Bride gets to take home loads of new knickers – what’s not to like?!

So, time for another New Year’s resolution… My little one will be 3 in a few months, and it really is a wonderful age – the things she says and does can be heart-meltingly lovely, funny, kind and not to mention embarrassing at times! Over the last few months, I’ve not been writing all these wonderful things down enough and I know one day I will really regret that. So my solution – these little ‘…Wow Cards’. – each time she does something that makes me or her dad think, er, ‘wow’ – we’ll write it down on a card and stick it in the special jar. One evening each week after dinner, we’ll go through them as a family and Temisan will stick them in her own scrapbook (sticking is a treat in itself!).

I’ll be uploading them to a new page coming soon full of personal family stationery, but in the meantime – email me if you’d like some – they’re £10 for 40 Wow Cards. also designed some for my lovely nephews at Christmas, so if you’d like to see the boys version, give me a shout.

Speaking of those moments to cherish, her we are over Christmas, a magical time for all of us!

PS: New Years resolution number 1 (blog daily) is still intact (ish) – but the terms have changed slightly… I’ll be blogging everyday but only weekdays! Does that still count? It’s been so crazily busy here with sooooo many orders and enquiries which I didn’t expect at this time of year (our first January in business!). In fact, the treehouse inbox is rather in need of attention so if you’re waiting for an email from me, please be assured I will get back to you over the weekend.. x

Over the next 3 days I’ll be sharing some of my new years resolutions with you… (the one’s I haven’t given up on already that is!) Hopefully through the process of immortalising these words on the blog, I’ll be encouraged to keep them. So far, the only one I’ve ever kept in my life was 2 years ago when I vowed to give up sugar in my tea (pretty necessary considering the amount of tea I drink!)

So, first up: Blog Daily! The amount of visitors to our site and blog is increasingly monthly, with 2,300 in December. I figured that’s enough of you to justify daily updates on free printables, competitions, Bridal inspiration, DIY projects, and of course, stationery designs to the blog. Given that I have a little one and officially only work 3 days a week (although plenty of evenings at the moment too), I can’t promise my it will be an on the dot 9am blog post every morning, but it will be daily. Follow the journey and pop back every few days or at least once a week to see what we’ve been up to… It’s also worth ‘liking’ us on facebook or following us on twitter for automatic updates. http://www.facebook.com/pages/In-The-Treehouse/147194918669981 / https://twitter.com/#!/inthetreehouse_. Whatever your resolutions are, be they for new year or any other time, best of luck! x

Hello! Hope everyone’s well today.. In the spirit of keeping up my new years resolution of blogging every day – a little post on one of my little guilty pleasures in life – Vintage Tins. (There are worse guilty pleasures I suppose!). Vintage tins, with their washed out colours and intricate pattern and detail make fantastic decorations at a wedding or in the home, especially so when filled with lovely loosely arranged rustic flowers. Here’s an inspiration board to get you feeling a bit tin-tastic, like me!

Aren’t they beautiful? Over the last 6 months, I’ve been collecting a few of my own - until now, I haven’t bought any online as I’m a bit sad and like the feeling of satisfaction I get when I track one down in a junk shop or at the car boot! (I need to get out more!) I’m hoping to accumulate a big enough collection to lend out to our clients for use at their weddings…

Some of these I’ve found in charity shops or those recycled furniture shops,  - 3 tins for £1 was my best deal at a summer car boot - along with all these other vintage treats too…

If you’re searching on ebay – the best option if you need a fair few or don’t much like the ‘buzz’ of thrift shop/boot sale forraging (rock and roll!) then my best tip is to search for ‘old tin’ instead of ‘vintage tins’. The difference being that people who list them as old tins don’t seem to realise that the humble tin has recently staked a claim in wedding trends, so they go for around £2, whereas those listing them as vintage do, and they sell them accordingly for up to £25.  Here’s a few of my favourite reasonably priced tins on ebay at the moment. .. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/old-tins-/290653253457?pt=UK_Collectables_Advertising_ET&hash=item43ac48af51 / http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/old-tins-/290653266646?pt=UK_Collectables_Advertising_ET&hash=item43ac48e2d6 / Got a topic you’d like us to blog about? We’d love to hear from you… x

I’m so excited to be sharing some simply stunning photos from the engagement shoot of Danica & Blake, a couple we’re currently designing stationery for, based in Illinois, USA. Engagament shoots have become a really popular way of getting to know your wedding photograher, having a little practice run so you both feel comfortable being photographed on your big day & also gives you some great shots to display at your wedding. I love how these photos we’re showcasing today are so natural and organic looking, with a hint of vintage, and a beautiful hazey light which is positively dreamy! The talented photographer was Benjamin Chernivsky (http://love.chernivsky.com)

Danica says: ‘Blake and I were inspired by the song called “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It’s one of our favorite songs and we plan on playing at the wedding. The song has a neat folk tune to it. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8&ob=av2n) We were looking for a vintage theme to fit..‘

What a beautiful couple – if this is the engagement shoot, I can only imagine how breathtaking the wedding photos will be! I’ll keep you posted with a photo of Danica & Blake’s stationery when it’s finished….

Big thanks to the Bride & Groom, and of course the amazingly talented photographer Benjamin Chernivsky http://love.chernivsky.com/ for allowing us to share these photos.

We’re thrilled to bring you some great tips on choosing wedding flowers from the brilliant Rona Wheeldon who has put this article together exclusively for followers of In the Treehouse:

Rona writes the floral-inspired blog, Flowerona (www.flowerona.com) which covers everything flower-related including florists, artists, designers, homeware, floristry books, exhibitions, fashion, gardening, flower markets, interior design, photographers and stationery.

She also has a regular column in Wedding Flowers magazine called ‘Blooming Lovely!’ and writes for the online interior design magazine, Heart Home (www.hearthomemag.co.uk) and their blog. Over to Rona….

When I got married nearly ten years ago, I really didn’t have a clue about flowers…and I didn’t know where to start! However, brides-to-be nowadays are very lucky to have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Here are a few of my top tips on how to choose your wedding flowers:

Take a look on the internet for ideas. Either type in ‘wedding flowers’ into Google or go to the websites of some of the popular UK wedding publications, such as Wedding Magazine (www.weddingmagazine.co.uk) and Bride Magazine (www.bridesmagazine.co.uk). Then print off images which appeal to you, or pop into your local newsagent and pick up a copy of ‘Wedding Flowers’ magazine, which is purely dedicated to bridal blooms.

Creating a mood board is a great way to collate all your wedding flower ideas. Simply take a piece of A3 card or paper and glue on all the pictures you’ve printed off and pages you’ve torn out of magazines.

To keep costs down, it’s best to choose flowers that are in season. You may like to take a look at the Flowers & Plants Association’s website where they have a ‘Search by Season’ section (http://www.flowersandplants.org.uk/flowers/weddings/whats-in-season.html), so you can see which flowers are available. It’s also important to realise that some flowers are only available at certain times of the year. For example, if you’ve got your heart set on peonies, bear in mind that they’re usually only on sale from April to July. Admittedly, you may find some available in the winter which have been grown in warmer climes, but you’ll find them much more expensive.

Once you’ve decided on your venue and dress, then it’s time to decide who you would like to create your wedding blooms. When visiting florists, take along your mood board, a photo of your dress and the bridesmaids’ dresses, together with fabric swatches of your dress and the table linen.

Don’t leave planning your wedding blooms to the last minute. Start thinking about them at least six months before your special day. Some florists only take a certain number of wedding bookings per day so if you’ve a particular one you’d like to work with, you don’t want to be disappointed if they’re fully booked.

If you do decide to go down the DIY route, it’s best to leave the tricky stuff like your bridal bouquet and any large arrangements to an expert…especially your bouquet which will be the most-photographed of all your blooms on your special day.

Wishing all our readers a truly magical and prosperous new year! Hope you all had a great evening last night and are feeling excited about getting stuck into the year ahead – hopefully you’ll be pleased at my new years resolution – to blog every day! We’ll be bringing you oodles more of our DIY projects, wedding inspiration, new stationery designs and lots more interesting features. I can’t wait – see you soon.  x