I’d like to introduce you to our beautiful baby girl, Kennedy Ann Wilcox. She is simply perfect. If you are new to my blog, you might not know that  I am a PROUD Mommy of three little boys. We were delighted and surprised to find out when we got pregnant with our fourth child that we were FINALLY having a little girl! Everyone was beyond excited. I thought you all might want to meet her. So, without further ado here she is. . .

This has to be one of my favorite photos! I just love everything about it. I love how relaxed she is. The photo composition. The super cute bucket she is in from Brodders Tubs. I just sent in my fabric and then Emily worked her magic and sent me this adorable tub. I’m also loving the sweet headband Kennedy is rocking by Lori of LB Boutique. The adorable blanket she is snuggling on was a gift from my Mom, who my kids refer to as “Mimi.”  I’m thinking of enlarging this print and hanging it on her bedroom wall.  I have just the perfect place. What do you think? I was so in LOVE with this photo that I even used it on her birth announcements. . .

These birth announcements and labels are available in my Etsy Shop for purchase.

Here are a few more photos of her. . . look at those cheeks and lips! I just love her!

An HUGE thank you to my dear friend, Courtney, of Courtney Jade Photography for these truly amazing photos of Kennedy! Courtney spent several days hanging out in my dining room while we shot these photos. She is simply incredible and I am so thankful that she loves me and takes incredible photos of my little ones. She is not only a fabulous photographer, but a baby whisper too. Thank you Court! I <3 you so much!!!

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VENDOR CREDITS:

– Photography: Courtney Jade Photography – Backdrops: Lemon Drop Stop – Headbands: LB Boutique – Birth Announcements: Modern Moments Designs –Custom Bucket: Brodders Tubs

Hello, it’s me. . . Do you even remember me? I am the slacker that always has every intention to blog, but everything else always gets in the way! I am “planning” on blogging once a week, but don’t hold your breathe. Haha! I hope you have all been well. I’ve been up to the same old thing, you know. .  having a baby, dealing with broken bones, getting kids back to school, back in soccer, and everything else September is throwing at us! Thank you for coming back to listen to my craziness.  Now to the good stuff. . . .

This post has been one year in the making, yes, ONE year! Oh, my! How sad is that? I was shopping at one of my favorite places, Trader Joes, last September. (BTW, they have these stickers this year too!) I’m always inspired by all of their creative packaging. It’s totally my style. We were checking out at the register and the kids asked for stickers. I was blown away with how cute they were. Truth be told, I’ve always loved stickers. I use to have a collection when I was younger. As I’ve aged, nothing has really changed.  I still love stickers. In fact, I was so inspired by these stickers that I designed my own.

I’ve used these stickers on my children’s backpacks as bag tags (just laminate, punch, and ad a bag tag), on their notebooks, on lunch boxes, for teachers gifts, etc. I’ve also used these tags as a foundation to design teacher appreciation tags. They are super cute too!  Hopefully I can blog about those too.

 

You keep coming back for one reason or another, right? Well, it’s because I am so kind. Haha. Are you ready to be the recipient of my generosity? It’s that time again! I am offering these tags as a FREE Download. Yes, FREE! Just for you because I love you and I feel totally guilty for neglecting you for so many months. You can print these out and write on them. If you have Photoshop or Illustrator, you can just add a new text layer and add your own text.

 

In the photo above, I took a glass vase from the Dollar Tree, two or three packs of pencils (also from the Dollar Tree), added a red bow, and one of these labels. Super cute. Super easy! Enjoy!!!

I am also selling the “fillable” versions in my Etsy shop. You will be able to type directly in the spaces provided.

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“Property Of” Free Rectangle Downloads:

Black Composition Notebook White Notebook Paper and Tape Cork Board Yellow Notebook Paper Old Library Label Apple Grid

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“Property Of” Free Square  Downloads:

Black Composition Notebook-Square White Lined Paper and Tape-Square Yellow Notebook Paper-Square Apple Grid-Square

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In case you are like me and want to know what fonts were used (of course you can use your own favorite fonts too!), here is a list of the fonts I used for the name portion.

Fonts I used:

Black Composition Notebooks- Teletype Lined Paper Design-Schoolhouse Cursive B ( i can’t seem to find this one) here is a similar one Life Lessons Cork board – Rm Typerighter Old Yellow paper–Caflisch Script Old Book Label- Century (you should have this on your computer) Apple- Collegiate-Normal

 

**AS SEEN ON HOSTESS BLOG** I’m super excited to share this amazing Out of This World Star Wars Birthday Party put on by Julie of Totes in Tow who happens to be one of my dear friends. Julie’s son Mason was turning 6 and loves Star Wars. After doing some research and checking my favorite place, Pinterest, we realized there really are not very many well done Star Wars Parties out there. I’ve had a Star Wars collection in my shop for a few years now. We just altered some of the designs to fit Julie’s party needs.

 

→Continue reading for more details + photos

*** WARNING*** TOO MANY CUTE PHOTOS, I COULDN’T RESIST!!

December is the most hectic month of my (Jessica Wilcox, Modern Moments Designs) life. Every year, I promise myself it will be easier and I will plan ahead, but without fail, it seems to be crazier than the last. I know many of you feel the same way, and for me “December madness” stems from having two kids with birthdays two weeks apart, being a graphic designer (designing Christmas cards is a full time job in itself), buying presents, and also trying to get ready for Christmas! Wow, I’m tired again just thinking about it all {wink}!

Our youngest son, Emerson, who you might remember from his Office Party First Birthday last year, turned two this month! I’ve been planning a VINTAGE CARNIVAL PARTY for him since last year…

I had my dear friend, Courtney, of Courtney Jade Photography took his photos this summer at Oaks Park, a local amusement park. If you want to check out some of the photos Courtney was nice enough to post them on her blog. The photos were amazing and I knew the invitation had to be spectacular too! I designed a four-page double sided booklet style invitation.

I also included a mini envelope in the back full of raffle tickets to get the kids excited! The envelopes were lined with a coordinating striped paper. (The following photos of the finished invitation were taken by me.)

Selecting a venue is always a challenge since we live in Oregon and December isn’t exactly warm or dry here. Thankfully, my aunt and her husband were kind enough to allow me to use their family “barn.” They own a farm, Lake View Farms, and have an amazing pumpkin patch. The venue was perfect. We took full advantage of all of their amazing old crates and baskets too!

If you’re familiar with any of my parties you know that I only serve items with sugar as their first ingredient. Okay, so that may be a bit exaggerated, but pretty close. I served popcorn (with several topping options, as inspired the perfect Olde Fashion Rustic Popcorn Bar by Pen N’ Paperflowers Sudio and Designs), peanuts, cupcakes, rice crispy treats, cotton candy, cake pops, and totally stocked candy cart.

One of my clients sent me a photo of a candy cart at a local hotel, I was instantly in love with it and knew I had to have one. My Dad was kind enough to build one for me. I gave him a really small photo of what I wanted and away he went. I was so excited with how it turned out! He did the most amazing job! Thanks Daddy!

Since we didn’t have the party at your traditional kids’ party place, we had to come up with our own activities. I kept if fairly simple and setup four games.

The first was “Knock them Down.” I took chip cans from the Dollar Tree and created my own wrap. We stacked them up and let the kids knock them down with balls. The second game we set up was a “Bean Bag Toss“. The kids got to toss bean bags into buckets and won the corresponding amount of tickets. The third game was “Fish Toss” – clear glasses were filled with water and the kids had to toss ping pong balls in them. If they made it, they won a fish. Somehow, all three of my kids came home with fish! The last game was “Spray it Down” which I had intended to have the kids spray ping pong balls with squirt guns. However, finding squirt guns in December was a lot more challenging than I thought. Instead, we used Nerf guns, which ended up being so much drier and cleaner.

We set up a prize table so the kids could redeem their tickets and pick their own prizes! They had a ton of fun selecting from the huge prize table. I also designed custom candy bags that each child could fill with candy before they left! I’m sure the parents love me for that one!

All of my parties are always a group effort. I have a whole team of family and friends that always step-up to help! Honestly, I couldn’t throw these parties without all of their help! A special thank you to everyone who helped me with Emerson’s special day!

Check out some more photos from the big event. . .

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VENDOR CREDITS:

– Graphic Design: Modern Moments Designs – Event Styling: Double Take Event Styling and Modern Moments Designs – Bag Sewn By: Julie of Tots in Tow – Suckers (“W”, “E”, & “2”): Vintage Confections – Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Two Sugar Babies – Straws, Cups, Plates, Popcorn Boxes, Prize Bag, & Sucker Candle : Shop Sweet Lulu – Cake Pops: kCreative – Ferris Wheel Wood Cutouts: Bullfrog Laser Works – Chalk Board Sign: Custom Chalk – Donuts: Every Day is a Donut Day – Cotton Candy Machine Rental: The Party Pros – Prizes: Oriental Trading Company – Candy Cart: Don Studer, (My Dad) – Jars in Candy Cart: Anchor Hawking at Target – Table Cloth: TabelVogue – Venue: Lake View Farms – Photography: Courtney Jade Photography