Party time... again!

I can't believe it, but Ava's 4th birthday is coming up very soon  - where has the time gone? 
I'm currently in the process of creating invitations for her upcoming birthday party which has prompted me to have a look through invitations I have designed in the past. Some I have been really happy with and others which seemed good at the time just don't seem to cut it now. The invitations that I have been most happy with were for Ava's 2nd birthday. Wow, two years ago already!


Anyway, I thought I'd share the invitations from Ava's 2nd birthday party here on Little Hiccups. But first a background into the characters on the card...


While I was pregnant with Ava I came across a fantastic book called "The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog" by Mo Willems. It very quickly became my favourite children's book. The drawings have a retro style, muted colours and are quite simplistic; but with just the slightest line here and there Mo Willems creates the mood of the characters. And boy does that pigeon have some moods! From the look of sheer excitement on the pigeon's face upon finding a hotdog through to the frustrated tantrum thrown at the duckling who wants to share the find, the pigeon goes through almost every emotion you can think of.


By the time Ava was born I had added "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" to my collection (plus more later). There was no escaping the pigeon for Ava and she soon came to love the books as much as me :)


For Ava's 2nd birthday party we decided to throw a "Hotdog Party" fit for a pigeon. Ok, that doesn't sound so great considering the low standards pigeons usually have. Mmm... cigarette butts... yum! Let's rephrase that as "a Hotdog Party fit for THE pigeon"! Much better. The pigeon featured on the invitations, lolly bags and birthday cake. Hotdogs were served and I even managed to track down Gummi hotdogs to go in the lolly bags. The invitations were laid out in the same format as the pigeon books. All of the text in the pigeon books appears in either speech or thought bubbles. This worked very well for the invitations - just delete the original text and add in party details! 


Copies of the invitations (front and back) are below as well as a photo of the folded finished product. 

Inside of invitation 

Front flap and back of invitation

An imaginary day in London

Ava drew the following pictures recently to send to a good friend who lives in London.
Before she started drawing I asked her what you can see in London. Her very confident response came back straight away "The Statue of Liberty". Wrong!

To help Ava out a little I showed her one of my favourite children's books "This is London" by M Sasek. After flipping through the pages for a little while she decided that she would draw pictures of Trafalgar Square (complete with pigeons), Big Ben, a double decker bus and a guard from Buckingham Palace - chatting to the Queen no less!

So here they are...

Ava (yellow hair) poses in front of Nelson's Column with our friend Amy (brown hair).

And before anyone comments on the MAJOR mistake in this picture, Ava draws a happy sun on almost every picture no matter how grey the place is in reality!

Debut

Well, here it is, my first ever blog!


I've thought about writing a blog for quite a while now but what to write about has always been the dilemma.  I've never been one to keep a journal (other than a travel diary on overseas trips) but I do quite enjoy creative writing and feel like I need some sort of creative outlet to keep my mind active - especially during my current maternity leave. Being at home all day with a two month old baby and an almost four year old starts to drain the brain a little - or a lot!


After thinking about it on and off for a while I decided today to create a blog to share my creative ideas. These range from my attempts at graphic design (my original but never utilised direction of study), event concepts (my most recent but also never utilised direction of study), creative and organisational activities and concepts for my two young children and general design ideas.


As an avid fan of good design I've decided that I will also use this blog to review and recommend products, webpages, stores, places and companies that I consider worthy. I seem to find myself spending quite a lot of time searching online for quirky and original products. When I find something truly special (which surprisingly happens on quite a regular basis!) I love to share it with as many people as possible. 


As most of my time is currently spent with my young children any reviews and recommendations that I post will focus mostly on products aimed at families and children. Fashion, graphic design, interior design, architecture, home wares and stationery are my other design focused interests and will be featured throughout as well. I hope to mix things up a little rather than focusing on one concept at a time. 


Possibly my favourite past time of all is travel; in particular, international travel. Of course, spending time with my family comes first but as it so happens these two loves of mine blend perfectly together :) I will also use this blog to write about my previous travel experiences and review places that I have been. Although I have no travel plans in the pipelines at the moment (kind of tricky with a newborn baby and no income!) I am constantly researching places to visit and reflecting on places that I have previously been. Anyone who knows me will be well aware that I have a slight obsession with one destination in particular, New York City. I will try my very hardest to not limit any travel entries to the Big Apple alone! It will be tough, but l've been lucky enough to visit some other amazing destinations so I will try to share the love with all of them. 


I know that this is already sounding like I've bitten off more than I can chew - where am I ever going to find the time to write about so many different topics - but there is one more particular topic that I would like to share in this blog. My almost four year old daughter Ava is (in my "expert" opinion) quite a talented artist. She spends a lot of her time drawing pictures and creating artworks out of toilet rolls, buttons, ribbon etc etc. Our house is covered in these artworks, in most part because Ava raids the stationary draw for blu-tack, sticky tape and glue and sticks her masterpieces up on every blank piece of wall, door or furniture she can find! As all parents find it's impossible to keep all of these artworks so I am constantly sneaking the "not so great" ones into the recycling bin. Ava has cottoned onto this so I have to be very sneaky and hide them underneath cereal boxes, milk cartons or any other large item in the recycling bin! The good artworks however (and there are loads of them) are kept in my filing cabinet and will eventually be made into a book. In the meantime I will post Ava's artworks on my blog so the world (ie. anyone who happens to read this!) can share in her artistic talents.  


So where to start? 


Now that I've decided to write a blog I have a million ideas rushing through my head at once. It's tempting to try and add as many entries as possible straight away. 
My plan is to try and post something every few days. Of course, I know that reality will step in and my posts will end up being a lot more erratic than that. 


Anyway, to make things a little easier for myself (and because my baby has decided to wake up for a feed!) I will begin my blog simply by showcasing some of my daughter's artworks.


Drawings of London coming up... 


Sally