Celebrating with Caroline, mother of two from Louisiana
It was Caroline's gorgeous party invitations and festive universe that first inspired us to launch new "Mothers share" articles on the theme of celebration. Through her charming paper good designs and whole lifestyle, each and every day feels like a party!
Caroline, her husband Brett and their darling daughters, two year old Mignonne and 7 week Margot, without forgetting their golden doodle George, embody family love and pure joy at its best! A deep source of inspiration and beautiful example to open up our new blog chapter!
Before diving into the heart of the subject, could you please tell us about Sweet Caroline Designs?
I started Sweet Caroline Designs almost 10 years ago designing pretty paper and gifts. Through the years the business has evolved. It went from a studio space/office where I created one of a kind invites, stationery etc. to wholesale, where I designed planners and paper goods and sold to boutiques all over the country.
I stepped out of wholesale about a year ago and now I have my full e-commerce website where I sell stationery and custom paper and I blog. I started my blog about 2 years ago to share party ideas, favorite baking recipes, a little fashion and my life with my two precious girls. I love to bake, create things and design so it was a separate little creative outlet where I could do that.
How do you make your daily life a party?
My motto has always been, “Life’s a Party, Celebrate It!”.
I always try and have fresh flowers weekly in our home. Something about fresh flowers always brightens up a space. I also try and have something freshly baked like cookies or a cake on the counter. It makes your home more inviting and feel warm. Plus baking cakes and decorating cookies are two things that me and my girls can do together!
I’m all about celebrating birthdays. Birthdays are a big deal to me. I love throwing my girls birthday parties.
I also have always loved throwing small dinner parties with friends. Some people collect stamps but I love collecting anything for the tabletop. I love some pretty plates!!
I also believe in sitting down for dinner with the family every evening so you can enjoy that family time together and talk about the day. I grew up eating with my family every night and I hope that’s something that I will do with my girls and something they can pass on one day.
Can you share about one of the last parties you organized?
My last party I did and planned was Mignonne’s 2nd Birthday right before Margot was born. Her real birthday is July 7th so being so close to July 4th I wanted to do a red, white and blue theme.
The theme for the party was RED WHITE AND BLUE, MIGNONNE IS TURNING TWO! It’s so hot in Louisiana during the summer so we had it in our backyard with lots of water toys, pools, etc. We had the popsicle lady and the hotdog man come. I loved creating the décor. Having a paper company, I designed the invites and the napkins and cups to go along with it.
I made the party hats to match the print of the swimsuit she wore. The cookies and cake matched as well! I wanted it to be the perfect July 4th Soiree!
You can also check out my blog post from Mignonne’s First Birthday! It was a "Citrus Garden party"!
Can you share your favorite cake recipe?
My lemon cake recipe is my current favorite! Also add some fresh blueberries if you really want to make it over the top! I made this cake all summer long. Hernandez Family Favorite!
Can you share a special party tradition of yours?
One of my favorite party traditions is the invitation. The invitation is really important because it always sets the tone (first impression) of the party. I think a lot of people overlook this small but large detail when planning parties these days. I love receiving snail mail and opening up invitations. I hope that tradition will never be lost.
It’s been fun to finally have my own children and designing special invitations and stationery for them. I keep all of them so one day they will have a book to look through with all their party invites!
Another favorite thing for any party is having custom printed napkins and cups. Anything that you can customize will always set your party apart from others. Details matter!
Can you share Instagram accounts that inspire you when it comes to parties?
Some of my favorite accounts are Nicola Bathie, Emily Hertz from Born on Fifth and The Broke Brooke which have all three taken part in the Mothers's share articles!
Another fun account to follow is Mrs. Southern Social, Mary Huddleston. Mary is a mom of two and has an event rental party company called Please Be Seated. She is the master delegator and creates beautiful tables. We’ve done a few tables together along with Paige, a wonderful lifestyle blogger founder of the Pink Clutch. One of them is from our trip to Palm Beach a little over a year ago (see blog post)
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