{real parties} Aa retirement made in michigan: the invitation

Grab a cup of tea, a snack and take a little break! Here's the first installment of...

{The Invitation}

A very important event happened in the lives of my family this past May and it called for a big celebration. Before I tell you about the invitation, I'll let my sister, Dorothy, give you a little background...

"I decided to retire from teaching after 34 years and wanted to have a party for my family and friends to share in the celebration. Naturally, I contacted Do and J for a "Piggy Bank Parties" idea.

I didn't know what direction to go, but I wanted a blue and gold color scheme since those were my school's colors. We all thought it would be fun to tie in Michigan since I had been a Michigan Studies teacher for 22 years of my career. Do suggested a sweets table that would showcase some of Michigan's well-known food products."

Our challenge was to combine teaching, retirement, Michigan, sweets and Dorothy's personality into one invitation.

Inspiration: I was inspired by vintage bakery logos and a set of Michigan cookie cutters. J took my vision and my sketches and worked his magic!

The envelope please. Presenting....

{The Invitation}

The logo was exactly what I had envisioned. A clean and simple layout with lots of layered elements. Can you find all of them?

1. An apple for the teacher
2. A retirement banner
3. A Michigan fruit crate stamp
4. "Made in Michigan" slogan
5. The year Dorothy starting teaching
6. Penmanship paper
7. A gingham tablecloth
8. The alphabet "Aa" from a classroom bulletin board

What about the Michigan cookie cutters?

{Peninsula Cookie Inserts}

Fortunately, Michigan has two peninsulas--the Upper and the Lower--so we had plenty of room for all of the details. The green icing color was chosen by the "teacher" to represent land and we chose a fun font to mimic piped letters. It looked delicious and we both wanted sugar cookies while designing it!

The Challenge: I haven't yet reveiled one very important detail. Dorothy was a bit overwhelmed with packing up her room for the last time while trying to finish out the school year. When she finally decided on a party date we had less than 4 weeks to plan the celebration! This meant we had less than a week to design, print, cut, assemble and mail 100 invitations and we could only use materials we had in stock. We love a challenge!

Here's a sneak peak at the assembly line...

{Every cookie was handcut}

{The cookie bag was created using a sealed envelope}

{Seal. Print. Trim.}

{The cookie bags are ready}

{Time to insert the cookies}

We had so much fun creating the invitations for Dorothy's retirement celebration. Here's what she had to say..."Everyone who received an invitation remarked on how unusual and cool they were. They said it reflected my personality." As an invitation designer, that is the highest compliment you can receive! {break for a "Happy Dance!"}

Here's a sneak peek at a new product line inspired by the cookie invitation that will be hitting the Market shelves later this week...

{Sneak Peak}

Aren't they yummy?!? We can't wait to share them with you but we think you've had enough sugar cookies for one day! Join us tomorrow for more of...

{The Party}

We would like to thank Dorothy for inspiring such a fun event!

Stay tuned to Oink! for more inspiration...