House a Home

Every now and then we get a sweet request to turn someone's new home into a floating house. I love this idea. Now, it does not work for every house (example a rambling ranch house, huge mansion or home too covered by treed to get a good picture of it aren't good material for this concept). This is a great idea for a housewarming party or a wedding where the couple has bought a new home or are having their wedding at a unique architectural venue. Here is a shot from someone's wedding we were sent today. Love it. When its all filled in, the balloon will make it fly!

Their wedding reception was held at the Historic Blaisdell Manor.
Contact us about crafting a custom drawing of a special building for you too!

Two are better than one; Twin Aspen Trees and new options for alternative guestbooks

Introducing a new design that brings two lovely aspen trees together to commemorate your special day. The trees are lovingly tied together with a string, upon which your fingerprints as lovebirds can sit.

Shown here with dried marigold ink fingerprints for leaves and weathered wood blue fingerprint birds on the line. This product is now available for $20 off. New product sale! Order in December and enjoy free domestic shipping with coupon code SHPFRE.

 

Also check out our newly updated wreath design for weddings! Add two little birds in the ring for a special touch.

New balloon designs

Two years ago, BDT Handmade started selling our totally original design of the thumbprint balloon house, inspired by the movie 'UP!'

Since then, the concept has grown to convey so many versions of the idea. All of your loved ones marks making something special to you fly. The tandem bike thumbprint balloon is one of our most popular designs for weddings, representing marriage beautifully. Many of our creative clients have asked for so many different ways to represent the thumbprint balloon idea, that we've decided to share some of our favorites with all of you, available for purchase. All of these are now up in our etsy shop, or check out some other more custom designs to help get you inspired for something special for your wedding, birthday party or upcoming special event.

Great for birthdays: the Elephant balloon, monkey balloon and tricycle balloon designs are loads of fun!

Great for weddings: dream a little dream with the Over the Moon Design, fly into the sunset with the Vintage Prop Plane design (available upon request), float away in style with the Hot Air Balloon Basket Design

Check them all out and see what inspires you!

Giving thanks

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It combines great food with family and loved ones while providing the opportunity to look back on the blessings of the past year. What could be better! We have so much to be thankful for this year. I went full time with Bleu de Toi, working from home and we welcomed a new member of our family into existence.

Big family gatherings at Thanksgiving are a joy to remember. Now you can remember them for many years to come and use this work of art as a lovely fall decor each year as well.

For a limited time, Bleu de Toi Handmade is offering this wreath design with the text "Give Thanks" above with 3 inks for the low price of $50 (plus shipping & handling). Just in time for your Thanksgiving celebration. **Submit payment by November 15 for delivery before Thanksgiving.**
Leave an impression of a memorable day with a unique, and personal, way to record your guests! Interactive, creative and a beautiful keepsake to cherish for years to come! This guestbook alternative is a work of art to hang on your wall and appreciate for years to come.



Each fingerprint fills in as the foliage to the wreath and your loved ones sign next to or over their fingerprint. How touching!










Pens not included. Choose 3 of your favorite fall ink colors included in this low price. (Scatted straw yellow, tea dye and aged mahogany shown in the example). Or choose other holiday colors and use it for an upcoming Christmas or Chanukah celebration! Visit our etsy store to check it out: https://www.etsy.com/listing/113798990/order-by-nov-15-for-thanksgiving

Tree Love

married in an olive grove. Photos by Kate MacPherson, also featured on Once Wed

Look out for our new olive tree design! Specially made for dear friends that were recently married at B.R. Cohn Winery.

Celebrate in Style

Many of life's classy events call for celebration with bubbly. This new guestbook product is a fun new way to record guests with a vintage charm that will be enjoyed for years to come. Whether is a new years party, engagement or wedding, this bubbly guestbook is the way to go. Introducing our new champagne bottle guest book fingerprint artwork.



















We recommend one of our champagne toned inks and each of your guest's fingerprints or thumbprints and signatures make a spray or bubble of joy. (shown here with tattered rose and scattered straw colors, dried marigold or shabby shutters would also be great)

Check it out today. This new design is discounted for the next couple of months, till we come up with our next amazing new design. Get it while it's hot!

For the etsy listing in various sizes, follow links for small, medium, or large.

Steamin' right along

Back in April we had the pleasure of attending, and working on, the lovely wedding of Claire & Eddie in Savannah, GA. It was a peachy keen affair and so unique to the couple. Check out their wedding, featured today on Grey Likes Weddings.

Their ceremony was in a picture-perfect, charming country chapel surrounded by spanish moss, while the reception was in a bona-fide train museum (a perfect setting given the groom is an engineer). For this special couple we developed a train themed guestbook to match the setting. This carefully crafted drawing is complete with a steam engine, hopper, passenger car (with their pets in the windows), and caboose.

Each of the guests left their fingerprints (or thumbprints) above in smoky shades of grey and blue to look like the puffs of steam coming from the engine. Now it hangs proudly in their home as a memory of that special day.


We were so happy with how it turned out that weve decided to offer the unique designs for a variety of your most special, train loving events.



My nephew, who turns 3 this month, is obsessed with thomas the train (and anything train related) and will have a smaller version of the personalized fingerprint steam engine at his super fun birthday party.

This product is the perfect special touch to a birthday party for your favorite train loving toddler. We can personalize markings on the side of the train to commemorate the special celebration. The train shown below has the year but you could also add something like "____ turns 3" or "Conductor ______" in addition to whatever text you like below.

Shown here with fingerprints in stormy-sky blue, weathered wood blue and frayed burlap brown. Pumice stone grey and antique paper tan would also be great (shown on the wedding train above). For the wedding train, we added the love birds to the top of the caboose, for a sweet added touch (not shown above)

Get on the train and get your today! Request the steam engine only design for smaller parties (15-30 guests on a 11x14" size x-small or 30-70 guests on a 15x20" size small paper) or the full train with three cars for larger parties (up to 200 guests). 

Available at our etsy shop today!

For more pics of Claire and Eddie's beautiful day visit Jade + Matthew Take Pictures.

Claire & Eddie's wedding vendors: Photographers: Jade + Matthew Take Pictures // Ceremony: Whitefield Chapel at the Bethesda Home for Boys // Reception: The Roundhouse Railroad Museum // Bride’s dress: from an antique clothing store in California // Florist: Garden on the Square // Paper Goods: The Nimbus Factory(the bride’s design boutique) // Desserts made by the bride’s dad // Bride’s jewelry: Modern Pixie // Guestbook: Bleu De Toi // Groomsmen Ties: 8 Commander (the bride’s brother) // Lighting: K& H

That Summer-Time Mason Jar Glow

It really amazing the way good old-fashioned mason jars have made their way into the wedding world as a touch of something home-grown and comforting among the formal elements of a usual wedding. When we had our wedding almost 3 years ago, all of our flowers were in blue and green mason jars.

BDT recently added a new design just for the summer! Each guest's fingerprints make up a firefly for that beautiful glow. What a fun way to light up your wedding memories!  

Order yours today! http://bdthandmade.blogspot.com/p/request-your-custom-order-today_13.html

Via Emmaline bride today, here are a few more creative ways you can infuse your special day with this old-world touch:

"Whether you love mason jars or you’re not a fan, this is one wedding trend we don’t see disappearing anytime soon. It’s no surprise, either: mason jars are inexpensive, versatile, and extremely functional. (When’s the last time you saw a wedding favor do double-duty as an escort card AND a drinking glass like mason jars can?) Mason jars can be used in a variety of super-simple ways, such as pairing mason jars with water and candles to create DIY centerpieces, by adding striped straws and name tags for instant escort card mason jars, or serving up decorative jars with homemade jam as a crowd-pleasing wedding favor. These are just a few of the ideas we love":

photo credit: our labor of love via a low country wedding

Mason Jar Wedding Ideas

One of my favorite ways to use mason jars is in the ceremony. Decorate the aisle with hanging mason jar flower arrangements, as shown in this sweet example.

photo credit: saskia m photography, flowers by melanie benson floral, spotted via elizabeth anne designs via pinterest

Use Jars as Decor

It’s amazing what these little jars can do in terms of decor. For instance, you can use mason jars to display vintage photographs, like so…

photo credit: jessamyn harris via oh lovely day

… or decorate a backdrop with whimsical ribbons and jars…

photo credit: anushe low via style me pretty

photo credit: jen rodriguez, styling / planning by events redefined via style me pretty

The easiest way to use a mason jar: a vase. Holy wow, these flowers are gorgeous by the way (beautifully designed by April Flowers).

Mason Jar Favor Ideas

This is hands-down one of the cutest DIY ideas we’ve seen from a Real Wedding yet: mason jar cookie favors with illustrated tags of the bride and groom! Check out the full wedding here: it is simply gorgeous. Another favorite? Cherry pie in a (smaller-sized) jar. Amazing.

photo credit: jen huang via inspired by this

photo by britt renee photo, styling by the sunday sweet + dear lola letterpress, via style me pretty

A sure crowd-pleaser: homemade jam, honey, or another delicious treat in a (small) jar. by the cherry grove

How about gifting candles to guests in delightful mason jars? We love functional favors.

by oil and wax

Mason Jar Drinking Glasses

Mason jar drinking glasses has to be one of the most popular uses for these jars at rustic weddings. Mason jars as drinking glasses gives guests that hometown, down-on-the-farm feel you just can’t get from a traditional glass. Plus, these jars can do double-duty as mason jar escort cards, too, so guests can actually use them both during and after the wedding. (Don’t forget fun straws… many guests (myself included) don’t like drinking directly out of the jar.)

photo credit: cyn kain photography
via southern weddings

photo credit: lane dittoe,
styling by joyful weddings and events
via style me pretty

Mason Jar Lanterns

Incorporate lighting into your reception with ease. We love these hanging mason jar lanterns…

photos + styling by haute papier via the sweetest occasion

You can also (easily!) create your own mason jar lanterns for a romantic glow at night. All you need is a mason jar + long-burning candle. Just place the candle in the jar (or use LED battery lights for less fuss) and place on each table near the centerpieces – of course, not too close where fire hazards could occur.

Mason Jar Handmade Accessories

Don’t forget to incorporate mason jar details throughout your wedding day. We love these mason jar wedding favor bags by Clementine Weddings…

by clementine weddings

by clementine weddings

Last, but not least, use a new adorable mason jar firefly design exclusively from Bleu de Toi Handmade as a beautiful and memorable guestbook for your special day. You, and your guests, wont ever forget it!

Available in a variety of sizes in our shop

Want more mason jar ideas? Check out the full post at Emmaline Bride blog here!

Underneath the Cottonwood Tree: Introducing a new tree design

We are happy to introduce a totally new tree design in our library of very popular guest fingerprint trees! Known for their lovely amber colors in the Fall and floating snow-like pollen in the Spring, the cottonwood tree, a type of poplar, is the state tree of Wyoming but can be found all over North America (due to their ever floating pollen).

We are excited to office this new gem to our family of trees and are currently offering the size large cottonwood tree at a discounted price. Snatch it up and use this iconic design to memorialize a special day. Size small and medium cottonwoods may be available soon, or upon request.

Large Cottonwood tree shown here with mustard seed, scattered straw, tea dye, pumice stone and barn door inks. Text in Classic font.

Check out the listing on etsy today!

Up! Inspired kids party

From a feature on OhDeeDoh. Many of our products are geared towards the wedding day but lots of what we make can be fun for kids too... (cant wait to share a new line of products for little ones). I love the balloon wreath on the table! Now imagine all of this with one of our guestbook balloon houses.

We can only imagine Kieran's delight at this delightful party. Francine shares: Kieran's second birthday party was inspired by the Pixar movie UP! We used balloons as the main decorating element, including using them on a cardboard replica of Carl and Ellie's house. The replica was made by my husband using three large furniture cardboard boxes turned inside out.

On the gifts table they made a smaller replica using a wooden shadow box house and also created Paradise Falls using crepe paper. The food was all homemade by us: cookies, cupcakes, sandwiches, sausage rolls, fruit salad, and the birthday cake. There was vanilla ice-cream too!

She made fabric tote bags to use for goodie bags and they contained a car caddie, an Adventure Book, an activity book, a crayon, and a foam paintbrush and mini canvas for the art activity: hand print canvases. The three little guests were also given home made playdough to take home. The bags were housed in Kieran's little walking wagon which was made into a balloon cart. Party hats were made from 12x12 scrapbook paper.
Check out Francine's blog Callaloo Soup where she shares more of the party here and here.
(Images: Francine/Callaloo Soup)