La Maison de Fêtes · Creative Direction
A garden gathering for
Eloise Turns Seven
Diane Fontaine · October 3, 2026 · Houston, Texas

Two creative directions for your consideration. Each is a complete vision — not a variation, but a different way of seeing Eloise's day. Read both before choosing. Take your time.

02
The Colours
Garden Sage — Your Palette
Meadow Sage
#E8F0DC
Primary · Background
Arboretum Green
#7A9E7E
Secondary · Accents
Warm Terracotta
#C4956A
Accent · Details
Naturalist Cream
#F7F3EB
Paper · Background
meadow green · sage · warm terracotta · botanical · honest · childlike wonder · Texas autumn · pressed flowers · natural · joyful
03
The Type
EB Garamond — Your Typography
Eloise

Eloise Fontaine is turning seven.
She would like you in her meadow.

EB Garamond Italic · Display
Display & Headlines
EB Garamond Italic
400 weight · Names · Event title · Poetic copy
Body & Fine Detail
EB Garamond Regular
400 weight · Details · Venue · Time · RSVP
04
Direction A
A
The Specimen Study
Precision, wonder, and the careful eye of a seven-year-old who knows exactly what she's looking at
Direction A — The Specimen Study: naturalist field notebook illustration

The suite is treated as a series of naturalist specimen plates — the kind found in a Victorian field guide or a mid-century natural history museum. The caterpillar from Eloise's bug journal, page one, age five, is the central motif: drawn with fine pen-and-ink lines, loving precision, and the quiet authority of someone who has been watching insects long enough to know where to put the segments. Surrounding it: pressed oak leaves, a ladybug at rest, a small bee caught mid-flight, wildflower sprigs from the arboretum meadow.

The paper is cream. The lines are careful. Every element earns its place, as Eloise herself would insist. This is the suite that says: we took her seriously. Because she is watching.

Visual Register
Quentin Blake precision × naturalist field notebook
Invitation Feel
A page torn from Eloise's bug journal, printed beautifully
Welcome Sign
Botanical specimen board — like an arboretum information plaque, but for a party
Favour Tags
Four individual specimen drawings: caterpillar · ladybug · bumblebee · oak leaf — Eloise chose all four
"A guest opens this and thinks: someone made this for a child who actually pays attention. The drawings have the quality of something observed, not imagined. The whole thing feels like it was illustrated at a desk on a Sunday afternoon, with reference books open."
05
Direction B
B
The Meadow Hour
The world seen from grass level, at that October afternoon angle of light
Direction B — The Meadow Hour: atmospheric watercolour meadow scene

The suite captures the feeling of the meadow itself — the thing Eloise has been asking for two years running. Loose, painted, warm. The invitation puts you in the grass before you've arrived. Live oak branches arch overhead. The October afternoon light filters through in the terracotta and sage tones of the palette. The caterpillar is in the corner, on a branch — a discovery, not a specimen. You have to look for it.

The atmosphere is Eric Carle's colour world — bold, warm, joyful — but with the restraint Eloise would demand. Not a cartoon. A beautiful painting that happens to be for a seven-year-old's meadow party. The kind you might frame after the party is over.

Visual Register
Eric Carle warmth × painterly autumn meadow · loose freehand illustration
Invitation Feel
An atmospheric scene — you're already in the meadow when you open it
Welcome Sign
Painted meadow panel — like a nature illustration from a beautiful picture book
Favour Tags
Four loose botanical drawings in the same painterly hand: caterpillar · ladybug · bumblebee · oak leaf
"A guest opens this and feels warm before they've read a word. The colour does the work. It's not a garden party invitation — it's a small piece of the meadow itself, sent through the post. Children will want to keep it."
06 · What This Suite Should Feel Like

"A page from a beautifully illustrated children's book — the kind where things are drawn with careful lines and left with space to breathe."

Eloise's own words, from the briefing · held as the standard for every design decision
07
The Approach
Creative Declaration
Named Approach
Field Notes from the Meadow
The Vision
A field notebook come to life — the suite illustrated as if Eloise herself observed and drew it with the serious, loving attention of a seven-year-old naturalist who happens to know what she's looking at
The Feeling
Wonder — the specific kind that comes from lying in tall grass and finding something alive
The Hidden Heart
"The caterpillar she drew on page one, aged 5, would make a perfect invitation motif." — the invitation IS her journal entry, made beautiful
The Hidden Delight
Every child's favour tag carries a different botanical drawing — caterpillar, ladybug, bumblebee, or oak leaf — so no two bags are the same. Eloise approved all four. She is watching.
What We Will Never Do
No princess aesthetics. No unicorns. No glitter. No pink. No cartoon characters. Nothing that looks like it came from a party supply store. No smiley-face sun graphics. Eloise was clear.
Event Details
Digital Invitation · Welcome Signage · Favour Tags
Saturday 7 February 2026 · 10:30 am · 22 guests
The Houston Arboretum — Private Meadow
08
Direction Approved
Direction B — The Meadow Hour

Approved by the client · Full suite produced

Direction A · The Specimen Study
Direction B · The Meadow Hour

The full design suite was built on this direction.

La Maison de Fêtes