Baby Girls Rock!

New baby's nursery inspired the theme for this baby shower. Or lack of a theme. We just incorporated coral  (which looks red on my screen for some reason) and grey into all of the decorations.

Monogram cakes are popular these days and I love them. This layer cake made by Danita had a wooden "G" on top that was simply painted grey.

Aunt Mandy made this cute framed wooden monogram with a chevron fabric background which now hangs above the crib.

The gift table was decorated with a custom banner, of course, and my birdcage with a mini chalkboard inside. We layered a paper polka dot table cloth with a lace runner on the table for a vintage look.

We used the birdcage to hold all of the cards.

Even baby girl gift baskets were coral and gray. 

I come from a long line of crafty people and it seems like EVERYONE helped prepare for this baby shower. My Aunt Sandy made this banner with her Cricut machine. I love the 3D look and the way it looks like lace doilies.

Aunt Sandy also made the baby shoe "goodie bags." We put tiny bags of Haribo gummy bears inside because that is expecting mom's favorite candy. 

The extras are available to purchase in my etsy store. Just click the link in the sidebar.

I made these simple centerpieces using paper table cloths because I couldn't find napkins that I liked to make tissue pom-poms. I stuck them in antique blue Ball jars stuffed with crinkle paper so that you couldn't see the wires and picks. In the top of the arrangement, I stuck a chevron monogram which was cut on the Sizzix machine. Baker's twine was tied around the top and pink pearls were draped around them.

Olivia made a very girlie diaper cake complete with frames and a tiara.

Even the food was color-coordinated. Icing and sprinkle covered marshmallows were too cute to eat. But we did. Cousins Dodi and Kori made these.

Cousin Lea made the coral cookies with hugs on top. I'm still not sure how she got them that color.

I painted this little picket fence box that I already had from a pinwheel party and used it for the fruit skewers. Little washi tape flags were stuck on top of each one.

Aunt Sandy made cones with doilies for popcorn in the "old" bucket.

Guests were asked to write advice for the new mom on these little dress cards made by Dodi and Kori.

These clothespins decorated by Dodi and Kori were used to play a game where guests lost their clothespin when they said "baby." Whoever had the most clothespins by catching people say the word, won a prize. 

I didn't win.

My mom, Andi, made the prize bags using scrapbook paper, old dictionary paper, doilies, baker's twine, and paper flowers. With a "G", of course.

Even the gifts were coral and gray. My mom used some of the leftover tablecloth to stuff into the gift basket. 

What kind of games do you play at baby showers?

ABC Birthday Party

This one loves letters, so we threw an ABC party.

Which means you need a custom door hanger instead of a wreath.

And a handmade ABC mobile with letters cut out with the Cricut machine hung with baker's twine. 

And of course, goodie bags decorated with patterned paper.

And a huge M. What is it about monograms?

Especially really big ones. Look closely (even though it is fuzzy because my $300 flash wasn't working.) It is decoupaged with tiny letter squares cut out of the scrapbooking paper.

And a DIY Birthday banner!

And a cake with letter confetti strewn on the table. I love table scatter.

And fruit kebobs. I love the word kabob. Or kebab. Jury's out on how to spell it.

This custom birthday party was so fun to create!!!

To make the door decoration, I used this scoring board, which I purchased myself. In my honest opinion, it is not necessary, but it is helpful in keeping the folds evenly spaced. I don't always use it, but when I make something for other people, I do.

The Rest of the Wedding Story

Sparkly chandeliers with antique armchairs and burlap make me want to describe this wedding as 

Rustic Vintage Luxe.

The bride and groom's table was set with lots of flowers. Two antique chairs were used as seating with wooden plaque signs for Mr. and Mrs.

Jackie's awesome table arrangements. I loved the droopy greenery and wildflower sort of look to them. Because we could not find anything but silver or gold, we spraypainted candelabras oil rubbed bronze.

Guest tables were draped in burlap with moss runners. We continued the vintage look with old Ball jars and glass baby food jars as vases.

 The wedding cake was displayed on my great-grandmother's old table with mason jars. The bridesmaid's put their bouquets in the jars when it was time for pictures. We made a wall with old pallet wood to hang the chalkboard on and spray painted a chandelier that I got for $12, yes $12, from a consignment sale. It was a bright gold color that is not fashionable so Jena ripped out the light bulb sockets and we stuck candles in it.

Fleur-de-lis groom's cake was displayed on a burlap skirted table decorated with enormous fishing lures and ducks. We used a lot of burlap, ya'll.

Every groom should have a cigar bar at his wedding. With a chalkboard to point the way.

At a rustic wedding, you need old doors laid across old wine barrels to display the buffet. What's behind the white curtain? Well, it ain't Oz. That is how we hid the kitchen.

Strings of lights were hung on sheperd's poles (potted plant hangers?) to light the way from the church to the pavilion.

View from afar of the reception pavilion. I love the huge burlap curtains, lights draped from the ceiling, and moss covered monogram.

I loved, loved, loved this drinks table. What could be more fitting at a rustic wedding than extra large mason jar punch, water, lemonade, and tea dispensers? With burlap skirting on the bar, of course. 

  

The wedding took place at Acadian Village, so chalkboard arrows directed guests to the chapel. Instead of the school. Or stables.

Pew decorations were simple greenery tied with-you guessed it-burlap.

You can see more details from this wedding here.

A great time was had by all! Maybe we'll invite you to the next one!

Polka Dot Birthday Party

Inspiration:

Inspiration always comes from something.  I found these invitations on clearance and bought them with no idea what I was going to do with them.  Love the long green envelopes.  Love the color scheme.  I went with it.  I've said this before-once my mind settles on an idea everything seems to show up in stores.  

I found these little felt Easter baskets at Target that were perfect. The invitations were from Target, also, but they were at least a year earlier. (Yes, I had the invitations for over a year. Like I said, they were on clearance.)

Then, my mom used her Cricut machine to make flowers with scrapbook paper that I already had and glued them to bamboo skewers. I believe we put crinkle shredded paper in the bottom of the basket.

I found these goodie bags at a teacher store, filled them with purple tissue and of course, tied a cute ribbon.  We used the Cricut again to make the monogram letters.  To make them stickers, we ran them through the Xyron sticker maker.  I love this idea for personalizing your child's birthday.

The piece de resistence!  The cake! This was the cutest cake ever!  Three tiers of cuteness!  And this wasn't the hardest to decorate because it was buttercream icing-not fondant which is hard to work with.  I bought a styrofoam M for the topper and stuck brads in it to look like polka dots.

We made the birthday banner with scrapbook paper, vellum, and the Cricut to cut the letters.  (Wish I had close-up pics, but this was before the DSLR camera.)