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?

Hot Air Balloon Party

First birthdays deserve a great party. Don't you agree?

What could be cuter than a hot air balloon theme for a party?

Custom hot air balloon invitations were made with Dear Lizzy paper and vellum. We put pictures inside of baby girl in the basket above.

I mean seriously. Miniature hot air balloon mobile? Cute!

Up, Up, and Away Banner? Super Cute!!

Custom DIY hot air balloon decor by Jordan? Super Duper Cute!!! Down to the miniature tassels hanging from the twine wrapped basket.

Monogrammed goodie bags stufffed with-what else?-hot air balloon tissue paper! Inside the treat bags were gift cards to the Cookie Company. I love that idea by Jackie.

Twinkle lights, pennant banners, hot air balloons made from paper lanterns with washi tape stripes and baker's twine string. Uber Cute!!!

I think every party should have chevron and striped paper straws. Even if nobody actually uses them. And  a cute little mini bucket to put sharpies in so guests can write their name on a cup and not waste another one when they lose it in the mix of everyone's cups of delicious punch.

Balloons to draw attention and make it obvious where the party was taking place. Did you know Dollar Tree sells balloons??

Birthday lollie with a paper straw stick. To die for!

Linked up at tatertotsandjello.com and paperissues.com.

Gender Reveal Party

New babies are cause for celebration!

The baby quilts in this antique dresser drawer were special because one was Mom's baby quilt and one was Dad's. How sweet is that?? Perfect for the vintage theme of this gender reveal party.

Every party needs a banner.

Rolled tissue flowers on foam core were used for this question mark on the old reclaimed barn wood wall.

I love this old door with the shelf added to make it functional. One basket held tie pins. One held tutus. These were cut out with the Cricut machine. Each guest guessed (ha!) boy or girl by choosing a pin and wearing it.

I don't know why I don't have a picture, but we revealed the gender with tubes of confetti thrown at the couple. 

Butterfly Birthday Bag

If you are like us, you go crazy with the birthday theme!

Jojo made this cute bag for my daughter's birthday gift since she had a butterfly themed girl birthday party.  She put tulle under a cupcake liner flower with a butterfly cut with my Slice machine on top. Have you ever made flowers with cupcake liners? So easy!

I'm pretty sure this was a recycled bag that had permanent marker written on the front. Shhh! Don't tell. Go Green, ya'll!!

You can see more of the butterfly birthday party here. And here. Annnnnd here. Obnoxious, I know.

Now I am off to go enjoy some summer!

Top O' the morning to ya!

 Around here, St. Patrick's Day means Crazy Hat Day at school.  A trip to Dollar Tree resulted in this creation.  Paper napkin flower with a shamrock in the middle.  Learned how to make these here.  Can't really tell it's a shamrock?  Well, that's because I glued it on the way out the door this morning with the hot glue gun that was left on all night.  Yep, all night.  Bad thing is, it's not the first time that I was just waiting on it to heat up and forgot about it.  (This is part of why I don't enjoy cooking, btw.  I tend to forget about hot things while they are getting hot.) Last time sparks were involved.  

This is probably why I am walking around with naturally frizzy hair lately.  I abused my flat iron one too many times. Good thing the world needs perfectly imperfect parents!

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.)

Paper Flower

I noticed today that the flowering trees are starting to bloom.  Yay!  Makes me want to make flowers. 

I love it when the "wrapping" is just as good as the gift.  I made this tag with a flower for my sister for Easter last year.  They make great gifts for teachers, too.  These paper flowers are so easy and can be made with scraps.  I cut several sizes of circles with my Slice machine in two different types of blue paper:  vellum and lightweight cardstock.  Simply crumple up each piece and crinkle.  Flatten back out and distress the edges with a distressing tool (I use Heidi Swapp) that sort of tatters the edges.  (I like that word-tatters-I think I will use that more often.)  The glittery green leaves are from KI Memories, but could be cut easily from green cardstock.  The purple polka dot fabric covered brad is perfect for the center and to hold all of the circles together. I placed the circles a little off center.  It reminds me of Mary Engelbreit that way.
The scallop tag was cut with my Slice machine, also.

And where there are flowers there are butterflies.  Also, cut with the Slice machine.  Have to add some bling to the center and a cute ribbon.  Always a cute ribbon.