Whoa Baby! Western Theme Baby Shower

Baby showers are so fun to plan, especially when the momma to be has been a lifelong friend.  Our group of girls goes back 25 years strong and counting - and when my dear friend L found out she was expecting, we were all thrilled.  L has been the best Auntie to all of our kids - you know the friend that throws everyone a wedding/baby shower, remembers all her friends' kids birthdays, gets the most creative gifts and loves on your kids like they are her own?  Thats L.  She's the best.  So we had to make sure this baby shower was perfect.

L has a heart of gold and a love of country, so we went with a cute western theme for her shower.  There were so many fun aspects of this day!

We made some fun signs with reclaimed hardwood and rope to welcome guests with "Whoa Baby".  The cute baby cowboy hat was found in a gold mining town gift shop in Arizona :)  Gorgeous yellow sunflowers in turquoise ball jars lined the inside and outside, and we had lots of sweet treats on hand (like these hilarious old school candy cigarettes!), peanuts and yummy s'mores on a stick!  We played a fun game where everyone had to guess the prices of common baby items...harder than it sounds!

The cake was perfection, a friend took the theme and our color palette to a local bakery and they did a phenomenal job. We draped the tables in vintage western fabrics.  One guest took the theme seriously and created that amazing gift with items shaped into a covered wagon - LOVE!  We decorated with handmade onesies in western shapes and fabrics, it was such a gorgeous day out.

You know when Deco Bake is involved, there will be some delicious and adorable cookies and favors.  These cowboy hats, boots and sheriff stars were amazing!  Guests got to take home their own bag of delicious treats.  Yee Haw!

Love the colors of these, and look at the tiny spurs on those boots!

Lots of yummy grub, including pulled chicken, pulled pork, watermelon, mini veggie cups w/dressing, avocado salsa and chips.  And nothing tastes better on a hot day than a tall glass of homemade Sweet Tea.

Such a perfect welcome for Baby R.  Giddy Up!

Pink Lemonade Party Pour Deux

I craved Pink Lemonade while pregnant with Nelle.  It was the perfect combination of sweet and tart.  So the theme for Nelle's 2nd Birthday was set in stone before I even met her :)  This party is double the fun because one of my best friends in the world, Meredith,  had her little girl Alexandra a week after Nelle, and once we moved back to Virginia I knew it would be great fun for these spunky little girls to share a birthday party.

The invites were designed by uber-talented Tracy from Paper & Ink Designs.  I gave her the theme and details, and she created the invite as well as the super cute goody-bag labels.  Love how it turned out, and I used it as the template for both the awning for the lemonade stands and the sugar cookie design.  

Alex's Lemonade Stand during construction.  

Nelle's Finished Stand.

Pink and Yellow Lemon-Shaped Sugar Cookies. 

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes with Pink Lemonade Frosting and candied Lemon Slices.  

Sweets and Treats!  Most of the yummy pink and yellow treats were Dollar Store Finds.

I made tiny lemonade stands to label the dishes on the table.  Yummy mini-hot dogs,  mini-BBQ chicken sandwiches, fruit kabobs and mini corn-on-the-cob on a stick.  And of course, no pink lemonade party would be complete without some pink lemonade :)

The pink lemonade cookie favors.  

Nelle & Alex sitting on their lemonade stands.  

The girls had a little tea party on the stands, and Nelle now keeps all of her tea sets inside the stand in her room.  I love that she can still use it after the party.

You are My Sunshine Baby Shower

Having a large extended family is great.  When you are a kid, your cousins are your best friends.  If you are lucky, those friendships continue into adulthood.  My cousin McKaela is one of the most fabulous women I know, and I was thrilled to find out that she and her husband Patrick were expecting their first child. They are my daughters godparents, and honestly, I can't think of two people who will make better parents to this lucky little person.  They decided not to find out the gender of their little nugget, so a neutral baby shower was on tap.  I settled on You Are My Sunshine as the theme because I love the color combination of yellow, gray and turquoise - I was so excited to find out during the planning that McKaela's dad, a professional musician, would sing this sweet tune to McK when she was just a nugget.  It was meant to be :)

Invites were designed by Frilly Milly Events.  The backs were a coordinating yellow and gray chevron, and the address labels were adorable wrap-around sunshines.  Perfect introduction to the event to come.

I painted the canvases, thinking they would be cute as decorations for the shower and then could be reused  as artwork over baby's crib.  Love the way they turned out.  

The shower was in the evening, love the way the sunlight came through our huge backyard trees, really transformed the whole space

No baby shower is complete without a bar, right?  We just brought out our kitchen table for the event.  

Paper Good by the Preppy Pink Pony

I copied the design from the canvas art for the sugar cookies.  Guests could bring home their own little bags of sunshine.  I used the same You are my Sunshine graphic from the invites for the gift bag tags.  

Having the Shower in the evening did present a lighting problem - we had no way to plug in any lights, and the space is too large to use lighting from the house.  So my solution was to hang Ball jars from the huge trees and put candles in them.  They looked gorgeous, but we found out at dusk that you need a LOT of candles to light that large of a space :)  

I loved the look of vintage turquoise Ball jars, but at between $10 - $20 each,  there was no way I could afford (or even find) as many as I needed.  So I bought new jars, and used a turquoise glass tint to make them look old.  The process took 24 hours start to finish and included baking the jars, but they were well worth the wait.  I now have 4 dozen gorgeous turquoise Ball jars for future events. 

Mini Chalkboards were used for the food and beverage labels

 Lemons, yellow tulips and yellow fabric were easy color-coordinating decorations.

 Congratulations McK and Pat!  Cant wait to meet my new favorite person :)

Welcome Baby Hayes!

I've been friends with Joy since middle school, and although we are complete opposites physically (she = tall beautiful blonde, me = short mousy brunette), we swear we are the same person living in two different bodies.  We have identical taste in most everything, especially of the design aesthetic.  So when Joy found out her second baby was going to be a boy, I knew immediately what her shower theme should be - because it was exactly what I would want!

The sign, cupcakes and cookies were all designed to match her super cute nursery theme.  The colors are red, blue and khaki, with a nautical feel.  

Joy and her husband Kevin have talked forever about opening their own coffee shop,  I made chocolate fudge cupcakes with espresso butter cream frosting.  Yum.

Treat bags included red star, blue "H" and black lab sugar cookies.  Hayes' nursery has a sweet black lab poster on one wall.

Congratulations Joy and Kev!  Little Hayes is one lucky little boy :)