Blue & Brown Jungle Baby Shower

I have been in baby shower mode for the past couple of weeks! Olga's baby shower was on Thursday. I co-hosted the shower with Olga's sister Marina. We kinda worked together the same way me and Liz did for Netta's baby shower last year. I did the dessert table and the entry table, and Marina took care of the food and the decorations.

You know me, and of course I just have a teaser photo to post today.

Here is the dessert table!!!

I had a round table to work with this time, so I've been pinning round table ideas to Pinterest for the past months or so. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but everyone loved it, especially Olga!

I have lots of details to share. And I will soon (Haven't you heard that before, haha). But for the next couple of days I am going to catch up on all my new shows that are piling up on my DVR. And hang out with my little guy. Right now he is waiting for me to print out some letter "E" stuff, we have been slacking on "letter of the week" activities, and I promised him we would do something fun today. :)

♥ Kim

Pink & Gray Baby Shower {Favors Entrance & Gifts}

At last, the third and final part of my little sisters baby shower!! About time huh?? I forced myself to sit down and get it done this week. So I can blog about other stuff without feeling guilty that I hadn't finished this. I am seriously laughing at myself for the 8 months it took me.

So here is part 3!! Starting with the party favors that Liz made. Cookie mix in mason jars, made to look like baby bottles. So cute!!! They have the directions for how to make them, on a label on the back. She even personalized them. The recipe she used is here, if you wanna make your own. ;)

I made the pennant banner, it matches the one on the food bar.

The welcome table. See me in the mirror, taking the picture with my little point and shoot?? I so wish I'd had my Nikon for the baby shower. And I really wish I'd had it for the newborn photo shoot I did of Mila. Oh well!! I have it now. :):):)

Another sign, like the one for the food and drinks, I also included a "sweet treats" sign in my free table signs printable, although I didn't use it for my sweets table.

Cupcake Liner Pomander. This was made from mini cupcake liners that had a pretty gray design on them. It is hanging in Mila's nursery now. I used the tutorial found here, and then attached a ribbon for hanging.

Love the personalized m&m tins that Liz bought. Pretty and a great extra party favor for the guests.

Liz printed these out, for the guests to fill out. They put them in the pink boxes when they were done filling them out. They make fun keepsakes for the baby book!! Wishes for baby is from here, and guess baby's birthday came from here. I don't see the one she printed (on pink paper) but she bought the whole collection 3 years ago, so the options might have changed since then.

I made this banner and the gifts one below. I used my Silhouette to cut everything out, then glued it together, and strung it on some pink yarn that I chained to the length I wanted. I love making pretty things out of things I already have at home. No shopping trip (as much as I like the craft store, it's not so much fun with Riley) and instant satisfaction. :)

Me and Danetta hung the balloons under the baby girl banner. The balloons are each tied onto one long piece of ribbon. We took the string of balloons and the banner, lined them up, and then taped the two ends to the wall together. That way there wouldn't be 8 extra pieces of tape on the wall holding each balloon up.

They are above the couch, opposite the gifts area, if you look at the reflection in the tv below, you can see them.

Gifts by the fireplace, another simple idea we seen on Pinterest. 

Personalized chairs for mom and dad. Liz made these little chair banners. I think it's an awesome idea. And Danetta loved having a seat of honor while she opened all the presents, and we played games.

The battery in my camera died after taking pictures of all the decorations and stuff. But I did manage to get one picture of me and Netta at the shower. I love her so much. :)

So that's everything. Finally!!! It was a lot of work, but so much fun to throw Net's baby shower. I love how everything turned out. And I'm super proud of me and Liz for planning everything from two different states!!! Deciding who was gonna do what, and then sharing our ideas on Pinterest made that possible.

I'm off to figure out something for dinner. I really need to go grocery shopping, and I'm starving, so that may be a problem, but I'm gonna try anyways!

♥ Kim

P.S. Today is one of my other little sisters birthday!! Laura is 28!! Happy Birthday Laura, I love you!!

Pink & Gray Baby Shower {Food & Drinks Bar}

I am finally getting around to posting part 2 of the baby shower. The food and drinks bar!! Liz and I worked together to make it happen. She made all the food, the circles hanging from the ceiling, and the drinks. I made the pennant banner attached to the bar and the table signs, plus I made the water bottles pretty.

I have a printable for this sign, plus the drinks sign and a couple others coming soon. To make the frame, I bought a few of those unfinished wood signs at Michael's (they are a dollar or two each) I spray painted them pink (Krylon Ballet Slipper in Satin) then wrapped them in pink yarn (Red Heart Super Saver in Baby Pink). I attached the yarn on the back with hot glue, I added glue at the beginning and the end, plus every so often while wrapping to make sure that the yarn wouldn't slide around.

I love the subtle texture made by wrapping the pink yarn around the pink frame. It was simple, but made the frames look so pretty. Plus now, like a few other decorations, Netta is using them in Mila's room.

Some of the food Liz made! Caprese toothpicks, bruschetta, cucumber tea sandwiches, strawberry jam and cream cheese sandwiches, deli wraps, an edible arrangement, baby quiche, crescent roll cocktail sausages, spinach dip and that empty platter there was for some bacon wrapped cocktail sausages that were still in the oven. I just had to take the picture, cause the guests were about to start eating!! :)

Some fresh vegetables, and some cheese and crackers, yum!!

We decided on pink gerbera daisies for flower arrangements. (They're my favorite flower, by the way. I like them in any color!!)

I used this tutorial as a guide for making the pennant banner above. Only I made smaller triangles, and punched only 2 holes in each one. I really liked how I was able to assemble it there, and adjust the length based on the size of the bar. 

Liz made these circles hanging from the ceiling. I was only half paying attention when she did them. But I believe she cut the circles with her Cricut. The ran them through her Xyron machine to make the backs sticky (you could also just apply adhesive to the back of the circles). After that she just sandwiched some yarn between two circles, until they were the length she wanted. Pretty easy, and a fun way to add some color!!

Liz got the idea from Pinterest of course!! You can check out all our party inspiration here if you like! I think the hanging circles are toward the bottom. There are several ideas that we didn't end up using, that might inspire someone else. :)

Water bottle made pretty and pink!!!! I love them!

Removing the old labels and covering water bottles with pretty paper makes a huge difference, plus, it makes the drinks, part of the decorations! I wanted mine waterproof, so I laminated both sides with clear packing tape, leaving the top piece slightly longer so I could attach it to the bottle. Hope that makes sense. There are lots of tutorials online for doing this, maybe if I do it again at another party, I will take pictures of my way, and write up a tutorial, but not today.

Anyways, I'm sick with a cold, and my house is a disaster, plus my DVR is almost 100% full, so I need to get off the computer and either clean or relax, or maybe a little of both.

♥ Kim

Pink & Gray Baby Shower {Sweets Table}

I decided to split the baby shower posts into 3 parts. Today is part one. The Sweets Table! I designed the sweets table, and made almost everything on it. My Aunt made the cupcakes, and Liz & Netta made the m&m cookies. Me, Liz and Netta worked together to hang the pom-poms and lanterns. In other words, Liz got up on the ladder, while me and Net told her exactly where everything should go. There was a lot of "a little to the left" or "just one inch toward me, and a couple inches higher". Luckily there was no falling off the ladder!!

I made the cupcake stand!! I seen the prettiest tutu cupcake stands on Pinterest, and just knew I had to try to make one of my own. It was pretty easy, I mostly used things I already had, and only had to buy the tulle, which was a few dollars at Michaels.

I also made a really simple pennant banner for the table. It says "sweet baby girl". It is made from pretty scrapbook papers. I cut the paper into triangles, printed out my letter circles that I made in PSE, cut them out, then glued them on. Then I punched two holed in each triangle and strung it on two strands of grey yarn. Super easy!! I love it when easy things make such a big impact.

I also saved up a few boxes before the party, and then I just covered them with pretty wrapping paper. That way I could elevate some of the desserts. Pretty. ♥

This was the first time I ever made macaroons. I am pretty darn proud of myself. I read lots of tips before starting. And I thought I failed, cause they were undercooked, gooey and had hollow spots inside. I put them back in, but it was too late to make them not hollow. So I just cooked them until they weren't gooey anymore. They seemed good enough, although I tested about half of them in the process of figuring out how long they needed to cook.

After they cooled, they were crispy, and I was sad. But I went ahead and made the filling, which is a white chocolate buttercream, and a raspberry sauce in the middle. I read that if you overcook them by a few minutes, it's OK, because once you add the filling, and put them in the refrigerator for a few days, they will soften up inside. I made them three days early, so, to the refrigerator they went. And they day of the party, I tried one, and they were awesome!! So soft inside, with an eggshell like texture on the outside, YAY!! They still had the hollow spots, but nobody noticed or cared. And everyone loved them!! Plus they look pretty. And I like that.

I also made the Pink Lemonade Pie, the cake pops, the dipped pretzels, the chocolate covered oreos, the marshmallow treat pops and the pretty stickers for the bottoms of the Hershey kisses. I got all that done one to two weeks before the party, and had them packed and ready to go before leaving for California!! It was nice not to rush, or have to bring recipe ingredients to California with me.

I designed the dessert labels, the sugar & spice sign and the thank heaven for little girls sign in Photoshop Elements. And it is hard to see, but I also made two cupcake liner pom poms that I attached to glass candlesticks, and set next to the pink daisies. The tutorial for them is at Kara's Party Ideas. My sister loved them, and is using them, as well as the framed quote, as decoration in the nursery.

I love how everything turned out. It's awesome when it looks just as pretty in real life as it did in my head. Cause trust me, that doesn't always happen!! And that table was almost completely empty at the end of the party too, which is a good thing!!

I'll be back sometime this week with part two {food and drinks}. I have company coming tomorrow, and staying for a couple of days, but after that I should have some free time to finish up those pictures.

♥ Kim