Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Nautical Baby Shower

Andrew & Casey's baby shower was a blast!  For baby showers I love to find out what the parents are doing the nursery in and work it into the theme.  This way hopefully some of the decor can be used to decorate the babies room.  Since they both love sailing and have chosen a "Master & Commander" theme for his nursery we decided to go with the flow.  I knew I wanted to in cooperate the baby's name into the decor but the mom and dad to be still hadn't decided on his name.  Luckily 1 1/2 weeks before the shower they finalized the name.  Whew, talk about close!  In the picture above you see the entry table where we places blocks that say "William" and coordinate with the nursery colors.  I also covered an large W with a fun textured yarn and found a great Monkey Fist Knot.  The book ends were a ship and we placed nautical themed children's books between them.  For the favor we used "Lifesavers", put them in a cell bad, and attached the custom Nautical Tags.  

 In the living room we placed two chairs in front of the fire place for them to sit to open gifts and tied a clothes line on the mantle.  Janie and Jack had the cutest whale line, so we got several outfits in sizes from newborn to 12 months and hung them from the line.  For the cake we did a mixture of buttercream and fondant and keeping with the theme we did sail boats.  The cake stands is one of my favorite things we made!

The food table turned out so cute.  We used a burlap table cloth and then made a chevron runner to set backdrop for our netting, sail boats, and candles.  We also made custom Monogramed Food Labels and coordinating Place Card Holders (these will be in our Etsy Store soon).  I also made coordinating Knotted Napkin Rings and used the same knot on the fork and knife holders.  


This shower was probably one of my favorites to do.  It could have something to do with the fact that it was for my brother and sister-in-law and their sweet little boy.  Aren't they the cutest couple ever?


 All Styling done by AM Party Styling




Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Cowgirl Chic Birthday Party!

My daughter loves horses, so for her second birthday party I decided to go with a Cowgirl Chic theme. If you don't already know it I love both horses and throwing parties, so I was super excited about this theme and the ideas started rolling through my head.  I made her the balloon wreath right before her first birthday party to use as a tradition every year.  For centerpieces on the tables I cut out brown adhesive vinyl in "paint horse print" and affixed it onto unused paint cans that I bought at Lowes.  While I was at Lowes I came across some beautiful hydrangeas that were bloomed to perfection, so I bought one blue and one pink.  I love how they turned out in my horse print paint cans and I loved that I could plant them and enjoy them every year!  The cake was baked by my mom and a group effort to decorate.  We have a good friend that is ALWAYS up for our latest cake adventure.  We don't do cakes professionally, although I greatly admire people who do, but we love doing one on the occasion for a new challenge.  

For food we went with barbecue chicken, twice baked potato casserole, green beans, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and rolls. We made custom signs for each food dish, but unfortunately the wind blew a couple of them away and we couldn't find them.   I find with each party/event I learn something new.  With this one it was...any outdoor party I have food labels for I will make them weighted.  We also made a coordinating Happy Birthday banner to hang on the railing behind the food table.
  For drinks we decided on ice tea, pink lemon-aid, and water.  We put them in mason jars and into a galvanized bucket we labeled "Watering Hole".  Everyone loved this idea and it made prep and clean up a breeze!   
I have an obsession with scrapbook paper and ribbon, so its only fitting that one of my favorite things to do is make tags for favors.  I designed these tags using a variety of patterns and colors of ribbon and paper that all coordinate.  I kept with the theme of the mason jars and layered them with some of her favorite snacks and treats to make cowgirl trail mix for the favor.  


I had so much fun designing her Cowgirl Chic party and my sweet daughter LOVED it!  Her favorite, of course, was the cake!


 All Styling done by AM Party Styling



Photos were taken by Mary Jennifer Dunlap and Donna Sherrill.