Samara's Shower

Samara's Baby Shower

Today we hosted a shower for our friend Samara who is due in just a few weeks with a baby boy.  She loves the beach, farmer's markets, and music.  She wasn't planning on decorating a nursery so that made it a little trickier for our decor.  We like to decorate with items that can be used in the nursery and not just tossed aside.  So we went with a beachy theme.  If we could have hosted it on the beach we would have but school is out so that means our beaches are crowded on the weekends with folks from Fresno and Bakersfield.  Not to mention the Pismo Beach Car Show was this weekend.  We opted for my back yard instead.  

When I say we I mean.......Myself, Tiffany, Tara, Julie R., Shannon, and Kandie.  Samara is usually included in our party planning crew but it would have been awkward to have her plan her own party.  We divvy up the work which makes setting up and tearing down more fun and a lot less work.

Our cake table.  Tiffany and I created the buntings around all the tables.  I whipped up a little table cloth that worked to hide this table.  Tara and Julie scavenged their homes for the beach decor.  Tiffany made cute sand dollar cookies for people to take home.  Shannon created an amazing cake that looked awesome on the outside and tasted amazing!  She also put together fruit kabobs.  You can always count on Shannon for fruit at a party.

Her cake complete with "sand" and chocolate shells.  I think they might have been peanut butter and white chocolate.  I'm not exactly sure.  

The food table!  Mango quinoa salad, chicken salad croissant sandwiches, homemade pretzel bites with cheese sauce, oven roasted corn with Parmesan cheese and a basil butter, mango salsa/chips, and various veggies and dip.  

But with good food you need something to drink.  Tiffany put together about six different drinks and served them up at the bar. Tiffany had a lot of fun being our bartender for the day.  I'm going to need a few of her recipes.  The one in the pitcher below is Brazilian Lemonade.  LOVE THIS DRINK!  Pretty sure I've pinned this recipe.  Tara and I like power tools and decided it would be fun to build a bar.  She brought three pallets over and we went to town.  I did have to get a few 1x6x8 boards to create the top, shelf, and the bottom.  We added wheels because it was a little heavy to move.  

And just for fun a few more cake pictures.

I love hosting parties at my place because it usually means that something gets fixed up or super cleaned.  For this party I did a lot of weed pulling and flower planting.  I also had to move around a few pots  and I really like my new patio areas.  Tiffany lent me two couches that they are planning on selling.  I might hang on to them a little longer if we keep having this nice weather.

Cliff's Dad and Janice came over last night.  Janice helped me finish a few projects so that I actually went to bed before midnight.  Then this morning she helped me with my parts of set-up like food prep, cleaning windows, and getting the bathroom ready.  This also meant I could sleep in a little longer this morning.  The best part of today was when I was talking with my friend Tiffany during set-up.  I asked her if she thought Julie would arrive by 2pm.  She asked me "What happens at 2pm?" I said that the party starts at 2pm.  "No Jen.  The party starts at 1pm."  Um, it was noon, I was in my grubby clothes and I thought I had two more hours to go.  I'm glad we had that convo because I suddenly had to kick it into gear.  But that is what is great about a crew.  They can help out when you need to slap on some clothes and make-up real quick.  They also know my kitchen like it is their own.  Love you gals!

Now we just need baby boy to arrive!  We love you Samara!

Super Hero Baby Shower

My friends and I put together a Super Hero baby shower for our friend Shannon. She has three girls and found out that her fourth is a boy! Very exciting.

Our next plan was to use decor at the shower that could be used in her nursery. We crossed our fingers that she would like this plan because it was all a huge surprise.

I made a quilt and told her that if she would like I would make a bumper to match. Their last name starts with 'Z'.

I used black piping to outline the Super Z.

The back has a vintage Captain America comic book print I found at JoAnn's.

Her sister-in-law created the burp cloths and cutest shirts with super hero graphics. Another friend mod podge the wooden letters. There were enough letters to create two different names depending on what she chooses. During the shower every time some said "name" we would change the letters.

Another friend took the storage cubes and created super hero graphics for the fronts. Perfect for all those action hero toys that will be throughout her house soon.

Then there was the food! Thank you Cricut for helping to create these food tags on the mini pancake stacks.

And again, the Cricut cake was used to make the Captain America cupcake toppers.

Another friend made the mini cinnamon rolls. So yummy. I believe that she used the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls but then put them in a mini muffin tin to cook. Another friend made fresh granola that topped raspberry yogurt and she also created french toast kabobs with fresh fruit and two different syrup choices.

I stood near this quiche stand during the party. So good.

And the panels, painted by Samara, up on my wall.

Do you see that smile below? That is one happy mama! We love you Shannon and are so excited that we get to meet and hold your baby boy soon.

Super Hero Wall Art

Here are the panels that were created for our friend Shannon's baby shower. We decided to use decor for the shower that she could use in her nursery.

To create the panels I picked up 2' x 4' MDF panels that were about a 1/4" thick and 1" x 2" x 8' pieces of wood to nail to the back.

I cut the panel in half so that it was square.

Nailed the 1x2"s to the back. This gave me something to nail the hooks into.

Then they were primed. If I did them again I would not use a spray paint primer. I did not like the coverage. Also, be prepared to sand after priming as it can raise the wood grain.

At this point I passed them off to my super talented friend Samara. She found some inspiration on Pinterest and got to work.

Love these panels!

Scrap: Bibs & Burp Cloths

My friend Tiffany and I decided to only use fabric and trim we had on hand to make a few bibs and burp cloths. It was so fun to sew for a little girl!

The bib pattern is one that was traced from one of my son's bibs. The burp cloths are some nice thick cloth diapers and we simply embellished the centers.

Light pink flannel was used for the backing of the pink bibs. The pink bibs have snap closures.

Jumbo Ric Rac is a great way to cover edges on the burp cloth.

Simply quilt together your coordinating fabrics until you have a chunk large enough to trace your pattern on. Such a great way to use up cute scrap fabrics.

These bibs were backed in yellow flannel. I tried Velcro on this bib and trimmed the burp cloth with pink Ric Rac that is peeking out from under the fabric center.

This bib has a ribbon closure. It was by far the easiest to put together but I still prefer snaps for boy bibs.

And, of course, I had to give a lovey!

We can't wait to meet Claudia's baby girl Isabella!

She is due today. Wonder if she will have a Memorial Day baby?

Baby Shower

My friends and I had the best time throwing a shower for our friend who didn't really want a shower. Ha! Something about it's a third baby and she doesn't like to be the center of attention...... Well we ignored her and had a party anyway. :)

My friend Kandie does the most amazing Spencerian Script. In fact, I already hired her services for my daughters wedding.......in at least 16 years! Shop early and you get the best discounts right?

Hand addressed envelopes

Please ignore that I have smeared out my address.

The invitation. It looks digital but it really was done with actual paper. We included the buttons on the inside of the invitation as well.

Our friend was not looking forward to opening gifts in front of everyone. In fact she said no gifts. Sorry lady! I had been collecting stuff before she laid down this rule. We did tell her that we would not have her open gifts. But how do you tell people to not wrap their gifts without it sounding ordinary.

We inserted this little card into the envelopes.

Then we had clotheslines set up and pre-made tags for everyone. All they had to do was put their name on a tag and attach it to their gift when they arrived. We loved it! It was fun to walk around and touch/see all the gifts without having to pass them around. It also helped out our decor! I wish I had a pic of the little socks on the clothesline. Too cute! There was even a PJ outfit for mama to wear.
The bib and burp cloth set on the right in the picture above were made out of men's polo shirts. They were backed with fusible interfacing and flannel to give them more body. Samara did a great job on those.

I love these pom-poms. My friend Kristyn created these based on tutorials in blogland. She also set up the cutest small tables around the room for people to place their drinks and plates. The small tables were children's tables that we collected from all of us gals, were draped with fabric, and had a beautiful flowers on each one.
Becky created these cupcakes which I think were actually brownies filled with caramel. Heavenly! Notice the pacifier? She does this for fun!!!

The food! Shannon, Samara, Kandie, and Rebecca put together all this wonderful food! We had a brunch theme. Our shower started at 10am.

(I hope I didn't leave anyone out of the food credits.)

These fruit kabobs were not only great eye candy but the were scrumptious. Our friend Rebecca has a great idea for arrangements.
The favors: Fortune cookies with the most adorable fortunes inside. Baby R will love to surf, Baby R will get a full scholarship, Baby R will......etc. These cookies tasted better than the ones you get after dinner. Kristyn, I would love your recipe please!
The best part of the party was just getting to hang out together before she is a very busy and sleep lady soon.