About to Pop! Baby Shower

I used the "Baby is about to pop!" theme for a baby shower I co-hosted for my dear friend Mary.  Grey (Mary's favorite) anchored the color scheme, while pastel purple and turquoise accent hues created a twist to the gender-neutral baby shower.  

"POP the bubbly!"

Cocktails (and mocktails!) were served in mason jars.  Guests were encouraged to "pop" their names on tags attached to the jars.

Grey and white-striped straws found on Etsy were decorated with tags expressing how much "We love Mary!" and "We love Baby P!"

Thanks to the girls for finding a perfect place to hang these Chinese lanterns purchased online at Pearl River.

The original inspiration for the shower . . . popcorn favors with the slogan "Thanks for POPing by!"  I used a recipe found here with lavender and turquoise M&Ms purchased at Party City.

Flowers and greens from Whole Foods arranged in mason jars served as centerpieces.

More pops of purple and turquoise!

A BIG thank you to all of the girls who prepared the delicious food spread!

Some shower games are cheesy, but the "right" games can be super fun!  We played the crowd pleaser "match the celebrity with their (bizarro) baby's name" and a second game, created by Kate, called "Baby, is that for real?!" where we guessed whether baby items were real or fake.  While all the items sounded fake to me, they were actually all real products.  A great game for a group that is non-mom dominant like us!  Download a template here.  

Check out my next post to see the invitations for this shower.

UPDATE:  Since I am back-filling this post, I am happy to report that Mary gave birth to healthy baby boy William on November 25th!

Summer Wedding

I felt extremely honored when my (future) sister-in-law asked me to help with some of the creative elements for her summer wedding.  While the bride's favorite color orange set the wedding's theme, she also wished to pay tribute to her native country Brazil by incorporating the colors of Brazilian flag (blue, green and yellow) in the wedding design.  

I made two prototypes for the place cards.

The bride decided to use them both!  The left version would be the place card for the female guests and the right for the male guests.  See below for the final product at the wedding and pictures of other creative elements from the day.  Note pops of the Brazilian flag's blue, green and yellow colors throughout!

Card box on the gift table:

Table numbers:

An extra favor:

"Altar" decoration:

HUGE congratulations to the bride and groom!  XO

Summer Bridal Shower

Mr. B's brother is getting married in August, so my mother-in-law and I were excited to host a bridal shower to honor my future sister-in-law, Marcilia!  

The decorations and party elements were inspired by this PS wrapping paper that you see in the center of the tables.

These flower pots from Whole Foods matched the daisy pattern and served as our centerpieces.  

Menu cards were tucked inside PS half moon invitation enclosures in chartreuse and stamped/embossed  with this daisy rubber stamp.  

Menu card (inside):

Placecards in persimmon:

Banner:

Seating arrangement and favor boxes:

(each box was filled with two heart cookies, similar to these)

Water bottles (for our post-lunch boat tour):

I am very excited to have a new sister!  

Look for another post about the wedding in August!

OWL Always Love Birthday Parties!

Shout out to my friend Nicole and the adorable owl-themed birthday party she threw her 2-year-old darling, Ella!  Nicole is extremely talented, and you can see her creativity and stylish eye for party details in this picture showcase!

Water bottles dressed up for the owl theme.

We drank from mason jars that Nicole decorated with adorable paper owls.  

Flags decorating the striped paper straws read, "what a hoot!"

The dessert spread of "owl treats" was unbelievable!

Mason jars filled with delicious homemade granola were our party favors.  

"We hope you had a hoot!"  So cute!

Check out Nicole's blog here!

String of Hearts Valentines

I took inspiration from a card I saw at the grocery store for my Valentine's Day cards this year.  The construction was fairly simple as I purchased the ready-made felt heart stickers from Michaels Crafts.  Decorative paper tape from Martha Stewart Crafts lined the card's front edge.

I scored the top page with a bone folder for opening ease, and connected the card's first and second pages with red brads.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

One-Year Wedding Anniversary Tribute

Wow - so hard to believe our wedding was just about a year ago!  Where has the time gone?  At this time last year I was spending every extra minute coordinating the final touches of our wedding day.  These pictures represent some of the details that made our "big day" extra special to us.  Enjoy!

Attire: 
I asked each bridesmaid to pick their own navy dress to reflect their own personal style, in hopes they would actually wear the dresses again.  We gifted the guys navy and pink striped ties, and asked them to wear navy blazers and khaki slacks.  The groom and his bro (our officiant) wore ties in coordinating versions of navy and pink.

Somehow I convinced Mr. B to wear navy and pink argyle socks!  Wedding magic . . .

Flowers:

Ceremony:

Cocktail Hour:

(a cardboard coaster posed with the flowers)

Reception:

Party Favors: Flip Flops & Cupcakes for takeout (or eat in!).

Ahh, such a memorable day spent with family, dear friends and the most special person of all, my new hubby.  A perfect kickoff to a great year, and a happy life as man and wife!