Strawberry Baby Shower

My friends threw me a huge, girly, strawberry themed baby shower a couple of weeks ago.  So much love and effort went into every detail, thank you to everyone who helped put it together and came to celebrate with me.  It was a night I will never forget.

 Party favor gumballs with a cute thank you note.

 It was an "open house" style shower, so my friend had a door prize game.

 The advice notebook was so cute, I loved all the entries.

The clothes are being washed and all the wonderful baby gifts are finding places in her room.  Now, the waiting begins!  Just a couple more weeks, hopefully.

Moss Covered Letters and a Ward Christmas Party

 Our ward has fantastic Christmas parties, almost exclusively due to the vision of one very talented lady.  Luckily for all of us, she loves to do this kind of thing and I know everyone looks forward to it each year.  Luckily for me, I was asked to help with a portion of the decorations; a sign for the theme of our party.  The whole evening was based on the book "The Tale of Three Trees".  

I was planning on doing something with forest green cardstock and maybe some gold glitter, but at the last second I stumbled across THIS idea from Uncommon Designs.  I knew that's what we needed to do!

 I printed out each letter on copy paper and then cut them out to make stencils.  I traced each stencil onto cardboard to give the moss some sturdiness.  Last, I traced the cardboard letters onto the back of the moss sheets, cut out the moss, and hot glued it to the cardboard.  Lots of tracing and cutting, but well worth it, I love the way it turned out.  I had 20+ letters to make, each letter was about 10.5 inches tall, so buying the nice wood ones from the craft store was not in the budget.  The cardboard worked great and is a nice alternative if you need more than just a few letters.  

I used coupons to buy the moss sheets (from Hobby Lobby in the floral section) and just used some cardboard boxes that were in my garage.  The whole project cost me about $23 dollars, with some leftover moss to spare.

 The party was wonderful and I think everyone had a great time.  The food was fabulous and the decorations were amazing.  We had a short presentation for the kids including reading the book together and singing some Christmas songs.  Santa came and passed out candy canes.  The rest of the time was spent stuffing ourselves silly with yummy breakfast foods and talking with friends.  A perfect night...can't wait until next year!

 We had several real Christmas trees donated and then given away to families in need after the party.  The whole room smelled like an evergreen forest....mixed with french toast and bacon.

 Hot Chocolate Stand with all the fixings

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Boy Oh Boy Baby Shower

 A few weeks ago, I helped host a baby shower for a friend expecting her 4th boy!  We went with a "Boy Oh Boy" theme, keeping the decorations and food clean and simple.  Since it was an evening shower, we did a small dessert spread and hung paper lanterns above the table.  Some white cake stands for the food and a little bit of blue tulle and we called it good.

 One of the guests made a diaper trike out of diapers, baby blankets, bibs, socks, and a bottle for the headlight.  I should have asked her how long it took to make!  Super cute and would make a great centerpiece at a baby shower.

Another friend did some fun games and made an adorable video of the three older brothers talking about their new addition to the family.  It was so cute and something that the Mom to be can take home with her to cherish for years to come.  Such a great idea.

 As guests left, we had a small treat for them to take home.

The push pop containers were bought at a local craft store and filled with mini cupcakes or brownies, layered with frosting.

On a personal note, sorry for not keeping up on this blog lately....if anyone actually reads it anymore.....(crickets chirping).....

We've been busy with summer traveling and getting back to school.....AND growing our own little baby!  I'm due with my 4th around the end of March and we are excited for this new adventure.  I could be having my 4th boy, just like my friend!  And I can honestly say that I would be completely ok with that.  Boys are awesome!  We'll find out the gender after Halloween sometime, so stay tuned and hopefully I'll get a few more things up on the blog before then.

Star Wars Party Favors

Found these adorable party favor printables at Sandy Toes and Popsicles. Actually, it's a Father's Day kit, but we changed it to party favors.  I didn't put together all the printables, check out the link if you want to see the rest.  These were a breeze to make: just a trip to the grocery store, some printing, cutting, and taping.  My boys enjoyed helping putting them together as well.

The Vaderade was my favorite.

 

We used Pringle chips for the R2D2, Rolos for Hans, individually wrapped cookies for Chewie, red Gatorade for Darth Vader, Trident for the Boba gum, a jar of trail mix for Jar Jar Binks, and a can of Sprite for Yoda.

Not pictured:  We made the pretzel Lightsabers too.  Just dip large pretzel rods in tinted chocolate, leaving a bit of pretzel uncovered for the hilt.

Retro Cupcake Oven Box

  Retro Cupcake Oven Box

So cute, right?  Bought the printable HERE and am so glad I did.  They are adorable to look at, hold the cupcake well so the it is protected during transportation, and easy to print and assemble. 

So far, I have made a few for a baby shower, including a little flag on top of the cupcakes that said "bun in the oven".

And then, my son decided he wanted to make them for his class on his birthday.....

It took a long time, but we pulled it off...and the kids loved it, so it was worth it.  Just pop in a movie or two if you are planning on busting out 30 of these.

You Are My Sunshine

 My friend hosted a "You Are My Sunshine" breakfast for her Relief Society board a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks to my husband's new job, I was able to help with the chocolate covered strawberries.  It was a lot of fun and the breakfast was a huge success.

 

The night before the party, we went to my husband's work (with permission, of course) and dipped some strawberries in tinted chocolate coating.  We "swizzled" white chocolate on top of the yellow berries.

How adorable are the decorations?  She did a fabulous job.

Favor bags filled with yellow things: body soap, flower seed packs, candy, pencils, and more.

 

 Friends brought beautiful yellow daffodils as well.

We had Belgian waffles with all of the toppings you could ever wish for. 

 

I was privileged to attend and help serve food even though I am not on the Relief Society board.  I am so glad I was able to help out in a small way.  It was a beautiful breakfast and a wonderful way to spend the morning.