Sip And See

Loving this Sip and See Party idea from Tiny Prints!

Crafty Idea Collection

Ok, people, I am waking up at 4am now. Wide awake and thinking crafty thoughts for decorations for my upcoming (eek!) baby shower.

Here's a list...I gotta write it down lest I forget!

- hostess and family rosette ribbons (Great Grandma So-In-So, etc)
- sticker name tags for everyone else
- paper bunting to match fabric bunting I made for over crib in nursery
- tissue paper flowers
- plastic blue table cloth back drop for candy buffet table

Fabulous Find: Candy Buffet Resource - M.W. Wadsworth's & Co. Fine Chocolates

Planning a candy buffet for your baby shower, wedding or party? Forget ordering from Oh Nuts! - you're likely to get on back order - believe me - this great shop is all about customer service and has so much hard-to-find vintage candy! It's fabulous!

M.W. Wadsworth's & Co. Fine Chocolates

Location: 154 E. Jefferson St. Franklin, IN, 46131

Phone: (317)-560-5624

Mon - Sat: 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Sun: 12:00 am - 5:00 pm

Printable Baby Shower Tree

This Printable Baby Shower Tree from lovliday's Etsy shop is the perfect idea to get family member involved in a fun activity at your baby shower! Print off the blank tree, buy an archival ink pad in a matching color and a pen for people to sign their name! Each family member makes a fingerprint on the tree and writes their name along-side it. Adorable!

$16 for the printable PDF file from lovliday on Etsy

Getting Things Laid Out

I am getting some of the tables and things set up in the house to see where everything is going to go and it looks good! Not sure how I am going to seat closet to 50 people in my living room but we will see! I have 20 chairs on reserve from a rental facility - but I am hoping that I get enough chairs from family to suffice. I started laying out some of the decor I have gathered over the last month to see how it all fits together.

Made My Cakes!

So, I finally convinced myself that it was getting close enough to the shower date to go ahead and buy more supplies...some of the many things I got today included diapers for the diaper cakes. I have read all sorts of articles on how to make them and Saturday I sat down and put myself to to the test. With a little tape, some twine, ribbon, and wire to make two gorgeous decorative diaper cakes....It was fun! I could do this for a living! Want a diaper cake? Let me know...I would love to make more! Anyways I used the metallic adhesive embellishments from the scrapbooking store and applied it to the ribbon and used my shredded paper as "icing". Looks cute...I would like to make two more and I have enough diapers...but I may need to save them for the Diaper Decorating activity.

I Found Bees!

I had only a half day at work today and since I got off early I thought I would swing by Hobby Lobby and pick up more packets of those cute bees I found there. Guess what? They were gone! Arg! GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I depressingly walked around the store picking up paint and little wooden eggs to physically make bees and then came the whammer - they did not have any wooden or tin hearts or anything to make the wings. Blah! But my trip to Michaels was much more successful. In fact, I was able to take everything back at Hobby Lobby! I found little flat wooden bees already painted and cute! I also bought wire to twirl and glue onto the backs so that they can stand up and look like they are flying around the table and around the house...cute! Pic soon to follow. And the image below is how my bird nest favors are turning out...quite nicely!

The Beginning

Well, this all started because our dear friends Matt & Laura have upped and gotten themselves pregnant - God love them! :) To welcome this little one into the world, they have been pretty busy...not to mention going to school full-time on top working. To take a little stress off of her shoulders I am planning her baby shower - which she so graciously bestowed upon me...I am sure she is second guessing herself now that I have gone off the deep end with the idea and have driven her crazy with wanting the "list"!

What I have noticed most so far in planning this is the sheer lack of modern, classy, and chic ideas for baby showers. You would think that in the year of 2008, with Martha Stewart and all her glamor and all the crazy-all-out million dollar 16 year-old birthday party bashes you hear of that there would be a booming market out there for classy - nicely designed baby showers. But no! There isn't I have had to scour the net and the bookstores for anything even remotely updated and modern about throwing a baby shower with glam. I have found some great stuff from a few - there's Martha Stewart of course, Hostest with the Mostest and a few others with great ideas to help me along. But for the most part the pickings have been thin.

So, to lessen my frustration and to keep all my ideas in one handy location instead of on 20 scrap pieces of paper, 2 notebooks and my online google docs account...I thought I would post a cute blog about designing a baby shower. Yes, designing - not just planning a shower...but designing it as an experience. I am after all a graphic designer...nay, that word itself is so constraining...I am what you would call a Visual Communicator. I design mainly print pieces but I believe in total design. Not stopping at the invitation but looking at the minute details to design an experience not just a pretty piece of paper.