O Baby...It's a Shower!

Ok, so I hosted this shower like two weeks ago and I'm FINALLY getting around to posting about it. I've been taking a bloggy sebatical to take care of some end-of-the-semester school stuff but the semester is over and I am back! YAY! Anywho, I am sure you have all been waiting with bated breath for me to post these pics. lol

I tried to make as much in advance as I could so I would have less to do the day of the party. I highly recommend starting as far in advance as you can because you have more time to stumble across that perfect find. Also, if you shop for groceries in advance (about a month) and freeze what you can, you can usually catch sales on everything you need.

The party theme was shabby chic pink and green because those are the baby's room colors and I wanted to make some decorations that could double as gifts.

By the back door: An Easter sign transformed for the day with a little scrapbook paper and a label to match the other decor (I'll tell you how to do these in a bit).

I found a brown frame and transformed it with a little white spray paint (what else?) then matted the invite on some cute paper and framed it to go in the baby's room later.

This is the scrapbook from here all wrapped up with a tissue paper bow and some packaging paper (my go-to for wrapping everything, versitile and I love the simplicity of it).

The gifts table with $ store doily bunting from this post.

And here it is with all the loot:

The prize for the winner of the baby game: a little jar of $ store Baby Ruths of course...cute fabric, a bow and a label are a must!

Here is the game I used. I couldn't find a version all set up for matching (which is necessary because it is pretty hard!), so I made my own using this website for the words and candies. If anyone wants the finished game, ready to print and play, you can email me or teach me how to post a pdf file on here (I'm completely computer illiterate and can't seem to make it work). I'd be happy to share the ready-to-play version because it takes a little while to design it and get the formatting right.
Here are the cupcakes which I used as a substitute to a cake because they are quicker, easier, and very freezable. (And I {heart} cupcakes)
Baby Cakes!

Here is an {amazing} rusty mail box that my uber-talented-garbage pile-surfing-great-aunt found...I know awesome right??? I love junk! It was perfect for corraling all the napkins from this post.

Ok, so here's the scoop on how to make the tags/labels. In Microsoft Office Word 2007, insert a circle in the size you need, make the outline as thick as it will go and make it dotted (formatting shape). Now insert a text box over the circle. Format it so that there is no outline and no fill and type your word or label. make sure it is centered and print. If you're making multiple labels, it is helpful to group the text box and circle (by holding down the control button and clicking on both shapes, then right clicking and checking group) and copy and paste them so that all your labels are the same size.

Forks all gathered in a little galvanized bucket feminized a bit with a pretty linen napkin.

And here is the cupcake and plate table:

Complete with the $ store pink runner from here and of course my old stand-by the chalkboard.

On the beverage cart: a few markers for labeling plastic cups.

The lemonade served in a cookie jar set atop a little green cake stand.The beverage cart...remember the hairbow holder from here?

in a little galvanized bucket beside the cart on a plant stand...
I made the labels using the method above (font: pupcat) and tied them on with pink and green ribbon and twine. Refrigerate the night before so they will already be cold and you don't have to stick them too far into the ice...the tags will smudge.

The spread:

Menu:

Waldorf Chicken Salad

Biscuits

Spinach Dip

BBQ Meatballs

Zucchini Bread

Baby Quiche

Fruit with Cream Cheese and Marshmallow Dip

Quiche recipe found here.

And because I couldn't resist, some pics from the party.

Cute baby belly!

Baby Gator

The Giving Tree

A handmade quilt

Beautiful Mommy!

Mommy and Grandma-to-be

Me and the mommy-to-be

Thank you all for sticking with me through this extremely long post...now off to actually get dressed (still in my pj's). Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Hopefully I will get to do some pics of mommy and daddy before the little bump arrives in June!

Happy Monday!

Ramsey

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Cosmetology??? Prom Hair

Here is my first experiment with prom hair!

I offered to style my beautiful cuzzie's LONG, THICK, STRAAAIIIGGHHT hair, and this is what we came up with. Tip: It's all in the hair spray. Before you curl, after you curl, after you style, again after you style... I can't believe I was actually able to make it curl (her hair has like never been curly before). It took 3 sets of heat rollers! So, without further ado, here she is:

I know, this one came out a little overexposed, but I was in a major hurry to get them on the road, so all I was concerned with was avoiding a horrible flash pic.

Sweet! (Yea, she took the lovely orange bracelet off after this)

And the helicopter view...I thought it turned out pretty cool.

Happy Sunday!

Ramsey

Recycle:Napkin Rings

So I got to work on some of my baby shower crafts yesterday (YAY!) and I finished these cute napkin rings. They did take a little long, BUT an extra pair of hands would have made it go a lot faster! I will definately post all of the projects and pictures after the shower, but I wanted to post some tutorials as I go, so here we are.

Paper Towel Rolls (Yay for recycling!)

Scrapbook paper

Twine (remember the $1 twine, it's back!)

Labels for your napkin rings

Cut your paper towel rolls (minus the paper towels) into pieces (about 10 or so per roll) and cover them with scrapbook paper using your trusty hot glue gun. Punch two holes near the top of the ring as shown that you will match up with holes in the label. I made my labels in microsoft word by inserting a circle shape and changing the outline to the thickest width and polkadots. Then I inserted a word box into the circle and used the font pupcat to type food words (Delish, Grub, Eat, Enjoy, Nibble, Bite, Chow, Yum, etc.). I just printed these, cut them out and punched two holes in the top to match up to the holes in your PT rolls. Now tie a nice little twine bow through both and you have a cute little shabby chic napkin ring to display at your next party.

Just make sure if you are doing like 30 of these to GET SOMEONE TO HELP!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Ramsey

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Dollar Store Love! Bunting

A little lace makes everything better. Don't you just love the look of shabby chic, especially for SPRING!?!?

This cute bunting came together with nothing more than 5 minutes, a glue gun, a pack of $ Tree doilies, and a roll of twine. I got some twine at $ General (my other favorite store...I know I sound really cheap right now) for $1 and it has lasted FOREVER! Cut the twine to the length you want for your bunting and adjust the number of doilies accordingly. Now fold the doilies over the twine, hot gluing the doily to the twine as you go. Use a little glue around the edges of the doily...you will burn your fingers...sorry, thats just the way it is...use a low-temp gun. THAT'S IT! Go hang your doily in your little girl's room, across a doorway, or outside on an old horse trough like mine!

AAAAHHH...I love projects that take little time investment!

Hope your Easter was filled with SUNSHINE, WORSHIP, FAMILY and, OF COURSE, CHOCOLATE!!!


He wishes you a Happy Monday!

Actually he's just saying..."Dude, where's the leftover ham???" But we'll pretend he's wishing you a happy Monday.

Lots of love,

Ramsey

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Making the World Cuter Monday

YUM YUM Coconut Pineapple Cake!

I made this cake for Easter and didn't want to post the recipe until i decided if it was good or not. By the time I thought to take a picture of the cake, it was ALL GONE! I got a craving the other day for some yummy fruity cake and this is what I came up with...and, of course, it's starts with a boxed mix. Soapbox moment! Boxed cake mixes are a miracle worker! You can completely mix them up a million different ways and (my favorite part) you can usually find them on sale for $1! Here We Go!

Coconut Pineapple Cake

1 boxed cake mix (I used pineapple cake, but you can use plain yellow if you want)

1 small can crushed pineapple

1 bag shredded coconut

2 tbsp. mayo

2 tbsp. cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Mix the boxed cake mix as directed on back of box, except add one extra egg. Drain the crushed pineapple thoroughly and dump it into the cake mix. Reserve juice from the drained pineapple for some glaze later. Add in the cream cheese and mayo to keep it nice and miost. Finally, stir in about 1/2 cup of your coconut. Now don't eat all of the batter before you can get it into the cake pan! Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and pour your batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake the cake for about an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle. Mix powdered sugar with pineapple juice until it reaches the desired consistency. When the cake is completely cooled, pour the glaze over the cake and sprinkle with left over coconut...OMG this is SOOO good! If you want your cake to be super moist, bake it a few days in advance and freeze it until you're ready to eat.

Hope you enjoy and I hope you all had a wonderfully happy Easter!

Lots of love to you all!
Ramsey

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