that's a wrap

One of my dear friends just became a grandma for the first time.  I wanted to get her something special and when I saw these adorable cookies I knew they would be perfect!!!  On the card I wrote "grandma's are like mom's with frosting."  These would make great favors for a baby shower too. SO fun!

sugar & spice

I was going through some old photographs and found some from a baby shower that I had for my dear friend who adopted a baby from China four years ago.  The theme of the shower was sugar & spice.  I made some onesies and hung them on a clothesline as decoration.  I had guests write "whispers of sweet nothings" for the expecting parents on candy shaped paper. A candy jar was placed next to it to collect the messages.  The favors were spice drops that guests scooped into mini take out containers.  I served food that was either sweet or spicy.  It was a really fun shower to host.  You can also check out the bird themed baby shower I did last summer here OR type "bird shower" into the search box to your right. 

gift

To continue the theme even further, I found a sweet gift from one of my favorite sources: Chasing Fireflies. It was a petite nest that came with a hat and onesie. I carefully took them out and had them monogrammed with a blue "J." I wrapped the whole thing in cellophane and finished it with a brown ribbon.

a sweet "tweet" for you

The party favors for the bird themed shower were blue "J" shaped sugar cookies....A sweet take on a blue jay and the first initial from the baby boy. I used the same scrapbook paper and whole punch to embellish the cellophane bags. We put them under a white feather tree for guests to take home after the party.

coconut cupcakes

For dessert I made these coconut cupcakes using Rachel Ray's "Quickie Coconut Cupcake" recipe. I only made half of the recipe for "icing for a crowd" and had plenty for 24 cupcakes. I then used toasted coconut for the nest and some blue jordan almonds for the eggs. I found the brown and white polka dot liners in Ireland- but, I am sure you can find something similar from Bake it Pretty. The best thing about these cupcakes.... they were easy to make and tasted delicious!

a little birdie told me....

I always love to have a place for guests to write messages, advice, thoughts and ideas for the mother to be. So using some more craft paper and a whole punch I embellished this album to coordinate with the rest of the details for the baby shower. We put a note inside it that read " a little birdie told me" and passed it around at the shower for everyone to sign. I got a few of these advice books when I got married and had my first baby and I still enjoy reading through them.

blue "j" bellini

I always like to serve a signature drink when I have a party. For this baby shower
we made blueberry Bellini's- that I re-named "Blue J Bellini's." The recipe can be found here. To make it even more fun I made some drink stirrers with bamboo skewers, craft paper and a whole punch.

feathering a nest

Today I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend Nell. The theme was "feathering her nest" using birds, feathers, and a blue "J" (as in blue jay) since she will be naming the baby something starting with that letter. We used the colors orange, brown and blue. As you can see from the photo above we used onesies on a clothesline for decoration. At the end of the shower we gave them to the mother to be as an extra little gift. Stay tuned this week for lots of details from this fun day.