The Ultimate Baby Shower

With Katie's newest beastie getting ready to make an appearance in February, a few of her friends (me included) got together and decided to throw a shower back before Thanksgiving.  During one of our planning meetings, someone commented "I don't think I planned this much for my wedding!", so overboard might be an understatement.  Since Katie is so crafty, we decided that this shower better be crafty too.  I took some pics to share with you all, now that the shower has happened and is no longer a secret.  Here we go!

OBJECTIVE:  Crafty, Boy themed baby shower
THEME:  Owls (to play off all those super cute nursery details you've been seeing)
REQUIREMENTS: 
Food - Katie has been craving fruit the whole pregnancy, and what's a party without food!
Craft - to personalize the event
Game - a great reason to pass out prizes


Shannon was a wonderful hostess, and set up the space beautifully for the party, as well as preparing a lot of the food!


The Registration Table, featuring baby photos of the other two beasties, thank you notes, advice cards, a raffle basket and party favors.

We were so fortunate to have the super creative owner and designer of Paperlicious on our Shower Team!  Amy designed and created a whole coordinated package of everything we needed printed to make this shower great.  With the invites Amy included a great little card asking guests to talk about why little boys are great.  When guests arrived, they dropped their cards in this bowl.

To kick start Katie's diaper supply, we had a raffle for anyone who brought a package of diapers with them.  Amy designed and printed beautiful little tags to tie everything together.

Our guests put their names and addresses on envelopes so Katie would have her thank you notes pre-addressed.  Amy designed the Thank Yous to coordinate with the invitation and gave the whole package to Katie at the end, making the thank you notes as easy as could be!

After guests checked in, they got to do a craft.  Mandi, the sewer of the group, stitched up 14 of these flannel burp cloths (soft on baby's face) for party-goers to decorate with shapes.

Guests came to the cutting table to trace their shapes onto coordinating fabric, which Mandi had already applied fusible interfacing to so they were iron ready.

And with a little heat from the iron - appliqued burp cloths!  This was a different take on decorated onsies, because Katie has already been so blessed with gifts of baby boy clothes.  She won't need to add to Beastie #3's wardrobe for several years, so we wanted to provide her with something useful.

Here's our tree and clothesline with the finished burp clothes - which perfectly coordinate with the nursery fabric (we know they're used to wipe drool, and...other things, but now it can be done in style!).  Amy also did a great job with our tree to display the finshed pieces!

After guests finished their assignments, it was into the kitchen for food.  Since Katie has been craving fruit like a fruit fly, we decided to do chocolate fondue.  We had strawberries & blueberries...

Pineapple, Bananas, Pretzels, Marshmallows...

Brownie Bites & Cheesecake Squares.  Lots of good things for dipping!

We covered our savories too, with cheese and cracker plates, a veggie tray, Yellow Pepper Cheese dip, hot artichoke dip, swedish meatballs, olives, baby pickles & mixed nuts (can't have a party without mixed nuts!).

We all ate well that day.


For dessert, we had homemade Cherry Pie (by request from the guest of honor)...

and a homemade Owl cake.  Kandi's cake decorating talents floored us, with all of her elaborate piping and frosting tints.  Not only was it beautiful, but delicious too!


After food, it was gift time.  There's Katie with Beastie #1, who came to share the festivities for her new baby brother.  She is an expert gift opener.

Our game tied in with gift time - "Katie Said It...Bingo!"  Again, Amy brought us these beautiful Bingo cards, and the tag to tie it all together.

As Katie opened her gifts, guests covered the squares on their Bingo cards according to Katie's response.  The blank spaces were for guests to fill in themselves what they thought Katie would say.

And the winner got a prize!


We sent guests home with an edible party favor - Owl Cake Pops!  They perched on the registration table in a nest (foam block) covered with sheet moss.  The Owl Pops were my creation, which I'll detail in another post, since this was the first time I've taken on cake pops of any kind and I want to share the fun.  And of course we tagged them with coordinating tags, made by Amy! 

This shower was so much fun to throw for Katie, and we're all very excited as we wait for Beastie #3 to make his appearance in February.  Feel free to grab ideas and make them your own, we'd love to see what you come up with!

My Craft Room!!

This past summer we gave our youngest daughter the boot from her room and moved the beasties in together. They love being roomies and there hasn't been any problems (yet...they are only 3 and 5...I'm scared of the teenage years!) What did we do with this new found space? We made it my craft room, of course! It's been a wonderful space and I love having it all to myself. A few weeks back, my in-laws came for a visit. Seeing that it was the first time seeing our house, we wanted to make sure it was spic and span for their arrival. I took advantage of this and made sure to take pictures of my super clean craft room (it's since fallen apart...a little...) So here are the pics! I love 'em and just looking at them makes me want to make something!

view 1: the bookshelf in the background is my fabric storage, the short table is my sewing table, and the long table is my multi-craft table
ps- the upholstered cornice board I made to match the room- I love it!












view 2: my wonderful cutting table that I searched high and low for (got it at Ikea in the kitchen island section)- it fits my cutting board perfectly. Eventually there will be a TV on the wall so my hubby can watch TV while I create. (note the clock on the wall- I made it out of a plate and stickers...and the lamp- made of little rosebuds from Hobby Lobby and glued on)












view 3: the white cupboard in the background is my gift wrapping station












another view of the wrapping station- cards, tissue paper, ribbons...it's all there. And the drawer hols the tape scissors and labels. (the wreath and R have since been combined and hung above the cupboard...stay tuned for that one!)


















view 4: the closet- it's since be revamped for efficiency

A Baby Thing (or two...or three...or ten)

So I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant (well- I was 30 weeks this past Wednesday.) Which means less then 10 weeks until Baby Boy gets here which means less then 10 weeks to get myself (and my family AND this house) organized and working like a well oiled machine (riiiiight- just wanted to see what it felt like to write that....) Anywho- maybe because it's the holiday season or maybe because of the baby's imminent arrival or maybe because I know my time will be at a premium once he gets here but I'm feeling rather crafty lately! I thought I'd post a few things I'd like to do before Baby Boy arrives mainly to organize it in my own mind and so I don't forget the things I'd like to make. So enjoy and if you have a bun in the oven too or are looking for some fun baby gifts, then check out the tutorials I found!

Nursing Cover

Changing Pad Cover

Binky Straps

Wooden Monograms

Easy Swaddle Sheet

Crinkle Toy

Blanket with Mitered Corners

Baby Hat

Crib Sheet

Wet Bag

Super Girls!

My beasties wanted to be superheroes for Halloween so off I went in search of the perfect tutorial to make a cape. I found it on thelongthread.com. They turned out really cute and I love the sparkly belts (1 inch elastic sequin trim), wrist bands and masks (silver glittery bathing suit material) I made for them. My husband said they couldn't be REAL superheroes until they had masks. All of the materials I got from my favorite cloth store called Mary Jo's. This place is a HUGE mecca of fabric delight (how's that for an advertisement?) Check it out here.

check out the pumpkin I made- it was a bumpy one that I painted green and then puff painted the face on. The hat was from the dollar bin at Target (it was a pet costume)- sweet, huh?


















that's one good lookin' candy man!


















SUPER GIRRRRRRRL!

Oh my...

I have a friend who is having twin girls. I was on one pretty thing this week (perhaps you've heard me mention that site before??) and there were several tutorials for baby things being featured. The first was an ADORABLE baby bonnet that I HAD to make. And let me just say that the baby that's modeling the bonnet is SO stinkin' sweet it makes my teeth hurt. I'm glad I have someone(s) to make the bonnet for because I don't think my boy will appreciate me putting a bonnet on him when he's born in a few months!

Reversible Baby Bonnet on Sew, Mama, Sew! (don't you just want to snuggle her and sniff her head?!)

Cute Halloween Crafts

I'm an avid reader of oneprettything. I'm officially obsessed with that site and check it several times a day. This site is the reason my "someday crafts" list keeps growing longer and longer. Recently, there has been an abundance of Halloween and Fall crafts and I just thought I'd share some of my favorites (all of which I plan to make over the next week or so...)

Floating Ghost by Everyday is a Crafting Day!














Harvest Blocks by Shannon Makes Stuff (the one I made is going to say "welcome" and sit on my mantle)















Superhero Cape by The Long Thread (my girls are going to be superheros for Halloween)


















Boo Wreath by Craftaholics Anonymous



















Have a spook-tacular time crafting!! (see what I did there?) ;o)

Katie

Best.Cookies.Ever!

There was a mom from our small group that would make these A-MAZING peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. They were SO yummy that I had to ask for the recipe. I've made them several times since and they're always a crown pleaser! Give 'em a whirl- you won't be sorry (although your love handles might be!)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

* ½ C butter
* ½ C butter flavor shortening
* 1 C peanut butter
* 1 C granulated sugar
* 1 C packed light brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2 ½ C flour
* 1 ½ tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp baking soda
* ½ tsp salt
* 12 oz chocolate chips

* ½ C chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. In bowl beat butter, shortening, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar, eggs and vanilla on medium speed until nice and creamy
3. In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add to peanut butter mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts if desired.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until set, remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before cooling on wire racks.

That's what I'M talkin' about! Yum!!













Katie

Nap Towel Revamp

My youngest daughter started preschool a few weeks back (sniff) and she needed a towel to take "rest time" on. I use the term "rest time" very loosely- try getting 15 3 year olds to lay down and be still for 10 minutes and see how successful you are! Anyway- I couldn't just send in a normal towel. I needed to make it pretty so I looked through my ribbon stash and found some chute ribbon that matched perfectly and set to work. First I embroidered her name (I couldn't just write it in sharpie on the tag!) and then I used some stitch witch to attach the ribbon to the towel (so it wouldn't slide around when I sewed it. Then I tacked down either side with a basic stitch on my sewing machine and I was done! A super cute towel that she wriggles around on for 10 minutes a day.

The original towel...BORING!!












The updated version...cute!

Craft Room Clock

As you may know, I gave my youngest daughter the boot out of her room and moved her in with her bigger sister so I could convert her room to my craft room...selfish? I think not. Their room is actually huge and they LOVE sharing. Anywho- I'm still in the process of taking pictures of the finished result (actually- the room is currently in shambles from about 30 projects I've been working on so I'm embarrassed to take pics...) but I did want to share a cute clock that I made for the room. I originally had a wooden square clock that I dismantled and was going to mod podge some scrapbook paper to the back and reassemble it and hang that- a nice simple re-use project, right? WRONG- as soon as I took the back off, all the clock dials started coming undone- it was a mess. SO I moved onto plan B. With the help of my trusty craft buddy, Kaitlin, we set off to create a plate clock. I had seen several of these at the bakery Amelie's in Charlotte, NC and I loved them. They looked easy enough so off I went to get the necessary materials. I needed a plate (duh) $3 from Homegoods, a clock kit $6 from Hobby Lobby (plus 40% off), scrapbook numbers $2 from Hobby Lobby, a dremel drill, and drill bits meant for porcelain or glass $12 for 4 sizes at Lowe's. We submerged the plate under water (in my handy dandy lasagna pan) and started drilling. Slow at first then faster when I became inpatient but eventually we had a hole big enough for the clock kit. The rest of the assembly was easy then I added my sticker numbers and voila! A plate clock! Here are some pics...

It's a....

BOY! Yipee!
We went for our ultrasound yesterday and found out we're adding a boy to our crew! The little ladies are really excited! Some of the names they suggested: Samuel (nice), Justin (my brother's name), Ashton (Olivia's new BFF in kindergarten), or Lilly (that was my 3 year old's idea...) While all the above are nice, I don't know if we'll be going that route. Now that we know, hubby and I can start discussing nursery and name ideas- yay!! Right now the nursery is our guest room. Over the next 5 months, it'll be changed into a sweet nursery for our little man. Where will the guests go you ask? (ok- so maybe you're not asking, but our guests- mainly my mom- are...) They will go up on our 3rd floor...which was supposed to be the man cave but then turned into an extra playroom and will eventually become a guest/media room. It's scary up there...toys and craft paraphernalia are strewn about. It was the landing zone for the kids when I had a mom's small group at our house and the babysitters would take them up there. I had BIG plans to clean it out up there when my mom was here in July for 3 weeks (sniff- miss you mama!) but I got too busy crafting, and playing, and reading, and going out on date nights with the hubs (free babysitters RULE! sniff- miss you mama!!) So there it sits- in all it's destructive glory...I'm waiting for the nesting urge to kick in- then I'll really whip this place in shape- until then- I'm going to take a nap...

:o) Katie

Lemon Blueberry Trifle

My friend made this for our small group a few weeks ago and my taste buds danced- never mind the fact I'm currently a little nuts-o about blueberries. There's a guy at our local farmers market that has the BEST blueberries- oh my- I've probably spent over $100 this season on blueberries alone. We froze 10 pints of them so I can make blueberry pie this Thanksgiving along with blueberry pancakes and blueberry scones all Fall and Winter long. It's my nod to Little House and the Prairie (I love that book!) Anyway- I digress (I do that often...) I begged and pleaded on my knees for the recipe (actually, I emailed her and she emailed me back...in like 15 minutes- what a gal!) It is SO good- I made it the other night for my mom's last night visiting here (she had been here for 3 weeks- oh how I miss her!) Check it out, then do yourself a favor and make it...and try to not eat it all in one sitting...with the bowl between your legs and a spoon in your hand watching Cake Boss (not that I speak from experience...)

Ingredients:

* 1 frozen prepared pound cake (16 oz)

* 1 lemon

* 1 1/2 cups milk

* 1 (8oz) container sour cream

* 1 container cool whip

* 2 packages (3.4 oz each) lemon instant pudding

* 1 pint blueberries

* 1 square (1 oz) white chocolate for baking (I used 1 oz white chocolate chips and food processed the heck out of them)

Cut pound cake into 1 inch cubes. Zest one lemon and set aside. Juice the lemon and sprinkle lemon juice over pound cake and toss gently. Combine milk, sour cream, half of the cool whip, and reserved lemon zest, whisk until smooth. Add pudding mix, whisk until begins to thicken.

Set aside 10 blueberries for garnish. To assemble place 1/3 of the cake on the bottom, top with 1/3 blueberries, grate 1/4 of chocolate over, and top with 1/3 of the pudding mix. Repeat layers 2 more times. Use remaining cool whip to make rosettes or dollops on top- place a blueberry on each dollop and sprinkle remaining chocolate on top.

**side note- I used all of the cool whip in the mixture- whoops!- but it still tasted heavenly.**

:) Katie

So much to share!

Good grief! Has it been long enough? I go into summer every year dreaming about carefree days where much will get accomplished and all will be happy and tanned by the end of it and about halfway through I wake up. We are one busy crew here! Especially add to it the fact that I'm now 15 weeks pregnant (yipee!) and exhaustion pretty much made the first half of the summer nothing but a hot, sunshiney blur. It's been like 900 degrees here for about the last 2 months- I believe we skipped right over spring and got into the dead of summer within a matter of days and here we stand. So- not only do I have 2 beasties to chase after, but I'm 15 weeks pregnant, trying desperately to NOT gain 60 lbs with this one (it's ugly...really, really ugly), and possibly living on the surface of the sun- whew! BUT, I'm back (for now) and boy do I have a lot to share...we have the craft room set up (it's not quite done yet- but almost!) and I LOVE IT!! The color is perfect, the crown Derek and Nate put up is perfect, the furniture is perfect (I'll tell you about my cutting table another time) and it's a great spot to go and create. Never mind the fact I have about 30 unfinished projects or things I'd like to do (which I should probably do in the next 5 months- I somewhat recall newborns being kind of a time-suck...that's all a blur too...) Anywho- I'm back and ready to post! Maybe when school starts it'll be better?? Maybe not...

:) Katie

We Went Here!

On Monday, we took a spontaneous trip to an architectural salvage warehouse in Charlotte called Crossland Studio, and had so much fun looking at all of the beautiful old pieces. To name a few things, there were doors, windows, mantles, chairs, door knobs, sinks, bathtubs, barber chairs, stair spindels, cash registers, and Katie's favorite, church pews.

Everything was old, some things refinished, some not.  We both have hopes of someday shopping there as we design our custom built, new but looks old, homes (don't remind our husbands, moving is still too fresh in both of their memories).

The church pew was Katie's favorite find

We both coveted this for our craft rooms.  Too bad it was $$$$$ and neither of us will probably ever buy it, but it was beautiful and functional, and either of us could easily fill it with all of our junk.

My prize for the day was a nickel plated hook to go in our powder room.  We repainted the powder room almost a year ago, and at that time removed the $4 builders special towel rack.  It looks much more appropriate over the wash tub in the garage than it did in my powder room.  Since I removed the eyesore and had N. patch the wall to remove all traces that the ugliness was ever in my home, I haven't found something to replace it that lives up to my expectations.

I know that it's just a towel hook, but I just expect too much sometimes.  I want to LOVE everything I buy for my home.  If we're shopping for a lamp because we have a dark corner that needs to be lit up, if I can't find something I LOVE, I drag N. out of the store and tell him the corner can stay dark for a little longer until I fall in love with the perfect lamp.  This also explains why I have such a mismatch of furniture, an unpainted front hall, and general sparseness when it comes to home decor.  In the front hall, it's probably just a $30 gallon of paint, but I've been unable to select the perfect color that will tie together my buttery yellow kitchen, latte colored family room, tin colored dining room, and my red accent walls.  But the paint color can wait for another day, because after a year, I finally found something I LOVE for the powder room, and bought it.  It also helps me know that I can't walk into seven other people's houses and find the exact thing, which happens frequently when I shop Target or IKEA.

And in regards to all of the beautiful windows, doors mantles and furniture, we'll browse, scheme, plan and dream about where to put that Craftsman style leaded glass window, or which doors need vintage glass knobs someday.  So many things to choose from, and only two houses to put them in!  Here's the video tour of Crossland!