My niece shared with me the idea of having guest bring a book to give instead of a card. This way each person could include a special note inside the book. Life has lead her to Texas and so she felt these notes and books would provide a personal connection for Claire to family and friends here in North Carolina.
So a custom invitation was created with this precious little poem and a book theme was adopted.
What better way to greet guests than with a custom covered book rack to deposit books on and some colorful labels, if needed, to write notes on.
Mr. McGregor's garden was set up as a food station in the kitchen with cucumber sandwiches, veggies and dip, and a few of our favorite books.
In the dining room there was citrus punch, fresh fruit, chicken salad cups and cupcakes. And of course more of our favorite books were tucked into table decorations and the china cabinet. I sewed up a custom table cloth in my chosen color theme. If you can't find something ready made that you like then head over to the fabric section for a one of a kind touch.
The cupcakes are adorned with handmade flags that reflect all things baby. This modern doily is made of plastic and is reusable. They come in different colors and shapes. How great is that.
Flags included the names of baby, parents, and things you can expect with new babies. Our go-to lady that makes the delish almond icing our family is addicted to had a huge wedding and was unavailable to make our cakes so a huge thanks goes out to my friend for making these beautiful mini cupcakes, matching the frosting to my tablecloth! They were a huge hit and so cute.
Flowers were a combination of a bouquet I bought and lillie's from our yard. I could not resist the bright pops of color. One smaller arrangement went on the dining room buffet and this one was placed on the kitchen island. A coordinating fabric square carried the color theme into the kitchen.
So congratulations to my niece and nephew-in-law. You have a beautiful baby girl! I'm sending lots of hugs and kisses from North Carolina. I can't wait to meet our newest addition. - Great Aunt Marianne
For a little DIY information relating to the shower read more here.
Round up your stuff.
When planning an event I kinda go around the house and round up things that may work with the theme I am using. Somethings get used and some don't.
I bought these cute modern doilies at ikea but had not had an opportunity to use any of them. The dark pink worked well with my theme.
Paper details. Cupcake flags and hand written details.
We made a few little notes to help guest and label areas. Then we made some custom cupcake flags that matched our color theme. If you do not like your penmanship then recruit someone to write for you. That's what I did. All you need is scrapbook paper, something to cut with and markers.
I thought it would be cute to have little phrases that relate to new babies and the names of the parents and babies.
Custom table cloth or runners. Easy P-Z. Beginner sewing.
Select fabric to match the color them of your choice. I trim off any rough selvages. This particular fabric did not have the pattern exactly centered in the width of fabric so I had to cut a little extra off of one side to be sure the pattern was centered down the middle of my runner. Using an iron to make a nice crease I folded the edge over 1/2 inch. You can use a fancy sewing gadget to measure or just use a regular ruler. Next fold the outside edge under toward the crease and iron as you go. Take to sewing machine and top stitch. Repeat on all sides and you are finished.
I call this a runner because it just did cover the top of the table. I knew that I wanted to make a floor length cloth to go underneath it out out of some beautiful linen fabric I had.
I have trouble letting go of anything that I think I might can use later and this fabric was one of those things. Originally the fabric was used to cover some walls in a showroom at furniture market. If you look closely you can see the staples still along the edges. I cut the stapled edge off and then just threw the fabric over the table to determine the size I needed and how much excess needed to be cut off. Then I repeated the process above to finish edges.
Customize a ready made book stand purchased at Wal-mart.
Beginner sewing because you just use a straight stitch but Not So Easy P-Z project because you have to figure out the dimensions for each piece that you cut and determine how that piece attaches to the next (especially when you are not using a double sided fabric). This is an excellent brain work out, however.
The book case came with a sling that had bold primary colors. Not exactly what you want in a nursery so I decided to make a new sling for it.
To start I just laid the original sling down on may fabric to determine the width that I needed adding 1/2 inches to each side. I got lucky that the pattern I selected had straight lines that gave me a visual to keep my cutting straight.
Next I took all the pieces out of the box and followed the instructions.
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