Monday, June 16, 2008

"Baby, meet Orange."





I just had to post the details of the baby shower I threw for my sister-in-law on Saturday. It was a lovely day in Portland (finally!) and I think the shower was a big success. After planning this for a while, it was so fun to see it come together.





My inspiration for this shower was this "macaroni pumpkin" crib set from Fawn + Forest that my sister-in-law had already purchased for the little baby boy on the way. She's not into "babyish" stuff and prefers more adult-type decor (in fact, the baby will be sharing their room for the first few months). She is planning to accent with some blue and brown, so I created an invitation and theme around these colors. (I thought I had a photo of the invite, but can't find it. If I remember, I'll just create another one and add it to this post. Sorry!)


I created this flag banner out of four different kinds of scrapbook paper. I chose a slender font, made it like 600 point size (or something like that) printed out the letters onto regular paper, cut them out, traced them onto scrapbook paper, and glued them together. Double-sided tape attached them to the brown grossgrain ribbon.
I loved the fun scrapbook papers I was able to find...a little at Michael's and some online at Paper-Source. This was the main way I was able to tie the three colors together into a theme.Here's some of that cute scrapbook paper again. This time, I wrapped it around square glass vases to make a cute display with white mums and a cute teddy bear (my only baby-ish decor).
Candies in Ikea jars are another great way decorate - in the color palette of the party, but of course!

I created favors using Ball canning jars I got on sale at Target. I spray-painted the lids white (they were gold) and created round labels using printable stickers from Paper-Source (love that place!). Half the jars had Russian tea mix and the other half, dried papaya sticks. (Why? They were orange and inexpensive!) I served iced Russian tea at the shower, too.

Cupcakes - of course. Half chocolate, half vanilla w/ light blue frosting. It's actually really easy to do decorative frosting with the basic Wilton cake decorating kits. Just need a plastic bag and decorative metal tip. (I got mine at Target, of all places!)


Don't you just love scrapbook paper? It even helped personalize these plain kraft gift bags. The little brown box was a prize for the winner of this game...


The guests were good sports and took a Celebrity Baby Names quiz...

And here I am, with the guest of honor. Isn't she cute? She is so chic, and tiny, so cute and so NICE, too. It was a pleasure to put on this event for her and I can't wait to meet my little nephew, due sometime in September. This will be the first baby boy in my husband's entire extended family since my husband himself was born - and he was the only boy in his generation. Yikes! So we're greatly anticipating this little guy's arrival!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed these pics!!


* Edited to add: I posted a pic of the invite I created for this shower on a later post. Check it out here.

26 comments:

  1. Wow - you did such an amazing job! I love the pairing of the orange and light blue!

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  2. I'm sure the WOW!! I give you on your blog comments every day are wearing thin, but honestly...you WOW me! What a gorgeous baby shower! I loved everything!

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  3. What an incredible shower! I love that it was so chic and modern - not cutesie, but definitely stylish! Tara sure is cute! I'm really happy for her.

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  4. Oh, my goodness, you are so darn talented! This seriously belongs in a magazine. I'm in awe. -Julia

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  5. What a beautiful shower! I love the things that you can do with a little scrapbook paper. That banner is fantastic!

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  6. OK -- now I want to have a party! I really, really love the colors. I clicked on the Paper Source link and my eyes almost popped out of my head...Had to close browser immediately before potentially being stuck in my office for the rest of the night! :-)

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  7. What a shower! (love the dried papaya from Whole Foods mmmmm!!!) Love all your favors, decor, such fun!

    blessings,
    kari & kijsa

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  8. What a beautiful party! And the little touches you did, which were many, are so thoughtful!

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  9. What an amazing shower and such pretty decorations! You are sooo talented!

    Lots of great inspiration here...

    Linda

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  10. Ok, SO I LOVE ORANGE!! For some reason the only way I found to get into my nursery was with Suze Zoo...so unoriginal, I know...anyways though. I absolutely love your blog. I found you through Today's Creative Blog!! I can't wait to bookmark you!!
    YIPPEE!!!

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  11. Wow! I am so glad that Kim featured you! You will definitely be added to my regular read list.

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  12. Hi. You are my new best friend. I love throwing parties and showers too! Love.it. My cousin and I threw a brown/pink/blue shower for her SIL and used scrapbooking papers in much the same way! Our only baby-ish thing was one white Ty beanie bear! Great minds and all that...

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  13. Love the party decor! Can you tell me where you found the cupcake holder - I am looking for something like that and just havent found the RIGHT ONE. Thanks! Cindy S

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  14. whoa...am blown away by all your lovely comments, and so surprised by so many new visitors! thanks for stopping by! rcstaub - the cupcake holder is from Crate & Barrel. I love it too!

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  15. OMG... this entire post blew me away! I LOVE it! Everything! The colors! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I shall be back! You are in my google reader now!

    btw... i came over from today's creative blog!

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  16. Courtney! What a fabulous shower you put on. Love the special touches everywhere....I am sure your sister-in-law was thrilled.

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  17. Courtney, thank you for putting together such a wonderful shower for Tarah. You do such a great job.

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  18. Very fun! Tarah is so blessed to have such a wonderfully caring and talented sister-in-law. I know if we lived closer we would have fun talking about all things home and decorating. If/when you come to visit Tarah and Kasey I hope to meet you!
    Best,

    Raya
    www.paperpony.net

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  19. You've inspired me!!! I'm throwing my own Baby Boy Celebration and I must use these fabulous colors. Did you happen to do an ivite for the shower???? If so, I would love to take a peek!

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  20. beautiful baby shower!! way to go! I can't believe the story about how few boys there are on his side of the family WOWZERS!!!

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  21. I thought I was creative! Love your cupcakes, the baby name quiz, the color coordinated candy in jars, the great round stickers.. all of it. The Mommy was very lucky indeed!

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  22. Beautiful baby shower!!
    What an amazing shower and such pretty decorations! You are sooo talented!

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  23. You've inspired me!!!

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  24. I love your ideas. Do you have a template for the celebrity baby names that you could send my way?

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  25. Just curious how big those triangles are for the banner.

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thank you for commenting, dahling! I can't wait to hear what you have to say. :-)