Garden Tea Party Themed Baby Shower

The baby shower went really well yesterday. Here is a summary of all the crafty details:

I used the tissue paper pom poms from Martha Stewart again. They are just too pretty and were almost mesmerizing to sit under - with the air conditioner going, they spun slowly overhead. It was a nice effect. :) I also make mini poms (half fluffed) as napkin rings - there are instructions in Martha's tutorial for this as well. I put the rolled napkins in the tea cup at each place setting. With the help of my friend Megan, I thrifted all over town to find teacups (silver tea set, which I didn't need, but couldn't resist). There are some nasty thrift stores in Manhattan, but I also found a few real gems.

I also used Martha's pattern for a paper garland. You can use the .pdf of the alphabet in her tutorial, to customize and print your own (I enlarged the letters for mine) or you can buy a kit at Martha Stewart Crafts.


Ah ... my diaper cake. Perhaps my greatest crafting achievement? I think I am just pleased with myself because I didn't use someone else's instructions and came up with a pretty solid method. I photographed each step and will hopefully have the tutorial up by the end of the week.

My favorite parts of the diaper cake are the rose decorations. They look pretty real, right? Well, don't be fooled ... I made them out of coffee filters! Another great project on marthastewart.com. A woman named Cassie Chappell from Seattle showed Martha the process on her talk show, so there is a tutorial and an instructional video. You can check out her roses at www.mommymakesroses.com. I will post more on them later as well, but go to Martha for the detailed step-by-step instructions.


Keeping with the theme, I made a teapot cookie for each guest. They turned out cute, but were incredibly fragile (the spouts just snapped right off). I had 7 extras, but by the time they were iced and transported, I had just enough for an unbroken cookie per guest - phew. I'll post on the cookies later.

This baby shower was at work, and one of the benefits of working at a large law firm is we have an on-site caterer. It was great! The presentation was so nice, and the catering manager saw to every detail personally (he was setting up almost as long as I was!).

1. Turkey sandwiches with Dill Havarti on Seven Grain Bread
2. Roasted Red Peppers with Fresh Mozzarella and Pesto Spread on Foccacia
3. Truffle Risotto in Phyllo Dough

1. Chicken Cobb Salad in a Lettuce Cup
2. Piquant Pepper Stuffed with Fresh Mozzarella
3. Chicken Salad with Mango Salsa on Raisin Bread

1. More of the Chicken Cobb Salad
2. Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with Dijon Remoulade

For dessert:
1. Fresh Scones with Jam
2. Skewered Strawberries with Chocolate Fondue
3. Miniature Tartlets
4. Petit Fours

For hot beverage, they served an assortment of teas, coffee and hot chocolate (for me). :) It was so thick and chocolatey. Have you ever read the book, Chocolat? (It was also made into a movie). My bookclub girls will know what I am talking about, but it tasted precisely how I imagined Vianne Rocher's to taste. I had to dilute it a bit with water because it was so strong. Yum.

I forgot to take a photo of the cold beverage service, but they served pink lemonade and various sparkling ciders (my favorite was the apple-mango).

So, are your mouths watering? Flik (our in-house caterers) really outdid themselves. It was so nice to just pick the menus and let the pros do their thing.


All in all, a wonderful baby shower. It took me who knows how long to prepare and 4 1/2 hours to set up (I fluffed all the pom poms that morning in the office. Can you imagine me walking down Broadway trying to carry those things?). Everyone wanted to take one home, so the room came down in less than 5 minutes - that was kind of sad. But now I can start thinking of ideas for the next one ... another one of my managers is due in January.

preview

going to bed ... will post more photos tomorrow.

Garden Tea Party Baby Shower

Have you ever seen the blog, Style Me Pretty? I love it - although it is a wedding blog, there are so many beautiful ideas that can be used for other events and celebrations. One of my favorite parts of her blog are the Inspiration Boards she frequently posts. She recently had an inspiration board contest and the submissions from readers was impressive as well.

So, when I recently got involved in a co-worker's baby shower, I decided to put together an inspiration board of my own. She is having a girl, and we decided to do a "Garden Tea Party" theme.

Here are my ideas:

1. Tea pot or tea cup sugar cookies as a favor - I'll have to head on over the NY Cake to get a new cookie cutter.

2. bowls or large teacups full of pink jelly beans/candy on the table - anyone know where I can get bulk pink candy in NY?

3. We are still deciding on a group gift. Almost everything on her registry is already purchased, so one possibility is to get a car seat to decorate and fill with goodies

4. Finger sandwiches and other tea party food - hopefully displayed on pretty cake stands. Hostess with the Mostess posted about a new line of Martha Stewart whitewear at Macy's that looks promising.

5. A diaper cake

6. Lots of pink lemonade as a beverage

7. Tissue paper pom pom flowers hung from the ceiling - I was thinking in shades of pink, cream and mint green. I've made these before, so it should be easy.

8. Matching pom pom napkin rings

9. A garland hung in one of the windows or over the food table - ours will say "congratulations" or "baby brewing"

10. Assorted teacups at each table setting - this will be a little tricky. I am going to hunt around the city's thrift stores and see if I find cheap ones.

That's about it so far ... do any of you have ideas to add?

Disneyland!

It really is the happiest place on earth. Jared and I just got back from our trip to California. It was so fun to have a week to relax and hang out with this family. One of the highlights was definitely going to Disneyland, especially for a first-timer like myself.


We went on a lot of exciting rides, but we decided the best shared experience was going on the Teacups with Jared and his sister Holly. Our legs were completely jammed in that tiny cup and we spun our hearts out.


I took a few photos on the ride and this one is my favorite - Jared just looks so happy and carefree. It also helps that he is not pulling one of his "photo faces" (see teacups photo above).

Another highlight was Fork Man in the parade. He was really great.

All in all, a wonderful day! We slept through the next afternoon to recover.

I made a couple of baby blankets in Santa Barbara. I'll post photos of them soon.

Super hero shirt with cape

I made a "Super Sam" shirt for my nephew's birthday. I appliquéd the star and S on the front (a first for me), added some ribbon trim and a cape that velcros to the shoulders.

I think he looks super cute in it. :)

I got the idea from a post over at Cool Mom Picks (which I love). In April, they posted about Little Capers, a company that makes really cool super hero t-shirts with capes. So very cute. If you aren't into sewing and your kid is over the whole bath towel-as-cape look, this is the place to go. Anyway, Sam seems to like it. Yay!


The long dog was a bigger hit. He got loaded with hugs and kisses as soon as he was pulled from the box. My sister said Sam named him "Polkadot."

So cute.

I love you Sambo!