Baby Shower in a Box

Baby shower & a box? What?
...I live a long, long, long, way away from my son & daughter in law, and my soon to be born 2nd grandchild! 8 weeks to go!
I also love new baby clothes, blankets and parties & I really wanted to throw a baby shower for her, but due to logistics it wouldn't be possible.
Then (hold the presses!) I decided to throw the shower from "here" anyways, and send her everything "over there", that she would need. I started by asking what colors she'd prefer, and after I told her a couple of my ideas, we settled on blue, tan and brown. (No baby blue) She also liked a little elephant for the animal.


Here is the baby shower invite...inspired from a template by Kim Hughes.









I made the first one rather quickly-not thinking about how much tracing and cutting would be involved for 24 invites! Because baby grandsons are special and one of a kind,-it was so worth it!





...embossed with dots


25 invites-cut and stamped-ready for the mail!!



The Banner!

I'll show the "How to" on another post..
Can I just say I love the Big Shot from Stampin' Up!?


Hard to read "Connor" from far away...I'm hoping she will have someone to help hang the banner .

Lots of little elephant cupcake toppers...

Cute Martha Stewart punch.

The cupcake paper wraps! Used my Big Shot and a cupcake wrap die cut. Fabulous! Got it with a 40% off coupon. Oh yeah.

Price Busters (like a dollar store) had these chocolate colored plates and cups!! I love blue and brown together. This blue is actually a little darker in person.

The little paper cups for the mints and peanuts.

...for the guests, some peanuts...

and indivually wrapped mints- I like the all white.

I tried to include everything but the punch/drinks, for the afternoon shower.

Cake mix and frosting for the cupcake. Hum, I hope someone will make these for her too.




A certificate for an ice cream cake.

I couldn't forget the games!

The 3 baby shower games...

Scrambled baby words/items, Nursery Rhyme Riddles and Baby animals.

and their answer sheets-all printed out. Thank you internet search.



The 3 prizes, for the game winners!

A coupon keeper, a 2011 planner, and a "To Do" notepad.

(Oh man- I hope her friends don't read my blog?)

Now...the prizes all wrapped up! oops -got some baby blue in there.

The tag/label. (a label set I got from Stampin' Up.)

...I couldn't forget the outside of the house!!!

Balloons for the mailbox..

The whole shower!! The whole party!

I put the items in zip lock bags, and wrapped it all up . I even drew a little layout of how I'd set it up if I were there.(Yes I realize it looks quick, ugly and like a little kid wrote it...) But you get the idea-right?

And the two boxes-all packed up and ready to be sent!! Love those flat rate boxes! I put extra things in them as well.

Hey Brit-Party time on its way! Enjoy!

Sweater "Cozy" Inspiration

It doesn't really "feel" like winter here in Hawaii, and its too hot for hot chocolate,soup or sweaters.
I have however, been noticing a lot of sweater "cozy" items online-

I like these sweater plant covers.

These bracelets-so easy to make these!


Pillows-what a cozy thing to have on your couch...

Bowls? this sure would keep your hands protected!

A nice wine/Apple cider cover...

Yes! Candle covers!

And...Anthropologie-need I say more?

I was inspired to make some of my own vase "cozy's" so I headed to the thrift store and bought some various clearance sweaters in different colors.


I slid my clear 99 cent vases through the sleeve to see how where to cut it off...

and then snipped away.

Funny, I didn't even care if they were Liz Claiborne,Old Navy or Gap sweaters. I would never wear them here.

I tucked the excess fabric in side and didn't glue it down, in case I need to wash the vase or cover.

There! All three covered and cozy!

I like the cable knit sweaters.



My nice fall vases.

Now I will try to make pillows from the rest of the fabric.

Fall/Autumn/Harvest Party

Last night we had some couples over for our Harvest Party. This was the invitation I had sent out...( showed it on a previous post)



I twisted three strands of inexpensive garland together and placed them on one side of our screen door.





I put a wreath in between the front windows,



and put a pumpkin and leaves in our planters.

I also placed a pumpkin and glass hurricane outside by the front door.

Inside I used a bunch of stuff I already had...

I thought I'd show you the inexpensive decorations I used...(pictures were taken in candle light and in flash mode)



I bought this grass/wheat thing? at Ross for only $4.99, and the tablecloth called "Sultan". I Loved the paisley pattern and colors in it. It also fit the length of my table! I wanted to use something with height (and the wheat stocks I wanted at the craft store were too pricey to tie into a big bundle..)so I used this grass thingy.

I sat the "grass thingy" and the wood candlestick on top of an old wood Pepsi case that I turned upside down, and then set my thrift store cornucopia on it as well. I placed the artificial leaves and pomegranate's in the cornucopia.

Next I put my miscellaneous garage sale find glass hurricanes on the table then wove my Walmart garland around ,over and through the candle holders. I also added the other wood candle stick to the table and I placed leaves in the glass jars.

I also added the real mini pumpkins to the tables and a few of my Oregon pine cones.

Outside on our lanai I had decorated my garage sale buffet table ($10!) by placing a clearance Pier Import runner on top...

then a Pier Import black, metal lantern. I got the copper ice/drinks bucket at a thrift store -it says "Cheers" on the front.

I bought a mum at the grocery store and put it in a woven pot I already had and added more leaves and pumpkins and also added a few branches of leaves into a clear vase.

On our outdoor glass table I added a piece of burlap cloth, a wood table runner and another lantern.

I also added pine cones, pumpkins and more artificial leaves.

Next on our table I added my wood bowl, candle and pine cones,

...plus I added another mum and my acorn candle from last year.


We share in a "potluck fashion", then we all play a version of "How well do you know your spouse?" game. Questions like..."Where was their first road trip in their own car?" "What would you spend $100.000 dollars on?" "What do you like about being an adult?",etc..

The guys and girls have different questions that they answer, then we all meet in the living room to compare our answers. We laugh- lots and lots of laughter!

This was the 3rd time we've had a potluck " get together" this year, and it has been so, so much fun!

I'm already thinking about our next one -maybe for Brian's 50Th birthday or for Christmas...

Now for theme!?