Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

A few weeks ago I helped with a baby shower for a neighbor. The neighborhood did it pot luck style and there was some yummy food! I made ham & cheese sliders, my MIL had made them for a shower a year ago, they are so yummy! There wasn't a real theme or anything, but the Mom to be said she was doing her nursery in red, brown, and cream, so I made a small banner in those colors for above the food table.

I also made this yummy punch. I got the recipe from Pinterest of course!
I was also in charge of the favors. Ever since I did this post, I have been dying to make some lips! I thought they would work for favors since it was a baby shower for a girl! They were a piece of cake, my Silhouette did all the work, I slid in the suckers and they were done.
Here is one close up, I will totally be using these as Valentine's some day.
I also found some cinnamon lips to go with the favors.
I made the Mom to be a small diaper cake, the flower is actually a headband for the sweet babe. I didn't use all the diapers, so I tied a ribbon around the rest.
It was a fun summer night to enjoy my neighbors, can't wait to meet the little lady in a few weeks!

The Bebe Shower: Games

There are so many fun baby shower games out there, I always have a hard time deciding which ones to play. I never want to do more than 2, otherwise after food, chatting, and opening presents you would be there all day! One of my favorites that I didn't play is "guess what your eating" where you take the labels off baby food and people have to taste it and try to figure out what they're eating. I also think the candy bars smashed in diapers is funny, but a bit too realistic for my stomach to handle.

The first game I chose is the simple "what's on the tray?" I put the tray out for about 2 minutes, then took it away and had everyone write down what they could remember on the tray. Isn't it sad I had all of this in my diaper bag already? I didn't have to find anything. I had 14 things on the tray: a Binky, washcloth, diaper, socks, cereal container, bulb syringe, baby lotion, a spoon, a Q tip, sippy cup, book, bib, rattle, and baby wash. My SIL that won (I know I have a LOT of SIL's) she remembered all 14!
Here she is posing with her prizes. I went really simple with the prizes, a blue pack of Orbit gum, and blue Jones soda, with a necktie, I think they were cute! I like how the winner matched her prize!
The other game we played is one of my FAVORITES. It is difficult though to round up the supplies, especially if you have a breast fed baby. I managed to round up enough slow flow bottles though to have a bottle drinking race. I gave each person a bottle with an ounce of cranberry juice in it, I used cranberry just for the color, and then everyone raced to see who could drink theirs the fastest. This one is so funny to watch!! Those slow flow nipples really make you work!

I gave the first and second place winners each a prize, here they are posing, what do you know, Steph was the winner!
I had so much fun with this shower! We all had a great time, it is always fun to get together with family and friends! My next party is planning my son's first birthday in April, I can't wait to share it!

The Bebe Shower: Menu & Favors

Just thinking about this post is making my mouth water, the food at the shower was so good! We were presented with somewhat of a challenge when we first put together our menu because the guest of honor has gestational diabetes. Not only did we have to think sugar free, but one key point to focus on was making sure there was a good carb to protein balance. Thankfully, my sister in law who helped me prepare the menu (she also graciously let me use her house to host the shower) had some great ideas to make the menu diabetic friendly, while still making it DELICIOUS!

My sister in law made scones that were to die for! She made cranberry pecan scones and served them with orange honey butter, and plain scones and served them with home made raspberry jam, are you hungry yet?? Here they are in all their glory...We also served crust-less mini quiches, avocado dip with veggies, tea sandwiches, and sugar free hot chocolate. I have never made quiche before, but since we were trying to minimize carbs, I found this crust-less recipe that was SO SIMPLE. They were so fun to make and so delish---I think I am going to have to make them as a Christmas Morning tradition, I think they would be lots of fun!

For dessert my sister in law pulled out all the stops for 2 amazing SUGAR FREE cakes. You would've never known they were sugar free, they were heavenly. She did a poke cake with a sugar free cake mix, sugar free jello, sugar free pie toppings, and sugar free whipped cream. I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but here it is ready for topping...
She also made a sugar free pecan pudding cake....YUM.
For the favors I didn't go the sugar free route, but I told my sweet SIL and Mom to be to save this one a couple weeks until after the babe is born. I used my mustache sucker molds to make the fun suckers. I bought some Guittard melting chocolate, and had all the rest of the supplies I needed on hand.

At first I didn't know the best method to melt my chocolate. I tried putting it in one of my glass measuring cups and then melting it on defrost, stirring after every minute. This was a giant PAIN. Then my light bulb clicked and I remembered I have a double boiler for just such an occasion. SO EASY. I suggest that method whenever you are melting chocolate. I just melted the chocolate, poured it into the molds, set them in the freezer for 5 minutes, and they set right up. I think they turned out perfect!
I put them in some cello bags, tied them with baker's twine, and added a tag I made with Photoshop and my Silhouette.
I love how they turned out! Thursday I will wrap up my baby shower posts with the games we played at the shower, they were so fun, stay tuned!

Here are the links to the recipes I used as well as the recipe for the tea sandwiches:

1. Scone recipe is found in this cookbook.

2. Crust-less Mini Quiches

3. Avocado Dip

4. Poke Cake

Tea Sandwiches

6 oz cream cheese at room temp

1/4 cup roasted red peppers

Juice from 1 lemon

Cucumbers sliced very thin

Combine cream cheese, peppers, and lemon juice in a food processor. Apply a thin layer to each slice of the bread of your choice (I used pumpernickel, the flavors goes well together). Add cucumbers to one slice of the bread.

I wanted to cut them into the shape of baby onesies, but my slices were too small. Oh well!

The Bebe Shower: Decor

My baby shower budget was very small, these days we are stretching our dollars super thin. Despite that fact, I tried to make it cute and simple. One thing I did learn with throwing this shower is take some PTO at work and take the week OFF. Due to the fact I was trying to balance work and the shower, some of my decor, (the pom poms I wanted to make, the lanterns I was going to spray paint, etc.) did not get made. I still think it turned out cute though. I spent a grand total of about $20 out of my pocket on this shower. The only things I had to buy was some scrapbook paper, chocolate, and some food. I have a great family who helped make/buy food, I am so lucky! Everything else I had on hand.

First, I made this necktie banner. Remember how I hung my Christmas cards? Same idea here with the twine and clothes pins, which I already had on hand. I used my Christmas present from my hubby (the Silhouette) and can I just say, that little machine is AWESOME. Saved me so much time cutting everything for me!
I have a bunch of the TOLSBY frames from IKEA. I picked them up a couple months ago, they are darling and only $.99!! I love how you can use them front and back too! I put a picture of the parents to be, an ultrasound photo, then used some scrapbook paper to jazz them up. I also decided with the "little man" theme to do mustaches on a stick. I have seen these a bunch of places, my cute friend Cierra did an awesome photo shoot with some, and I thought they would be so fun. I was RIGHT! Everyone loved them! I downloaded a mustache template from Lisa Welge's blog; I debated whether to do them in felt I had, but then I thought, "I can either hand cut them out of felt, or the machine can cut them for me out of paper." I don't have to tell you which choice won. I just used my trusty glue stick to glue them onto skewers.
When I decided to do the "little man" theme, all I had for ideas was my sucker mold. I perused the internet a bit and came across this CUTE idea for necktie napkins over at the Smitty Baby blog. So easy to make, just use napkins I already have, cut the ties out of scrapbook paper, and use a glue stick to adhere them. Easy, cheap, and FUN!

Don't the mustaches and neckties look great together?

I used the diaper cake to as a decoration at the end of the table, overall I think the decor turned out cute, what do you think?
I can't wait to share the rest of the details with you!

The Bebe Shower!

This weekend was so fun!! Lots of family time, lots of good food, and LOTS of fun! My sister in laws baby shower turned out great and we all really enjoyed ourselves! If you remember I went with a "little man" theme, and I think it was well received. Here are a few pictures of the event, starting off with the guest of honor sporting her sweet stache'....



There were a couple things done at my baby showers that I decided to implement in all baby showers I participate in going forward.

First, if you are the hostess, designate someone ELSE to take photos of the event. That way you can focus on your duties and photos still get taken care of. If you try to do both (unless you are a great photographer, I know a few of you who would do amazing) you will forget to get some photos and/or be super stressed. My cousin took my camera at my shower and took a bunch of photos for me, it was so nice, I got to sit back and relax, yet have tons of photos from the event. My niece (who is 21, I wasn't depending on an 8 year old) was so gracious to be my photographer at this shower, which is good cause you have seen my horrible photography skills. Once you have someone else take the photos, burn them onto a CD as a gift for the mom to be.

Second, as the guests are arriving designate someone to greet them and hand each an envelope and a pen. Have each guest write their address on the front of the envelope, and give thank you cards as a gift. Then when the mom to be does her thank you cards, the tedious task of addressing envelopes is done for her, she can just stamp and go.

I will be posting all the shower details (decor, menu, games, etc.) throughout this week and next, I have lots of fun photos to share!

Diaper Cake Tutorial

My sister in laws baby shower is this weekend, I am so excited! I am finishing up all the details and will be cooking up a storm on Friday. The thing I love about diaper cakes is not only is every part of the cake useful for a new Mom, it also makes a cute decor, or a fun centerpiece. I have seen diaper cake tutorials around, I never actually used one, just went on my own, so I will share my super simple one. Sorry my photos are HORRIBLE!! To all of you photographers out there, please bear with me, I suck at photography, and really need to get better. My other problem is that I do a lot of my projects at night when my baby is asleep, so I have zero natural light. That mixed with my warm color scheme, does not make my house very photo friendly.
The supplies I used:

A cake stand (I just got this one for $2 at my local bakery supply store)

ONE- 15 ounce bottle of baby lotion

ONE- 3.5 ounce bottle of baby shampoo

80- Diapers

80- Rubber Bands

Ribbon

6 skewers

Embellishments/gifts

First, roll all your diapers. I flip them over and roll from bum to top, I like use the cute characters for color, if you prefer white, or are going to completely cover your layers with ribbon, it won't matter how you roll them.
Tie your rubber band around each diaper. I tie all mine in the same spot, so it is easier to cover them with ribbon. I use the size as my marker for consistency.
Once all of your diapers are rolled, you can start building your first layer. I placed the baby lotion in the center of the cake stand and then place diapers around it. I used 45 diapers for my bottom layer. Once I had all the diapers placed, I tied a small blue ribbon around them to keep them stable and in place.
I then built my second layer the same way around the top of the baby lotion bottle. Once I had both layers built and placed, I CAREFULLY secured the layers together using a skewer. I gently placed the skewer's blunt end through both layers, then clipped off the excess.
You can get as creative with your cake as you'd like, putting in extra surprises throughout it. I found this tiny tee that I know my brother will be super stoked about, so I decided to put it inside the cake.
I wrapped it around the baby lotion bottle, then placed my baby shampoo bottle inside it for my final layer.
I added my final layer and put in another skewer. I then covered the rubber bands with a larger ribbon.
I added a couple cute rubber duckies and a fun letter "E" as finishing touches on my cake. The letter "E" was white and I spray painted it a dark gray to go with the nursery theme (it almost looks brown in this photo, again my HORRID photography skills). If you want you can get fabric or ribbon and cover the diaper layers completely to make it look more like a real cake. Personally, I like the fun color the characters add. I hope my SIL like it!
Stay tuned next week for the details of the shower, hopefully I can get some decent photos, but we are having it at night, so I may be doomed!