Baby Shower Ideas

We have been spoiled... I mean SPOILED by coworkers, friends, and family over the past few weeks! We are expecting our first little one in late July. I am so amazed at the creativity and simply RAD ideas that people around me come up with. Here are just some neat ideas from Baby W's showers:

Waddle on Over to the Duck Pond

Waddle on Over to the Duck Pond Shower Invites from MonogramWedding.com

Gift boxes were provided for guests to fill in with candy and sweets.

The sweets table included candy, cupcakes, and a cake shaped as a  bathtub filled with rubber duckies. 

Rubber duck cake and cupcakes

An adorable duck themed diaper cake

The cooler for the drinks was a baby bathtub from our registry. After the party, they gave the tub to us as a gift. 

Guests played BINGO as the gifts were opened.

This idea is from Abby @ AbbyandAdam.blogspot.com

Guests were asked to write down their gender, weight, height, and date prediction for the new arrival. 

Baby Wilson's Brunch Shower

Brunch Shower Invitation from MonogramWedding.com

Guests were asked to take their name tag from the mirror and guess the arrival date of Baby W by placing it on the calendar. Depending on if they thought Baby W was a boy or a girl, they would use a pink or blue thumbtack. 

Guests names were placed on this mirror for them to grab and place on the calendar.

"Dad to Be" guessed a boy on the expected due date.

Guests were asked to fill in the blanks on a card using descriptive words to describe what they thought about Baby W's arrival. They made great keepsakes for us and will be a lot of fun to look back at once Baby W is here. 

Lisa made tissue puffs that acted as centerpieces for the tables. 

As a favor, guests filled their own goody bags with sweets in the shower colors.

Welcome Baby Hannah Rose

These photos are from a good friend of ours baby shower. Baby Hannah is due just one week before Baby W! 

Favor boxes with a petite four were given out to guests as they left.
**All paper products were also printed by MonogramWedding.com**

The favor boxes were displayed on a tiered platter.

A banner saying "Baby Hannah".

The invite for the shower was framed and used as decoration.  

Guests were asked to help decorate a onesie for baby Hannah.

The onesie acted as a cute guest book that mom and baby can hold onto for years to come. 

Link up and add your own Baby Shower ideas or Inspirations here:

Important Sayings

I can't get enough of these signs! This time, I used some leftover pine we had in our garage from our garage shelves. I am addicted to making these!  I made these for 2 of my wonderful friends. I followed the same process as the Important Date Signs.

Link up and add your DIY signs or inspiration here:

Banana Crumble Muffins

I hate to throw away bananas, but I refuse to eat them if they have the littlest spot of brown on them (I prefer my bananas to be GREEN!). I gave this muffin recipe a try today and I am in love. The crumble adds an entirely new taste to your typical banana bread. Enjoy :) 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Wrap it up....

I took some extra burlap and decided to wrap up the wedding date signs that I had made earlier.  Using my Cricut, I added a tag from wood inspired paper and tied it all together with twine. I thought they turned out adorable so I thought I would share.

Important Date!

I have always wanted to create a "Family Rules" sign like I saw on the blog "Between You and Me". I still want to create my own family rules sign, but in the meantime, I used the same process to create some wedding gifts for some friends. I love the way they turned out so much that I am going to make one for Nate and I!

Here is how I did it....
Step 1: Take a board or wood canvas (I was able to find this premade wood canvas at Michaels) and stain it with wood stain.

 Step 2: Paint the front of the wood canvas with a shade of white (I used "Antique White")

Step 3: Use a stencil or a cutout to trace your design (this is where my Cricut comes in handy!).

 Step 4: Paint the design with black acrylic paint.

Step 5: With fine sand paper, sand the entire area until you have your desired look. :) Tada!

Linked up!

  

Bench Fix!

When I first wanted to redo our front living room, I purchased a very used dining set off of Craigslist. It came with a table, 2 chairs, and a bench all for $60. the previous owners had 2 children who left their mark (in multiple ways) all over not to mention that the previous owners also attempted to stain the top of the table without sanding it first. To say the least, the set was not the nicest looking thing I have ever bought on there. I purchased it for the table. I loved the legs on it and I knew a coat of paint would made it just right. I'll post what I have done with it in another posting.
For now, I want to show off what I did with the bench. I was going to put it back on Craigslist, but instead attempted to update it in order to use it in our front room. I love how it turned out!

Before (had to use a stock photo..sorry):

After a little TLC, spray paint, foam padding, fabric, and a staple gun (oh and an adorable pug named Winston):

Link up and share your bench fixes or inspirations here!