Taking a break for Sweet Lauryn

So renovating took a back seat for a few weeks while I put together a baby shower for a dear friend. In fact, she's mybest friend. I mentioned Lauryn in a previous post and if I made this blog about our shenanigans there would already be hundreds of entries. Lauryn's having her first baby and just in time if I had my say. I'm starting to get baby fever and sweet Lauryn came through for me! Lauryn and I mix well like coffee and cream. Both of us very different but without one the other wouldn't be as good. She's simple and elegant. Her style is shabby chic and classic rustic. I love her style but I could never see it on my own and think "that looks good." I always have to see it after she picks it or buys it or owns it, in all areas, clothes, furniture and decor. Her allowing me to throw her baby shower must of felt  like a heart attack coming on for her. She's a planner, I'm opposite of that, she's quiet with manners, Im opposite of that, she prefers things that don't cause attention, I'm VERY opposite of that. But I wanted to make this special for her. She means the world to me and I needed to remember this wasn't about me or for me and I wanted to do it right, I wanted to do it perfect for her. So I went to work typing shabby chic in ever search engine I could find on baby showers. I wanted to keep the decor pale turquoises and pinks, burlap and lace. I found her invitations early on and I worked off of it from there, keeping the theme of the invites. I ordered them and had them personalized. 

I found these on Esty but only as PDF files that allowed you to print them, I knew I wasn't crafty enough to do that, plus finding stock paper, envelopes etc. so I searched the picture with google pics and a few invitation companies popped up that allowed  me to order them and they'd print them along with my return address on the envelopes. It's been 6 years since I've had a baby and even longer that I've had a baby shower and things have changed. I saw people made these diaper cakes and wreaths that you could buy. But I wanted to attempt it myself. I wanted her to have something special made from me plus I wanted to put my own special touches on it. I know that one of her favorite flowers are peonies and ironically mine are too. In fact that's my only favorite flower. She once had a girls movie night at her house for me to see the movie Steel Magnolias because it was a staple for her growing up and I had never seen it, so I wanted to incorporate magnolias in her decor as well. And all the diaper cakes I saw had an empty paper towel roll in the center to keep it firm, but I know Lauryn and I know that a new mom needs a ton of diapers and a bottle of wine. So I used a bottle of my favorite wine in the center. I also noticed most made diapers are rolled and are held in place with rubber bands, and I know at 3am with a screaming newborn in a pitch black house half out of it from lack of sleep the last thing a new mom needs to be jacking around with is unwrapping diapers with rubber bands, so I wanted mine fanned out. This is what I came up with;

 

I gave her a small 2 1/2" frame at the top to frame a baby picture or whatever she wants. I used a cardboard cake platter that I got glued the bottom of the wine to in order to hold it in place and kee it from sliding. I double layered some ribbon and added the pearls like garland. 

I set two tables up with place settings, my large dining room table and my breakfast table. 

 

 

The place settings are made up from my everyday dinner and salad plates from Pottery Barn. The chargers actually go with my Christmas China and are also from Pottery Barn but worked perfectly with my everyday plates. The napkins I got from Pier One and the napkin rings my daughter and I made from extra twine and left over faux flowers we had from the decor. We used a wire cutter and cut individual flowers off leaving about 5-6" of wire stem, then wrapped the twine really tight, securing it at the end with green electrical tape I had in the junk drawer, then we bent the wire into a circle and twisted the ends together like a bread tie. 

The water goblets and flatware are also a part of my everyday place settings and I basically went thru them and picked out the ones that don't seem to get circulated as often. 

 

 

 

The centerpieces I have some thought to. I have a big 3 gallon drink dispenser with a spigot that looks like a mason jar so I wanted to play off of that. 

 

During one of my trolling binges on Pinterest I came across a picture of some painted Mason jars used as vases. I noticed a company sold them but again thought I could definitely do it. I used craft paint and twine to tie at the top then used my bush of faux peonies and cut three stems off placing them in the jar. Two per table looked awesome but I felt it was missing a little extra flare. I found these cute little lanterns on Esty and snatched 3 white and 3 turquoise with som battery operated flickering candles. 

 

 

As shower favors for the guests I came up with an idea to use Mason jars filled with all the dry ingredients for chocolate chip cookies which happen to be posted all over Pinterest and happen to be Lauryn's favorite sweet treat. With a sweet little note I printed on stock card paper on my home computer thanking them for coming and the baking directions for the cookies, all they need to add is vanilla extract, butter and 1 egg. I cut out 6" circles of coordinating fabric and tied the fabric to the tops of the jars with the twine that I also hole punched the cards and tied onto the twine. Guests loved it and seemed surprise that they also got a small gift.

 

I used a chalk pen and chalkboard stickers to write the "Thank you" on the jars. 

 

The wreath was my next venture. My daughter and I did it together from directions we found on Pinterest. One of the guests came up with a great idea to put a small chalk board hanging in the middle and hang it on the door of the hospital room with baby's name, birthday, and birth weight and height. LOVED THAT IDEA. 

 

I saw an idea for a baby shower to hang twine from the fireplace with misc onies and hats hanging from it by old fashioned clothes pins and I thought that idea for my theme perfect so I ran with it and had fun picking out all the coordinating hats, pants and onies. 

 

 The cake and cookies were bought at a local bakery and were a perfect fit for the whole thing. Thanks to a mutual friend of Lauryn and I. Thanks Lindsay!!

 

 

I had catered sandwiches and salad from Panera that I would suggest doing to anyone. Being Italian and a pretty good cook I usually make all the food for my gatherings. I love it but I'm usually running around, half dressed, never got my hair and makeup finished and spend the whole time in the kitchen never talking with the guests. This was well worth it and I will definitely be doing it again. I was put together nicely, calm, and got to entertain my guests. 

Lauryn was blown away at the time and detail I put into this shower and that made it all worth it to me. I did everything with her and only her in my mind as to what she would pick or like. I did however put one small "Mo-Flare" on the situation that I knew she'd laugh at. Since my house sits on what use to be an open field less than a year ago it doesn't show up on most navigation systems so I knew she'd worried about people finding the place. I thought of all kinds of options and remembering Lauryn's style vs my usual way of causing attention and I chuckled to myself as I thought, "I went elegant and classy all up and down inside, let's go ahead and do obnoxiously loud outside. 

I hired a local company called "Sign Gypsies" and if you live in this area let me tell you, they are an amazing company and worth the small amount they charge to put signs up in your yard and take them down. This is what guest saw as they pulled up!!!

 

She laughed and laughed when she saw it. Well worth every dime.

 

Thank you Lauryn for being such an amazing person! Many blessing, much respect and plenty of love from me to you!