Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > A Mommy Shower

Recently my good friend had the most adorable baby and gave her an equally adorable name to match: Cora Jean. My friend is an amazing mama to two other little girls, crafter extraordinaire, and a country girl at heart. In a nutshell, she's just an awesome chick!

After she had her little cupcake, my friends and I wanted to do something fun just for her, since she had just made the cutest baby and she lets the rest of us fight over who gets to snuggle and love said baby. Seriously, is there anything better than holding a sleeping baby that smells like love and rainbows?! (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny bit with the rainbows and love thing; but in my crazy head that's what I think a squishy newborn baby smells like.)

Don't get me wrong, you all know how much we love a great baby shower around these parts; but sometimes it feels like a new baby gets all the attention and the poor, tired and sore, mama gets pushed aside like an ugly stepsister. I'm mean really, if you just created a tiny perfect human being, you deserve a little pampering. Or a cupcake, at the very least!

So we threw her a little party just for her, mainly to say thanks for having a sweet little baby that we can heap lots of love on and not have to feed, clothe, or pay for her college. And since our gal is a true country girl, (seriously, she has some great stories about plucking chickens and stuffing her family's pet goose for a high school science credit...) we decorated her party with a little farm chick flare:

All of the gifts were strictly pampering mom gifts, with the exception of some extra packs of diapers because really, not having to spend money on diapers is a gift in itself. She can use all that extra money on Starbucks and pedicures! Well, I would anyway...

We used lots of old funky mason jars and hung some fantastic Target dollar zone tea lights with some nubby twine. We also used small mason jars for our drink cups and then took some fun cupcake liners (from Target again) and used them as the lids:

Then of course was the food. No mommy shower is complete without yummy foods!

Thanks Mystie, for having the most beautiful baby girl so that my own ovaries didn't have to!

P.S. My husband thanks you too.

~Angela

Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate > Ruffled Crepe Paper Streamers

I am in love with these ruffled crepe paper streamers.  In the last month I've used them several times and I'm pretty sure I'm not finished yet.  Can you say "OBSESSED!!"  I learned how to do this at MADE, and her tutorial is the fastest, easiest way to make ruffled crepe paper streamers, the woman is a genius.   
I've used the streamers to decorate, made party hats for Mikey's Birthday Party Banner and also used it for the Treats Banner.

HMMM - I'm thinking Halloween Streamers.  -Laurie

Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate > A True Labor Day

Meet my son Mike, AKA "2Wicked". 

Today is his birthday - so 25 years ago it truly was "labor day" for me.  In honor of his 25 years, I made a banner of Mikey through the years.  The biggest challenge is that Mike is the 3rd child, you know what that means, he raised himself  he was a little left out of the photos.  The first child you take 1000 photos the first year (I think I had 1000 the first month) and 500 each year after, the 2nd child gets 500 photos the first year and 350 each year after, the 3rd child gets - well lets just say it might look like we adopted him when he was three and then he didn't live with us from the ages of 13 through 16.  And then he lived with us but we had our first grandson and thank goodness that we took a thousand pics of the new grandbaby because Mike was in some of those.  So if you're reading this and about to have your 3rd child - take note because at some point that 3rd child will notice that you are a little thin on pics of them.  After finding a respectable number of pictures, scanning them (remember film - without a choice of a digital copy), resizing, printing, cutting out and putting on the party hat, this is what it looked like made into a banner and hung across the gazebo.  

It was fun for everyone to see him at different stages of his life and fun for the grandkids to see him when he was their age.

Happy Labor Day!   -Laurie

Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate > Red, White & Blue

Making my plans for Labor Day.  Thinking, thinking, thinking, - I've got nothing - YET.  Check out my 4th of July decorations.  If this was back in the day when I had small children I would probably still have these decorations up - reminds me of the time I still had my Christmas decorations up in February, but that is another story or - "a timesaving tip." 

I use my red, white and blue decorations at least three times a year - Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.  Don't you love the Dollar Tree.  The red lanterns came from Hobby Lobby, a package of three different sizes for $3.99 (clearance) - what a steal deal!  The big striped plates and oblong napkins came from Ikea.  Stay tuned for menu and games. 

 Laurie