A Spring Green Bridal Shower

Posted in Family & Motherhood by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

A few weekends ago I had the great privilege of helping put together a bridal shower for a dear friend I’ve known since elementary school. I had just finished BlogShop when her sister and I were deciding the details and I was a little mood board obsessed (still am). I found these invitations (via Minted) a long time ago that I was dying to use, and since the bride lives in Omaha, I thought the idea of throwing a linen shower to keep all the gifts light for transport back on the plane was a brilliant idea. Turns out, though, that the idea of a “linen shower” had some guests very confused and wondering if they were supposed to bring a towel or their own towel or what linens were. Ha! At least there was a little suspense surrounding the shindig — makes it all more interesting!

I found a lot of great decor on the Ikea website and surprisingly, didn’t really need much else. We were able to reuse green plates from our wedding,the bride’s mom had some darling hot pink champagne flutes from another party, and I scored some awesome green tablecloths on clearance at Target. Plus, I found a bunch of ways to use washi tape (via cutetape.com) to keep with the modern green theme from wrapping the utensils, decorating the plain white cups, and covering the clothespins.

I’m not usually one for shower games, but the bride’s sister came up with a clever way for everyone to play without any humiliating moments — guess the celebrity bride. Everyone received a printout of photos of celebrity brides and grooms with the faces covered up. One point for the bride and another if you could name the groom. It was really fun.

The favors were little dishtowels with a little notecard that said “All you need is love. And dishtowels” secured with one of the handy clothespins in keeping with the theme on the invitation. And we even used dishtowels, potholders and oven mitts to create cute little backdrops on the food table and mantle. For brunch we had a yogurt bar with add your own fruits, nuts and granola toppings, mini quiches, pastries and sausage balls, and for dessert a cookie platter made by my mom and cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes. Yum!

21Feb2013

Valentine’s Day 2013

Posted in Family & Motherhood by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Remember how I told you Mumbles and I had been married for exactly 1,000 days? Well, look what dear, sweet husband had custom made to celebrate the occasion…

Our friend Paul is an incredible artist who makes custom paintings. One of the first pieces I saw of his was an amazing custom surfboard he painted an engagement photo on. It was the talk of the wedding and I never forgot it. You can see some of his fantastic work and the process he uses on some of them via Instagram @paulortegadesigns and stay tuned for more in his Etsy shop. If you’re looking for a meaningful gift, definitely give Paul a jingle. I’m afraid I’m going to need a bigger house to fit all of the custom artwork I’d like to have him make for us. Some day!

How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Did you give or receive any special gifts?

14Feb2013

1,000 Days

Posted in Family & Motherhood by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Dear Mumbles,

Today we have been married for exactly 1,000 days. Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.

xoxo

23Jan2013

Mommy to Bee Baby Shower

Posted in Family & Motherhood by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Mommy to Bee Baby Shower.jpg
I have been dying to share this with you and what better time than now, right? Have you ever really wanted to throw a party? Since my first pin on Pinterest, I’ve been pretty obsessed with bee-themed parties and last summer I was lucky enough to finally bring the idea to life in the form of a Mommy to Bee Baby Shower for my sister-in-law. I had so much fun finding decor and props, and my SIL’s best friend was a wonderful host with a beautiful home, which made planning and putting it all together quite a lovely affair. I think it’s such a sweet, playful theme with lots of details to incorporate like honey, honeycomb shapes, flowers, and beehives. Perfect for spring or summer showers for brides or moms-to-be, and also a festive theme for birthday parties too! Here are some insights from the day:

I found some great hive vases in various sizes and colors that tied in the theme with hexagon shapes on sale from west elm, along with this darling beehive cake stand.

Hive Vases from West Elm

These cute honey pots and dippers were great props to use on tables and to hold yummy organic honey hard candies (I found them at Whole Foods, and they’re available online at Soap.com).

Honeycomb botanical vase from west elm and honey pot and dipper from Williams-Sonoma filled with Go Naturals Organic Honey Candy

On the food front we had a nice salad bar with various types including pasta, Chinese chicken, green, fruit, and a wild rice to give guests options.

For the drinks, lemonade and individual pink and yellow bottles of Barefoot wine helped guests stay hydrated and happy. I stumbled upon the mini wines at Rite Aid of all places, and I think BevMo! has great options for cute libations (like the individual Sofia sparkling wine cans that come with straws).

For dessert, beautiful bundt cakes in red velvet and pecan praline from our trusted favorite – Nothing Bundt Cakes – we’re a big hit. I tried the drizzle frosting on one of them to have a varying look to the dessert table and it was just as yummy in frosting-to-cake ratio, and the folks at the shop had the beautiful flowers already on the cakes when I went to pick them up so all I had to do was put them out!

Nothing Bundt Cakes and the Beehive Cake Stand dome (10″ cakes do not fit under that dome; see smooshed frosting)

As a thank you to the lovely women who attended, bundles of flavored honey sticks were wrapped with burlap and a little note that read “thanks for being so sweet!”

honey stick party favors

A wishes for baby book let guests leave messages for baby and mom, a sweet memento of the day, and during the party guests played a mom/baby animal name game which I’d never played before (and wasn’t very good at), and a guess how many game with Burt’s Bees products as prizes.

As a gift for the mommy-to-bee I made some little yellow pom poms and tied them to a basket filled with bath towels for baby, some onesies (including an adorable peacock one from the bodysuit line at Gap), Burt’s Bees products for mom, and a stack of thank you cards I made to go with the theme.