Remember my BFF Katie? She was one of the many weddings I was in this past summer. Well I am so excited that she will be the first of our little group to have a B A B Y!
We are all sooooo very excited for her and Jeff and when baby Wasden comes along in April, we will celebrate his or her birth. That's right, Katie and Jeff have decided to keep the sex of the baby a big surprise. At first I thought they were nuts but following the shower, I knew it was going to be the best thing ever to find out when the little bundle of joy is brought into the world.
Last weekend, I was blessed to have been able to co-host a shower for Katie with some of her closest friends. We hosted the shower in Birmingham and it was a perfect sunny day. I volunteered for all of the "creative" things and designed the invitations, door wreath and mantle decor. I had the best time using "gender neutral" colors that were festive and bright.
Below are the invitations that I designed.
{FYI I can take custom orders for anyone who is interested in this design.}
I wanted to keep the decor for the shower consistent with the shower invitations, so I knew I wanted to use bright colors. For the door I purchased an inexpensive grapevine wreath from Hobby Lobby. It was 50% off. After contemplating flowers, ribbons and bows, I decided to go a completely different route and visited my local fabric store for some bright colored fabrics. Using small packs of "quarters" {1/4 of a yard} for only a few dollars a piece, I made small poppy fabric flowers and hot glued them to the wreath. The "W" and the ducks were found at JoAnn's Etc, both on sale.
{FYI I can make this too for anyone interested, $25}
Details of the flower poppies.
The ducks added just the right amount of "baby" to the project. They were pre-painted but I "distressed" them with a brown ink pad that's used for stamping.
I loved that the shower was in Birmingham {where many of the girls live}, specifically Homewood. Homewood is a quaint little part of Birmingham that reminds me a lot of Virginia Highlands in Atlanta without the "granola hippy" factor. It's hip but with a stronger Southern influence.
The shower was held at Katie's cousin, Lacey's home. I had heard from Katie that her house was beautiful but I never had imagined how much I would fall in love with it. It's the perfect bungalow cottage that instantly made you feel at home the second you walked in the door. I also got some great inspiration for my nest.
{Hope you don't mind Lacey...}
For instance, {although this is a terrible photo} I loved how she used her empty wine bottles above her kitchen cabinets. I've already "stolen" the look. Adam and I had some on the counter top against the back splash in the butler's pantry. After seeing this genius idea, as soon as I got home I moved them from the counter to the top of the cabinets. I have been contemplating what to put above the cabinets for months now. I hate clutter and I had thought about some simple glass jars or large clay pots, but the repetition of the bottles were eye catching.
{LOVE the way they are hung with the large industrial pulleys}
Here is the hanging swing.
Love her use of the maps and photos of places that she's been.
Idea #3 that I plan to "steal":
My antique mirrors on the family room wall are beautiful but I haven't been super pleased with them. And after taking away all of the framed photos on our breakfast room sideboard, I thought the perfect way to bring the photos back into our decor is with a collage wall. I loved how she mixed landscape photos, photos of famous people {notice Willie Nelson} and photos of herself and her family. I was thinking about how fun it would be to mix in maps of the places we've traveled and our family and friends. I also plan to use a fleur de lis and a photo of Pat O'Brien's to honor the place where Adam and I met.
Other details of her charming home...
This Auburn "War Eagle" print was so colorful!
How cute are the globes?? I have the larger one in my nest, from Pottery Barn.
How cute are the daisy bud vases??
Now to the good stuff...
Even with 12 hostesses, the shower details came together beautifully. The food, the flowers, the decor and most of all the mom-to-be were picture perfect. Katie's mom and aunt were so thoughtful to use mint julep cups, silver baby cups and rattles to display the colorful spring flowers.
Sweet diaper cake!
Here is my mantle decor: I made a flag banner out of the fabric used for the wreath.
Delish PUBLIX bakery petit fours with little booties.
These mini muffins were so amazing....from Magic Muffin in Birmingham.
Completed wreath...
The best part of the entire weekend was seeing Katie pregnant. Katie is so petite and little and her "basketball" belly was too cute! God has really blessed me with some great friends and being able to see each one of us in the various stages of life is amazing.
Cutest preggers ever!
Fruit, compliments of the hubs!
Yummy brunch casseroles.
{sorry, not the best photo}
Katie with her sweet mom and older sister, Jenny {who is also expecting only a few weeks after Katie}.
Katie with her MIL.
Katie with the hostesses.
Gotta feed the baby!
Katie got some of the cutest little baby items...
...including this presh little ducky nightie with matching hooded towel....
...and the not-so-cute, but I'm sure super useful snot sucker contraption. Lori, Katie's SIL, demonstrates how to stick the tube to the baby's nose and suck through the tube. She ensured Katie that the snot would be trapped in the tube....certainly a learning experience. We were all dying laughing.
Katie kept asking if her baby would be as small as the cute little clothes.
I think it's hard to imagine a human being that tiny.
One of the sweetest gifts she received was a tiny little baby Bible.
All of the loot.
Katie and Jeff recently purchased a home for their new little family. I was so happy that her house was directly across the street from Lacey's, where the shower was held. I couldn't wait to see it!
Look how stinkin' cute it is from the outside.
The inside was just as charming! The previous owners completely gutted the place and it was a brand new house on the inside....so nice!
One of my favorite things was her dining room table and chairs. Look at the beautiful column base and the coral fabric on the chairs.
Katie shared with us the baby's nursery. She was able to find the perfect furniture for the space. This piece isn't actually a changing table but she added a pad. What's great about it is it can "grow" with the kid. It would work in a playroom with toys in the baskets after being used for diapers and necessities.
The dresser and frame were a perfect touch too.
I adored the metal crib!
Katie's SIL's mom made this beautiful bumper pad complete with a hand stitched monogram.
Sweet little clothes...
I was so impressed with Katie's sewing skills...
she recently started taking classes and has made so many cute little rompers ready for a monogram.
Can't wait to see the little booger in these.
Katie and Jeff's surprise is going to be so amazing! I cannot wait to see if they will have a boy or girl.
God is so good!
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