modern animal baby shower cake

This is a recent baby shower cake I made. For the animals, I used my Cricut Cake machine - They look much better than if I were to cut them out! The mommy-to-be's nickname is banana, hence the saying "Welcome Baby Banana". (Just wanted to clarify that she's not like Gwyneth Paltrow naming her children after fruit.)

elephant baby shower cake

A sweet and simple cake I made for a baby shower this past weekend. I love the color combo - pink, peach and orange. 

baby shower cake

Hi lovelies! I am alive. Well, barely. I apologize for my complete lack of posts. I have been so busy lately... I know, I know, we are all swamped this time of year. Beyond my own personal holiday to-do list though (which basically hasn't even been started), we bought a new house and are trying to move, my husband had hand surgery, I was a guest speaker at a women's network group, a couple Christmas party dessert tables, a few cake orders, and I could go on and on. I do have two more events and then I'll be on vacation - well, if you call moving vacation! Ha!

I wanted to take a quick break though and show you something... This past weekend I had a baby shower cake order. The color palette for the party was pink and black. I love that combo, don't you!? I was really happy with how the cake turned out. I used a new technique from I Am Baker.  (LOVE her!) It is so easy, but so pretty!

walnut baby shower game :: part two

I have to start by saying thanks to those of you who participated - I chuckled at each of your guesses!

And the answer is......

twenty seven!!!!  

Can you believe it!?  I wish I could see all your faces right now - that's the best part of this game by the way.  Yes, 27!  Now some items might be a little "subjective" to some, but I just left it how my grandmother had it. (So don't send me nasty emails how you don't agree with this or that. :)) You can pick and choose what to put in your shell.  I have also thought of a couple more things that could be used - listed below.  One thing I really like about this game is it will be new to all your guests.  I can pretty much guarantee no one will have seen it or played it.  My grandmother made this and played it 50-60 years ago!!!!  So, it is a new and fresh idea.  

Here is a photo breakdown so you can see it all come together.  First up, the bow.  Use blue or pink depending on the sex.  Or if they aren't finding out the sex, any multi-colored baby ribbon would be perfect. 

Next up, the rubber banding.  You would have to do this regardless if there were items in the shell or not.  It's two halves and they won't stay together by themselves.  Then when you add 27 items you definitely need a rubber band.

This photo is just the nut as soon as I take the rubber band off.  I just wanted you to see how tightly it's all stuffed in there.  You have to get creative.  Tuck things here, tuck things there.  Anyone who is a good packer would be good at this job.  

This next picture shows a good example of how tight you have to be.  My grandma stacked all the flat items together, used the thread (one of the items) to hold them all together, then tucked the stack into one side of the shell. 

 

Next is all the items spread out and the list.

1. safety  pin

2. cotton ball

3. gauze

4. baby asprin

5. baby tooth

6. baby bracelet (the pink and white beads - this was actually my mom's hospital id bracelet!)

7. baby picture

8. cherrio (I bet that tastes fresh!)

9. toy

10. miniature clothes pin

11. miniature bottle 

12. newspaper birth announcement clipping

13. lock of baby's hair (I put it on a little piece of paper so you could see it better)

14. heart locket necklace 

15. key to baby's bank 

16. money (need lots of this to have a baby - definitely more than just the dime shown!)

17. baby ring

**Next 3 items related to devout Catholics like my grandmother

18. baby rosary

19. Guardian Angel baby prayer

20. mother and baby medallion 

**Next 7 items are obviously a sign of the times when women made their children's clothes / blankets

21. thread

22. ribbon

23. elastic

24. baby button

25. yarn

26. ric-rack (apparently a prevalent detail on baby's clothes years ago)

27. snap fastener (you know, on onesies) 

So there you have it!  A fun, new and creative baby shower game.  Thanks Grandma Riedel - I miss you!  

I also thought of a couple more items you could add...
- rice cereal (put it in tape like the hair clipping)
- a baby fingernail clipping (but maybe kinda gross!?)

And onto the winner... Angel who said "I am going to be brave and guess 8."  Angel, I don't have your email so you'll have to email me (apowers.apartystyle@gmail.com) to receive your prize.  

walnut baby shower game

I'm so excited to share this baby shower game with you guys! Now, I love a good shower game every so often, but sometimes there is a need for a non-cheesy baby shower game. (Especially when the daddy-to-be and his buddies are part of the guest list.) And this one is great! My grandmother, who was a genius party diva in her day, made this and used it years ago. She gave it to me and it's a keeper!

It's call "The Walnut Game". You take a walnut shell, hollow it out, and fill it with baby items - as many as possible.

As I write this, I'm deciding to turn this into a two part post. Let's have some fun! First post, we'll have a little friendly competition! Comment with your guess as to how many baby items are in this walnut. Whoever is first to answer correctly (or closest without going over) will win a prize - I don't know what that prize is yet - I just now decided to do this. Just means, I'll have to go shopping! (And my husband says I'm not spontaneous!) Make sure to include your email so I can contact you in case you win.

On Wednesday, I'll post the answer and show the "behind-the-scenes" of this game. So tell me, how many things do you think are in this walnut?

diaper box invitation

I recently took some pictures of the correspondence design I've done in the past so I could share them all with you. Then just yesterday, I saw a post over at Celebrations at Home featuring box invitations here. So it was obvious to me it was timely to post this baby shower invitation I designed a few years back.

The new baby's room was going to be blue and brown so I followed that color scheme for the baby shower. You can obviously pick any colors to fit your decor easily since ribbon and tissue paper come in countless options.



The ribbon closed the invitation, but this one I purposely left un-done for future use - like to show here! I just took the closed boxes to the post office and they put the postage directly on the boxes. The guests loved receiving them; they said they felt like they were receiving a gift.



I folded the diaper just like you would for use on a baby. I used diaper pins (available at Babies R Us) to secure it and then added a little ribbon detail with the same ribbon that closed the box. Tucked inside the diaper, but still peeking out the top, was the actual invitation.



The great thing about this invitation is it has a second purpose. When the guest called to RSVP, they were told to bring the cloth diaper to the shower and then the diapers were all given to the mother-to-be as burp cloths. Can't ever have too many burp cloths, right moms!?