BIRD NEST BABY SHOWER

Finally the baby shower has come and gone. All that planning and shopping paid off as everything came out nice and the mommy was very happy.

Above is the invitation, with all personal info scratched out.

I got the invitation, water bottle labels, banner and picks used in the sandwiches from Etsy. I ordered them from Barbara. She was so helpful and designed these just for me to use.



This is not a good picture at all but the banner says WELCOME TO THE NEST. There are little blue birds on both ends that match the invitation.

It was really cute and went home with the mommy at the end of the shower.

The table was set with blue and white polka dot plates and the napkin rings were made to match the invitation also. The little bird was in the center of each napkin ring holder.

A little nest with blue Jordan almonds were on each place setting. Not only did it go with the bird/nest theme but it also kept the plates from blowing away.

I made the place cards from a kit I ordered from A Cottage Industry.

There wasn't really much room on the tables to decorate. I had purchased lots of things I didn't even use.

There was room for a bird house and some bird salt and pepper shakers as well as another little decorated nest on this table.

The other table had a bird candle holder but I put a little nest with Jordan almonds in there, tiny blue bird salt and pepper shakers and a little floral arrangement with a nest and egg in it.

I was surprised that most people actually ate their Jordan almonds. I thought perhaps they would have been left behind but I was happy to see they weren't.

No one took their nest home even though they were told they could. That's OK though as I can always use them for another party now.

I loved the water bottle labels. They had a picture of the blue bird on the invitation and it said Welcome to the Nest Little One.

We had a hard time finding water bottles to use these on but in the end they came out OK.

The drink table was also decorated with a tiny bird holding down napkins from blowing away and the little white birds holding a vintage baby picture. Also there was a big nest on the table but I didn't get a picture showing that

In the morning as we were setting up it was actually raining. We were in shock! What were we going to do

Well thanks to the lady who let us use her back yard to have the party, because her son knew people who worked for the police department and they let us use their pop up tarps to keep the rain off us.

Even though it stopped raining before the actual shower the tarp allowed us to get out there to decorate while it was still raining. We only had one hour to get everything put together as we kept waiting for the rain to stop.

This isn't a good picture at all but I just had to show you that I finally got the drink dispenser I had been dreaming about. I had seen them on several blogs and was on the hunt for one. I was so happy when I found one

It held pink lemonade which is what almost everyone drank.

We had lots of food. There was something for everyone. Some of the things we had was cheese and crackers, chips and dip, veggie trays, grilled asparagus, candy, pickles, olives, fruit salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad.

I tried to use some items to go with the theme on the food table as well. Like this little bird bath that held blue M&Ms.

This bird held artichoke/spinach dip. I think this bird was really meant to hold a plant but us bloggers know we don't have to always use things as they were meant to be.

Vintage baby pictures were also used on the food table.

Oh yes! We had sandwiches too. There was ham & cheese, Turkey and cheese, chicken salad, roast beef and veggie sandwiches. Like I said, we wanted to have something for everyone.

I used the cupcake picks in the sandwiches since I didn't use them in the cupcakes. They were really cute too.

That is the mommy to be eating. Next to her is Trinity. She just got her braces on. Poor thing couldn't eat the sandwiches

She was a very big help along with the little girl who lived where the party was. They both helped give everyone drinks, picked up the trash, handed out the party favors and served the cupcakes.

They enjoyed being there with all the grown ups and had fun helping out.

This is the mommy with some of her gifts.

After we all ate and played games, the mommy opened up her gifts.

We played three games and the winners all got presents that were bird theme. One was a bird house, one was wind chimes with a bird house on top and the last one was a bird decoration to be used in the garden.

We thought it was a fun idea to have the gifts match the theme.

I showed you the cupcakes yesterday but I wanted to show you the cupcake server I found at TJ Maxx. I thought it was so pretty with all the crystals hanging from it. I also thought it looked sort of like a tree and with the cupcakes looking like little nests they were darling served on this.

I have to share something about the cupcakes that made my day. I was standing around the corner and heard the guest talking about the cupcakes. Of course I couldn't wait to hear what they were saying.

One said they were the cutest cupcakes she had ever seen. One said they were the first cupcakes that taste as good as they looked and one said her favorite cupcakes have always been Sprinkles until she tasted these

Wow! That made me feel so good. I know people always say nice things when they know you made them but these remarks were made when they didn't know I could hear.

I forgot to take pictures of our party favors but I got these darling little soaps that looked like an egg in a nest. Only the ones I had were blue to go with the theme.

Even the little box they came in were cute. They were white with blue and there were little birds, nests and flowers on them.

I think everyone had a nice time and the Mommy was happy. So all the hard work and long days planning was all worth it.

BIRD NEST CUPCAKES

Tomorrow is finally the date of the baby shower I've been planning. It's a bird/nest theme.

I just got finished making the cupcakes. They are white coconut cupcakes.

I saw these on Martha Stewart's site and have been wanting to try them ever since. I think they are cute.

I never toasted coconut before so I was worried I was going to burn it. But, thankfully it came out just fine. I colored the icing a light brown so it would be more of a nest color and blend with the coconut.

Most of the time when I make cupcakes or a cake I don't like it. I just pick them apart and only see the flaws.

But I really do like these ones. They make me smile.

Each little bird has it's own personality. I didn't make them all facing the same way because I wanted each one to look a little different.

I have not had one but my sister and Trinity has and they both said they taste super good.

I hope the mommy to be likes them.

I'll be sure to post about the shower either tomorrow evening or Sunday.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR ME?

I've been blogging for over a year now and feel like I have shared a lot of my life with you.

However, as I read some blogs out there I always seem to want to know more about the person. Who are they really?

Are you like that too? Have you wanted to ask me something but didn't want to be to nosey?

Have you ever wondered silly things like, why don't I eat meat, how did I start decorating cakes, what got me in ghost hunting? Or even personal things like, how did I end up living with my sister?

Well now is your chance to ask. I'm going to answer any and all questions.

Don't be shy! Go ahead and ask away. You don't even have to raise your hand and wait for me to call on you. Just yell it out.

What is it that you want to know about? Anything?

MY BLOGGER BATHROOM

Thanks to everyone who helped me pick out the sink! I now know which one I will be going with.

No, I can't tell you yet. You will just have to come along for the ride and wait to see it when it is all finished.

So, now I'm looking for your help in picking the floor. I know I want white hexagon subway tiles.

I'm thinking maybe all white with maybe a small border of black. I'm not sure if I like this look with the square white tiles on the side of the black though. Do you?


This photo is just being used as an example of the kind of tiles I want. This are from the 20's I believe. Could be the 30's I'm not sure.

Back then they used grey in between the tiles but I think I would go with all white as the grey makes it look dirty to me.

I was thinking of maybe adding some black in between the white but I'm not sure. Do you think it gives it to much of a polka dot look?

Maybe just not so many black tiles?

Yes, I think it's to polka dot looking with this many black tiles.

What about little flowers made out of the black tiles?

Or should I forget the black all together and just with all white?

It's so hard trying to pick out what I really want. I have an over all look in my head but to get down to the tiny details is driving me nuts.

So again, I ask for your help. Which look do you think would be best?

Thanks everyone. I hope you know I'm going to call my bathroom my blogger bathroom as everyone is helping me pick out just the right look!

I NEED YOUR HELP!

We are finally going to get our bathrooms re-modeled. We have everything all set to go and our time is coming soon to start getting everything torn out.

Yet, I have a problem. Can you help me decide which sink to get? Please!

I'm planning on a doing a retro looking bathroom. We already have the bathtub/shower done. It's done with white subway tiles and trimmed in black.

I'm going to do the floor in black and white tiles also. We will have bead-board up 1/2 on the walls and I'm not sure if I'm going to paint the top part light pink or light blue.

So here is the first sink. I want a pedestal sink for sure. Just not sure which shape I should go with. No matter which one I get it will have shinny chrome faucets.

This square one is nice. It gives a retro feel since it is a pedestal sink. Yet, it also says modern as this sink is a bit different then the old sinks from the past. It's more of a common shape of sinks now days when a pedestal sink is wanted.

Then there is this oval shape sink. I think it gives a nice retro feel to it. Sort of more from the 20's or 30's really.

I like it and think it's nice because it's different then most pedestal sinks these days.

This one is sort of a combo of the two above. Square and modern but still has an oval retro look thanks to the oval bowl.

I like that it does have a bit of an area around the sink to put things. Maybe some pretty flowers and soap?

I'm having a hard time deciding which one to go with. So I really hope you will help me out and leave me a message on which one you like the best.

LET'S CHECK OUT THE BACK GARDEN

Do you remember when I planted the bird cage I found at the thrift store? The plants inside have been growing like crazy.

I planted several different kinds of flowers in there. I used mostly moss but also some potting soil.

Everything was planted down at the bottom of the cage. Nothing on the sides or top.

Can you see the Pansies? I have never seen such long stems on Pansies. These Pansies go all the way to the top of the cage.

Also, the Lobela (not sure how you spell that) and more pansies are blooming outside the cage.

It looks so pretty with the whole cage full of flowers. I'm just shocked at how tall they got.

I saw a post over at An Enchanted Garden where she used bird baths as a pedestal for holding plants. They were so pretty.

So, I "borrowed" that idea and went out to Lowe's where I bought this pink and white plant.

I really like the way it looks there.

I'm not sure what kind of flowers these are. I know they are in the Lilly family. They are showing off right now, blooms everywhere.

In person the pops of purples and yellows are much brighter then this photo is showing.

The pink rose bush I bought last year is on it's 2ND bloom this year.

This rose bush just makes me smile every time I look at it. It's a special rose bush as it's my first rose bush I've ever owned.

Isn't it pretty?

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are either. They died off last year and I thought perhaps they were just a one season plant.

So it was exciting when it started to grow again and now the little purple flowers are starting to come up everywhere.

The Lavender and Petunias came back too. Again, they were a surprise as I didn't expect them to re-bloom this year.

I'm not sure what these are either. But I like them.

I always buy flowers and then I forget what the name of them are. Do you do that or are you the type that knows the name of every flower in your garden?

The Heather is also blooming. This plant grows like wild fire. We keep trimming it back but it just grows and grows.

The Gardenia flowers are sharring their wonderful smell with us right now.

At night you really can smell them. Yummmmm.

We really do need to plant some more flowers around. We are slowly getting the yards back to the pretty Spring gardens that we love.

Soon it will be BBQ time and the pool will be in use once again. So of course the yard needs to be as pretty as it can be.

THE FLOWERS IN FRONT ARE BLOOMING

The front yard where I live is in full bloom. We mostly have hydrangeas, agapanthus and roses.

The photo above shows one of the lace cap deep pink hydrangeas in the front.

We have 9 different hydrangea plants out front.

I love the way the bright purple agapanthus look next to the hydrangeas and against our pale yellow house.

The white ones are very pretty too. We have pink, white and purple flowers in the front.

This is one corner of our house. You can see a big pink hydrangea, some of the purple agapanthus and some very different white hydrangeas we have.

The hydrangeas in the corner of our house produces so many blooms. I just love it this time of year.

I remember as a kid, we had a big pink hydrangea plant in our front yard too. I used to pick the biggest blooms off and then pretend I was bride and it was my bouquet.

I think I first fell in love with hydrangeas way back then. Now I buy them all the time.

We often buy them and put them in our house to enjoy the blooms inside. Then once the flowers start to die off we plant it outside. It never fails, next year we have a new blooming hydrangea bush growing.

I told you we have a strange white hydrangea plant. Well, it's strange because it starts out with bright white blooms.

Did you know you can change the color of your hydrangea plant depending on what you put in the soil? That's right, you can turn your pinks to purples and purples to pink.

But whites will always stay white no matter what is in the soil. Or at least they say they do.

When we first planted this white one it was your normal white hydrangea. The blooms came every year. Nice pretty white blooms.

But now, they go from pure white to white with pink blotches in them. I've never seen this before. Have you?

I've read up about it. Or at least I tried and couldn't find anything that would cause this to happen.

So now, we have speckled hydrangeas.

Then next to that speckled one is another deep pink one. This year we have had huge blooms. The one on the left doesn't look that big in the picture but it's is giant. You can see what looks like smaller blooms on the bush with these large ones.

Those are normal size blooms. So the big ones are about 6 times bigger. I've never seen any this big before.

We must have something strange in the soil in this area for these strange things to happen.

The white rose bush is blooming and is very pretty out there.

I think the roses look so pretty next to the lace cap hydrangeas.

I think I need to get out front and start cutting some of those beautiful flowers and bring them inside. There is enough to have a big vase of flowers in every room.

Tomorrow I'll show you how the flowers in my back yard are doing. Wait until you see what is going on inside my bird cage garden.

So tell me, how are your flowers doing? I would love you to share them with me and post about them on your blog.