Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 5: Baby Shower Nesting Theme Misc Decor

It's important to carry your theme throughout all of the decor.  Every small touch makes the difference for an elegant event!


Create an inviting entrance.  At this shower, I used the same chocolate burlap used on the table inside to cover a planter that I used as a "shelf" to raise the lantern.  This Pottery Barn lantern is the larger version of the small lantern used on the table inside.  I also used pumpkins on the front porch steps.  (Small white pumpkins were used inside...)

I also lined the fireplace mantle with cream candles (reused from my wedding!) tied with chocolate raffia:

Candles in glass cylinders tied with brown and blue ribbons were used on the bar dispersed among the coffee, water pitchers, and fruit tea urn.  Liz (one of the fabulous hostesses) had a Southern Living at Home urn that we used.

The back of the piano held a woven tray like this with the favors on it, as well as glass cylinders and candles of varying heights.  The favors were small bags of Kristin's famous "Old Maid (Homemade) Caramel Corn."  She wanted to make something to share with her guests as a thank you for coming, and her caramel corn is FAB.  We tied the cellophane bags with the same ribbon I used on the invitations, and Kristin wrote a note to everyone displayed with it:

One of my FAVORITE elements of the decor was the baby clothesline.  This has been done in so many ways at many baby showers, and it's always precious.  I wanted to keep the baby clothes in line with the theme.  So, I made sure everything was brown and/or cream with small touches of blue.  Everything on the line would be part of my gift to the mom to take home with her.  I also staggered some baby pictures of the expectant parents throughout the sweet little baby socks, onesies and bibs, etc.  In order to get some extra-sweet and special items on the clothesline, I went to JoAnn's with Erin (one of the fabulous hostesses) and we picked out fabric she could use to make little soft caps, bibs, and burp cloths that Kristin could keep after the shower.  We found a soft toile in brown & cream (YAY!!!), and super soft chocolate brown nubby fabric that she used as well, like this:

Here are the images of the clothesline...

 This is the toile fabric used for the bibs and burp cloths.  LOVE!  

THIS organic onesie was an amazing find on Amazon from Apericots.  I couldn't believe how perfect it was for the shower!  

We had a wonderful time celebrating Kristin and the blessing she is to all of us, and helping her "feather her nest" in preparation for the special gift that Kristin & Shayne were expecting with the birth of sweet Jesse.  Amber Beckham wrote a blog about the shower that you can see here.  She is such a gifted photographer and I am enamored with her work.  It was SO wonderful to have her share her talents with us, and I can't wait to work with her again!  Amber also did maternity pics that were stunning.  

Janna, Kristin and me:  

The hostesses!  Angel, Liz, Janna, me, and Erin...

Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 4: DIY Cupcake Tower How-to

I researched different materials to construct a cupcake tower, and found many websites that used styrofoam and boards.  I also found a kit to put together a cardboard tower at a craft store.  However, when looking for the styrofoam I wasn't able to locate something that worked well, and the all-cardboard kit appeared unstable.  I finally found information where someone had used cans of vegetables for the core of the tower, and indicated this made the tower much more stable.  

I decided to give it a try.  Instead of constructing the entire tower, I used my Pottery Barn Emma Collection cake stand as the base, which matched the other serving dishes on the table and gave stability to the tower:

I bought cake boards from this local bakery supply store.  Since my base was basically 12 inches, I went with 10 inches, 8 inches and 6 inches for my tiers.  I bought two of each cardboard round, and glued them together with my hot glue gun so that each tier was thick enough.  Then, I glued thick pearlized cream card stock to the cardboard and cut the card stock around the cardboard using an exacto knife:

Tip: 12x12 scrapbook paper will perfectly cover a 10 inch cake board

Then, chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon was glued along the edge of the cardboard:

Then I got two cans of Rotel tomatoes for the larger tiers and a can of tomato paste for the top tier.  These cans are smaller in diameter than typical vegetable cans and therefore leave more room for cupcakes on the surface of the tiers.  I covered the cans in a toile print paper using a hot glue gun:

   

Then, turning the cardboard tier upside down secure the top of the vegetable can to the bottom of the cardboard using the glue gun.  

I also secured each tier to the other using glue on the bottom of the can.  Be certain you have the can centered in the cardboard before utilizing the glue.  

Here are the pictures from the party and the finished tower courtesy of Amber Beckham Photography.  (see my previous blog for info about the muffins done for the bird nest theme baby shower):

Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 3: Baby Shower Table Centerpiece

The centerpiece of the table was a painted branch "tree" with paper birds and tiny nests with blue "eggs" in them.  


I spray painted dried tree limbs that were gathered from the yard with Ivory spray paint.  It takes more paint that I thought to truly cover and give a solid finish to the sticks, but the finished product was SO worth it!


Spread a drop cloth in your yard to spray the sticks--let one side dry, rotate and keep spraying until the bark is fully covered.  

Coming together in the vase (I used coffee beans in the bottom of the cylinder to "hold" the sticks in place)

Next, I found a great brown, cream and very light blue Martha Stewart crafts grosgrain ribbon at Michael's:

to surround the tall glass cylinder I bought also at Michael's (using a 40% off coupon).  (Vase is cheaper there when using the coupon than it was at Hobby Lobby even when they were running a 50% sale...)


The birds were made of coordinating paper that went with the theme and clipped to the tree with the tiniest "clothespins" ever...then I bought mini nests in the floral department at Michael's, and for eggs I used Jordan Almonds from the same bag I bought to top the "muffincakes" (see previous blog).  I used my hot glue gun to attach the nests to the branches, and a tiny feather completed the detailed touch to make it extra special.  Here's the finished centerpiece, these amazing photos are by Amber Beckham photography: