A Hot Air Balloon Themed Baby Shower

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Oh what fun we had this past weekend celebrating the anticipation of the sweet baby girl we are awaiting with a Hot Air Balloon Baby Shower!

I made these miniature hot air balloons using super inexpensive 12″ white paper Chinese lanterns that I attached to quart-sized cardboard pulp berry baskets with wooden skewers and embellished with all the pink ribbon, yarn, sequins, buttons, lace, or pearls I had in my craft stash.  I added a tiny battery operated tea light to each basket and hung and placed them all over the house.

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It was such a collaborative effort of all the girls involved.   Check out this amazing Aunt Squad surrounding the beautiful momma to be!

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We had a hot air balloon cupcake cake,

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Hot Air Balloon Cake Pops in a puffy white cloud,

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and Hot Air Balloons, clouds and cherubic baby faced sugar cookies.

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The favors were made using Eos Lip Balms to thank our guests for sharing their time and love with us.

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A Hot Air Balloon banner with baby pictures of the mom and dad to be as babies themselves was a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

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An Extra Large Basket Lady Pole Handle Wicker Storage Basket with pink and white balloons tied to it was filled to overflowing with children’s books guests brought in place of cards to start a wonderful library for baby.

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The books were requested by a special insert in the invitation, and the overflowing abundance of new and extra special, well-loved books from people we love will be so cherished.

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The time and love put into gifts blew us away.  A very special Gram blessed Mom and Dad to be with this amazing handmade Hot Air Balloon quilt.

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We also had a Hair Bow Boutique…

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where guests were invited to create a hair bow (or two or three – like sweet Ella did) for baby.

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And they surely blew us away with their talent and love.

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Instead of a guest “book,” we had guests add their fingerprint and name to a hot air balloon watercolor painting that can hang in baby’s nursery as a sweet reminder of all who shared in her special party.

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A simple game of “Guess the Baby Item  in the Bag” had guests brainstorming

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on what the heck starts with an “O” or “W” or “H”

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while munching on fruit from a hot air balloon fruit tray (which we forgot to get a picture of – 😦 – sorry Jen!) – but looked a lot like this inspiration from Pinterest, as well as Hawaiian Ham and Cheese Sliders and Chicken Salad with dried cranberries and walnuts in miniature croissants, veggie pizza, and Strawberry Spinach Salad.

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and yep – we had that yummy Salted Caramel Apple Sangria too!

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My heart is surely overflowing!

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Balloons are now popped, and the house is back in order.  Grandma is still glowing, though, as we await the arrival of this already abundantly loved baby girl.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

PS  Thanks to BFF Jill for being event photographer for Grandma-to-be who was simply too overjoyed and excited to even think about snapping pics!  What would I do without you!?  ❤ 

A Carnival Baby Shower for Jackie & Matt

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Oh what fun we had planning, preparing, and celebrating the soon-to-arrive Baby Ben with our McHendy daughter and son-in-law, Jackie & Matt.

I was designated the “official” photographer, so get ready for lots of photos.  I was so busy worrying about capturing it and so busy just enjoying it, that it is just now hitting me, after I shared the photos with Jackie (and she posted on her Facebook page), how close I am to being an “almost” grandma!

When Jackie shared the photos, she wrote:

Matt and I have always hoped we could welcome our baby boy into a community of people who will love, encourage, and support him. On Saturday, we were shown a million times over that we without a doubt have that for our baby boy, Ben. Thank you to everyone who braved the snowstorm and made it out to the shower. We are so blessed for all of you (and for all the people who couldn’t make it)! A special thanks to my mom,Jill Henderson, my mother-in-law, Carol Kallis, my future sister-in-law, Becca Cura, and my second mom, Jodi McKinney for throwing us one creative, awesome shower!!

So for the past half hour ( I am drafting this Sunday evening), I’ve been bawling happy tears and cherishing these very special moments.

I hope you enjoy viewing these photos as much as we had in creating and being a part of them.

(If you click on the first – or any one of the pics – you can scroll through the photos in full size.)

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

A Grandparent Shower!

grandparent shower burnt almond torte cake

One of the highlights of our weekend was attending a “Grandparent Shower” for some very dear friends.

Kathleen and Jack have waited quite a long time to become grandparents, and we are so excited and happy for them.

So a small group of very close friends got together to SURPRISE them with a Grandparent Shower to celebrate how happy we are for them.

Many in attendance are already grandparents.  Once couple even great-grandparents.  But what we all had in common was our love and joy for our friends who have been through a lot and are so excited to become grandparents.

Grandmas Survival Basket Card

I put together a little Gramma’s Survival basket for Kathleen.

Grandmas Survival Basket gift

And Hubby created the cutest ever Grampa’s Infant Assistant Kit – all on his own!  One Ziploc baggie was filled with “equipment” and “instructions for Diaper Changing…

Grandpas Infant Assistance Kit for Changing Diapers

and the other was filled with Nap Time Supplies, including a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey for “medicinal spirits” for our new Irish Grandpa.

Grandpas Infant Assistance Kit for Nap Time

We also gave them a keepsake book to work on to fill with Memories for their grandchild and a couple of books to read with their grandchild that are so adorably written and illustrated on How to Babysit a Grandma and How to Babysit a Grandpa.

grandparent shower gift books

I wrapped them up and added a little watercolor card I made.

A little birdie told me watercolor card and grandparent shower gift

Our hosts had delicious beverages…

grandparent shower sangria

and treats.

grandparent shower caprese salad

And fifty pink roses were displayed all around.  Can you guess what sex the grandchild is going to be?

grandparent shower pink roses

We started with a toast.

grandparent shower toast

And so enjoyed watching them open the few little gifts we bought for them to celebrate their joy.

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Kathleen and Jack shared reading glasses,

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and it was fun to watch Kathleen explain finger puppets to Grandpa.

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Supplies for bath time at grandma and grandpa’s house included more pink…

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soft and fuzzy stuff!

grandparent shower jack

And hubby enjoyed one of his first showers with two awesome hostesses!  Thanks Cindy and Sally.

grandparent shower marty and hostesses cindy and sally

And all under the pretense that Jack was bringing some of his amazing homegrown heirloom tomatoes to a picnic where Gary and Cindy needed them.

heirloom tomatoes

We love you Jack and Kathleen and can’t wait to celebrate and love your bundle of joy!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

 

Chicks & Rubber Duckies

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I’m going to a baby shower this weekend, so I had fun using the same technique I used for my Watercolor & Painted Petals Note Card to make this little bitty Rubber Ducky card.

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I used the rubber ducky stamp from StampinUp’s Something for Baby stamp set and embellished with a white gel pen and pearl for the eye.

I can’t get enough of this fun technique and know I will be doing more of it.

And speaking of having fun and making cards, I had a few chicks over one night this week.  We ate chicken fajitas and Cadbury mini egg blondies, washed it down with some wine and G&Ts, stamped, and made…

chicks stamping

some CHICKS!  (Easter Chicks that is!)  So here we are… Chicks making Chicks!   Thanks to Head Chick Stacey for leading our “class.

chicks and chicks

Aren’t they cute?!

Easter Chick

Here is a video tutorial on how to make one similar done by Deb Valder.

We made ours a just a little different by adding a little holder for a Cadbury Egg.

Easter Chick side

Happy Friday from this crazy Chick!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi