Book My Reservation – I’m Going to Grandma’s Onsie
Does any baby ever have enough onesies?
And why not make them funsies?!
For a fun little shower gift, I made these two little funsy onesies
for our soon-to-arrive baby girl.
Can you tell we are very excited to be grandparents?!
Pap Pap’s Perfect Princess Onsie
Just a little fabric paint, time and creativity, with a heaping scoop of love.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
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.
It was such a collaborative effort of all the girls involved. Check out this amazing Aunt Squad surrounding the beautiful momma to be!
We had a hot air balloon cupcake cake,
Hot Air Balloon Cake Pops in a puffy white cloud,
and Hot Air Balloons, clouds and cherubic baby faced sugar cookies.
The favors were made using Eos Lip Balms to thank our guests for sharing their time and love with us.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We also had a Hair Bow Boutique…
where guests were invited to create a hair bow (or two or three – like sweet Ella did) for baby.
And they surely blew us away with their talent and love.
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.
A simple game of “Guess the Baby Item in the Bag” had guests brainstorming
on what the heck starts with an “O” or “W” or “H”
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.
and yep – we had that yummy Salted Caramel Apple Sangria too!
My heart is surely overflowing!
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!? ❤
Showers of love
in pastel shades
of pink and ribbons
and braids.
Dreaming of cherubic
rosy red cheeks
and plump, chubby thighs
to pinch and kiss and squeeze.
Preparing for sweetness
for sugar and spice…
showers of love
my heart’s delight.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Mom and Baby Elephant Watercolor 10×12 Fabriano Artistico 300lb
I think I must have an African Safari on the brain…
Oh how I would LOVE to do that! Maybe some day.
But for now, I’m just painting my Safari.
I had so much fun doing Genevieve the Giraffe in watercolor last week, that it gave me a desire to try elephants.
I wanted to try a different technique, so I followed some techniques that Lian Quan Zhen masterfully executes and I feebly attempted here.
For this painting, I drew my elephants from a reference photo, used a bit of frisket to save some white, and I then actually poured and splashed some watercolor paint on, blowing it and pushing and smooshing it around with my finger to form a colorful abstract background. After that dried, I detailed in the elephants.
I used only three colors in the entire painting: Prussian Blue, Pyrrol Scarlet, and Hansa Yellow Light. Purples and greens and shades of black and gray and brown and pink and orange are all achieved by the blending of these three colors.
It was fun, and I’ll have to enjoy the elephants this way until I get to go on the safari in real life some day.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Some of you might remember little Eva from some photos I shared several months ago.
Well – time sure does fly, and Eva just turned ONE!
Eva’s Aunt Liz asked if I would make a special card for her sweet little niece’s first birthday. The request included incorporating an elephant, so Eva’s baby elephant is glammed up a bit with a purple velvet bow and a tiny pearl.
I had so much fun drawing and painting this card for an exceptional little princess.
Wishing you a day and year ahead as special as you little Eva!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Yesterday, I went to a baby shower for a sweet young lady who is expecting a baby girl in June.
I’ve made other diaper gifts before, but I’ve never tried a diaper pizza.
It was really quite easy and turned out cute. The theme was Winnie the Pooh, so I gathered every Pooh bear and friends onsie, rattle, teething ring, toy, bib, and pacifier I could find. I then took a dozen Size 1 diapers, gentle shaped them into triangles, wrapped them in a baby wash cloth and taped them on the bottom.
I then tied a different little gift on top of each “pizza slice” and put a little plush Tigger in the middle. I wrote a greeting on the inside of the top of the box, and attached a soft little book as the “card.”
It was a fun way to celebrate and welcome this new little one.
Thanks Luciano’s Brick Oven in Mars for the clean pizza box. (And thanks Chris for getting it for me!)
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
One of the fun little activities we had at Jackie & Matt’s baby shower was an opportunity, for those that wanted, to create a hand-painted onesie for Baby Ben.
Since I knew I’d be busy at the shower, I made a few ahead of time. A quick search on Pinterest offered tons of cute ideas.
If you are looking for an inexpensive, but unique, creative and personal gift to welcome a new bundle of joy, consider creating your own little funsie onesies with a little fabric paint and a pack of cotton onesies. (Be sure to pre-wash the onesies before painting.)
There are so many cute and creative possibilities!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
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
Just wanted to share some smiles with another photo I took recently of adorable Baby Eva!
How could Santa resist this little sweetie waiting under the Christmas tree?!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
This week’s WordPress Daily Post Photo Challenge is Eye Spy, and I cannot recall ever spying more beautiful eyes than on this little angel I had the privilege of photographing for fun recently.
Can you even stand the cuteness?!
I dare you not to smile!
This is sweet little Eva, and she is very excited about her first Christmas.
Wishing you the innocence and joy of a child this holiday season.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 