speaking of baby boys...

well here you have it...

I decided to throw another shower for a friend expecting a baby boy

{her second child}

I come from a family that is known to have a party when a child uses the restroom which was literally once said....but not literally true...

my mom used to host several get togethers growing up

so I was used to having celebrations at our house growing up

I loved it and I am guessing that is where I get it from

so...I know many people don't believe in showers for the second child

but....oh....I do
absolutely and no doubt about it

a celebration for every new arrival

I've thrown a couple showers before...

 

so I offered again because I love that...

because I love to do this sort of thing

even though I stress myself out over the littliest details

but that's okay...it's good for me

I had a different idea for this one

I didn't want to just make it a typical cake and appetizer deal with shower games, etc.

I wanted it to be a celebration, luncheon...
a true {girls only} celebration

that was until I jokingly volunteered my husband to serve all us women drinks and food

I said I would call him "our waiter"
 in which I said I would tip him later...

but he didn't go for it

I tell you

he missed out on a good tip ...

he very quickly declined that offer even with me bribing because he knew I was deep down joking

if you know me...it is hard to pull a joke off

smiling while you are trying to act serious doesn't work I've learned

bribing usually works for him

because then later he forgets I actually bribed him so it is win-win for me

but this time was a no-go

oops...I really said that...

now he knows my ways

between us...he probably already caught on

now I'm off track here...

okay now

so even though she was having a baby boy this time...

{she has an adorable little girl already}

I wanted to have lunch served and make it extra pampering experience with no focus on games but just celebration and socializing...

what we women do best right?...

I had a couple of obstacles though...budget and time

first...I wanted to use white plates...check...had found some for $1.75 a piece

second....I needed around 12 placemats because you know how everyone doesn't rsvp these days anymore

so I wanted to be prepared

my yellow ones weren't working because they don't even go with my decor anymore

I've had them for 8 years now

just not somthing I've not changed yet
I didn't have enough linen napkins so I decided to dress up some nice paper ones

but what I did have was yards and yards of burlap that I had a vision of asking my mom to make some pillows for me...but I hadn't asked yet...

so I had plenty of burlap to make some placemats

and I even had some scrap clearance white linen on hand that I was bound and determined to make rosettes with

yes...me the girl who is unable to even sew a button wanted to make rosettes...

but I did it...

I'm not quite sure how technically correct they are...

but I figured it out and pretty impressed with myself

my mom had the most difficult part with the placemats...

I asked her to sew them for me
she had a great time doing it {wink, wink}

I also requested my mom's help with some recipes...
and plating the food the morning of...

so here we go...

of course I had to start with flowers
to me the most essential part
but that's just me

I had plenty of hydrangeas and daisies in my yard
it is soooo exciting to be able to walk outside and cut your own flowers
not to mention these fuchsia beauties I forgot the name of
{I'll have to ask my mom again since she gave me them}
and my honeymoon wine bottles that I've been saving came in handy:)

{Hayley's cross she painted at VBS made it into the picture somehow too:)}

I had a flower bouquet picked up from Trader Joe's that had an assortment to use as fillers in with the other flowers since i didn't have quite enough of my own

I had the flowers as centerpieces on the larger table of 8
with a few bird and butterfly cut outs...
birds because cardinals reflect the baby's room decor
butterflies because well you know my blog title and they so happen to signify new life

{my cute little {empty} measuring bowls that did have lemon wedges in them
but realized I took the picture before I put them in there}

I used this bouquet below as the centerpiece for the smaller table of 4 

Since I didn't have enough white plates I used 4 plates of our "normal" dinnerware

I think it turned out great and having the tables different was fun

hope you all are hanging in there...I know this is a long post...
but my very favorite thing was the placemats my mom sewed for me
and I figured out how to do the rosettes...
loved them!

I didn't have linen napkins...well at least enough so I did use paper napkins but rolled them with twine and cut out mini tags with a world map pattern

for the favors I found a candle vendor on etsy...
and she is newer with her shoppe...but I loved the look of her candles...
I purchased the white tea scent because I wanted them to be as close to white as possible

 I found wooden engine pieces at Michael's
{one of the only boy themed wood pieces they had}
and my love {Bobby} spray-painted them for me with chalkboard paint and
voila...
easy peasy favors and they were within my budget!
{not to mention the candles were on special too}

for the chairs...I already had some tulle I use in my business so I tied bows around the back of the chairs to make them more inviting...

I wanted to have a little memory keeper for the mommy-to-be so I ordered a mini scrapbook in which she uses all kinds of different papers with different textures, pictures, words, etc.

I coffee-dyed notecards for the guests to write a special message
I glued the notecards in the book and on the opposite side of the page from the message they wrote I glued a picture of each guest with her

I inserted some tags I had from Angela Harris' shoppe Your Angil
that said...baby, family, cherish, etc.
and I had a few baby scrapbook stamps I stamped some baby things in there like hands, feet, etc.
I also used some vocabulary cards {such as friends} in there too

I was so thankful for Sarah with the scrapbook...I had ordered from her before and was really impressed and asked her that I was doing this for a boy if she would have any ideas She came up with the bird on the front since the baby's room will be in the cardinal mascot...
she was fantastic and had super fast shipping to me to have it just in time!

silverware went into these glass ball jars I got for 50 cents at the flea market the Sunday before

since I was on a budget...
most of the decor i already had...I just reinvented the use
and for the surprise gifts for people
I put two tags under the placemats for the winners...

one of the gifts was a flower pot
I already had the pot and flowers {flowers left over from a gift for
my mother-in-law's b-day}
and I had the burlap and tag to decorate it

second gift...
a galvanized bucket...check had that too
and a left over sparkling lemonade and extra votive candle because they smelled so good

for beverages I offered lemonade
my intention was to make fresh but I ran out of time so I used all natural lemonade
added about 3-4 lemons and sliced strawberries to make strawberry lemonade
peach tea, and water with lemon

{icky wall plate in the background...sorry}

for food...I wanted it light, fun, healthy, and fresh...

my favorite apricot cheese from Trader Joe's

{that is also fantastic grated up on salads too:)}

but I had Trader Joe's pita crackers because they are soooooo good with the cheese

Spinach salad with mandarin oranges, avocados, blueberries, strawberries,
dried cranberries with lemon pepper salad dressing

Chicken salad croissants...my mom so lovingly made the chicken salad because she has a great recipe

the morning of...I whipped up the cucumber sandwiches on whole wheat bread because they are my favorite and so thankful that are quick and easy to make...

and finished with some fun fruit kabobs...

of course we had some dessert...I used my burlap table runner I already had
from Tara's Vintage Kitchen
and picked three desserts...

I made my Grandmother's lemon cookie recipe

vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla bean icing

my favorite part about the cupcakes was the ruffle paper cup holders

My mom found a recipe for 3-layer chocolate cake

however, I decided to borrow her bunt cake pan for it instead of doing 3 layers

I used a chocolate glaze recipe from a completely different recipe for the "icing" for this

it turned out great and quite good and that's coming from someone who prefers vanilla cake anyday over chocolate! {I still do even after this cake}

and that was the shower...along with gift opening
a special day to celebrate a new life arriving...