Meg's Baby Shower

This weekend I had the pleasure and honor of helping to throw a baby shower for my dear friend Meg.  You'll remember the baby bibs I was working on last week?  I made a set of four of them as part of her gift...

As for the shower itself, I was in charge of cupcakes - of course!  12 dozen minis, in carrot, lemon, chocolate and vanilla - all topped with vanilla frosting and a fondant flower...

Here's a shot of a couple of the tables...

I picked out a variety of gerber potted daisies (Meg's favorite flower) in different shades of pink, and hand wrapped them with pink craft paper, tying them with brown satin ribbon.

For the favors, Meg's aunt had picked up some little garden-themed sticky note pads, so I made a flower pen to go with each on (45 in all!) and tied the two together with pink and brown satin ribbon, finished with a flower tag punched from cardstock.

It was a lovely shower, with many beautiful and generous gifts for Meg and baby girl.  Here's a shot of me with my Mum and Meg - the mom to be!

And one of Meg and I...

Thanks so much to Meg and her wonderful family for allowing me to help make Meg's shower extra special!

Regrouping...

... this week is a bit of a wash for me, but I'm doing my best to re-group and get a handle on what I have going on in the next few weeks.  I know for sure that there is a lot of sewing on the horizon!  You see, it's generally at this time of year when lots of babies are cropping up everywhere!  : )  I'm at the age where most of my friends are done being married and on to having kids... you know how it goes.  I'm working on a whole bunch of these...

 This one still needs to be pressed and have velcro attached... but you get the idea...

I'm using a pattern from this fantastic book with a few tweaks.  I'm using cotton on top and flannel on the inside...

Here's some more fabric, waiting for me to cut bibs out of...

I'm actually working on getting ready for a girlfriend's baby shower at the beginning of June... but I know that she checks this blog so I don't want to spoil any surprises.  I'm working on centerpieces, favors, cupcakes, and custom thank you notes as well.  Don't worry, I'll be sure to share photos (and tutorials!) after the fact!

I also picked up some fleece on crazy sale this week...

I'm going to make a crate pad for our chocolate lab, Bella.  

She has a HUGE crate that she sleeps in at night and when we're not home (we love Bella, but she's still a lot of puppy, and we can't quite trust her to roam the house unattended by herself yet.  We're SO glad we crate-trained her!)  We usually throw in blankets and old towels in there for her to cuddle up on, but they move around as she does.  I'm hoping to sew something up that will line the crate and stay in place.  Plus... the fabric is super cute, no?!

I'm still working on scrapping... more on that tomorrow... and I'll have some Stampin' Up! tidbits to share, too.  Feels like I haven't stamped in forever - I miss it!

Have a wonderful day - the weather is (finally!) gorgeous here - I hope it is where you are, too!  : )

Oh, Baby!

 This post goes out to sweet Arwen, who recently had a darling baby boy of her own, and who dropped me a note last week looking for some baby shower gift ideas.  Hi, Arwen!   

Arwen's note was actually quite timely, because I'm soon going to be getting started working on some baby shower "stuff" for one of my dearest friends Meg (who's expecting a baby girl this summer)... so I'm in need of some ideas myself!  I'm going to be working on Meg's shower's centerpieces and favors... and of course I'll be working on creating some handmade gifts for her as well.

To get going on my projects, and get into the baby frame of mind, I did a little research and thought I'd share with you some resources from around the blogosphere... some of them I've known about for awhile and some that are brand new to me.  I'm hoping they'll help BOTH Arwen and I's creative juices flowing! 

Check out the baby shower section over at Kara's Party Ideas... her attention to detail in everything from Dr. Suess to Tractor themed showers is amazing!

There are some absolutely beautiful showers and gift ideas in the baby shower section at Design Dazzle (not to mention wonderful baby and kids room decorating ideas as well!)

The always outstanding One Pretty Thing has baby shower roundups with all kinds of projects here, here, here, here, here, and finally here... theme ideas as well as gifts to make!

And a new site to me, Hostess Blog has a baby shower section just full of ideas, themes, and more!

Handmade gifts I've personally given in the past include knitted baby hats, appliqued onesies, and fleece blankets, but I'm ready to expand my repertoire!  You can expect to hear lots about baby showers and shower gifts from me in the next few months... and maybe we can get Arwen to share what she decides to create as well?!

Tell me, friends, do you have any gift ideas for baby?  Or shower ideas?  Leave me (and Arwen!) a note (include a link if you have ideas on your blog) below and share your creativity!  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Photos are of shower favors I made for my darling, darling friend Heather's baby shower almost two years ago now.