UPDATE: Due to demand, this invitation is now for sale in my Etsy shop called FoxyFeteDesigns. Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FoxyFeteDesigns?ref=ss_profile

My dear friend, McKenzie Ashman, had her beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago. Obviously we had to celebrate them and shower them with love and gifts before she popped! We decided on a theme: A Little Deer is Almost Here. She liked pink, but wanted it infused with neutrals, so I designed this invitation. 

I liked the idea of a feminine, woodsy, fairytale feel, so I decorated with a simple lace tablecloth, books as a base, and pink accents. 

The food! The food was so fun to prepare. It was an early afternoon shower, so we settled on Italian food appetizers and salads. Below is the full menu:

Gorgonzola Pear Flatbreads 

Caprese Bites

Spinach Mozzarella 

Fruit Salad

Cranberry Spinach Salad

White Cake with Buttercream Frosting

This cake may not look like much, but it was soooooo dense and tasty. Here’s the recipe I used: http://addapinch.com/the-best-white-cake-recipe/

Confession: I think baby shower games are mostly weird. I mean, eat a candy bar out of a diaper? No thanks. The internet was seriously no help in this area, either. So here are some games and activities I came up with that were non-invasive: 

I asked Kenzie for a list of funny stories or facts from when Kenzie and Taylor were babies. When I read the fun fact, everyone had to guess if it was Kenzie or Taylor. It was a great way to tell some fun stories and get conversation going. 

Celebrity Baby Name Game

Pretty straightforward, everyone gets a sheet and tries to match up the name of the baby with the parents. I put one fake name in there for fun. Download the sheet and test your skills! 

Encore, Baby! 

This was my twist on the game Encore. You split up into teams, I read a word (relating to babies), and each team has to take turns coming up with songs that have that word in it. Your team has to sing at least 6 words of the song for it to count. For example, if the word was cry, one team could sing, “Cry me a river, oh, cry me a river.” The game is totally collaborative with your team, which proved to be fun for everyone to talk to each other and try to come up with songs. 

Onesie Decorating

I bought a set of iron-on appliqués from Easy and some onesies. I set up the ironing board with the appliqués and let people create onesies for Baby Ashman. The appliqués were so cute, and I got them from the BrikAy Designs shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrikayDesigns?ref=l2-shopheader-name. I also had a clothes line attached to the ironing board so each onesie could be displayed. Simple activity that gave an additional gift to the momma-to-be. 

Write a Note

For those late nights when Kenzie is up with the baby, she is equipped with a box full of love notes from her friends and family to remind her how great she is. This was another small filler activity. 

We had a great time celebrating McKenzie and her little babe! Thank you Saudalia for documenting. Check out Saudalia's work: http://saudaliae.blogspot.com/

If you have a family reunion coming up this summer, this country picnic theme is sure to provide the perfect setting for a get together. 

It was an honor to be asked by my Grandma Florence (G-Flo) to help with the reunion last summer. Each year, the extended family of Flossie and Henry Giles gets together to celebrate their lives, and this year it fell to the family of my great-grandmother Erma Giles Moorman. About 75 to 100 on average people attend. The theme we came up with was, “We Are Who We Are because They Were Who They Were.” We really focused on the traits of each of the eight children in the family. Some of them were kindness, honesty, trustworthiness, etc. We compiled some stories into a document for each family to take home and read about how the person exemplified that trait. It was such a nice take away from a beautiful afternoon, and family members have told me how they will cherish those stories forever <3.

My super amazing mother came up with a lot of this. We decided on red and white checker picnic theme, accented with bright blue mason jars and fresh flowers. The table cloths were fitted plastic, a life changing experience. They are so easy to slip over the tables and then clean up and throw away! I loved working with my mom, auntie, grandma, sister, dad, husband, and brothers on this! It was a fantastic family effort. 

Potlucks are the BEST! Everyone brought their own dish to share, and we ended up with a huge splay. I love these big lanterns that we hung. Tip on those: make sure they’re secured, because we had not one but two of them fall down during the afternoon.  Oops. 

The elderly love to stay involved, so we had a list where everyone could update their contact information. We also set out a bucket of seed to grow my great-great grandmother Flossie’s favorite flowers. In addition to that goodness, we had a drawing for a handmade needlework of Flossie’s. These small activities were great for the time where people were arriving. We also had a slideshow playing in the background of old family photos and videos, which I think added a great touch. For the younger folks, we had a game of volleyball going and some frisbees. Activities for everyone! 

The baskets. Oh, these little baskets. We spent all night the night before labeling each Dove chocolate inside each basket with the family traits that each of the siblings in the family represented. So, when you opened your darling mini picnic basket of chocolatey delights, you also were able to read the traits. Just another tie into the theme.

This is Calvin Giles, the last remaining sibling of the family we celebrate each year. He’s incredible, and when he spoke to us, the wind kicked up and added to the power of his words. I’m proud to be from such strong roots, and it was a blast putting this picnic together. 

I know, enough about my own wedding already. But I had to document one more amazing love party that my mother-in-law threw us in Dallas as an open house. It happened to be on Valentine’s Day, so the reds and pinks were in high supply. I loved her pairing of the black and white table cloth to bring interest and contrast to the mix. If you need to be inspired for Valentine’s Day, BAM. 

The party was catered, and the food was excellent. The chef did a great job of arranging food—it was food art, really. 

We had a candy bar because love is sweet. Super duper sugarlicious. 

This old door! It was a perfectly rustic way to display some photos and decorative pieces. 

She even put up a tree with photos to relate back to my wedding theme. I love her.  

It was a truly magical time. 

     

My vision for my reception centerpieces was something that no one, try as they may, could sway me from. I love trees and tree branches, so our winter wedding was themed around that. My doubters tried to persuade me to go with traditional flowers for centerpieces or something less difficult. “Why do you want trees in the middle of the tables? How are you going to pull that off? Won’t people have a hard time seeing each other?” DON’T CARE. It had to be trees. 

Now let me tell you a little something about dedication. One time during my engagement I called my mom, and she said, “Oh hey, we’re just on our way up to Payson to chop down some manzanita trees.” I admit that I teared up a bit, because who’s mother makes their dreams come true like that? They were determined to make these centerpieces on their own. What?! I know, it was crazy. I was in Utah, otherwise I would have been right there with them. But we still kept in close contact during the process. Here is a tutorial to making your very own manzanita tree centerpieces, or wishing trees, as I call them. 

Step 1: Find a crew crazy enough to go hunt these babies down. My mom and dad quickly became manzanita tree experts, finding out where they grow, what colors they grow in, etc. They found them in Payson, AZ. Make sure you obtain a permit to do this, or find the tree branches at a craft store, garden store, wherever.

Step 2: Hang to dry. I wish I had a photo of this, but for weeks we had trees hanging upside down in our backyard attached to a clothes line. Hang the trees upside down until they are dead and dry, then remove any remaining leaves. 

Step 3: Set in Plaster of Paris. Pour Plaster of Paris into a mold (about 5x5 or 6x6, depending on size of tree) and set the tree in the middle. We used a tupperware container. Allow to dry. Remove from mold to reveal a solid white brick as a base. 

Step 4: Spray paint or flock to desired color. These trees came in a lovely deep red color. I wanted a natural dead tree look with a hint of white since our colors were silver, light blue, and white. We colored them a light brown and then added the white after, along with a bit of flocking for snow. 

Step 5: Decorate your base. Our florist covered these with flowers, but you could put pretty much anything there that relates to the theme of your party. Fabric, a garland, lights, whatever! 

Step 6: Find your accessories. Christmastime was a great time to find all kinds of baubles, beads, and sparkly things for the trees. My sister found these gems that turned out great for hanging. We decided to use the trees in place of a guest book and have guests write wishes for the bride and groom on hang tags. We bought the hang tags from a craft store and stamped them with “Best Wishes,” then added some rhinestones, obviously. Guests were encouraged to write messages and hang them on the branches of any tree. It worked great!