Baby Shower turned to Pinterest....oh the ideas!!

Hi there again!

So in this post I am going to give credit where credit is due because a lot (if not most) of the ideas we we used to decorate/enhance the baby shower I got from Pinterest! For all intense purposes, I could technically say that this turned into a Pinterest baby shower...Lol! Hey, just being honest! ;)

This won't be the last time I say this but...I LOVE Pinterest!!

As for many people I know, Pinterest has become the go to website for ideas for all kinds of things. For crafts, recipes, event planning etc., and ever since I knew that I could possibly be planning my niece's shower, I started collecting ideas. That in itself is something I love to do!! This baby shower was my chance to finally get creative all over again, see these ideas come to fruition, and as always have tons of fun in the process.

The best part about getting ideas from here is the ability to take them and then make them your own to fit your theme as you see fit.  I'll be talking about as many of these as I can and you can click on the highlighted words to see the exact link as to where I got the original ideas, and maybe you'll find some of your own favorite ones.

Some of the ideas I picked up over the months were a tea party favor, a baby mobile and some paper pom poms. The paper poms are always a very pretty way to decorate. They were super easy to make and can actually be surprisingly inexpensive to make. I was able to make a whole bunch out of one pack of multi-colored tissue paper from the dollar store. Yay!

That's what I love about a lot of these ideas...They don't take much to make them come alive.

In regards to food, its all about presentation, right? Part of the fun is trying to make the table as pretty as possible. So Pinterest has some fantastic ideas as to how to display your food, and I took advantage of some as I didn't want to disappoint.

Who would of thought of a powdered doughnut cake? So simple and sweet. I just made the fabric roses a little different and out of colors that matched our theme colors to add to the cake. The fabric roses are also something I made months ago and are easy enough to make while watching tv and then have them ready when you need them.  I also made some extra roses to hot glue around a baseball for another centerpiece. The ideas are endless.


The veggie cups I have seen been used at parties before. They are just as pretty and colorful as they are practical for your guests to enjoy.

We also put out mozzarella skewers that are always classy and add a little color to the table as well.  They were so popular I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of them, but you can check out the link to see what they look like.

This watermelon baby was just genius!! I just HAD to make this for the shower. Its was just too dang cute and soo different. You can make it out of any size watermelon, but I used a small one so it would fit in the salad bowl. I used an orange for the face and grapes for the eyes.  I went ahead and added a fabric bow to give it that baby girl touch of course, and Marilyn's little girl, Mina, was kind enough to share her binky with us for the final detail. This was a big hit with everybody.
 






The original tea bag party favor I saw was for a bridal shower and I just changed up the paper colors to match our colors, and actually machine sewed the pocket on each individual card instead which gave it a different detail. Then I embellished them with scrapbooking supplies I already had to make each one different at the end. I also found small silver plastic spoons at the dollar store that I put in each tea cup on the tables, but you could add them in the pockets of these favors instead. Totally cute!

The original flower mobile idea I saw I had absolutely loved and knew I wanted to make one for Baby Fea's room. I just took the colors I knew Casandra wanted to work with and made different colored felt flowers held together with buttons. It was actually easier than it looks to make and I loved the way it came out. Again this is one of those ideas you can do at your leisure and put together in a short amount of time.  I figure they can use it as a mobile over her crib or just as a room decoration, but they loved that it was all made by hand. .

I was already on a sewing kick and I had decided early on to make them a gift from another idea I picked up a while ago...a portable baby changing pad and burping cloths out of fabric and terry cloth towels. I have made a few of these already for other friends and I'm hoping they have put them to good use. After making a few, I've figured out the sewing logistics, and they are actually pretty straight forward to make. I making them different for each baby by varying fabric choices and adding little details including adding 3 pockets at the bottom so they can store diapers, wipes and even a bottle if necessary. I made the burp cloths from contrasting fabric/colors and it made a "pretty in pink" set for Casandra (or Sergio) to put in their diaper bag to help them be fashionable and practical on the go.

 

There was one extra one thing we did make on our own which was a baby library crate. Marilyn and Ellen wanted to start a library for Casandra and Sergio's baby girl...such a cute and practical idea. So we requested for all the guests to bring a new or gently used book to start off her library and had them write their well wishes on the inside front cover so that they'd always know who gave it to her. So then we bought a wooden crate from Michaels, painted it white (fyi-2 good coats) and I added some of the same felt flowers that I made for the mobile so that it would all match in her room.   As Casandra opened her gifts and collected books they were placed in the library and they were able to take it home after ready to go. Then as the baby grows, they can add more crates and make it a nice storage unit. 


Honestly, there are tons of other ideas I could have probably done, but I picked the main ones I wanted to do. There is only so much time for all of it, and I believe there will always be another opportunity to put that idea into play.  Having said that though, I was apparently accused at the shower for getting all of this done because I have too much time on my hands...UUMM, yeah, not soo much!

Those of you who know me, and are busy moms too know how busy I can get with working part time, 3 boys on my hand, sports, homework and everything else that a mom does. However, I will say that when it comes to crafting, I will and do make time for it because I LOVE it, and because I know myself enough that when I get an idea in my head, I'm not happy until I get it done...it also takes a little planning, so that's what I do! So if I know ahead of time what craft I want to make or re-create I take a few steps at a time to get it completed. I have to do it this way! I get materials ready one day, I set it out the other, I cut out patterns all at one time, and then I take advantage of any down time I have like in the evenings (as I mentioned above) when I'm watching tv and do what I can then. This system works for me, and I'm able to get a lot done this way, but over time.


Soo there you are! All the ideas I used directly from Pinterest. I would love to take credit for most of them, but they weren't mine, so I won't. But I can share them with you like I just did and hope you enjoy them one day too. Remember that the links I posted should guide you back to the original blog location of the idea, and you'll find that most of these blogs supply more detailed instructions and even patterns to make these ideas for yourself.

How can you go wrong? My point is, crafting and being creative isn't impossible to do, you just have to find what works for you.

Do you have something coming up that you want to find ideas for?  I'd love to see what you guys come up with. Its all about sharing ideas and learning from each other, right? I think so ;)

Thanks for stopping by and from my corner to yours...I hope you have a Pinterest kind of week!

Get creative!

Baby Fea's Baby Shower

So as most of you know my brother Sergio and Casandra are pregnant with their first baby girl due on Valentines Day 2013. Its been a big year for them and this baby girl is bringing much excitement for all of us especially their closest family and friends.  She already has many nicknames including "Jelly Bean" and "Baby Fea" (derived from Sergio's nickname of Tio Feo given to him by the boys, a story in and of itself).

Baby Fea will have very new parents who are VERY overwhelmed with all that has to do with babies, so to get them prepared, Casandra's best friends Marilyn and Ellen and myself have been planning their baby shower for a few months, and we finally hosted Baby Fea's shower a week ago Saturday at my house.





I love and enjoy hosting a good party whenever I can, and to do so in honor of my niece-to-be is something I didn't take lightly.  Marilyn and Ellen live out of town, but we worked really well together and they helped me coordinate and plan even while being miles apart. Unfortunately, Ellen wasn't able to make it on the day of the event, but was there in spirit nonetheless. And Marilyn was such an awesome co-host and we became good friends in the process. Thank you Marilyn and Ellen for all your help!!


We decided to do a tea party theme and actually use real china place settings, tea sets and silverware that in conjunction with mom I have been collecting over time. I love using real china whenever possible, and we mismatched all the sets to give it that shabby chic feel.  We used tea pots as centerpieces with fresh flowers and each guest had their own special table setting.

The original plan was to set up the tea party outside, but the rain caught us by surprise the night before and we ended up having to move our couches out of the tv room, into our garage and set up the party inside. It actually worked out to our benefit and it made it look a lot cozier for the event.

We had a brunch style spread that included chicken salad croissant sandwiches, cucumber and ham/cheese sandwiches, Autumn chopped salad, hors devoures, pink lemonade from Trader Joes, homemade sangria, and of course hot tea and coffee.

 

After brunch, Marilyn had a few games planned out, but we ended up only playing one since Casandra's guests preferred to see her go straight into opening her gifts. We did do an improptu giveaway to the most creative tea hat worn by a guest. We didn't have a lot of people in hats due to the rain, but those who did had fun with it.

Sandra Chavez won "The Most Creative Hat" award since she actually made her hat from scratch.

She took tulle from one of her own daughter's play dresses and hot glued on her play tea cups on it too! Coming from Sandra, I wasn't surprised because she's crazy like that, lol. She deserved some recognition, don't you think?

Casandra, being a first time mom, had a great time opening gifts and admiring all the cute outfits, shoes and accessories her baby girl received.








After all the gifts were opened, Sergio took the opportunity to take pictures of Casandra will all her guests to remember the occasion.


Marilyn and I were grateful that everything had turned out soo nice and that everyone had such a great time. We were especially happy to know that Casandra and Sergio had loved every minute of it.

Come visit tomorrow as I will be posting some more details about the shower 

and some of the creative ideas we used to make this shower extra special. 

Thank you to all who joined us that day to help 

Casandra and Sergio celebrate Baby Fea's future arrival. 

We can't wait to have her in our lives!

From my corner to yours...

XOXO

Our Escape to Paradise

ALOHA!!!....

Its hard for me to believe that its already been 3 weeks ago today that we were on our way to Hawaii. Oh, how I wish I were back on that plane...but we're not.  And I probably should have already written about it, but its been very hard to know to how to be able to put into words what this Hawaii trip was like for our family. Its difficult, not only because there is almost too much to say, but because I don't know how to put all of the emotions and moments we had into a concise format.

First off I need to thank for the millionth time, my wonderful In-laws for inviting us on this trip and making it unbelievably special for all of us. Spending time with them was so much fun and it was a great chance for us to bond. My In-laws did everything possible to make sure that we enjoyed everything we did and I can't express enough just how much that meant to us.

Just getting ready for this trip was fun. It had its logistics as we left during a school week for all 3 boys, but I did my best to get their homework collected for them to work on while we were gone so they didn't get too far behind. Did they actually get it done? Well, we definitely tried and the boys were pretty good about doing most of it on the plane on the way there and back, but it is definitely hard to complete with there being soo much to do and see in just a few days.

The boys were super excited to go as they were not only looking forward to going to Hawaii, but they were looking forward to the plane ride. And I have to say, as none of us have really been on a plane in many years, I couldn't blame them. The sophistication that is on these planes at the moment is fascinating with individual seat screens, movie/music selections galore...all on a touch screen! At one point, there were 3 of us watching 3 different movies right next to each other...What! I felt like a curious little kid myself, trying to figure out what else I could do on these monitors. It was very cool, and getting some sleep on either way was very difficult to do.

Part of my difficulty in writing this post included the not knowing how to include the mass amounts of pictures we took on a daily basis without boring all of you either. So with access to picture editing I came up with a daily collage to show you a summary of our daily events. Its actually a good way for me to look back and concentrate on the big things we saw and did. Kind of fun to see them in this fashion as well.

Day 1- Thursday, October 18th

• Early flight out of LAX on Delta- I love being at the airport!
• Loved watching the boys reactions during the flight especially during take off and touch down.
• Arriving at Honolulu international airport- which included a little lost travel pack adventure
•  Checking into our lovely hotel - The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani- 2 blocks away from the beach and right next door to the International Market Place...location, location, location- Awesome!
• Enjoyed a stroll in downtown Waikiki and taking in the views
• A dip in the pool for the boys and hanging out poolside for us
• Dinner and a local Hula show next door at at the International Market Place

Day 2- Friday, October, 19th

• Breakfast at the Hard Rock Cafe- it was sooo good!
• I took a Lei making class that our hotel offered and made my own Lei. That was cool!
• Took the public transportation bus to Diamond Head and back just for the experience and hiked up to the entrance. We weren't quite prepared to hike upto the top (due to "tired" children who won't be named) but it was great to the view from there anyway ;)
• Took a rest and ordered in pizza for dinner poolside at the hotel
• Tito and Tita took us on their customary evening stroll to their favorite beach spot to see Waikiki at night....One of my favorite memories!

Day 3- Saturday, October 20th

• Breakfast at Denny's- Food for Kings! ;)
• Tita, Jerry and Christian took another hotel sponsored class- a Ukelele class given by an award winning Ukelele instructor Daniel Nakashima.
• Daniel saw that Chris already knew how to play so he asks Christian to perform with him at the 11:30am show he was supposed to do. The Hawaii spirit was in full effect as Daniel gave up his performance time to let Christian sing 2 of Chris' own songs, and then perform 2 Hawaiian songs with him. An amazing experience/memory for Chris!!
• 12:30pm-We got on a charter bus that took us to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We got to see Oahu's beauty on the 1 1/2 hour ride there and I made an Aussie friend named Dani who was there with her family on their first international trip out of Australia. Love meeting new people!
• Once there we got to eat this delicious pineapple/sherbert ice cream dessert, the boys got to fish in Fiji, we all got warrior tattoos on the island of Tonga and saw coconut milk be made in Samoa by a very funny Samoan!
• Had a great buffet dinner and then saw an amazing Luau story style show to end the night!

Day 4- Sunday, October 21

• Not getting used to the time change, I took Danny and Mikey to Waikiki Beach at 7am and saw the sun rise over the beach. OMG!!!
• Enjoyed some quiet time to myself on the sand watching my boys enjoy being in the warm Hawaiian water and sun...something I'll always remember!
• For lunch we went back to the Hard Rock to see some local children perform on their stage and another stroll down Waikiki's streets. 
• We had a late evening picnic with the Titos at the beach and then went to church for a beautiful traditional mass.
• Walked back to Waikiki beach and the boys ended the evening swimming in the sunset light. What a glorious sight to behold!

  Day 5- Monday, October 22nd

• Tito and Tita invited us to an abundant breakfast buffet at the famous Duke's. It was a beautiful way to start of the day since it was right off the beach and we got to enjoy it with a perfect view outside. It was delicious and the boys could not get enough of the bacon.lol
• Right after, we again took the public bus all the way to Pearl Harbor to see and take the tour to  the USS Arizona Memorial. That was a special trip for all of us, but especially for the boys to see and relive a little bit of our American history. 
• We got lost on our way back on the bus that only adds to the many adventures and we got to stop off at the University of Hawaii because of it. 
• This was technically our last night in Hawaii, so we took it easy by the pool and Jerry and I enjoyed a well deserved cocktail, and I did some last minute shopping at the Int'l Market Place.

 Day 6- Tuesday, October 23rd

•  It was our last morning in Waikiki and what better way to spend it but again...at the Beach!
• This time we all went and it was special for all us to get in the water together and leave with a little sand on our feet to remember it all.
•  Jerry and I took a walk down the beach together 
• Christian had his final moments to play his Uke on the beach...loved hearing that sweet sound coming from his own hands.
• The boys enjoyed watching the waves crash over their mom and dad...always fun to amuse the children with your own antics.
• What a beautiful morning it was for us!

Thank you Tito and Tita for an amazing trip and for allowing us to spend these days with you!
We love you!!

Thank you Hawaii for being so beautiful for us and giving us memories we wont ever forget!

Thank you for stopping by!

From my corner to yours...

Aloha

&

 MAHALO!

Weight Watcher Wednesday- A personal update

I just wanted to do a personal update as its been a little over a year and 8 months that I joined Weight Watchers to start off my 40's right and I think I have accomplished that and more. Its been a hell of a journey, but worth every minute and dollar I have invested in myself. I feel like I have gifted myself with a new way of life and nothing tastes so sweet.

 

As of this morning...I did it! I finally made it to 50lbs lost!

Woohoo!!

Its taken me a while to get here, but I have persevered through real life situations, including that I have 4 boys at home I have to cook for on a daily basis, and the fact that I still love food as much as when I started, but I'm here and I feel sooo good!

This weight journey of mine has been life long, but I am proud of being able to accomplish this goal at this stage of my life. I wouldn't change anything I've gone through because it wouldn't have brought me here the same way.

This time I did it for myself and that's all that matters now, and of course, I am always grateful for the continued support and encouragement from my family and friends!! XO

But my work doesn't end here! I am on to my next goal with Weight Watchers which is getting to Lifetime status and after that my eyes are set on hopefully becoming a Weight Watcher leader. I feel like a have a story to tell and I'd like to help others reach their goals too. But as always I have to take one step at a time and it still may be a while before I get there, but its a goal I am reaching strong for.

Ultimately, I am still a work in progress...so I will still keep trying. Its so worth it! I hope you will too, whatever your goal might be :)

From my corner to yours...Have a happy Weight Watcher Wednesday everybody!