Baby Gift-Sports Fan

 One of my college friends is bringing the next generation of Bears into this world.  I knew I wanted to put together a gift for her baby that represents our alma mater.  We bleed green and gold.

 I have an embroidery machine, so I made a bear onsie with his name.

 I also bought a bear cap from Etsy.  I WISH I knew how to crochet hats.  It's one of my New Year's resolutions, but....I'm also happy to support another crafter, so it's a win that way,, and motivation for the later.

I also made a second onsie with our favorite team, and I found an adorable football blanket from Mudpie...that just so happens to have that beautiful green.  Maxwell is just a few vocabulary lessons away from cheering on the old alma mater...and he's got his outfit ready for game day!

Tea Party: Teddy Bears and Tea Party Baby Shower

 My friend Stephanie is expecting her first little one, a girl, Kinley, in early May.  Her room colors are pink and brown, AND Stephanie also happens to be an alumni of Baylor (Sic' Em), so with the colors, the gender, and the affiliation....we went with the theme Tea Parties and Teddy Bears and aimed for girly, girly, girly.  I blogged about the invitations a month or so ago. 

 I made a little banner with Kinley's name for the guest sign in table. 

 Instead of a book, I bought a copy of the Three Bears, and had all the guest write messages to Kinley. 

I also made some flower arrangements to place around the room using tea pots and tea cups. 

 The hostesses brought a collection of tea dishes, bears, and table clothes, and these were scattered throughout making it pink and brown, and vintage.  Every also brought a tea collection so we had a big variety. 

 We provided all the fixings for tea. 

 We set up tables with tiered platters.  One of these was a DIY using dishes I bought at the thrift store.  I blogged about that here. 

 Each plate had a collection of sandwiches, cupcake liners hold fruit, and petit fours.  I blogged several recipes through the week. 

 I made little picks for the fruit using a circle bunch, and a teddy bear die cut. 

Each table had a different bear/table cloth, tea cup filled flower arrangements, and food. 

Lori, Melissa's Mom, who writes My Heart With Pleasures let us use her great collection of tea cups. 

 We ended the day (or was it began?) with a Teddy Bear Trail Mix Bar.  I blogged about this in detail, but the basic idea is that each mix represented a part of a teddy bear. 

Stephanie got a lot of great stuff, and I am looking forward to meeting Kinley in 3-D.  This was the first of quite a few celebrations I get to be a part of this spring....lots more party blogs to come! 

Here are a lot more photos from the event. 

Linking To:  Tatortots and Jello Be Different Act Normal Funky Junk

Tea Party: All Girl Diaper Cake

 The hostesses at Stephanie's parties all brough the girliest/frilliest/pinkiest thing they could find, and we merged them all together in a diaper cake.  There were lots of pink onsies, bows, sun glasses, and shoes. 

 I usually put whipes in the middle of the bottom two rows, and then start adding the diapers and doodads around it. 

I tie it all together with tulle, which I'll cover later with more thematic ribbons, and then I build up.  I usually just 'rest' the top layer on the top.  Here's a previous tutorial for making a diaper cake...I've made one or 15 of these in the past. 

Tea Party: Teddy Bear Petit Fours

I posted this petit four recipe a few weeks ago.  It's my favorite. 
I used the same recipe, but I used pink chocolate instead of white, and I added little bears to the top I made using a mold I grabbed via Amazon. 

 I was having some icing issues.....so, this is where I have to say sometimes I just let it go.  I'm a detail person, but I'm not a perfectionist by a long shot.  I let it go, they tasted fine, and filled up some of the tiered plates we had on the tables nicely. 

Tea Party: Teddy Bear Trail Mix Favor Bar

 I love a good favor bar.  We did cookies last spring for a Milk and Cookies shower.  I've done chocolate, and candy, and desserts, and....and...and....and I have two more I'll be trying out this spring for some upcoming showers, but this go round....we did a Teddy Bear Trail Mix Bar. 

Heather got these little brown bags at Oriental Trading.  I used a die cut to punch out some bear shaped die cuts, and glued them on the corner.  

 

 Each offering was linked to bears.  Pretzel Rods=Bear Arms.

 I molded some pink chocolate hearts for Bear Hearts.

 Whoppers for bear noses. 

Teddy Grahams

  Gummy Bears.

 Popcorn=Bear Stuffing (Heather's clever idea....we were trying to find a 'filler' that would fill up a bigger basket and the bags). 

I used a lace edge punch to make the liners for the baskets. 

Tea Party: Tea Cup Arrangements

 This week I'm bringing lots of details, and finally every detail from a shower I helped host recently.  Teddy Bears and Tea Parties was the theme....bet you can gather that pretty quickly.  I'm throwing up a fun post for today...one thing we did was put flower arrangments throughout the room using tea cups (thanks again to Lori from My Heart With Pleasures for letting us borrow your great tea cup collection!). 

 These are really simple to make.  I grabbed three bouquets from the grocery store, made little bundles, and rubberbanded them together, snipped them short, and rested them in the cups. 

 I also filled a little tea pot a friend recently gave me....heart.

 I also am slightly in love with old tins....I found this one awhile ago at an antique store.  I especially love the way they look with flowers.  It's a problem.  I put a little plastic up inside that the flowers are actually rest inside b/c the tin is a little rusty, and I didn't trust it to hold water without leaving stains. 

More details to come with these in the homes they lived in during the shower.