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Sweet Lulu is a shop that has the prettiest party supplies.

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Abigail's Baby Shower

I've been a busy lady planning and creating a baby shower for my best friend Sarah's baby Abigail. Abigail was born in November, but with Christmas, we decided to hold off for the shower until January 30th. It's hard to believe my little baby girl, whom I call my neice, is already two months old!

Since many people had already given them gifts, we decided to have a library themed baby shower. Then we asked each person to bring a cherished children's book for Abby's library. Abigail's parents are both teachers too, so we definitely all have a love of literature!

I got the idea for the shower from a book club bridal shower, actually, that I found on Creature Comforts, one of my favourite blogs. Ez was right about this site: tonnes of downloads and printables for ANY kind of party, not just weddings!

From here.

For Abigail's shower, I made a lot of the stuff for the party. Let's see if I can do a run down.

I made the kraft paper table runner. I sewed pink grosgrain ribbon under a crocheted trim and yellow grosgrain on top. This runner was inspired by one I saw on 100 Layer Cake:

From here.

I made this circular bunting. I cut the circles out on my Cricut, out of yellow and pink papers. I also cut some out from a children's book, The Shy Little Kitten.

I used another table runner as a counter protector for our craft project. Everyone got to decorate a quilt square! (Thanks Mom for helping me cut out all those squares!)

I made chili maple caramel popcorn and put it in pink bags and closed them with yellow masking tape.

The biggest project of all was the favour. I made about 40 bookmarks, where I drew and did watercolours of a bunch of different children's books.

 

I used mini wooden alphabet blocks instead of tassles. I just drilled a hole in them and threaded the ribbon through.

The Richard Scarry one is the one I chose to take home as my favour.

Next up: photos of my mom & dad's anniversay party from way back in December!

Well!

I accidentally took a big blog break! I've been really busy doing creative stuff, but it was all for Christmas presents and my parents' 30th anniversary party that my sister and I planned for the 23rd, and so I couldn't really post about any of it. To top it off, I was really busy at school the couple of weeks leading up to winter break, and so the blog just kind of fell to the wayside. So, though it's kind of lame to say so now:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Don't worry, though. One of my resolutions is to post more on my blog. And we hired a photographer for the party (which was AWESOME and filled with DIY touches, by the way) and when the photos come, I'll definitely be posting some of them here.

As for Christmas gifts, I made a bunch of different homemade gifts.

For everyone, I made rice-filled neck warmers. I sewed an inner layer and filled it with rice and one of three additions: cloves, cinnamon stick, and dehydrated orange peel, or lavendar, or kaffir lime leaf and corriander. Then I sewed an outer layer that can be removed for laundering with pretty fabrics, chosen specifically for the recipeint.

I also made home-made ziplock bags very similar to these (though I didn't bother with the corners). I used vinyl for the inside and different fabrics for the outside, and I simplified this even more with stick-on velcro. These were SUPER easy to make and I think I'll probably make some more for ourselves, so I'll do a tutorial then.

Selby, my sister, and I made feathered headbands for all the girls on our list. We ordered a bunch of feathers from BearyBox and pocketsaurus on Etsy. We chose a pallette of blues, greens, and turquoises.

And then to put all the gifts in, we made simple bags out of muslin and used gel medium to transfer a print off of their initial to it. I used this great tutorial from How About Orange.

So more about the party planning later when I get the pictures. And more posts soon! Promise!