“I bought the Kikki K sticker book and used most of the stickers to create all my paper goods for the table. Labels for the desserts, cupcake toppers and flags for the drinks are just some of the items I made using the stickers.”

Delicious treats included mini raspberry trifles, mini cheesecake bites, coconut and pineapple milkshake, raspberry and coconut mini cupcakes, chocolate hearts, love letter cookies including EDIBLE paper stamps and gorgeous heart cookies. Baby really does know the way to your heart.

“The cake was inspired by the gorgeous  heart bunting pattern on the Kikki K wrapping paper and the heart pattern found on most of their Valentine cards. It is actually a very simple cake, I used a clay extruder to create the red “string” and edible paper to create the hearts.”

The eye catching envelope backdrop really is the highlight of this table, tying all elements together! Leoni created this backdrop with inspiration from an idea she saw and loved at a Kate Spade show.

Happy Valentine’s Day baby and thanks for sharing this great love party with us Leoni!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: dessert table, heart cupcake toppers, kikki k baby shower, red hearts baby shower, valentines day baby shower, valentines day dessert table

Floral designer Lauryl of Lauryl Lane styled the flowers for a gorgeous baby shower for 40 guests at Il Fornaio in Santa Monica, California. “The restaurant has a sunroom overlooking the ocean. It’s such a serene location, and a perfect intimate setting for this group,” Lauryl said.

Planner Loren Elkin said “We knew the gender and name of the baby  – Jack.  Just thought it would be nice to have something really simple and of course not too feminine.” The mother-to-be is originally from Sweden, so the palette was kept crisp and somewhat modern with white ceramic containers and a textural mixture of green and white flowers.

The blooms included green roses, white lisianthus, green spider mums and kermit mums, queen anne’s lace, white statice, ferns, bupleurum and other seasonal blooms and greenery.

Miniature centerpiece treatments created a lovely runner of flowers to decorate long banquet-style tables, a simple solution and great tip for a different decorative table runner. Favors for the attendees were the miniature arrangements that sat at the top of each place setting. “Wouldn’t you love to go to a shower and head home with fresh flowers?” asked Lauryl. Yes, we absolutely would! Especially when they look like these!

Alternative arrangements sat atop guest tables and were given as prizes to the lucky guests who won the baby-games!

“The flowers were really the main décor,” Loren said. ”We added vintage paper name/seating cards in front of each individual flower pot. We also had clear acrylic photo cubes filled with Xeroxed baby pictures of Emma and Dave to on light blue paper.  This was the only blue I chose as a tribute to the baby boy.”

As the mom to be is pregnant, a “non-cocktail,” cocktail hour was decided on. Bartenders whip up some fruity and lemonade type drinks. Stations set up in the bar area where guests designed some baby onsies with fabric markers and pre-cut iron-on’s. “Mom-to-be Emma is a huge True Blood fan, so we had lots of pictures from the show and things with fake blood and vampires,” Loren said. ”We also printed out fun things like 80’s hair bands and just stuff little boys would like.We also had two booths set up where everyone was able to design a scrapbook page for Emma and Jack.  Our Photographer took Polaroid pictures of the guests and then it was added to the page they designed.”

“Tourists walking down Ocean Boulevard in Santa Monica could peek in the window and see this loveliness! I imagine they all wished they were inside.”

Thanks for sharing this gorgeous shower with us Lauryl!

Vendors:

Floral Design & Images:: Lauryl Lane

Planning:: Loren Elkins

Additional Photography:: Brad Jones

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: elegant baby shower, floral design baby shower, luxury baby shower, miniature floral arrangements, seasonal blooms, spider mums, white roses baby shower

“I thought my husband was going to kill me when I told him I wanted stripes, and then when I clarified that I wanted horizontal stripes his head almost exploded.  In an older home the walls and floors are far from level so he knew as a perfectionist, it would be a huge undertaking. Getting the stripes done was the biggest challenge of the room, but I think they really make the space and were totally worth it. My husband says they will NEVER be painted over because he worked so hard on them.” First they painted the space white and then taped off the stripes with a ruler and level to make sure they were precise. Then they went back and painted them tan. It took working on the space for five days to master the stripes in the room. But the wall is the first one you see when entering Lucy’s room.

While the stripes pack the biggest impact, Niki also loves the whimsical moose light above the crib. She made the lamp out of an old glass bottle and embellished the shade with yellow babbles.The two artwork pieces next to the mirror above the changing dresser were made by Niki’s sister so they hold a special place in her heart. “As lovers of books I do like the painted Ikea spice racks turned bookshelves as well. I hope Lucy will like displaying her favorite books there when she gets older since we hung them at child height.  My husband’s favorite part is the large shelving for all of Lucy’s books and toys.”

All of the linen in Niki’s home is white.” I find it the simplest to keep clean and the ease of being able to wash them all together is a huge time saver. So Lucy’s room is no exception. For the bed skirt I found an organic white skirt with a simple brown line. I also made the green and white striped pillows in the space. The rocking chair was a gift from my father-in-law to my husband when he graduated college. My first pair of baby shoes are also displayed on the shelving unit.”

“I like the calm feeling when you walk into the space. It is very clean and fresh and I really love that.” Thanks for sharing Lucy’s lovely nursery with us Niki!

Nursery Sources

Crib :: amazon.com, Davinci Jenny Lind Crib

Bedding :: fitted sheets are from pottery barn kids and the skirt is from Buy Buy Baby. The blanket was made by a family friend and I made the green striped pillow

Dresser :: Ikea Hemnes

Chair :: college graduation gift from my father in law to my husband. It is a  Bostonrocker from University of Iowa.

Wall paint color :: The tan is Restoration Hardware Latte

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: beige white nursery, chevron nursery rug, horizontal stripes nursery, modern baby nursery

“Don’t spend a fortune on your nursery, because no matter how much you love it, it will have to be changed at some point…. either when your child outgrows it or when another baby comes along and the rooms have to be shifted around,” mom Carrie advises. She’s had some practice decorating for kids, as baby Grant’s warm, Earth tone nursery is her fifth child.  “If you do want the room to last a while, pick a wall color that is gender-neutral,” Carrie said.  “Also, don’t paint any murals or use wallpaper or border.”

Before this earth tone nursery belonged to baby Grant, it belonged to his big sister and was bubblegum pink. While beige can be very bland, Grant’s room has a warm feel to it when mixed with the right amount of white.

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“Use prints, photos and canvases to decorate, since those are easy to change out.  Don’t clutter the room with nick-knacks.  Nurseries become so cluttered on their own with all the clothing, toys, books and baby essentials.”

By leaving some empty spaces for special items that parents collect when baby is little, such as their first shoes or special gifts, the room can grow with baby’s memories. “I have a new obsession with birds so I found a room to use them as a detail.  Of course I love the items that remind me of Grant’s story, including the framed letter and the scripture print.

His scripture print reads:

“Our children and their children will get in on this as the Word is passed along parent to child. Babies not yet conceived will hear the good news that God does what he says!”

Carrie printed out the word “faith” and stuck it on the window. Grant’s full name is “Grant Fidelis” meaning “Great faith,” which is what Carries said she
needed to take on a 5th pregnancy and baby.

Thanks for sharing Grant’s nursery and your great decorating tips with us Carrie!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: bible scripture nursery, boy nursery, brown nursery, earth tone nursery, warm nursery

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: beach photo shoot, kid photo shoot, redhead photography

Play dates are the best, and this Valentine’s Day, we’re bringing you a vintage coffee shop first love play date by Natalie of Southern Belle’s Charm. She created this adorable play date with love letters, vintage typewriters and layered doilie banners. You’ll find yourself wanting to a love letter to the object of your affection saying ‘You’re Just My Type.’

First thing’s first, a little man has to get up the courage to ask our his lucky lady. How cute Greyson as he calls up Miss Anabelle for a Valentine’s Play Date.  Can we say “Aaawww!”

She gets all dressed up to play before they go to a coffee shop. You have to love a man who brings a girl flowers.

 and spend the afternoon playing games like tic-tac-toe. On the day of love they’ll find a new way to play with XOXO!

Red velvet cupcake sandwiches and chocolate typewriters lend themselves to this love letter themed play date.

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© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: just my type party, love letters party, typewriter party, valentine's day party, valentines day play date, xoxo party

This elegant shower was a lot of fun and came together so beautifully. Salem got to hang out with her friends and celebrate the impending arrival of her perfect pair little twins!

Jordan had worked out a menu before, but she had all the female family members contribute something which made the food even more delicious. Not only was the food ‘pear’ inspired, she kept a muted and green color palette so her food mixed perfectly with the theme. One big box of pears, some baby’s breath and some props made it quite easy to decorate. “I love it when a style fits with personal taste! The day of it looked rustic, pretty and yummy!”

The macarons were served in a lace bowl made from a doilie. And chocolate mousse in little jars with wooden spoons attached. So cute!

The drinks and take home treats were displayed on a white sideboard table. Jordan used party dots cut with a flourish punch and ‘sealed’ with baking paper and jute string.

It’s Easy Being Green for:

Macarons // Bubble & Sweet
Wooden Cutlery // Polkadot Prints
Stamp // Sweet Style
Flourish Punch // Tom Kat Studio
Perfect Pair Stationery // Polkadot Prints

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: baby's breath baby shower, ombre cake shower, perfect pair baby shower, perfect pear baby shower, rustic elegant baby shower, sage green baby shower

We recently featured this  hot air balloon baby shower, put together by a family of seriously talented and creative women. It featured geometric patterns, DIY projects, soft colors and incredible food. With a group of women this imaginative, we had to know what the room that inspired this party looked like. Here’s a peek at Willow’s nursery which led to the up and away baby shower.

She used Kim’s welcome sign as decor.  ”I absolutely loved all the graphic shapes and fonts Kim used in the shower’s details!” The “it’s a girl!” sign from the shower sits in the corner.

This picture is from a vintage Mary Poppins record book that her sister-in-law had from childhood.

After seeing this print found on Etsy, the idea for the room was born. Mom Ashley  used blue geometric wrapping paper as a back drop for scripture graphics she made with photoshop.

Ashley found some quilt hoops at a thrift store, spray painted them and used scrap fabric from Willow’s crib bedding to create coordinated wall art. This homemade apple core quilt was from Ashley’s best friend Angela.

Ashley took the cake topper
and framed it with a photo from my maternity photos by Jamie.

Another spray painted quilt hoop had gray felt stretched over it. Ashley used a scrap of fabric to create the “W” and blanket stitched it on. She made the rug from a canvas drop cloth for only $10. She measured out the points and painted it in with some left over wall paint from another project.

She painted a scripture on the wall above the window using a computer print out, carbon paper to transfer and paint.

What a gorgeous room! Thanks for sharing with us Ashley! Did you miss the hot air balloon up up and away baby shower? You have to check out it out!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: baby shower nursery, bible scripture wall graphic, embroidery hoop wall art, hot air balloon baby nursery, hot air balloon mobile

Cookies are the up and coming trend with the Momofuku’s Milk Bar and this Mommy to be wanted all things cookie. Designed by Debbie, the incredible woman who makes Wants and Wishes happen, she created a mouth-watering, simple, chic milk and cookies baby shower.

The white Ruffle Fabric backdrop makes you think of a waterfall of smooth white milk. “This added the touch of softness the table was needing.”

“I wanted to the mommy to be feel loved… baked with love became our secondary theme as we incorporate hearts in everything. The “chocolate chips” in the cookie banner are hearts, heart beat on the flags and cupcake toppers as well as the cookie favors.

My favorite part was the milk glasses rimmed with dipped chocolate and sprinkled with yellow non perils sprinkles.

Debbie made Oatmeal Cookies with craisins and mini white chocolate chips, Momofuku’s Blueberry & cream Cookies, the classic cookie- chocolate chip and Cookies and Cream cupcakes.

The Milk and Cookies collection is available in six different colors including pink, light blue, yellow, red, green and purple. Thanks for sharing this cookie dunking shower with us Debbie!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: cookies and cream baby shower, milk cookies baby shower, ruffle fabric backdrop

Little Aidan has been going through a mix of phases from dinosaurs to Toy Story and Transformers. But he’s always had a very special love for Thomas the Tank Engine. This meant that Belinda from Styled by Belle was going to throw him a red and  blue vintage train party, held at Aidansville station as he rode the Aiden Express. “I spent many late nights painting and building props including – a custom train station backdrop that I drew and hand painted myself. The station was of course called “Aidansville”, the clock was pointing to “3 o’clock” (being Aidan’s age) and I had 2 windows representing “Tickets” and “Luggage”. I got my little man dressed up as a train driver and took photos of him before the party to stick in the windows.”

Talk about a railroad dessert display! Belinda drew and painted on canvas to create her train station backdrop. She created a super long dessert table and covered it with hessian to give it a rustic feel. “I built and painted a wooden train track to line the front of the table and bought plastic tubs that I painted red and blue and put wheels on to create “train carriages” to hold the food platters.” Aidan already had a cute vintage red ride-on wooden train that headed the table and “pulled” the carriages along the tracks!

The menu consisted of: caramel popcorn in Mon Tresor boxes, chocolate bars in custom wrappers, train sugar cookies, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, blue and red jelly jars, oreo cookie pops, wild berry yogurt push pops, chocolate ripple cake and fruit skewers (of which she used a train shape cookie cutter to cut the watermelon pieces). There were also lolly jars filled with red & blue candy: jaffas, bon bons, jelly beans, raspberries, sour straps and clouds.

“The birthday cake was beyond amazing! My wonderful friend, Kylie Bourban, created a fabulous train and carriages cake to match my theme perfectly! The train and carriages were each a different flavor: chocolate mud, white chocolate mud, jaffa mud & banana mud. Yum! Yum!”

For entertainment, she hired a Thomas jumping castle and a motorized ride-on train (which she called “The Aidan Express”) to give the children train rides throughout the afternoon, which was a huge hit!

The children received lots of little train paraphernalia to take home – train shaped crayons, train whistles, train driver hats and train drink bottles. I also had wooden train toys that the children were able to paint themselves and take home. Overall the party was “choo-choo” fun and this train enthusiast had an absolute blast with his little friends.

Thanks for letting us ride the Aiden Express Belinda!

Party Conductors:
Photography - Lee Bird Photography
Printable Stationary – Parties By Hardie
Birthday Cake – Kylie Bourban
Train Crayons – Ivy Lane Designs
Jumping Castle – Speciality Castles
Trackless Train Ride – A&A Jumping Castles

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: dessert table, red blue birthday party, red velvet cupcakes, thomas the tank engine party, train birthday party

Thanks Amy for sharing Haven’s home with us!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: baby girl nursery, DIY nursery, trellis wall nursery

Liz wanted something different from the ‘all pink,’ ‘baby pink,’ or ‘white and pink’ nursery room for her daughter Sophie. She wanted this former office/guest room to be designed around colors rather than a theme. “I wanted the walls to steal the show. This would also allow me to mix different textures, patterns, and styles.”

Forever in love with the color turquoise, Liz wanted to find a way to tie that into the nursery and decided it would go perfectly with pink. “It’s not a traditional nursery color, especially for a girl, because when people think blue, they usually think boy, but they forget about this awesome girly shade of blue!” Armed with a $700, Liz set our with her imagination and creativity for a girly room that would grow with her daughter.

Entering Sophie’s room you are drawn to the accent wall with the window, with its painted squares and stripes. The eye is then drawn to the crib wall on the left of the accent wall. “I wanted the main accent wall to be the first thing you see entering the room. I didn’t want the crib to be on that wall because it would have covered many of the vertical stripes on the bottom half of the wall and part of the window and I didn’t want the crib to be the main focal point.” Liz used a pink shag rug to add color to the floor. “I decided there was already so much color on that wall that I needed to balance it out with the black and white on the windows.”

There is small teddy bear sitting in the polka dotted basket, which is rather tattered and ragged, that Liz had as a child herself. The piggy bank on the bookshelf, Liz has had since she was a little girl. “I thought it would be a nice touch in the room. It was special to me to have these be a part of my baby’s nursery.”

Some of Liz’s favorite details are the paint techniques she used. “It was so fun and I knew I could be as creative as I wanted to be, since it was a nursery. I wasn’t necessarily worried about doing “too much” or “going overboard” although sometimes I think I may have! Other details I love are the sentimental pieces, like the paintings that I did for my baby girl. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different colors, patterns, textures, and styles. Don’t get too caught up in what “everyone else is doing.” It’s perfectly ok, and actually even better, to have something unique and custom to you and your baby.”

Thanks for sharing Sophie’s unique nursery with us Liz!

Crib: Graco Lauren in black – (ordered from walmart.com)
Bedding/Valance: Seed Sprout Black + White Damask set (ordered from walmart.com)

Changing table: DaVinci Emily in black (ordered from simplybabyfurniture.com)

Chair: Poang black frame with white upholstery (Ikea)

Bookshelf : Billy bookcase in white (Ikea)

Wall shelves: Ekby Osten shelves in white with Ekby Mans black brackets (Ikea)

Wall paint color: Valspar Hello Dolly, Bayside, and Sweet Sixteen (Lowes)

Breakdown of items/prices:

Crib: $150

Mattress: $60

Changing table: $130

Chair: $69

Bookshelf: $40

Wall shelves: $20

Bedding/valances: $87
Paint/supplies: $50

Rug: $15

Lamp: $15

Picture ledge: $10

Baskets + other accessories: $50

TOTAL: $700

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: baby girl nursery, bright color nursery, pink turquoise nursery

We love Lindi from Love the Day,  and clearly she loves Valentine’s Day. For the 2012 day of love, she’s created a Love Note Valentine Party collection.

Remember when we wrote notes of love to the people most dear to us instead of tweeting them? Neither do we! The whole collection includes bottle wrappers, cupcake toppers, a heart shaped banner and so much more.

Pick up your Love Note Valentine’s Day set!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: heart banner, love cupcake toppers, pink and red party, red hearts party, valentine's day party, valentine's day printables

Jordan of Polka Dot Prints  loves this party! She designed a princess collection for a little girl named Ella who was turning three and wanted a pink princess party. Don’t all three year olds want that? “Not being a tizzy girl myself as a mom to a little boy, I haven’t had much to do with tutus and frills. But this party has changed my mind about how a princess party can look!” To get this look, Jordan combined mom Maddie’s love of “brown paper packages tied up with string” with her “pink princesses” obsession and came up with a lovely rustic princess party to share with her closest friends.

A key idea for the party was that it  had to be environmentally friendly. They used existing objects like a paper flower and white platters, or leftovers around home or friends to decorate, buying only some colored paper, stickers and brown paper for the event.

Maddie used a lot of pink, but by using brown paper and some pretty home made touches, it’s still so very girly with no tulle in sight! She made all the decorations, the lollypops and cupcakes (topped with chocolate tiaras for the princess) and finished the look with Jordan’s printables including invites, chocolate dots, personalized princess straw tags, buffet sign and buffet labels.

On the menu were ‘fruit jewels’ (cookie cutter shaped fruit on sticks), ‘ham swirls’ (ham and tortilla wraps on sticks), ‘princess popcorn’ (fresh popcorn in paper cones), ‘garlic toasties’ (garlic bread shaped like tiaras).

It’s a party any little girl would dream of. And it kind of helps to have a mum who is an extremely talented photographer too! Thanks for sharing this gorgeous party with us Jordan!

{All Images: Etta Photography}

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: brown paper packages party, dessert table, pink princes party, princess collection, rustic princess party

After reading an article about actress Ali Larter’s yellow and black baby shower, Sue decided that she loved colors and theme and decided make it more fitting of her own personal style.  She choose a co-ed(!) baby shower because she did not make this baby alone. Aww! “My husband and his friends deserved to be part of our special day.”

Yellow and black smiling bees were buzzing around the 90 guests at Sue’s bee garden baby shower. The colors followed all the décor of the shower, including Sue’s special chair, a loveseat where she and her husband and sat and opened our gifts. Don’t you love how dad Juan coordinated his shirt?!

The giant yellow and black candy table featured chocolate “Yellow It’s a Boy” lollipops, coconut and guava lollipops (“from my parents native country of the Dominican Republic”), Lemon Heads, Wint-O-Green Life Savers, yellow and black balls we also had candy bars with a customized label. A black and yellow “Sweets” banner hung across the front o fit.

Don’t you love their customized candy wrappers?

All the bees were swarming the tiered fondant cake. The top hive tier was red velvet, but colored in blue. The bottom tier was checkered yellow and chocolate cake both with cream cheese frosting. For the gentleman they were expecting, fondant bow tie was created on one layer. The cake stand read “Parents to Bee”.

The favors were eco flower favors.  Inside the box was a bio pot with a soil pellet. A “green” gift made entirely from recycled materials.  The card read: “Thank you for sharing our “growing memories”. Please plant these seeds for a greener tomorrow.”

A little bee named Noah Jaxson was born in September 2011, weighing in at 7lbs 9 oz. Congrats Sue and Juan!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | 2 Comments! | Post tags: ali larter baby shower, bee baby shower, black yellow baby shower, coed baby shower

Now you can serve them at your baby shower, children’s birthday parties or any other celebration when Courtney’s new book  Push-Up Pops is published. If that gorgeous cover doesn’t make you want to create them for your next even, it’s a guarantee you’re hoping they’re served at the next party you attend! Order your copy of  Push-Up Pops now!

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: courtney dial pizzazzerie, courtney dial push up pop, push up pop dessert trend, push-up pop book

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: baby inspiration board, perfume baby shower favor, pink navy inspiration board, preppy princess party, vera wang party, vera wang preppy princess

“Hoo” wants a whimsical styled baby shower made for two? Twins that is. Take a peek inside this rustic wood branch and green moss touches along with crafted baby owls and nests.

This baby shower includes custom owl themed stationary and decor elements, appetizers, refreshments and games all set on a wraparound southern back-yard porch complete with rocking chairs and cold lemonade.

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: botanical garden baby shower, green moss baby shower, owl baby shower, twins baby shower

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: newborn photography, scott schmitz photography

© Baby Lifestyles, 2012. | Permalink | No Comments | Post tags: beach photography, family photography, north carolina photography