Nikki's Shower Flowers

Planning events with friends as a group are always more fun...there's someone to share all of the excitement, projects, DIYs and (let's be honest) the bills with! ; )  The particular event I'm talking about is the baby shower I co-produced for a very good friend: Nikki is one of the sweetest women I know and is well-loved by all of her friends...as proven by the fact that over 10 of us helped throw her this shower!

I was assigned to do the flowers...I went downtown to the flower mart and bought all the purple flowers I could find!  The theme of the baby shower was children's books and the colors were purple, purple and more purple...check out my floral prowess!

These deep purple hydrangeas were my favorite!

Unfortunately, I don't remember what these flowers were called...but aren't they great?!

Submerged orchids.

Pink Lemonade cupcakes (that I made from scratch) with the cute children's book label that was made by one of the other ladies.  All of the different menu items had a corresponding children's book label...super cute!
And of course another one of my purple flower arrangements...

Whoooooo's 1?

I am so excited to share these owl accessories from a first birthday party I helped a good friend put together!  She had all the vision..I just helped with the execution.  Thank you Martha for letting me be a part of sweet Ava's 1st Birthday!!

Masks for the photo booth.

High chair banner!

Tags for the "thanks for coming" favors.

Nutcracker Sweet

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved The Nutcracker Ballet. In junior high and high school I had the opportunity to be a member of a ballet company that put on performances of The Nutcracker every Christmas...got to live my dream! Even though I no longer dance with them, it has become a Christmas tradition for my Mom and me to go see a performance of their Nutcracker every year. A few years ago during intermission we noticed the ornaments that were on the Christmas Tree in the lobby of the theater.  Each ornament had been decorated to look like each of the characters in the ballet. The ornaments were "wearing" tiny little replicas of the costumes the dancers wore on the stage...and some of them were costumes that I had worn when I danced with them! I completely fell in love...and knew I had to make my own! My Mom and I began studying each one in an attempt to figure out how they were made.  We shopped all the after Christmas sales to get the supplies and two years later...we finally finished the set! I am so excited to share a few of these with you...they are so special to me because they bring back memories from Christmases past when I danced in the Nutcracker...enjoy!

Disclaimer: I cannot take credit for creating these ornaments...in this case I'm a total copycat. ; )

Marie, the heroine of the story.

  

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

The Snow Queen

The Spanish, Arabian and Chinese Variations.

Mirliton Variation

The Flower Queen

The Sugarplum Fairy

It's a Jungle in Here!

Sometimes my favorite events are the ones that I get to collaborate with friends!  It gives me an opportunity to spend some extra time with them and reminds me of how talented they are!
My most recent friendly collaboration was for a Jungle Baby Shower for my friend's new little one, Judah!  Check out how talented my friends are!

Onsie invitations created by Events Not Forgotten.

The centerpieces that doubled as the favors!
Cookie pops stuck in floral foam, brown terra cotta pots, Easter grass and grosgrain ribbon!
Made by Events Not Forgotten.

The Mommy and Daddy to be sat here to open their gifts.
My amazing friend Katie made the pennant!

All of the food was made by more talented friends...we named each dish after a different jungle animal!
Labels by Events Not Forgotten.

Will and Deja

I am so excited to share this wedding!  I had such a fun time planning and creating with the Bride for this one...and Will and Deja were wonderful to work with!
Photos by ICA Photography and decor and paper creations by Events Not Forgotten.

Their invitations with the photo I took!

Completely in love with their venue: Mediterraneo Gazeebo at the Westlake Village Inn.
Decorations by Events Not Forgotten.

With all the finishing touches! Flower arrangements by Dee's Flowers.

Helping the Bride lace up her beautiful Alfred Angelo gown.

The Bride's bouquet by Dee's Flowers.

Bridesmaid's bouquets also by Dee's Flowers.

The Bridal Party! Dresses by Alfred Angelo and Tuxes by Friar Tux.

Centerpieces by Dee's Flowers.

Amazing cake by La Starr & Co.

I loved their adorable cake topper from Disneyland!

First of Many...

When my son turned one year old, I knew I wanted to throw a huge party...not only to celebrate his first year of life, but also to celebrate that my husband and I had made it through our first year as parents!  I was too excited about this...I wanted the first birthday party I threw as a mommy to be spectacular!  The Mickey Mouse theme was a given...considering what huge Disney fans we are!  I'm embarrassed to admit that I probably had more fun than the birthday boy...but I think he'll enjoy looking at the pictures when he gets older!

It all started with the invitations!  Black and white cardstock, thin red and black polka dot
ribbons and photos by JC Penney Portraits.  Colt's birthday hat and shirt were found on Etsy.com.

Inside of the invites...found the Disney font online!

Mickey Mouse bowls from Target and picture frames from Disneyland.

Mickey Mouse sandwiches!

Colt got his own "smush cake" to eat and "smush" with his hands!

The rest of the guests got Mini Mickey cupcakes!

These were so fun and easy to make! 

The tables were covered in white and black tablecloths and red and yellow "Mickey buttons"...

...and each table had a Mickey balloon bouquet!

Just before we lit his candle...

Favors

I used a Mickey Mouse punch and a 3/4 inch round punch to make the tags.

The guests signed both a mat frame and a tablecloth...a tradition that my Mom started with me!