Spring Picnic In The Park.

When the weather starts warming up and the thick yellow pollen disappears, it's the perfect time of the year to get out and have a spring picnic in the park. The weekend was made for family time together at our local park. We styled this shoot with a soft color pallet in mind... pastels and natural wood elements were our key ingredients. The morning of our shoot, we baked a simple boxed white cake and minimally iced it in the "naked" style with icing out of a container. Keeping everything as simple as possible allowed us to remain stress-free.

[the last two pictures in this first set of three were taken by Jenny Wilburn]

If you've been following my blog since we've moved back to South Carolina, you'll know that Trader Joe's is my favorite spot to pick up inexpensive, quality flowers and greenery. Now if only TJ's could open up in Myrtle Beach, my life would no longer have to consist of driving to Wilmington or Charleston to pick up my favorites. It's well worth the drive to purchase affordable cheese and other favorite TJ's products. Thankfully, Aldi is here in Myrtle Beach, and that is another favorite grocery store of ours to purchase affordable fresh fruit, drinks, and crackers. Is there any shoot complete without a trip into Target? We picked up these Cadbury Shimmer Mini Eggs for our picnic photo shoot to keep with the subtle spring/Easter theme.

My family is troopers to support my photo shoot whims. It can sometimes be challenging to get kids excited about sitting still for pictures, but having the food available for them to snack on during this shoot and to eat while we shot pictures kept them preoccupied and in good spirits. It was important to remain flexible for this entire photo shoot as the purpose behind it changed, 30 minutes prior to the shoot the actual location changed, and I seemed to have forgotten so many details in the rush of getting out the door. Like so many times in life, unexpected things come up and it's important to just go with the flow. 

Picnic Rug - {Home Goods} :: Wood Cake Stand - {Home Goods} :: Cake - Julie Ann Events :: Extra Large Acacia Wood Paddle Board - World Market {here} :: Assorted Cheeses - {Trader Joe's} :: Assorted Meats - {Trader Joe's} :: Fresh Flowers and Greenery - {Trader Joe's} :: Crackers and French Baguette - {Aldi} :: Fresh Fruit - {Aldi} :: Lemonade - {Aldi} :: Cadbury Shimmer Mini Eggs - Target {here} :: Styling - Julie Ann Events :: Outfit Details - {Target} {H&M} {Forever21} {Target} Thrifted

Baby Shower Invitations For Twins.

We threw an intimate baby shower for our dear friend who was pregnant with not just one baby, but two! Oh, baby baby! Twins are on the way. For our shower invitations, we immediately went to Etsy in search of the perfect invite that would capture the essence of our event. We purchased these cute invitations from {My Confetti Printables}. We loved that not only the invite was part of the package, but also two card inserts to encourage guests to bring books and diapers to the shower. A thank you card in the same design was included as well for the mother to be to use to thank all of the guests who gave gifts. Sound like a big package? It didn't stop there. There was also printables for envelopes as well. Just wanted to give My Confetti Printables a huge shout out for providing such a beautiful package. Be sure to check out their other designs as well. 

Valentine's Day Party.

Here in Hong Kong, Valentine's Day is overshadowed by Chinese New Year and doesn't get much recognition. Valentine's Day typically falls on the same week as Chinese New Year. Most people leave the country for the holiday and shops close down for the week. However, I thought it would be fun to put together a small Valentine's Day themed party for some of the kids who stayed in town. Thankfully, the weather was perfect and we were able to set up the party on our back patio.

To cut back on the food prep, we asked each family to bring a snack to contribute to the playdate. Our friends brought fresh fruit and the cutest strawberry-banana fruit leather that they had made themselves and rolled up into Valentine's Day treats.

I had been struggling with sickness leading up to the day of the party, so I went with purchased foods from our local bakeries. Sugar donuts got a festive holiday bunting topper, while the traditional Hong Kong egg tart was placed in Valentine's Day cupcake wrappers and topped with a coordinating heart topper.

We decided to give the kids a sugar rush with their drinks. By dipping the cups in vanilla frosting and then covering them with sprinkles, it gives the rims a festive touch. We filled each cup with strawberry cotton candy and then filled the cups with Sprite. The cups are typically filled with champagne poured over the cotton candy, but since this was a kid party, we kept it alcohol free.

We had a few crafts lined up for the kids to make during the party. The first activity was a painting project using the erasers on the ends of a pencil and watercolor paints. We had the kids cut out a heart shape, lay the cutout on a new sheet of paper, and then paint dots on the edges of the cutout. Once the kids had gone around the heart shape cutout, we removed the cutout and a pretty heart silhouette was left on the painted sheet of paper.

We had purchased some wooden woven hearts that the kids were able to use their imaginations to craft with, as well as some other paper hearts that they could attach to anything of their choosing. For the girls of the party, we purchased some pink tassels to sting onto a chain to make a necklace for them to wear.

40th Anniversary Celebration.

While we were out of the country on vacation, we styled a 40th Anniversary Celebration for a special couple. We set up a display table and used a chalkboard to write out fun and important dates of the couple's dating relationship.

On the display table, we featured a few framed wedding photos as well as the couple's wedding album. We also displayed the wedding headpiece the bride wore and the tie of the groom from 40 years ago.

When I first thought about a design concept for this event, I thought it would be fun to incorporate the very trendy Chevron stripe that is so popular today into an event that was celebrating so many years.  We created two Chevron striped backdrops using ruffled crepe paper streamers, as well as a heart backdrop.

I custom made a big 40 backdrop using black and white pictures of the couple throughout the years. For their wedding, the couple had used red roses for their bridal boutonniere's and bouquet's, so we based our color scheme from that as well.

There was plenty of good food to be eaten at the anniversary celebration! If you're throwing a party or event, one big way to save on cost is to make the food yourself instead of having it catered out. That's what this family did. They made all of the food, from cutting cheese, making dips, rolling meatballs, and slicing fruit. Then the family served it themselves, making sure platters were kept filled and fresh for their guests that attended.

 

Bridal Shower Love.

We helped a friend out who was hosting a bridal shower for another person who goes to our same church. When I went over to their house to discuss what the general theme and feel of the shower would be, we decided to base it off of this beautiful tablecloth the hostess had picked up from World Market. For this event, we used custom monogram printables that we got from The Wedding Chicks. We spray painted branches white, and handcrafted yellow pom-poms which were attached to the branches and then used throughout the party space. We also handcrafted white flowers for the backdrops of the drink and picture station. White pom-pom fringe was also used throughout the decor as well. Our personal serving platters were lent to the shower as well, using a number of galvanized pieces. A custom picture frame made out of the yarn from the yellow pom-poms held one of the custom monogram printables as well. Babies breath and milk glass pieces contributed to the spring feel of the bridal shower.

Bridal Shower Love - The Main Food Table.

Granted, most of our pictures were taken before all the food was placed on the table, but we did manage to capture the essence of what we were trying to create.

Once again, we used these beautiful custom monograms from The Wedding Chicks. We made the cupcake wrappers using 10 inch paper doilies. You can get three to one doily, thus creating 30 cupcake wrappers from one package!

Bridal Shower Love - Drinking Glasses.

One of our favorite things to use for a drinking glass is a mason jar. We used custom monogram drink tags from The Wedding Chicks.

An old Pepsi crate that we picked up from an antique store downtown, also lent to the vintage feel of the bridal shower. For a splash of color, we incorporated our vintage blue Ball jar as well.

Hand crafted yellow pom-poms that we created tied this particular glassware station together with the rest of the shower. My own Grandma's hand embroidered card table cloth was perfect for the feel of this space.

Bridal Shower Love - Drink Station.

Once again, we pulled out our tried and true serving pieces. The hostess had asked to use one of our doors, so we incorporated it into the backdrop of the drink station. We brought in our galvanized bucket of flowers and placed it next to the drink station.

We scoured the internet and found this beautiful custom monogram on The Wedding Chicks website. It was a unique and affordable way to personalize this particular bridal shower. We used the same monogram and made food labels as well as tags for the drinking cups.

Bridal Shower Love - Photo Station.

It's nice to feature photos of the couple you're honoring at a bridal shower, especially since some of the guests who attend may not know either the groom or the bride who met in college several states away. We tied this picture station together with the rest of the decor by using the same backdrop that we used on the door, on the window. White branches with yellow pom-poms mimicked those on the food table as well.

Baby Girl Christening - Sweets Table.

For the first time we made cupcake holders out of paper doilies! I loved it! Super easy. we were able to get three cupcake holders out one ten inch doily. We didn't get a good picture of any individual cupcake, but I had iced them as individual rose flowers.

We also made another serving stand out of china teacups, plates, and saucers we had picked up from thrift stores. There's even a sugar bowl in this stand! It's perfect for serving bite sized desserts from.

Friends and family members of the family also contributed dessert items. This is a great way to alleviate some of the stress from the hostess.