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

First Birthday Dress.

I made my daughter's dress, bow, and bib that she wore for her first birthday. Pink and white seersucker fabric with white eyelet lace. I took the cupcake applique off of a set of pajamas that came from the children clothing store "Gymboree". I appliqued a large "E" on the front of the bib.

 *pictures are taken by  Jessica Ann Photography

 

Pink & Green First Birthday Party Dress Code.

A few weeks before the party, I ran across the cutest Mother/Daughter aprons. I had to wear it for my daughter's party. Pink and green with polka dots.

Pink & Green First Birthday Party Food.

Pink and green. I tried to keep the menu centered around those colors. Since my daughter was turning one, and we were having a tea party theme and menu, we kept the guest list small and didn't invite other kids, just family. A month after she was born, we were visiting family in Kansas and my aunt and cousin threw all the females in our family a tea party I included two items we ate at that party. I also incorporated the teacups we drank from at the first tea party. For food we served:

• Fruit tarts using fresh kiwi and raspberries
• Green Granny Smith apples with a toffee dip
• Green grapes
• Pretzels dipped in pink chocolate
• Pink meringue drops
• Cherry tomatoes stuffed with bacon (this was a menu item my aunt and cousin's tea party)
• Spinach tortilla wraps (this was a menu item my aunt and cousin's tea party)
• I renamed pink and green M&M's to E&E's 
• Rotisserie chicken salad croissant 

Pink & Green First Birthday Party Drinks.

If you're having a pink and green themed party, what better thing to serve for drinks than pink lemonade and green tea! Cold of course, since we live in hot, humid South Carolina!

A year ago, friends had given me old windows from their home they had renovated. I chose to incorporate the windows into the decor. I covered a couple panes with pink card stock and a friend used her Cricut machine to make the "Happy Birthday" sign and the paisleys for me. I purchased a Martha Stewart cupcake stamp and made cupcake bottle labels for the water. The glasses were rimmed with pink sugar.

Pink & Green First Birthday Party Cake.

Since I tried to fit a lot of themes into one party, I designed the cake around it too. I made cupcake liners out of card stock, and used the leftover scraps of paper to make leaves which I attached to branches out of our yard and planted in a pitcher I bought from Hobby Lobby.

I bought a couple pieces of card stock with "May" written on it because she was born in May. I got the cutest little tea set from Wal-mart and used the cups and saucer and put cupcakes in them. The teapot served as the topper for the cupcake stand.

For the smash cake, I made a teapot cake, iced it with fondant, and sprayed green icing on it! A pink ribbon in the plate finished off the look.

Pink & Green First Birthday Party Welcome.

I lined both sides of our walk with yards of pink and green bunting that I attached to bamboo poles. I painted a large canvas with the letter "E" for my daughter and hung pom-poms in front of the door.

First Year Clothesline.

I borrowed this idea from a friend of displaying special clothing that your child has worn in their first year. I had seen it on Facebook and fell in love with the whole concept, I added pictures of my daughter wearing the clothing to each of the actual pieces. I took clothing that my daughter had worn throughout her first year, and pictures of her in the clothing and put together a clothes line with each outfit hanging next to the picture.

I featured a pink sweater she wore in the hospital that had been hand knit specifically for her by a family friend, her first dress she wore on her first Sunday, first swimsuit, a green dress I had sewn for her that she had had studio portraits taken in with her older brother, her Halloween costume, birth announcement dress, and a sailor dress.

Pink & Green First Birthday Party.

How many themes can you fit into a first birthday party? That seemed to be the theme of my daughter's first party. I went with the colors pink and green, a tea party, and a cupcake theme. I made twenty pom-pom's, several yards of pink and green bunting, painted a couple canvas signs, and picked pink hydrangea's from a neighbor's yard.