Party Guest:Garden Baby Shower

Today’s party guest is Ashley of Little Miss Momma .

Ashley hosted an amazing  baby shower for a dear friend who was expecting a little boy.  Ashley says that this shower  was an extra fun one to plan for because the guest list was for a dozen lovely ladies {rather than 30}, so she was able to spend some extra time on the details–she even used real plates (a girl after my own heart!)

She chose a “spring time” theme in turquoise, lime green, orange and yellow.

So let me introduce Ashley and have her tell you all about her beautiful baby shower.  Almost makes me want to have another baby (not) but I am stealing some of her ideas for a baby shower I am helping host this summer.

Here’s Ashley:

I chose a “spring time” theme in turquoise, lime green, orange and yellow.

I made these Pom Poms using a tutorial from Leanne at Organize and Decorate Everything. I love them so much–I wish I could leave them up all year round {and maybe I will, lol}.

To stay within the “garden/backyard” theme I bought a 12 pack of mason jars at my local grocery store and used them for cups. I used extra large malt straws purchased from Michael’s.

I made this banner using scrapbook paper and pre-cut letters that come in a pack {also available at Michael’s}. I glue gunned each paper flag down on to a long strand of turquoise ribbon.

Here was my nifty little party favor. I made these earrings using this tutorial.

The theme was “Cute as a Button”.

I glue gunned this trim around vases from the dollar store.

I learned how to make these pinwheels from Gillian at All the Small Things.

I threw some of the pinwheels in with my flower arrangements.

Yummy Spring time cupcakes.

Summer salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds and a sweet honey vinaigrette dressing.

Homemade chicken salad sandwiches on croissants.

Most of my decorations and favors were used with supplies from the Dollar Tree and the sale section at Michael’s {and I’m not just saying that}. If you want to know where I purchased anything specific leave me a comment over at my blog and I will get back to you.

All in all, one rather awesome baby shower!

Sweet Pea Baby Shower Recipes and Sentiments Cake

Earlier this week I introduced you to Party Guest Lisa and her darling Sweet Pea Baby Shower.  Lisa has graciously shared some of her recipes too.

One of the things Lisa does at a party, an idea I have totally fallen in love with, is a Sentiments Cake.

When I asked Lisa what a Sentiments Cake was this is how she explained it to me:

A sentiment cake is a cake I make for sentimental purposes.  It is where
I make cupcakes to be enjoyed by the friends who come to the party and
the sentiment cake is boxed up to be enjoyed by the family members not
invited to the party…  Maybe a hubby or younger siblings.  They LOVE
it!  That way not too much cake is consumed or wasted!  But it helps to
carry the theme.  What is a party without the cake.”

Isn’t that just the best idea – I so love it!

The menu for the baby shower included:

Pea Pod Baby Shower Menu 
 

Lime Punch

Cheese and Assorted Gourmet Crackers

Sweet Snap Peas

Croissants

Pitas

Curry Chicken Salad

Almond Chicken Salad 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Whipped Buttercream

Coffe and Tea

Thanks to Lisa for sharing some of the recipes with us!!

“Sweet Pea” Pecan Tassies

3 eggs

1 cup dark corn syrup

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups pecan halves

1 15 oz. package refrigerated piecrust dough or homemade

Place Demarle Boat Tray on Perforated Baking Sheet.

Roll dough out on Roulpat. Use boat dough cutter to cut out little “pods”. Line tray with pastry. Use shaper to press dough into tray. In a mixing bowl beat eggs. Add corn syrup, sugar, butter, vanilla and pecans. Mix well.

Pour filling into prepared “pods”.

Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes or until golden.

Lime Punch

1 carton Lime Sherbet

4 litres 7 UP

Add ingredients to One

Glass Crock – availabe at Target and Costco

Lisa’s Almond Chicken Salad

6 boiled chicken breasts, chopped

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 ¼ cups Best Foods Mayonnaise

1 cup toasted almonds, chopped

1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese

Mix all ingredients together, except for almonds.

May be refrigerated overnight.

Add almonds before serving.

May add more mayo if needed.

Lisa’s Curry Chicken Salad

6 cups chicken, chopped

2 8oz. cans water chestnuts, chopped

1 ¼ cups Best Foods Mayonnaise

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. curry

Mix all ingredients together except water chestnuts.

May be refrigerated overnight.

Add water chestnuts before serving.

Note: If I am boiling chicken breasts, I figure on one chicken breast per cup.

May add a bit more mayo before serving if needed.

Enjoy!

Party Guest}Sweet Pea Baby Shower

What better reason to have a party than a new baby!

Today I am excited to welcome a party guest to the blog – Lisa from Simply…This, That and The Other is here to share her Sweet Pea Baby Shower!

Here’s what Lisa had to say about her baby shower:

There are celebrations to celebrate just about everything, but I can’t think of any celebration as SWEET and exciting as the arrival of a new baby.

There is so much anticipation and joy. Some showers are planned after the birth which means that the baby gets to be passed around and adored which is even more fun.

Lisa and her friend Kim put on a beautiful party for some lucky new mommy and baby!  The theme for the shower was “Sweet Pea.”

The color scheme (pink, green and white) is what they based the menu and shower on to pull it all together.

According to Lisa the shower was pretty much stress free. All of the details were done in advance. The only thing that was not done ahead of time was the punch and that doesn’t really count because all it took was opening a carton of lime sherbet and adding 7 UP to it! Easy PEAsy (HA!). The cupcakes, the “sentiment” cake and pea pod pecan tassies were made in advance and then frozen.

The chicken salads were made the day before along with the cheese slices.

Lisa’s advice is to keep things simple…food and decorations…so that when your friends arrive, you are able to enjoy the special occasion you are celebrating!

Here are some of Lisa’s great ideas for an event that can be enjoyed by everyone, including the hostess:

* Get a date on the calendar
* Figure out your colors~I like to choose two colors and I ALWAYS use white as the background. It makes everything look classy and it is way more economical to always have the basics…dishes etc in white so that you can reuse them.
* Pick a theme. For example: Peter Rabbit, circus, firetrucks etc. If you can’t think of a theme, stick with colors for your “theme” and it will look B.EAU.TEE.FUL.
* Decide on what time of day or evening you will be gathering. This will help you to decide on your menu.
* Start collecting inexpensive glass luncheon plates and cups and white dishes. Hit garage sales, flea markets or your Gramma’s attic. This will eventually save on the cost of expensive paper products. (I started collecting mine 20 years ago!)

Stay tuned for some of the recipes Lisa served at the shower as well as information on a “sentiment” cake – you are going to love the idea!!

Calling All Cakes!

I love it when someone sees a good idea and runs with it and does their own thing!

That’s just what a couple of you have done with the candy bar cake idea we shared here on the blog!!

Thanks to Jenni for sharing her darling version of a candy bar cake.  I really like the smaller size….

and here is Carolyn from Australia’s version!!  Yes, all the way from Australia.  Love her use of ribbon and a candle on top!

And here it is all wrapped up and ready to give to someone.

The other cake idea we shared this week was that cute diaper cake.  My niece Michelle sent me a few more photos of another darling diaper cake she made – so cute!!!  Won’t someone I know please have a baby so I can make one of these!!

Do you have a picture of a fun cake you have made?  Any kind of cake?  I’d love to share them here on Your Homebased Parties.  Just send the picture in a jpeg and brief description of the event the cake was for and I’d love to highlight you and your cake here on the blog!

Diaper Cake

Today I want to share with you another fun idea for a party cake.  This cake doesn’t taste quite as good as the candy cake idea I shared last week but it is super cute and useful!

My niece Michelle is a cake decorator extraordinaire! She recently helped host a baby shower and this is the amazing cake she made for the party.

Isn’t it darling!?  I loved the color scheme for the party – red and teal.  Do you recognize that cute little cupcake?

Here’s a close up view.   Michelle is a master with fondant!

Michelle made another cake for the shower too.  This cake didn’t taste quite as good but it was just as cute and very useful!

It’s a cake made out of diapers!

I asked Michelle to share with us how she put together the cake.  Here’s her great tutorial.  Thanks Michelle!

Supplies you will need:

*2 big packages of Pampers Swaddlers- it needs to be Swaddlers for a few reasons:
1. They are all white.
2. They seem to be a little bit stiffer and hold shape better than other diapers when you roll them (I used 117 diapers for this cake, you may need more or less depending on how tall you make it, and if you have other fillers in the middle)
I recommend using a size 2 diaper instead of a newborn or size 1. That way, the mother doesn’t need to take it apart right away to use it before the baby grows out of that size diaper.
*4-5 yards ribbon (I used two colors, but I didn’t do any bows. Had this been for a girl, I would have used more to make some big bows)
*Cans of formula, or bottles for the center (Or more diapers to fill it in)
*Baby socks
*Other baby supplies like pacifiers, small clothing, etc. almost anything for baby can be added to the cake.
*Card with poem (you can get that off my blog)
*Card board circle or something sturdy to put it on. I used my kitchen lazy susan, but a big Pizza Pan works well, and it’s only about $3 at Walmart (and is best if you are transporting the cake somewhere- they can get heavy)
*Rubber Bands
*Wooden dowel- this will go through all the layers to hold it all together. The circle decor thing (I don’t know what you’d call it- I found it in the floral section at Hobby Lobby) was all attached to it’s own dowel, so I just used that.
I also like a cute kind of topper. I used the stork and baby (it’s a topper for a real cake) but I have seen signs made from paper that say “Welcome ________” (baby’s name) I have an embroidery machine, so I actually had that embroidered right on the ribbon that I was using around the tiers. Sometimes a baby item, like a little pair of shoes also makes a great topper.

Assemble:
Once you have the supplies, take a diaper, roll it from the end to where it folds, put it inside a rubber band (I use the big ones that my mail comes in) as you roll more diapers, keep adding them to the inside of the rubber band until you get the base the size you want. If you are including a can of formula, that would actually go in the middle, with the rubber band around it, and you would keep adding the diapers around the can. Bottles work well, too, if they are the same height as the diapers.

Do the same for the next layer, making it smaller that the base by 1 row of diapers. Make as many tiers/layers as you would like. I did 4 layers, but 2 or 3 look just as nice.

Take your widest ribbon and cover the rubber band with it. It works best to safety pin the ribbon closed in the back. You can cover the pin with something, or even use diaper pins (if you can find them- I couldn’t) to secure it. I alternated the ribbon, you can do that or use the same- just use your creativity!

When all the layers are made and the ribbons attaches, stack the cake and insert the wooden dowel through the, placing it as close to the middle of the layers as you can.

Now the fun part: Decorating the “cake”

To make the sock roses, unroll a sock. Starting at the toe, roll it back to form a rosette. If they are lacy socks, the lace will look great turned back up a little around the base of the rosette. You can use some extra ribbon to be the leaves. I also used a wash cloth around a group of socks. Secure the rosettes individually with a small rubber band. These can then be inserted in between the diapers, or laid on top, however you think it looks best.

Add other baby items. You can use floral wire and sticks, or double stick tape, or even tie things on with ribbon. You can add as few or as many other items as you would like. Blankets can even be folded the width of the diapers and wrapped around one of the layers.

Michelle display the cake along with this cute poem:

Here is a cake made with love

Though I wouldn’t call it yummy

For the ingredients used go on the baby

Not inside your tummy.

Flour, sugar, milk, and eggs

will make a cake so sweet

But diapers, formula, and baby socks

make a handy treat.

Photos courtesy of Little Starling Photography.

Thanks Michelle for sharing your amazing talent with us.  Please let us know if you have a fun cake – edible or not that you have created.  We’d love to share it here on Your Homebased Parties!