Garden Party Baby Shower

I'm so excited to be posting this! My sister's and I had the honor of planning and decorating a baby shower about a month ago. Our beautiful sister-in-law Inessa is expecting a baby girl any day now! 

We really wanted to do a "garden party" theme since the weather had become so wonderful! Also because there are so many different ways that you can really make it your own. It wasn't easy to be two hours away from the mother-to-be and plan it to where she loves it. Not to mention the fact that our budget was to spend the least amount of money possible! Somehow it all came together. I absolutely adore how it turned out. 

 DIY Tissue paper flowers - I will post a tutorial soon!

 

 The dessert table 

 Refreshment Table 

The flowers in the middle actually work two ways: Favors for everyone to take home!

 Baby food jars to hold tea light candles

Burlap runner and floral fabric from Walmart!

 Inessa made this crossword incorporating guests names in the puzzle! What a cool idea. 

And loved the neon utensils!

 Close up on favors with personalized labels also made by mother to be!

 Love the softness and girlishness of this picture

Ribbon and handmade circle banners hung from all corners above us. It was magical! I don't have any pictures to do it justice!

 

Just to make you drool a little ;) Cupcakes made by Inessa's sister

 Russian "oreshki" cookies filled with dulce de leche and Russian "trubachkee" -rolled pastry dough filled with cream

I was feeling sick and not myself so I was actually shooting the pictures in the wrong setting! But I'm happy to have these to show you and hopefully inspire you. This theme can work for lots of different parties! 

The mother-to-be was showered and all that's left to do is wait for her precious girl to make an appearance. Praying for her safe delivery!

Hope your Monday was happy and stress-free! I will be posting more details on the baby shower soon!

Simple chic DIY straw hat re-makeover. Just in time for summer

Oh how long it's been! I have a list of excuses that in my head are all GOOD reasons from sickness to a broken car to lazy vacation days, but why give them? I'm just happy to be writing this now and sharing my latest project!

We just spent an amazing relaxing week on the gulf side of Florida with my husband's family and the kids had a blast. The water was perfect. The days were sunny. We miss the shores already. 

I first saw this straw hat in the dollar section in Target before the trip was planned. It is priced for $2.50. I left without purchasing it and immediately regretted it. I started imagining all that i could do to vamp it up...When I returned, there were no more! I kept checking back and luckily they got more (in a little darker color which I actually like more). I hope you go and buy one! You'll see how easy it is to make an ordinary hat into something special. Something simple but chic.

 Here is the original plain hat. Boring.

I bought gold metallic fabric paint in Michael's for about $2.00. I wanted it to be subtle but classy. The color options are where you can get creative and have fun with it. If I didn't buy the gold metallic, my heart was pulling for the yellow neon! Bright neon colors are very trendy right now! 

The brush I had around the house. I'm sure you have one too :) If not, they aren't pricey either...

Start with one line at a time. I did about two or three layers of paint. I didn't wait for each layer to dry but it might be necessary if you chose a dark color. Just play with it until you get the color you want. 

I originally thought two rows would be enough but than liked the look of a thicker stripe...

When you continue along the rows, there will come a moment where you'll need to blend that ending place into the stripe before... Since it's a spiral, it wont stop until you've painted the whole base of the hat.. Hope that made sense!!

I love how it subtly shines. 

Simple and chic.

 TOTAL COST: around $4.50!

I'm so tempted to buy another one and do it in neon colors! Send me pictures if you decide to try this! I would love to see. 

Hope you have an awesome weekend! Enjoy each other's company! Life's way to short to let the day go by in anger or discontentment!

BY THE WAY: I have a beautiful post coming up soon. Its a baby shower that's overdue (haha get it?) My baby niece isn't overdue yet but she's to be here any day! I hope to have pictures of her shower posted before she arrives!