A Jungle Baby Shower

I just did a really fun baby shower for my dear friends' daughter. She is having a little boy and chose a jungle theme for her nursery. I decided to run with the jungle theme and had a great time coming up with this....

My friend offered her house, even though it was her daughter, since she has a huge, beautiful house. The dining room alone is so pretty, as you can see by the pictures! It make it fun to decorate the big spaces!! We took the blanket from the nursery and put it on the wall with pictures that hung in our old playroom. Xander and Garrett painted them years ago and I kept them. Now I am glad I did, because we hung them on the wall next to the blanket.

This was the dessert table. We decided to do cupcakes. The nursery colors are more muted, but I had access to the brighter hues and went with them. The cupcakes turned out so cute!

At the time, we didn't have a printer, so I hand drew and colored all the pictures you see. The cupcake sticks, the water bottles, the favors. It was a lot of work, but super cute! I told the mother-to-be to tell everyone that a local artist embellished her shower!

I also decided to use the words to give the pictures depth. "Roar" for the lions, "Stretch" for the giraffe, "Growl" for the tigers, "Ooh!ooh! Aah! aah!" for the monkeys and "Squawk!" for the parrots.

Since my children have been into the animal kingdom for years, I just happened to have a bazillion animals to help me decorate!

We also hung the mobile from the light fixture over the cute centerpiece.

The centerpieces were similar to what is popular right now. The latest trend in parties, is color coordinated food. I have seen some cute all red or yellow parties with cookies and candy in jars all coordinating. I saw the suckers in a picture and fell in love.

So we used the lollypops (Easter at Wal-mart!) in the fun colors to accent the color scheme we used!

The vases with the stripes and polka-dots added so much! I love being able to borrow from friends! (I wish I owned these vases!)

Even the silverware was cute and coordinated!

Here are the water bottles. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but another party design I swiped from my research!

Yes, all hand drawn and colored! (Don't remind me!)

The favors were M&M's in the colors of the shower. (The red and brown were taken out!) Wrapped in the cutest monkey ribbon from Michael's and then I made a cute tag for them.

I was really pleased with everything! It was so cute and the food was yummy too! We had a big chef's salad with different toppings (in the vases), fruit kabobs with a pina colada dip (so yummy!) and chiken salad and croissants. It makes me want more just remembering!

Even the alligator had a good time!

With everything else I was doing, I got a hair-brained idea to try a quilt that I saw on a blog called U-create. I took the concept and made my own. I saw this jungle fabric and couldn't resist, even though it was much more than I normally pay for fabric!

To quilt it, I made jungle vines going up and down, over the letters.

The mother-to be loved it and the shower!

I made her a few burp cloths out of cute monkey fabric and doggie print. I also gave her a letter "L" for Liam (the baby's name) and some thank you cards I made. I didn't get a picture of the cute package, but I put it all in a box I found in her nursery colors.

Everything turned out so cute and I was exhausted in the end, but happy that she was happy!

A Cute Cousins Room

My brother-in-law is a firefighter. They have two little boys and just bought their first house. My sister-in-law had already purchased the bedding and sheets, so we were talking about what would be cute for the bedroom. I suggested a half-wall of red with a road going around the room. She found firetruck vinyl stickers online and this is how their bedroom turned out....The road is really cool, because I painted it with chalkboard paint. We aren't telling the three year old and two year old yet, but it will be fun for them someday to write on the walls!
I was really proud of my sister-in-law. I encouraged her to paint the red part, since we live 45 minutes away. Then I came two other times to paint everything else. She put the stickers up with the boys. It was a big creative step for her to do the red paint!
It's really a cute room. She found red and white striped fabric on sale and her and her dad are making roman shades for the room. Perfect for two little boys!

Xander's bed is DONE!!!

Xander's bed is DONE!

He loves it and so do I! I need to be aggressive about getting his bedding done now. It looks so good in his room. We re-arranged the furniture and put it all together. Here is the head board when I was putting it together...

And the footboard...

The before....

The during....

The after!

I will have to post pictures of it when I get his quilt done. I have one pillow done, but that's it so far! I need to get his whole room done. Since we moved furniture around, we need to also move pictures and such. Keep checking for more updates!

I promised you I would show you what my new love, Craig, has given me. He has literally let me steal them away and I have gladly done it! I've always wanted to learn how to refinish furniture, and so the last couple of months, I have been on a hunt to get some good deals and finally finish the kids' rooms.

This bed is so awesome! When I went to look at it, the man told me it was his childhood bed and none of his children wanted it. I almost ran out of the house with it. I love it. I love how sturdy it is, and I love that it is all wood and, well, it is just a great bed! Headboard, footboard and side slats in almost perfect condition for $50.00. For a bed in the DC area, that's a steal!!!!

(The white dresser behind it, is also from Craigslist, but more on that one later!)

Here it is after sanding it down.....ready to be painted!

So, here are my gems!!!!

I've named them Mary Anne and Charlotte.

Here's why.....

The Huntley Furniture company was established in the late 1800's. It burned to the ground in the early 1950's. Thomasville Furniture company took over the name and still has a line of Huntley furniture. Everything I read said this stuff is good and to hang onto it, if you have it. Two twin maple beds with headboards and footboards, $50.00 each. I love them and they are going to be sooooo darling redone for the girl's room. Since they are from the same time Grandma Annie and Grandma Charlotte were born, that's why they are named such, in honor of the grandmas.

I bought wood appliques to put on them and they are going to be a shabby chic creamy color with a little distressing. Once again, all wood and sturdy!

And if my one car garage wasn't full enough, I found Bella. She is gorgeous! I am going to remake her into a wonderful piece for the girls. It's going to be hard to paint on her, as she is really pretty and detailed.

Drawers and cupboards to put treasures in! Since we have small bedrooms and no playroom, we have to store everything in the bedrooms. This will be perfect!

I love the curved wood!

I'm definitely keeping these handles!

PERFECT for all our jewels! And, if you know Eleanor, we have JEWELS!

Love this!

The only sad part, is that I am taking the glass off. I think for what I want to do with it, the glass needs to go. Even though it looks fabulous, I want open shelves so books and such are easy reach for little hands.

SO! Keep checking! I've already started on the beds!

Oh, yeah! And the grand total on her? $50.00!!!!

Thank you Craig! I L.O.V.E. Y.O.U!!!!!