you, me & a baby makes three {a ridd baby shower} part 1

 part 1:  invites, decor, presents & friends

if you're my real life friend, you likely know that this is rachel.  if you're my blog friend, this is rach.  she is one of my oldest and dearest friends.  not oldest in age but oldest in length friendship. rachel & her hubby very very very much wanted to start a family.  after much prayer, waiting, patience & pruning God have them baby parker.  so as the uber excited besties that we are, her friends had to shower her and baby before he makes his entrance.

i wanted to record all the little details for me & for rach & for little parker to look at someday.  i'll say "parker, look how excited we were for you to come!  we wanted to meet you so badly and wanted to make sure that your family had everything they needed for you.  see!"  {and then he'll think..."my aunts are maniacs"}.

so here goes it...

 {this}

navy cardstock, graph paper, dafont.com & white cardstock

 

{plus a little red thread}

{=}

perfectly imperfect homemade invitations

if you're anything like me you may not be the best seamstress around but you still like to make things.  well here you have it.  i asked ben what he thought and he said "well, i mean...the lines aren't exactly straight."  dang it!  he noticed.  but i think you have to just be ok with that if you're me.  i thought i would like wider stitches but after messing around i thought the shorter stitches were best!  {please don't spam or stalk us, i didn't want to have to edit my pics}.  i hope they got everybody pumped to party!

when you have a big ol' chalkboard in your kitchen it must celebrate too.  it's like the most perfect reusable banner.  sometimes i doodle all over it but this time i just wanted text & to add a little bunting instead.  an old map, thin cardboard & yarn were just right for the job.  i think it's really sweet. it may stay there forever.

i should start off by saying this was a community thrown shower.  i had so much help from all our friends who love rach & baby parker.  friends helped with food, cake, favors and decorating.  each person helped to make everything so special.  i just wanted to highlight a few of my favorite things!  the colors & ideas were all based off of parker's nursey, not identical but tied together.  you can look at his room & other inspirations for the room {HERE}.

cory & i punched out lots of these little guys:

we used maps, graph paper, old manila folders and different colored card stock for circle garland and to scatter around like oversized confetti.  i really love the way it turned out.  {sidenote:  i got a great deal on my large circle punch at hobby lobby when everything from that brand was half off!  score! and i had a gift card!  double score!  i planning on punching everything. :) }

happy flowers in pop bottles and vases around the house.  wrapped in fabric, surrounded in candles, seated on fringed newspaper table runners.  what's really good!?

striped straws.  lets just say that my friends & i have a mild obsession with striped straws.  when our other bestie shan shan got engaged we knew we had to have striped straws but the cheapest i could find were something like $12 for 30 straws from austrailia and that just seemed ridiculous.  immediately after that party i found it {isn't that the way it always happens?}.  i found the deal of the century.  vintage-inspired striped straws for 5 cents a piece.  so what's a girl to do?  well buy 250 of them and hope they last you for every small party that you throw for the rest of your life, of course!

i also wanted to share a few gifts.  sorry that the girl of honor is sitting in front of a tv.  that's the focal point of our living room.  isn't that sad?  but don't look at the tv, image it as dark art.  and instead look at this precious onesie.  it says "i still live with my parents" and i got another that said "hi, i'm new here".  i mean c'mon.  this baby is going to be a doll. {both from target if you need them.

i also made her a version of that daily calendar from a while back.  she thought it would be fun to record all the daily happenings as a new momma & growing babe & i agree!  i bet she'll have some very fun things to jot down in this final month of pregnancy too!  oh the excitement!

and i wasn't going to share other people's gifts because i'm sure that they want to but i couldn't resist.  my friend made this!  please everyone go tell cory to quit her job & craft for a living.  please.

*friends*

i should have taken a shot of all the ladies together.

in reality i didn't take any of the picture from the big day.  i was blessed with a massive headache and was just doing my best to enjoy all the merriment.  cory & jenna took most of what is shown above.  and lets be honest, even if i had taken some, i'd probably still want to steal theirs.