The making of Elmarie's baby shower: part 3, decorations!
For baby boy B, no ordinary decorations would do. Here's what we did:
1. Made flag garlands out of paint chips, for free!
We used the garland all over the place, and it really added something special.
They were easy to make. We cut paint chips into our shapes and sewed them together on my faithful sewing machine. I expected this task to take forever, but surprisingly, it didn't. We worked as a team - Glenys handed shapes to me in a color pattern she worked out, and I zipped them through the sewing machine. We left them as big long garlands and cut them down to the right size on the day of the shower. They turned out so well. (Tip: if you decide to make these, be sure to use a heavy duty needle on your sewing machine to handle the thickness of the paper. We used a denim needle.)
Here's a little video of all the garland, just after we finished it:
2. Animals!
Glenys had the awesome idea to use toy animals as table decorations and place card holders. We had already chosen our color palette when we decided to spray paint, and ran into trouble finding just the right color. Meininger's came through for us with their extensive graffiti spray paint selection. I took our swatch in and they were able to match it perfectly. Thank you, Montana Black - Cool Cologne color worked brilliantly.
A few notes on using this kind of spray paint. I suppose I should know this after 4 years in an undergraduate art program, but somehow I escaped without ever spray painting for artwork. Its incredibly thick in the can. So thick that it requires much more shaking than any other spray paint I've ever used. I accidentally clogged the first can because I didn't it enough! So take my word for it, shake the can until you hear the metal ball moving around. It took close to five minutes of serious shaking before it was ready to go.
Bonus: mini-workout!
The larger animals came from the Michaels $1 odds and ends aisle. The smaller ones were at Hobby Lobby. We chose a safari themed set for around $8. Glenys drilled holes in the small animals backs and fit them with wire card holders that she custom made. Genius. I somehow missed a good photo of the finished product - but you'll see them in the day-of post, when it all came together.
3. Tissue paper pom poms!
The kitchen table comes through again! Thankfully we had back up on this day - our friend
Aneta helped us assemble these babies. We followed Martha Stewart's
tutorial and made large and small poms. Another detail that made a big impact.
4. Straws with flags!
Made with - you guessed it - paint chips!
I need to say up front I had absolutely nothing to do with this. Glenys made the flags and attached them to the straws - and I'm so glad she did. They were adorable.
The bottles came from
this site, and served iced coffee that our friend Hillary made. Getting the coffee into the bottles proved to be a bit of a circus, but once we accomplished it, they were unbelievably good!
Note to self: buy a funnel.
5. Flowers!
(Please forgive me for the awful, half dead look on my face. I promise I was having fun)
If it wasn't for Glenys, I would have never had the courage to try floral arranging. Its actually quite easy, and enjoyable. We bought all our flowers from Whole Foods in Boulder. Good quality and decent prices. All of the vases are our own. We both have an affinity for white vases, luckily! I own some African porcupine quills that we used here and there for a little something extra. It gave the arrangements a little edge, a little "manliness". Perfect for the little man.
And that rounds up the decorations post! Up next: it all comes together.
Love,
Caitlin
