Feathering a Nest... Part Three. The Wishing Tree

The Wishing Tree

We asked the guests to write down their hopes, dreams and advice for baby Quinn instead of the typical signing of a guest book. It was so touching reading what people had written down.

I cut small pieces of ribbon and folded paper in half and glued it together to make the notes that would hang in the tree.

Little butterflies adorned the branches and added a whimsical touch to the wishing tree.

Her Mommy took all the notes and hung them on a little crystal hook near her bed so that as she grows up, the words people gave her and said to her can be ingrained in her heart.

The cake was absolutely stunning and went with the theme perfectly!

Here are the favors. We added ribbon to each and one. I took some foam, cut it to fit in this basket I had. Put a pink feather boa around and stuck in the favors for guests to take as they left the shower.

This was another simple project I whipped out in mere minutes. I cut out some scrapbook paper, stamped "Welcome Quinn" and hot glued it to ribbon...easy peasy!

Now we just wait for this little one's arrival.

Hopefully you have been inspired and gotten some good ideas for your own parties and showers.

xoxo Emily xoxo

"Feathering a Nest" Baby Shower....Part Two

~The entry~

Y'all know how much I love my "tree" that changes with each season or event, and this was a perfect example of why. I took scrapbook paper and cut into leaf shapes and stuck them on the branches. Added a bunch birds and voila!

GORGEOUS
way to welcome the guests!

The Q hanging in the tree is for Quinn, the baby girl we were welcoming. I simply mod-podged the fabric her mama is using for the decor in her room onto the pre-cut Q and added some ribbon and a butterfly. Worked great for the shower and now hangs in Quinn's room awaiting her arrival.

These are the nests I made last spring. Tutorial here

I wish I could take credit for this adorable diaper cake. Our friend Kelly made it and did a superb job!

Now onto the food table. This was so BEAUTIFUL! I have always kept jars from cooking, jams etc and we used my big mason jars for the vases of flowers that we scattered around the house. Bird cages- we already owned then put down variations of moss around it all. We threw on some feathers and lit the candles and truly...we all wanted to jump into the table scape. It was magical, whimsical and felt like little fairies lived there.

We used small mason jars as the cups and anywhere we could incorporate the nest and bird theme..we did.

I still have so much more to show you all. I promise it won't take as long this time.

I still have to show you the cake, the favors, the wishing tree...yeah...good stuff still to come!

Happy Weekend everyone!

xoxo Emily xoxo

Feathering a Nest... Part One

Oh gracious! I am excited to share this next few posts with all of you!
I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend who is expecting her first little girl soon. Her sister and I decided upon the theme of "Feathering a Nest" and then ran with it. It turned out to be so cute and I have great photos to share, but let's start off with the invitation.

In my opinion, the invitation sets the whole party up. It introduces the theme and gets your guest excited to attend. I wanted these invitations to be perfect...but had to be cheap.
So here's the first look.
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I found a box of 50 invitations to print yourself (makes it so much cheaper) at Micheal's on clearance...yeah baby!!

It was just the teal and white paper included in the box with an ugly little flower motif...and that was not doing it for my artistic sensibilities.
So, I bought some scrapbook paper, feathers, and the little sparkly gems. I had ribbon on hand and I went to work cutting, gluing and tying until I reached this magnificent little beauty of an invitation.

Each invitation was unique and different. When I finished making them, I almost couldn't send them off in the mail they were so adorable.

I think you'll agree they are darling. This is just a taster of the cuteness that is to follow in the next couple posts about this shower.

Spring isn't officially here yet...but it sure feels like it here in the Carolina's and I'm in Heaven.

xoxo Emily xoxo

NEW...

Born

I love newborn babies. They smell so sweet, are so wrinkly and so fresh from Heaven. I had the pleasure of photographing this little girl.
Look at all of her hair!

What a doll!

Can you see why I am enjoying this whole photography thing so much?

xoxo Emily xoxo

Granny and Apples...

Did I trick you? I bet y'all think I said granny apples. Well, I did not! I said Granny AND apples.
In these parts visits from grannies are rare. See they both live in England, so when we are blessed by their company, it is always a good time.

My mother-in-law flew over for a few weeks to see us a few months ago. It was wonderful spending time and reconnecting. My husband was traveling most of the time she was here. For some of you you might be thinking...how did she do it??? How did she cope all by herself with her MIL??? Well, I won the mil lottery and we are great friends, so it was a blast. Plus she helped me get all of my 2 bushels of apples from the mountains... canned.

Neither one of us had ever done it, but in the end. We made a dozen quarts of applesauce and 25 jars of apple butter.

This is apple butter for those of you who are like...what in the world is apple butter?


It is simply:

apples
spices
a little bit of sugar

and you let it cook down for 6 hours in a crock pot.

When you taste it, you don't know how you lived without it every day for all of your life ;-)

You spread it on toast, biscuits, whatever.
DELISH!


I crack open jars of applesauce all the time and think about my mil now. Maybe I should make my kids call her granny apple from now on.

Nah...

xoxo Emily xoxo

I'M BAAAAAACK!!!!!

I know, I know...it's been a LONG time. I am going to try and make my way back to the blogging world. I've missed it and missed you all too. Let's see, I will be doing lots and lots of updates and bringing you up to speed but here is a quick recap. I'm loving photography!! You can see more of my work by clicking on the button below.



We had a wonderful Christmas and a very sad one.

My nephew Rowan passed away after fighting for 6 months with severe heart problems to stay here on earth with us. Unfortunately, his little body couldn't fight anymore and his heart gave out right before Christmas. Our family received a package in the mail a few weeks after Christmas with handmade presents for every member of our family from Rowans mother Helen.

In her quiet time sitting by his bedside in the hospital before his death, she was thinking about others. Not about herself, not about how hard her situation was for her, for her family, but about other people. She hand knit everyone in the family slippers. Red for the girls, green for the boys.

It blows my mind that she could be so thoughtful and so angelic whilst going through such an ordeal. She is an inspiration to me. An example of humongous proportions.
Helen, if you are reading this, I honor you for the human being you are and the mother you are.
I love you and I think everyone that reads this blog should know about you. I love you! Not only have you warmed mine and my children's feet this winter, but all of our hearts!

I'm excited to be back sharing my ramblings and thoughts with all of you. Hopefully there are still a few of you hanging around ;-)

xoxo Emily xoxo