My dear friend Rachel asked if I could throw a gender reveal party for the tiny baby growing in her belly. I’m not going to share their entire story, but let’s just say that this sweet little baby did not come easy to them. They rode a long road of infertility, and finally received their blessing from God, who is due in October.

Since they will be moving back to the Nashville area before true “baby shower” time, and I wanted to throw her a shower we decided that I would throw a Gender Reveal Party for her family and a few close friends instead.

I designed the invites. As you can tell we went with a blue and yellow theme. I decided to add the mustaches and ribbons, to you know, class it up a bit. Hehe!

My uber talented friend Megan, who helped me with this party, whipped up this adorable burlap ribbon for the front door.

I picked up some small votive holders from the dollar section at Target, and lit up the mantle. I also made a dot garland from some craft paper to add a little color to my very monochromatic mantle.

I knew I wanted Daisies everywhere. I found some at Kroger for $4 per bouquet. Score! I brought our bulap lined white tray from the master bedroom into the living room to give our very large coffee table a focal point. On the tray, I threw some daisies in a white pitcher and white candles in some blue candle stick holders (I already owned), and called it a day.

We asked each guest to show their vote on what the baby’s gender was by wearing either a yellow bow or a felt mustache pinned to their shirt.

I made that sweet little chalkboard from a decorative wood plaque I picked up at Michael’s around Christmas time, acrylic paint (I custom mixed) for the yellow, and some Gray Martha Stewart Chalkboard paint. I can’t wait to use that chalkboard paint on many, many more things around the house.

Here is the food table slowly starting to take shape.

The “special” cupcakes. As far as looks and taste goes they were nothing special, but they did hold the answer to the “big” question everyone was asking. “What’s the gender?” Rachel wanted white cake and cream cheese icing, so that’s what we did. I had intended to put the cupcakes in dark brown liners instead of white, but I just ran out of time.

I was going with a vintage, glass, and white theme when it came to displaying the food and drinks.

More daisies. I threw some in a few large mason jars I already owned to pretty up the table. Oh, and there are a few more of those votive holders that I picked up in the Target dollar section. And they just happened to look like mini mason jars. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! If you don’t stroll through the dollar section every time you walk into any Target you are totally missing out. It becomes somewhat of an addiction. It’s a good thing I don’t have a Dollar Store near me. I would bankrupt my family.

Since I didn’t have enough corn holders to accommodate 12+ people I used kabob skewers I had left over from a meal I made at Christmas time. I ran out of time to clip the skewers to make them a tad shorter. They ended up a bit longer than I had hoped, but it still worked out well.

Megan made potato salad with a dill base that was to-die-for. Like, no kidding! TO DIE!!!!

I made dear sweet Paula Deen’s Not Your Momma’s Banana Pudding. If you’ve never had this version of banana pudding you are missing out. You will swear you life started the day you first tasted this stuff. Swears. And ever since I saw the episode of Friends where Rachel added peas and beef to a trifle I’ve been dreaming of making something pretty in a trifle dish myself. Problem was, I don’t own one. Lucky for me, my MIL did. So I took Mrs. Deen’s recipe and gussied it up a bit in the looks department.

I also was able to extend my glorious dining room table to it’s full length. I’ve never had a need to do so before. Fully extended, our table is just too big for our dining room. I also was able to use the way too big linen table runner I purchased from the PB Outlet years ago since the table was fully extended. That’s what you get when you don’t pay attention to the dementions when you buy things people. Regret and a lonely table runner.

Here is the final table set up. Do you notice the hamburgers and hotdogs on the corner of the table? That was the brain child of Megan’s husband, Justin. We had hamburgers and hotdogs for the main course. Get it? Hamburgers. Hotdogs. Girl. Boy. Rachel thought it was hilarious when Justin brought up the idea. So, I went with it.

For drinks we served sweat tea (duh, cuz we are in the south) in mason jars, soda, water, wine, and beer. The dispenser that held the sweet tea needed a little height so people could fit their glasses under the spout, so I used a vintage metal case I picked up at my in-laws garage sale a couple of weeks ago. Who knew that bad boy would come in hand so soon? I sure didn’t.

I used cardboard card stock I picked up at Michel’s on sale for the drink and food labels. I simply used stamps and black ink to write out the words. Since we were going vintage I wasn’t worried about perfection with the stamps. Praise the lord for vintage equaling non-perfection.

Don’t you just love my mason jar drink dispenser? Derek bought if for me for valentine’s day. He picked it up at the Pottery Barn Outlet. I just love that place. The straws I got off Etsy, of course.

I carried the vintage theme to the backyard by using this amazing vintage soda cooler that my MIL let me borrow for a photo shoot a few days before. We lined it with a garbage bag, added ice, and stored the booze in this bad boy.

I used a watering can that my MIL picked up at Target a few years back, and gave to me the other day, to hold some faux hydrangeas I had just hanging out in the attic.

Well, that’s it for the party decor.

Now, I want to know…what’s your guess?

I’ll be back soon with pics from the party and the big reveal.

If you want to jump strait to the reveal, click here.

That’s what I named my tablescape.

On any given day you will most likely find our dining room table cluttered with diaper bags, baby shoes, cloth diapers draped over the backs of chairs drying, mail, and my current craft project. But since this was our very first Christmas at our house hosting others I wanted to make it a bit more special.

I’m not very good at putting a beautiful table together. I can just never decide on how I want things. Not to mention I decided not to register for fine china when we got married so I don’t have any of that fanciness. Nor do I have a ton of random decor stuff just tucked away in the house for random occasions. We simply don’t have the room for things like that.

So, here’s my sweet little table. Pun totally intended. Even my cute little moose got all gussied up for Christmas morn. I call her Bessie.

I’ve been dying to use my red and white napkins I picked up at Pier 1 last year after xmas. All the more reason to make my table a bit prettier. They look so cute all tied up with some jute and a candy cane.

I used a cream scarf from Old Navy as the runner. It had just enough whimsey to get the job done. I had big, giant coffee mugs at each setting ready to fill our bellies with coffee or hot cocoa.

And as the name states…there were quite a few candy canes on the table. I put a handful of small candy canes in two of my Crate & Barrel mercury votives. I wish it were okay to display snowflakes all year, because I would totally be leaving these lookers out. In the middle of the table was a cute Spode casserole dish.

Ahhh, my sweet little Spode dish. She played host to our cinnamon roll Christmas tree.

We also chowed down on a delicious breakfast casserole that Derek prepared for everyone. I love when a man cooks. Don’t you?

As I type this my dining room table has again become a miscellaneous item wasteland. Boo. It was cute while it lasted. Does anyone have any table decorating tips they could offer for a novice? Or just point me in the direction of a blog or website that can help my feeble efforts.

Our mantle this year is nothing fancy, but I love every square inch of it. It’s fun, simple, and a tad bit classy. The only thing I purchased for it was the greenery, and it was 60% off at Joann’s.

Hey you! I see you eyeing my burlap Santa. Guess what…I made that bad boy. I love him to the 9th degree, and so does Grayson. He lights up every time he sees him.

I love this white urn. I guess it’s an urn. That’s what I call it. Sounds kinda morbid though. I’ll just call it a pot. Anyway, I found this pot at Goodwill for $3. Love.

I hope everyone enjoyed lots and lots of turkey, tofurkey, or turducken today. Since I was a total slacker and finally finished putting my fall mantle together yesterday I made sure to take a photo of it. I’ve been so busy these past few weeks with holiday photo sessions, people love their photo holiday cards…I know I do, and editing non-stop I haven’t had much time to make my mantle look all purdy-like.

Luckily, I made that wreath during October or else it would never have been finished. I love how it turned out. I was able to reuse many pieces from my Halloween mantle and the other decor was just grabbed from around the house. So, this bad boy was F, to the R, to the E-E!!!

I figured I would take the few spare minutes I had to myself yesterday to make it look pretty, because who knows how long it will take me to get our Christmas decor up.

Well, I’m off to eat some pie and a second helping of turkey. Peace.

Peeps, J.Crew now has baby clothes! I was so excited when I saw this, but a little bummed that they didn’t carry clothes for teeny tinys when the G-man was a wee one.  I was no longer bummed once I saw the prices and that the selection (at least currently) isn’t all that grand. Here are a few pieces from the baby collection.

photo source

photo source

I am thrilled that my little dude can finally fit in Crew Cuts. Oh if I only had the money. That baby would be Crew Cuts head to toe.

A couple of months ago I hit up the HUGE Goodwill store here in town. (which just got a remodel by the way. sounds like a perfect reason to go back for a “visit”) I was just browsing really, not looking for anything to specific, but low and behold…I found way too much stuff. I picked up few board books for Gray at $.99 a pop. (I made sure they were wipe-able since my kid often eats his books like a dog, as opposed to reading them.) I found a couple of sturdy metal candle sticks that were looking for a good coat of spray paint, for $.99 each. I couldn’t just leave them hanging. I also picked up that white ceramic pot type thingy for $3. I have no clue what it is actually for…I have it displayed on the mantle with some white ceramic vases.

New photo frames can cost an arm and a leg, and a kidney, and the really big ones they’ll ask you to throw in your 1st born son. I’ve kinda grown to like mine so I am always looking for cheaper alternatives. Enter these Goodwill beauts. Both frames have the paper backing to them meaning they weren’t intend to have their pictures removed and replaced, but I did anyway. I love breaking the rules. I’m so bad A!

My favorite score of the shopping spree that wasn’t intended is the giant solid wood mirror for $9. Do you see the size of this thing? My MIL has very simular frames in her bathroom and I know for a fact that at Marshall’s they cost at least $50. That means a simular mirror this size probably cost around $100, and I got this thing for $9 smackeroos. S C O R E!!!! When I saw this gorgeous guy I knew it was an amazing deal. I don’t typically purchase things that I don’t have a purpose or a place for, but there was no way I was passing this deal up. I figured that one day we will move to a larger home and THEN I would find a place for it. I mean I would design an entire room around the thing if I had to. It was just to good of a deal to pass up. Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am a novice hoarder. Or at least I will be soon, if I keep buying things that are toogoodofadealNOTtobuy. The wooden frame of the mirror has a few scratches and knicks in it, but I think a little sanding and some white paint and she’ll be good as new. And the mirror itself…perfect condition.

I decided to start with the white square frame. I spray painted it a glossy white and since the mat had a blue bevel to it I decided to spray paint it too. (Note: I used the same glossy paint on the mat that I used on the frame. Not the best idea. Glossy paint sticks to glass, but that’s all I had and I was going for a free theme here.)

Next, I cut a square of burlap from some I had sitting around the house. I dry painted a chipboard lower case D that I had left over from Grayson’s birthday party. And voila!

The crazy thing is that shortly after making this I saw a simular project popping up all over Pinterest. I was rather proud to be just a tiny bit ahead of the curve. Even if it’s by a millimeter. I haven’t hung it on the wall just yet, but here is a (slightly crapy) photo of the finished project.

Has anyone else made a cute little something only to begin finding simular projects being pinned on Pinterest? Doesn’t it just feel like Martha herself is patting you on the back for a job well done? Or is it just me?

BTW…I think I just decided where I want to put my $9 mirror in my current house.

P.S. – I’m linking up to Get Your Craft On

No one else probably even cares about this but I’m super excited about it…

I just bought my little dude the cutest fall madras pant set from Chase and Company on Etsy. I got the pants in a 2T so he can hopefully wear them into the summer. Because what little boy doesn’t look totally presh in some madras pants and a polo?

Here’s his new little fall outfit on an adorable little boy.

photo credit Chase and Company (Etsy)

Now all I have to do is decide what shoes. I feel some fall pictures coming on!

Oh, and I participated and won in my 1st Facebook children’s clothing auction today. Squishy baby will be struttin’ around this winter in a super cute blue snowman longall. BAZINGA!!!! I’ll tell you one thing, those FB auctions make me happy to have a little boy. There are so many people bidding that you have to be really on your game to get some of the girl outfits. Sheesh! Those women are fast.

Does anyone else out there participate in the children’s clothing auctions on Facebook? I’m so indecisive that I’m quite surprised that I actually made a decision quick enough to actually win something.