Everyday Celebrating

Everyday Events: Rubber Duckie Shower!

Monday is the last day to enter the giveaway for a set of paper products from the Kendall Collection at Carolina Pad.  Go to this post and enter.  Good luck!

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Today I have loads of cute pictures from a rubber duckie baby shower thrown by my friend Kelly of Eventology Weddings in Houston.  Lots of fun details!  Enjoy! 

Everyday Events: Beautiful Baptism

Debbie recently wrote in with beautiful photos from her son's baptism party. I love the soothing colors and how clean and simple it is.

She created the famous Martha Stewart poms in pure white.  Aren't they beautiful?

Doorways and windows were decorated with these precious cross garlands.

Cupcakes were iced in pretty baby blue.  The crosses were made from Wilton's ready to use fondant.  The fondant is rolled out and cut with a cookie cutter.

It's tradition to decorate a candle with the child's name and baptism date for the mass and then the tradition lives on by lighting each anniversary.

Guests went home with homemade magnets which Debbie created using the cross and dove theme.

Thanks again for sharing, Debbie!  A beautiful celebration of a beautiful occasion!

Smilebooks at BlogHer!

 

You may have seen the button on the sidebar there.  This one:

That's one of the largest blogging conferences in the United States and it's sold out.  As always.
I'll be there representing several sponsors and one of them is the fine folks at Smilebooks.com

SmileBooks helps you turn your favorite digital photos into treasured photo books. Within minutes you can download SmileBooks free software and begin creating permanent photo book memories.  When you're done, fill out the order form and within days you'll receive your incomparable quality photo book.  Create memories that last a lifetime, in no time at all with SmileBooks photo books.

They have several sizes to create and also great templates if you're not that creative.  However, if you do want complete control over the design of your pages, you have that capability. 

I found the software to be easy and self explanatory.  The preview was clear and I loved how it would immediately tell if your photos were not going to print at a high quality level.

To show you an example, here is one of the booklets that Smilebooks prints.  What you are seeing here are the custom designed idea books I'll be passing out at the BlogHer conference.  Please leave me a comment if you're going to be at the conference.  I'd love to meet you and load you down with some swag!  :)

If you click on the photo, you can see more detail.  The pages are a beautiful gloss and really are coffee table quality.  They make beautiful hardcover books that are perfect gifts or a great way to celebrate a special occasion such as an anniversary, birthday, graduation or wedding.

Stay tuned!  Smilebooks and Everyday Celebrating is going to be having a fun competition through this blog with lots of fun prizes!

But for now.. Smilebooks wanted to celebrate blogs and the people that read them by giving a 25% discount to readers.  Simply type in the code Blogher25 at checkout to receive your discount! 

So get busy creating a book of memories! You don't need an occasion.. how about making a Summer Fun book or a book with your vacation photos?

Don't forget!  If you're going to the BlogHer conference... leave me a comment!

Enjoy!

Custom paper wedding chain

Don't you love how there's a trend in weddings to go back to the homemade and vintage?

These custom paper chains could be used as decoration for many celebrations surrounding a wedding (bridal luncheon, rehearsal dinner, reception, shower, etc.)

This paper chain is printed with 1Corinthians 13 verses 4-7 & 13
And there are two custom places to print the names of the bride and groom and the date upon which they are married.

here at ormolu

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Don't forget to enter the Carolina Pad giveaway!  A cute set of Kendall Collection paper products!
Enter now!  Here!

Everyday Events: Sip and See!

Sarah wrote in to share a recent Sip and See she threw for a good friend.  For those unfamiliar, a Sip and See is a gathering held after a baby is born.  It's a way to celebrate their birth and for family and friends to get their first glimpse at the new addition.  Also, it's a wonderful way to shower the Mom (or parents) with some love, get them out of the house a bit and of course, let them show off as proud parents.

Sarah took her theme inspiration from my friend Kim at TomKat Studios.  While Sarah made her own invitations using digital scrapbook kits, Kim was the originator of the design and actually sells the invitations as well as a whole party kit in her store.

Reminder: make sure you click on the pictures to see the detail.

Here are Sarah's invitations. 

When I saw Sarah's entry, I laughed. I can't tell you how many of those bubble wands I've purchased!
Inside the pots?  Those are bubble wands from the Dollar Store and my son loves them!  I love how they really add to a theme and come in bright colors.  Sarah inserted them into colorful pots found at the Dollar General.

Sarah found these great drink jars at Walmart for $5.96 each!  Added some great labels and colorful drinks!

Cupcakes!  The cupcake stand was found at Michaels (don't forget your 50% off coupon!)
And the cupcake toppers again were inspired by TomKat Studio. 

If you look closely, Sarah cut paper to fit each level of the cupcake stand.  Brought in a bit more color and whimsy to a plain, white stand.

For favors, Sarah created the traditional candy bar except ... guests were asked to fill up a sippy cup to take home!  Sippy cups were found at the Dollar Store at the fabulous price of 5 for $1! 

Candy was easy to find inexpensively at Walmart.

Thanks for sharing, Sarah!  And welcome to the world, Jasper!  With Sarah in your life, you're sure to be showered in fun times!

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Don't forget to enter the Carolina Pad giveaway!  A cute set of Kendall Collection paper products!
Enter now!  Here!

Creating fruit slice fillers.

Jennifer wrote in asking about this simple centerpiece I put together for a wedding shower.  Her wedding is in a month and she's finalizing details of her centerpieces and wondered how to put these together.

This centerpiece is created in a short, square vase found at places like Walmart.  You can do one of three things to achieve this:

1.  Place the flowers in FIRST, then slide the lemon slices in and arrange. Plan on using one or more lemons per vase.  You want to fill the space up with slices, eliminating wiggle room. 

2.  Find a smaller vase to sit INSIDE the larger vase.  Put the flower stems in the smaller vase and slide the lemons in between the smaller vase and the larger one to create a boundary.  Be careful in not filling the vase too full or the water will overflow.  Go with less water in the beginning.  You can always add more.

3.  A new technique to achieve this look is using jello as vase filler.  Use a clear jello (white grape).  Let it firm up quite a bit, then slide in the slices.  Jello is a great way to add an additional color to the vase as well.

Hope this helps!  Jennifer, we'd love to see photos of your beautiful wedding!

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Don't forget to enter the Carolina Pad giveaway!  A cute set of Kendall Collection paper products!
Enter now!  Here!

Easy drink labels

An easy way to label your drinks!  Martha Stewart provides lots of free downloads and templates for these types of details.  It's categorized as an escort card template, but.... print it out, cut them up and add them to cardstock to label items for your guests.

Labels seem obvious?  Think about things like sweet versus unsweet tea.  Do you have diabetic guests?
Or that lemonade up there?  Could easily be a limeade.  Who knows?

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Don't forget to enter the Carolina Pad giveaway!  A cute set of Kendall Collection paper products!
Enter now!  Here!

Another great giveaway!

Carolina Pad is doing it again!

Another great giveaway!  As you've read, I'll be at BlogHer 2009 giving away LOTS of Carolina Pad product.  Stop me and say hi and I'll get your own notebook for BlogHer notes!

But THIS giveaway is for those NOT going to BlogHer.  Carolina Pad recognizes there are lots of folks not going to the conference this year and wants to keep them in mind as well!

This time we're giving out a set of the Kendall Collection

The story behind the Kendall Collection:
Carolina Pad Signature designer Jacqueline Savage McFee dedicated this fashion collection in honor of her small cousin Kendall Sierens, who is fighting Leukemia. This disease causes more deaths of children and young adults under the age of 20 than any other form of cancer.

A Great Partnership Helps Build Hope One Notebook at a Time
Thanks to this partnership of Jackie, Carolina Pad, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Kendall Kollection notebooks, folders, binders, pencils and other supplies are now at stores across the U.S. A portion of each sale goes to support LLS’s blood cancer research and patient education and support services.

Hope for the Future
Diagnosed when she was two, Kendall is now four and doing well. Although her fight is far from over, she is slowly battling her way back to health. Her courage serves as a beacon of hope to all leukemia sufferers and their families.

Learn more about Kendall and her family and view the Kendall video, by visiting Jackie's Web site: http://www.jackiemcfee.com/main2.php and click on "Kendall Kollection".

To enter:  leave a comment below.  That's it!  We'll be announcing the winner next week!  Spread the word! 

Still time to make: easy July 4th display

Another easy way to add the famous 3 colors to your holiday display!

Layer candy in mini bottles or vases!

Get cheap mini glasses, bottles and vases at Goodwill or the Dollar Store!

credit:  Better Homes and Gardens