GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Jenna's Red Carpet Hollywood Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:32:00 +0000

I am rolling out the red carpet today for my latest party!

Miss Jenna turned 10 this weekend in Hollywood style!

When Jenna's mom contacted me about doing her birthday in this theme, I immediately loved it!

Plus, I hardly ever do girl parties, so I always jump at the chance to do a glamorous party for a cute little girl!

My inspiration was Old Hollywood, with a touch of glitter!

I wanted Jenna and her girlfriends to feel like they were really going to an awards show. The beautiful Memphis Country Club was the setting for the party and since we had such a stunning setting, dripping with chandeliers, it really gave the whole party a glamorous feel.

For the entry, we literally rolled out the red carpet for the girls with rope and stanchions and these fabulous star chandeliers that I ordered from Shindigz.

We had DJ Funn come out and play some Beiber and One Direction for the girls too!

They adored him and had so much fun.

One of the challenging aspects of this party was coming up with table centerpieces. I wanted to do some tall vases with feathers, but the club doesn't allow feathers of any kind. So, I decided to DIY my own palm trees. I have done this project before at my Jungle Book party, but this time I varied it up a little bit.

This is a simple project that anyone could do. I used leftover wrapping paper rolls that I had in my house and glued them to small wooden disks that you can get at any craft store. Then, I tore off small pieces of some gold paper and glued it to the cardboard roll with hot glue, in a palm tree bark pattern. For the palm leaves, I used foil fringe that you can get at any party store. I threaded 18 gauge floral wire through the top and bent them and glued them into place at the top of the roll!

For the savory buffet, Jenna picked some Sliders and Mini Pizzas from the club's menu.

This sweets buffet was really fun for me to style.

I started with a really cool oversized vinyl sticker that I had personalized at Shindigz with Jenna's full name.

I pinned it into my foam backboard and then made some red curtains to dress it up.

The gold shag linen that I rented from Classic Party Rentals really gave the table good texture.

What's a Red Carpet party without some Red Carpet Ropes and Golden Globe Gumballs?

The fabulous printables are from my very favorite graphic designers, the ever so wonderful Piggy Bank Parties.

These were the absolute hit of the party--Love and Sugar Kisses' chocolate covered Oreos.

Theses were GONE. The girls were fascinated with them!

I displayed some of them in a tall votive holder that I got at Pier 1 a hundred years ago.

I loved how they stood up!

The letters for the buffet were painted with gold spray paint and then gold glitter spray paint (thanks Mariah at Giggles Galore for telling me about that)

The cake was made by Mad Lily Cakery. Isn't it adorable?
The girls were fascinated with the fact that it was 100% edible!

It was so cute that I wanted it for MY birthday!

And you HAVE to have popcorn at a movie party, right? This candied popcorn was from Oh Nuts. And the best part is that it CAME in those gold containers! Well, thank you Oh Nuts!

Jenna's mom is a longtime customer of my favorite cookie bakery, Whimsy Cookie Co, so she and I collaborated on the design of these cookies for Jenna. Their cookies are always beautiful and delicious.

I displayed them on this black bedazzled charger that I got at Michael's.

We had the fabulous Amy and Fairys and Frogs come out to paint the kids' faces. She did an amazing job with the girls. Since the girls dressed in fabulous red carpet attire, Amy painted them matching designs on their faces and arms. You can see her entire work from the party HERE. It's amazing!

I had the girls play "Pass the Popcorn" with plastic spoons in their mouths. Let's just say there was a lot of popcorn on the floor when they finished! Ha!

And of course, a fashion show!

Jenna made me laugh so much when she took the mic at the end of the fashion show and said..."The award for best birthday party ever goes to....ME!"

For favors, I ordered these gold Chinese takeout boxes from Oriental Trading and attached an adorable tag from Piggy Bank Parties.

Happy Birthday Jenna!!!

Vendors:

Cake: Mad Lily Cakery

Cookies: Whimsy Cookie Co.

Backdrop Vinyl Decal and assorted Decor: Shindigz and Oriental Trading

Candy: Oh Nuts

Printables: Piggy Bank Parties

Fondant Oreos: Love and Sugar Kisses

Rentals: Classic Party Rentals

DJ: DJ Funn

Face Painter: Fairys and Frogs

Venue: Memphis Country Club

Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Greyson's LIVE at FIVE Anchorman Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:54:00 +0000

Good evening and welcome to my LIVE at FIVE party!

When I was brainstorming my big guy's 5th birthday, I really wanted to play on the word "five." So, after tossing around several ideas with my sister and her hubs, he suggested Live at Five. Since we are all huge fans of Anchorman, I immediately jumped on this! I wanted to give it a retro spin, and harken back to the classic news anchors of days past.
And, since we call him Grey, even though his name is Greyson, the four letters were a perfect fit for the call letters of a news station.

One of the first people I contacted when I was first planning this party was Piggy Bank Parties. I knew that they could absolutely kill it when it came to the printables. And, of course, they did not disappoint. Do sent over this absolutely amazing invitation using the call letters logo! I got so many texts and emails about how cute this invitation was!

If you follow my parties for my boys, you know that I always have to do a big-impact piece for my entryway. This year, I made the call letters of the "news station" out of a large piece of cardboard and some paint. I printed the letters out from my computer and mod-podged them onto the signs. I spray painted the five with silver paint to make it reflect.

Do you love the tv banner?

Do also sent over some printable papers, including this retro TV. So, I printed five copies out and put his picture on each of his birthdays inside them.

My idea for the table was for it to be a news desk. So, I ordered this corrugated cardboard from Shindigz and rolled it around the table to make it look solid. Then, I customized this awesome Brooklyn Bridge backdrop from Shindigz with a logo to make it look like a news studio backdrop. This is probably my favorite part of the entire party.

For the food, I wanted some unique serving pieces, so I bought these video tapes at Goodwill for $1 a piece and glued them all together to make stands. Then, I printed out our station call letters and taped them to the videos. A simple clear plate on top and you've got yourself a stand! Some of the food items were Chic-Fil-A wraps ("That's a Wrap!") and Nuggets ("Sound Bites").

And what's the news without coffee and doughnuts? I found this coffee cup planter at Lowe's months ago and used it to display the doughnuts on skewers.

The phenomenal cake is from Mad Lily Cakery. I gasped when I saw it! The airbrushed woodgrain on the sides was my favorite part. It was the perfect retro touch! And guests couldn't believe it was the cake! And, it was delicious!

I found this adorable little movie camera light on Shindigz and could not resist.

I was brainstorming ideas for food for the party and came up with these microphone meatballs! They were breadsticks with meatballs which I served with marinara sauce.

The cute little suit, tie, and cookies were from Whimsy Cookie Co. I love their cookies so much and I have been responsible for eating several of these for the past few days! I love how they turned out!

My sister helped me make this "news ticker" for the top of the news desk. We used the little tv test patterns from Piggy Bank Parties and some bulletin board letters and mod-podge to make this perfect little ticker!

I searched high and low for a toy helicopter to add to the party table. I found this little guy at Wal-Mart and peeled all the stickers off and made my own little sticker with our call letters. Now Greyson loves playing with it!

For the favor table, I created a weather forecast for the backdrop. I handpainted this and it took several hours, but it was totally worth it. Several people asked me if this was the actual forecast for the week. And trust me, this weather outlook is pretty typical for Memphis!

I knew I wanted Piggy Bank Parties to do their microphone favor box for me, because it is awesome. And I asked them to add a little "box" around it for the call letters. They turned out amazing! And they even did a little tie tag for me too! The detail on this mic is so awesome! I filled them with dum-dums for the kiddos.

I printed out the test pattern tv and taped it to a black cardboard box to make a 3-D tv for the mics to stand on.

My sweet boy broke his leg last week and was in the hospital over the weekend, so he spent his birthday party in a cast and a wheelchair. But, being the champ he is, he enjoyed his party anyway!

And, because I am a total freak for the details, I had to make a photo-op for the guests. These are two of my favorite boys, posing as a news anchor. I hand-painted this little guy too.

This is some kind of miracle--us all smiling and looking at the camera!

Greyson's birthday shirt is by my extremely talented friend, Mollie at Personally Stitched. She blew my mind this time by replicating the call letters! She is so great!

And, just because he is cute and this makes me laugh!

Signing off! Tune in next time!

Vendors:

Cookies: Whimsy Cookie Co.

Cake: Mad Lily Cakery

Printables: Piggy Bank Parties

Backdrop: Shindigz.com

Shirt: Personally Stitched

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

{My Parties} Addie Claire's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 2nd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:01:00 +0000

2013 has been the year of the Disney party for me so far!

I started out with a Daisy Duck, then a Cars 2, and now a Mickey Mouse clubhouse! I have never done any of these themes before, so I loved being able to stretch myself creatively with licensed characters.

This Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party was for a very special little 2 year old named Addie Claire. Addie Claire loves Mickey Mouse and I wanted her to love her party.

So, I started out with a very basic Mickey Mouse color scheme of red, black, and yellow.

But, I wanted to make it girly too!

The concept for the party started with these gorgeous laser cut frames from Michael's. They were raw wood and I spray painted them to match the color scheme. Then, I fashioned a Mickey Mouse out of small wooden disks. Adding Addie Claire's initials to the backdrop was the perfect way to fill in the other two frames.

The graphic black and white fabric is a Premier Print. I love using their stuff because it is highly colorful and also very cost-effective at under $10 per yard.

Addie Claire's grandmother sent along a picture of some cupcakes that she loved, with an amazing cake for the top. So, I contacted my favorite cake artist, Melanie at Mad Lily and she absolutely killed i t.

There were fondant toppers of each character in the clubhouse!

As soon as I found out that I was doing this theme, I knew that I HAD to use the fabulous printables by Amanda's Parties to Go.

She has the most amazing collection of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse printables! And I mean this is a HUGE collection!

I built the cupcake stand using hat boxes from Hobby Lobby with acrylic containers that I found at Michaels. The star boxes were left over from a Mario party that I did a few years ago. I simply attached some of Amanda's printables to the front!

By some amazing coincidence, when I was planning this party, I saw an instragram picture that Janet from Sweet Tempations posted of some Mickey Mouse oreos that she did. So, of course, I had to have them! They were absolutely perfect!

I also wanted to bring in a cute snack that coincided with the Mickey Mouse silhouette. Everyone has seen the half-dipped red chocolate oreos, but I decided to make Mickey Moon Pies! I found miniature moon pies at Kroger and added chocolate candy melts and sticks! A little washi tape on the stick, and they were adorable! And if you don't like moon pies, well, something is wrong with you.

Using the ubiquitous styrofoam Mickey heads, I fashioned a holder for the fruit skewers! I actually found this half-round styrofoam piece at Hobby Lobby and I was so excited!

Addie Claire's grandmother made the centerpieces and I added a last minute addition of Amanda's printables.

Since Addie Claire's family owns this restaurant, they had their own party room with a buffet of yummy snacks. I dressed up the area with printables and a cute tulle pom pom garland.

The favors were cute chocolate lollipops in the shapes of 2s with the clubhouse characters.

I painted a hat box black and added foam and bag shred to make a cute display for the pops. Since the lollipop sticks were short, I added red and black striped straws to the ends to make them taller.

Thanks for coming to my Mickey Mouse party!

Vendors:

Printables: Amanda's Parties to Go

Chocolate Covered Oreos: Sweet Temptations

Cupcakes, Cake, and Fondant Toppers: Mad Lily Cakery

Lollipop Favors: Hannah Chocolate Dream

Party Location: The Boiling Point

Event Styling, Concept, and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Brett's Cars 2 Birthday Party: A 15 minute party set-up

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:13:00 +0000

I am not one of those party planners who snubs her nose at licensed character themes. Kids love characters and guess what...birthday parties are about kids and what they love. They are not about making hand-tinted macarons and dessert shots where the spoon won't even fit into the shot glass.

Party-mommy Jennifer is one of my best clients and I have designed all of her baby Brett's birthday parties including his Jungle Safari 1st birthday and his Planes, Trains, and Automobiles 2nd birthday.

This year he is completely obsessed with Cars 2 (and I should know about that, since my 20 month old lives for it too!). But, this year Jennifer decided that she would throw his party at Kid Play, a local indoor play area for kids. This presented it's own challenge--only 15 minutes for party set-up.

So, I had to keep it simple AND cute!

So, here is what I came up with:

I started out with some Lightening McQueen fabric from Hancocks. I simply got three yards to cover the top of the tablecloth. The backdrop is black cotton fabric with yellow sticky felt cut into the shape of lines in the road. For the bunting, I spent $6 on felt and red ribbon and made my own!

For the snacks, we were only allowed to bring in the cupcakes, but I also got these cute Cars Fruit snacks to be used as a take-home favor.

Kid Play provided these squeeze applesauces, which had to have a cute name; Axelrod's Applesauce.

The Cars buckets are Easter baskets from Hobby Lobby.

The adorable cupcakes and toppers were done by Mad Lily Cakery.

The printables were from Magical Printables and I added some cute little chipboard embellishments to them to make them a little more "Cars."

The cupcake stand was created out of a large hat box, spray-painted black, and some metal racing signs from Hobby Lobby. I glued it all together prior. But, I had a party fail in the car on the way there when the entire thing came apart. I fixed it with some command strips from my party-emergency bag!

The favors were little packages of Cars markers that I found at Party City for $1 a piece.

I added some cute tags with some checkered ribbon to make for a fun, functional, unisex favor for the kids.

I displayed them in this gardening container that I got at Hobby Lobby last year. Each basket had a perfect little place to put another chipboard character.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Brett!

Even in 15 minutes, you can have a party with style!

Vendors:

Party Location: Kid Play Germantown

Printables: Magical Printables

Shirt: BabyCakes82211

Cupcakes and Fondant Toppers: Mad Lily Cakery

Fabric: Hancock

All Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Emma Kate's Daisy Duck Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:34:00 +0000

It's the first party of 2013!

When Emma Kate's mommy contacted me a few months back about doing her 2nd birthday, she told me that EK loved Daisy Duck and she was hoping she would still love Daisy by the time her birthday came around. Well, the answer to that question is a resounding YES!

Miss EK was thrilled with her Daisy Duck party and kept saying "Day-dy duck!" So precious!

EK's mommy and I have known each other since college, when we were just lowly waiters at a neighborhood restaurant.

You may remember her first birthday last year, which was an Ocean theme.

And I love that EK loves Daisy! Daisy is so much more fabulous than Minnie, right?

And purple? Hello? My favorite color!

And, if you read my blog on a regular basis, you know I love a unique theme. And since there are hardly any Daisy Duck themed party supplies out there, I had to stretch myself, which I love!

So, here we go!

My first step was finding this Daisy Duck wall decal on Amazon. I simply applied it directly to a large piece of foam core and then cut it out with an xacto knife. It is a super affordable way to have a big impact on your backdrop.

I decided to really focus on Daisy herself, but also purple daisy flowers to bring in a really girly touch.

I found this adorable pink and purple daisy in the spring section of Hobby Lobby. I simply spray painted the wooden letters and attached them with some floral wire.

Who else but Piggy Bank Parties would I enlist for the printables? They were kind enough to modify their polka dot collection for me by adding super cute little pink bows to it!

For the cake pops, I knew I wanted to make a stand that really looked like a birthday cake. So, I crafted this large tiered stand out of styrofoam disks and hat boxes. I added embellishments with tulle trim, feather trim, and different colored ribbon. For the topper, I simply painted a chipboard #2 and then added adhesive rhinestones from the scrapbook department.

For the cake pops, what else but little Daisy Ducks?

The fabulously talented Autumn Lynn's Sins did these adorable pops for me!

The beautiful chocolate covered oreos with fondant toppers were done by Maria at Love and Sugar Kisses.

I mean, could you die?

They were little works of art!

Maria is a dream to work with and these cookies were just perfection.

Suckers by Steph, as always, made me some beautiful chocolate suckers. She is one of my favorite edible vendors to work with and these were just beautiful!

I found these little hinged flower boxes at Michael's and painted them with some Martha Stewart glitter paint to make them extra cute!

I wanted to have "duck" themed food for the party, so for the menu we had "Duckbills and Dip," "Cheese and Quackers" cut with a high heeled cookie cutter, Goodie Goodie Bites (Daisy's Catch Phrase) which were chicken minis from Chic Fil A, and then Purple Bow Pasta Salad.

Did you know you could dye pasta? It's really easy! All you do is cook the pasta to al dente, then add gel color to it. You can get gel color at any craft store in the cake section and they make tons of colors!

Miss EK making a funny face for the camera!

For the favors, I wanted a super cute and very "Daisy" favor box, so I emailed Do at Piggy Bank Parties to see if she could do a high heel favor box with a rounded toe. After some very hard work on her part, she totally delivered these COMPLETELY adorable high heels!

They were the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life!

And the awesome news for you is that she can do them in any color! These would be the perfect favor box for SO many girly party themes!

To display them, I glued some scrapbook paper to a small shoe box that I had lying around my house from Christmas. Then I used the tulle trim for a little extra cutenesss.

The daisy chains are from Hobby Lobby and I found them in the wedding section. They were the perfect garland for the table!

Thanks for checking out EK's Daisy Duck Party!

Vendors:

Printables and Favor Boxes: Piggy Bank Parties

Cake Pops: Autumn Lynn's Sins

Suckers: Suckers By Steph

Chocolate Covered Oreos with Fondant: Love and Sugar Kisses

Daisy Cut Out: Amazon
Styling and Concept: GreyGrey Designs

2012: The Year in Parties

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 04:40:00 +0000

I am always amazed at the number of parties I do when I look back at the end of the year. It is such a pleasure to be involved in the most special days of my client's lives. And, of course, I live for doing parties for my own babies. I have been MIA lately, concentrating on a wedding for next year, spending time with my family, and Christmas shopping. Then, it starts all over in January with another party!

So, without further ado, let's review the party cuteness cranked out by yours truly in 2012.

January

Emma Kate's Ocean Party (I am already working on her 2nd birthday!)

February

Leap Year Party Styled Shoot for Baby Lifestyles

Brett's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles 2nd Birthday

March

Boy Meets World Baby Shower (one of my favorites, ever!)

My Greyson's Skippyjon Jones Four-esta

April

Spring Chicken Birthday Party Styled Shoot for Baby Lifestyles Magazine

Sugar Daddy Father's Day Party Styled Shoot for Tots to Teens Magazine

Parents to BEE Baby Shower

May

Woodland Forest Baby Shower

June

Lime Green and Navy 40th Birthday

My Lachlan's Loch Ness Monster 1st Birthday

August

Aiden's Whale of a 1st Birthday

October

Ryan's Glow in the Dark 18th Birthday

I hope everyone had an awesome 2012! I would like to thank every single one of my clients, who have been amazing this year!

And, of course, every one of my vendors, who would take an entirely separate post to list!

I hope you had a WONDERFUL holiday season and here is to a very happy 2013!

Giveaway: Skippyjon Jones Stuff!!

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:06:00 +0000

I am so excited to share this giveaway with you today!

At my house, we LOVE Skippyjon Jones!

You may remember back in March, my 4 year old's birthday party was a Skippyjon Jones-themed fiesta that was featured on Hostess with the Mostess.

So, I was thrilled when Skippyjon Jones Stuff, the official Skippyjon Jones store, contacted me about this giveaway!

Deborah and the wonderful people at Skippyjon Jones stuff want to giveaway a Skippyjon BIRTHDAY PACK for your little one's birthday or classroom!

Included in the prize are 10 pairs of Skippyjon Jones ears and 1 t-shirt of your choosing!

All you have to do is enter here!

Fan Skippyjon Jones Stuff on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
And leave me a comment telling me who in your life would love to have this party pack for their party for classroom!

Only US Residents please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{My Parties} Ryan's Glow in the Dark 18th Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:42:00 +0000

I am so excited to share this party with you!

Last year, my client Beth contacted me with the idea of throwing her son a surprise 18th birthday. We threw around several ideas for the theme, but after booking this venue, Minglewood Hall, I proposed a glow theme. Minglewood is a live music venue with a "club" atmosphere and a great lighting set-up. So, I wanted to capitalize on that.

Since it is so dark in there, I thought the only logical way to go was to have all the centerpieces and candy bar be lit with glow-sticks and necklaces.

A party for an 18 year old boy is difficult! You don't want the party to be too juvenile, but you don't want it to be too grown-up either! So, I think this theme hit exactly the right balance for the kids.

The focal point of the party was the great stage at Minglewood where we had the DJ set up and an awesome neon balloon arch.

Minglewood was awesome enough to customize this gobo light with the logo that I designed for the party. It looked amazing on the dancefloor!

Around the dancefloor, I used these fabulous custom LED-lit ottomans from Mahaffey Party Rentals. Each one was lit from underneath with color-changing LED lights. I added some green and blue fluffy pillows for an extra-plush club feel.

I saw this amazing idea for glowstick chandeliers on Social Couture and I knew I needed to them. We hung them from the lighting track above the stage and they looked so great. If you saw my record chandelier at the CPN Girls Night Out last fall, you can see that I used the same plant hangers from Lowe's. I simply turned them upside down to hang the glowsticks off. This is a great way to make chandeliers with pretty much anything!

For the centerpieces, I used two types of glassware and filled each with glowsticks and LED ice cubes. I used fishbowls on the tall bistro tables, and tall cylindrical vases on the large round tables.

These amazingly cute glowstick orbs are from GlowSource. The kids LOVED them. Let's just say it took all of 10 minutes before the kids were throwing them around the room.

For the candy sweets table, I wanted to keep it really fun and really colorful. The large black rises are actually storage cubes from Target. I used neon duct tape to give them a "glowstick" feel. Each side had a different design.

For the printables, I had racked my brain to think of something cute when I saw THIS amazing party by Dina at Deliciously Darling Events. When I saw the printable cassette tapes by Piggy Bank Parties, I was in love. So, of course I emailed Do immediately!

The base of each glassware container had LED lights in them. So, the bottom of the container was lit in different colors all night. It looked so cool!

Piggy Bank Parties also did candy wrappers for mini Hershey bars. The birthday boy loves Hershey bars, so I had to include those!

Neon cake pops anyone? My girl Autumn at Autumn Lynn's Chocolate Sins killed it with these! 12 dozen. YES!

The adorable DJ, also known DJ Rax from Hot 107.1 here in Memphis was so great. My husband and I (my assistant for the day) were laughing with him about the kids having zero idea who Tupac and Biggie were. He played two of their songs just to see and the kids had no reaction whatsoever. We felt old.

Here is the birthday boy coming in to his party! He was pretty surprised!

And let me just say that if you haven't seen teenagers dancing in a while, you will be really surprised! Ha!

Special thanks to my clients Beth and Greg for letting me help with Ryan's party! And to the photographer, Roger Cotton for the beautiful photos of an impossibly dark room!

Vendors:

Venue: Minglewood Hall

Photography: Roger Cotton Photo and Video

Cake Pops: Autumn Lynn's Chocolate Sins

Printables: Piggy Bank Parties

Candy: Candy Warehouse

Rentals: Mahaffey Tent and Party Rentals Memphis

Glow Products: Glow Source

Glassware: Save On Crafts

DJ: DJ Rax/GQ Riley Entertainment

Balloon Arch: Teddy Bear Express

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

- See more at: http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/2013/03/party-central/boy-party-ideas-add-yours-03-05-23#sthash.G58IjLEU.dpuf

Cookie Caster!

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 21:44:00 +0000

When I am planning a theme party, a lot of times I use cookie cutters to not only cut cookies, but sandwiches and other items too!

So what do you do when you can't find the right cookie cutter for your theme?

Well, that is where Cookie Caster comes in!

Cookie Caster is a new service that lets you design your own cookie cutter!

You can use their awesome new technology to DRAW your shape! And even better, if you are not an artist, you can upload an image and trace around it to get your shape!

The people at Cookie Caster were awesome enough to send me this whale cookie cutter for Aiden's Green Whale Party. And it was the perfect shape!

We used it to cut sandwiches into cute whale shapes!

If you go to www.cookiecaster.com/greygreydesigns, the nice people at Cookie Caster are offering my readers a discount on creating their own cookie cutters!

So, check them out today!

{My Parties} Aiden's Green Whale 1st Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:10:00 +0000

I love when party themes are special to the people who are throwing them.

When my client Leanne, whom I have worked with before, called me about doing her son's 1st birthday, she thought the idea of having a whale party was cute because her son, Aiden, has a lovey that is a green whale.

My oldest son has a serious obsession with his lovey, so this idea made me smile.

So, to start, I contacted Tyler at Lollipop Ink about customizing their whale party package with a green whale instead of a blue. They could not have been nicer to work with!

Leanne's brother in law has the ability to cut sheet metal into shapes and when they gave him a copy of the invitation, he made this adorable whale sign for the front yard! I loved it! So cute!

Lollipop Ink sent me some of the most adorable printable, including a large party circle.

I took that, some crepe paper, and a large 12" cardboard cake board, which you can get at any craft store and made a door hanging for the party.

In the foyer of the house, I made a little station for the guests to get their plates, napkins, and utensils. I found these adorable "preppy whale" supplies at Shindigz.

While scanning the aisle at Target one day, I came across this adorable whale faucet cover and I knew I had to get it. I simply put some pipe cleaners in his spout and he made a cute addition to the table. Plus, they can use him afterwards!

Target dollar spot also, by some miracle, had these little whale baskets! Score!

I knew I wanted the have a big green whale on the backdrop, so I free handed this guy and cut him out of foamcore. Then, I painted him lime green to match the party.

The adorable smash cake was made by Mad Lily Cakery, as well as the cupcakes and fondant toppers. I always love working with Melanie. She is so sweet and talented.

I used these wooden crates to build up a stand for the cake, as well has to hold the "blowholes" or doughnuts.

And what whale party would be complete without the ubiquitous whale watermelon? You can find this tutorial all over Pinterest.

For the cupcake stand, I knew I wanted something unique. So, I bought these wooden plaques at Hobby Lobby, along with some wooden candlesticks and glued them together into a cupcake stand using gorilla glue. Then I spraypainted the entire thing this beautiful Island Blue and topped the front with some wave scrapbook paper that I meticulously cut out with an Xacto knife. And yes, I totally painted that starfish.

These acrylic containers are from Michaels. I am currently obsessed with acrylic anything. I simply wrapped them in ribbon and a cute printable. I also got the lighthouse there. It was white and I added some touches of color.

This highchair kit also came from Shindigz. I am not usually one to use sets like this, but this was too perfect to pass up!

The bib is from SewJaneMade on Etsy.

Apparently Aiden didn't really care too much about his cake. You mommies will know how it goes on those first birthdays when they are being passed around!

Aiden's Grandmother made this cute punch that looked like water and floated some green plastic whales in there!

For the favors, I contacted my favorite cookie girl at Whimsy Cookie Co. Laurie whipped up these adorable green whale cookies with an A for Aiden.

Packaged in a cello bag and topped with Lollipop Ink's treat bag toppers, they were the perfect treat for the kids.

I had this green wooden container leftover from my Loch Ness Monster party, and it was perfect for holding the cookies!

Happy birthday handsome guy!

Vendors:

Invitation and Printables: Lollipop Ink

Bib: Sew Jane Made

Tie: Fresh Squeezed Baby

Cookies: Whimsy Cookie Co.

Cake, Cupcakes, and Fondant Toppers: Mad Lily Cakery

Plates, Cups, Napkins : Shindgiz

Sharing on:

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

- See more at: http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/2013/02/party-central/boy-party-ideas-add-yours-to-our-linky#sthash.K3OctNaL.dpuf

{Real Parties} My Grandpa's 80th Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:14:00 +0000

This past weekend, my family celebrated my grandfather's 80th birthday. My mom and aunt put together a small party after church for our family and my grandfather's beloved Sunday School class. You Southerners will know exactly what I am talking about when I say that your Sunday School class becomes your social group after a certain age.

It was important to us for the party to be very "him." So, we decided to serve all of his favorite things for the party.

My grandpa loves jolly ranchers like it's his job. So, we decided on a Jolly Rancher cake after much discussion. Then, we served jolly ranchers, hershey's kisses, and cheetos for the guests; all his favorite snacks. Everyone had already eaten lunch at this point, so we didn't have to worry about doing anything more than snacks.

I knew that I wanted to incorporate woodgrain into the pattern because my grandpa has a degree in forestry and owned a sawmill for most of his adult life. I already had this faux-bois fabric leftover from the Woodland Baby Shower I did in the spring. We incorporated red as the other party color because he LOVES the Arkansas Razorbacks (which is where he lives.) I also had this red felt leftover from another party.

The fabulous Do at Piggy Bank Parties was kind enough to send me this fabulous faux-bois banner that she whipped up for me! It was seriously perfect.

I have to give all the credit to my mom and Aunt for putting the table together! I all the party supplies in a big tupperware container along with my mom and when I got there, they had already put everything together!

Party talent must run in the family!

That cake is pretty cute right?

The party was perfect for my "Papa." I see too many parties that are styled simply for the internet, meaning that that they are beautiful but they are not special to the guests who were there. They are not meaningful at all. Well, this was meaningful to him, because it was about celebrating him and the wonderful man that HE is.

It wasn't about having perfectly coordinated chevron washi tape on the handles of your bamboo spoons.

See that smile? That's what it's all about.

I couldn't resist throwing in this picture of my cousin Trevor, along with my boys and my Grandpa. He's quite literally got his hands full!

Me, my mom, my aunt, and my cousin Paige. My sister and my other cousins couldn't be there that day, so we missed them! But, Papa had a great day and that's what it is all about!

Printable Banner: Piggy Bank Parties

Step Forward to Cure Tuberous Sclerosis: A Cause Close to My Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:49:00 +0000

In addition to my hobby of being a party planner, my full-time job is being a mommy to two beautiful boys. My oldest, Greyson, in whose honor my business is named, has a disease called Tuberous Sclerosis. Have you ever heard of it?

We hadn't either....until Greyson was diagnosed.

This is the official definition:

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form in many different organs, primarily in the brain, eyes, heart, kidney, skin and lungs. You will see it referred to both as tuberous sclerosis (TS) and tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). The term TSC is used in scientific literature to distinguish tuberous sclerosis complex from Tourette's syndrome.

The disease affects some people severely, while others are so mildly affected that it often goes undiagnosed. Some people with TSC experience developmental delay, mental retardation and autism. However, there are also many people with TSC living independent, healthy lives who enjoy challenging professions such as doctors, lawyers, educators and researchers.

When Greyson was born, he was perfectly healthy. We had no indication that anything was wrong until he was two months old and began having infantile spasms, which are a particularly devastating type of seizure in infants. He has struggled with seizures almost every day since.

Greyson is considered moderately affected by TS, which results in him having intractable (uncontrolled) epilepsy and tubers (or benign tumors) in his brain, retinas and kidneys and learning disabilities. He is almost completely non-verbal at the age of four and attends a special needs pre-kindergarten within our local school district. He is also on 3 different seizure medications and a hypertension medicine daily.

In addition to Tuberous Sclerosis, Greyson also has polycystic kidney disease, which is linked closely with TS because of the proximity of the genes in your DNA. At some point in Greyson's life, he will most likely be faced with a kidney transplant or brain surgery.

In spite of this, Greyson is a trooper, inspiring everyone he knows on a daily basis. I have never met a stronger soul than him. I am not saying that just as his mother, but as someone who has seen every blood draw, sedation, EEG, MRI, blood transfusion, hospitalization, and other invasive testing he has gone through.

He is the absolute light of our lives. We are honored to be his parents.

And any parent who as seen their child suffer will know that is the worst thing that you could ever imagine.

But, there are many who are much worse off than him. Some patients have hundreds of seizures a day and are severely mentally and physically delayed.

I write this not soliciting pity, but in the hopes that spreading the word about Tuberous Sclerosis and educating those who are not familiar with this disease will raise the profile of the TS Alliance and therefore help them help Greyson, and the millions of others with TS.

In this blog, I have uniquely public forum to educate my readers about this debilitating disease.

There is NO CURE for Tuberous Sclerosis.

And it can happen to anyone.

Two babies are born every day with TS in the United States.

But, we hope to change that.

So, for my sweet baby, and for all the other people in the world with TS, I chair a walkathon every year in their honor. That walkathon raised over $50,000 last year. This will be my second year to chair.

So, I am asking you readers to help me fund-raise for Greyson.

As chair of the event, I am responsible for not only fundraising for my team, but also bringing in corporate donations and silent auction items.

This year's walkathon is Saturday, October 20th at Centennial Park in Nashville.

Every single penny goes towards helping Greyson and others with TS.

So, I am asking you to help me by donating here at Greyson's page:

TEAM GREYSON

OR, donating a silent auction item!

If you are a party vendor, we would love to have some items from you!

Or even gift certificates! People of all walks of life are at this event and everyone loves a silent auction!

Every donation is 100% tax deductible.

(Illustration by the tremendously amazing and talented Michele at Intrigue Design Studio!)

But, more importantly, I am asking you to share this page.

Raising AWARENESS is just as important as raising money.

Thank you so much for reading!

{My Parties} Lachlan's Loch Ness Monster Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:16:00 +0000

When I was brainstorming my baby's 1st birthday party, I threw around a couple of ideas for a few months. His name is Lachlan, which isn't a very popular name in the U.S. right now, but it is pronounced "Lock-lun." His personality is boisterous, to say the least, so if you put the two together, what is a better nickname than "Lach Ness Monster?"

This party was originally going to be a large party for our friends and family, but the week of his birthday, my oldest went into the hospital. If you follow my blog, you know that my oldest son has a variety of health issues. So, we had to move Lachlan's birthday party to the next weekend and we downsized considerably to just family and our closest friends.

But, I couldn't let my baby's day go by without celebrating the amazing year he has had.

So, without further explanation.....the "Lach" Ness Monster party!

My first stop was Piggy Bank Parties. Do and J are always my go-to when I am creating a party theme that is not mainstream. They are amazingly talented and always create beautiful illustrations for me. I sent them ONE inspiration picture of a sweet looking monster with some beautiful waves and they came back to me with this beyond gorgeous invitation. I fell in love immediately. My favorite part is the plaid golfing tam that Nessie is wearing! So cute.

Natalie at The Knock Knock Factory made Lachlan this beautiful wreath for the front door. Doesn't it just look like water? It's like the male version of her signature mermaid wreath.

I love how she created her own plaid out of glitter.

And even the Nessie on the wreath has his own tam!

I always have to have a staircase hanging--it is my signature when it comes to my babies' parties. For this hanging, I cut a "one" out of foam core and then wove crepe paper by hand into a plaid pattern.

I know I am biased, but he's pretty freaking cute. His shirt was made by my sweet friend Mollie, who makes my boys a shirt every year for their birthdays. I sent her one of the plaid fabrics that I was using and she sent me back this adorable shirt.

For the menu, I wanted savory appetizers with fun, lake-themed names.

I found this wave-shaped planter at Michael's and spray-painted it blue. It was perfect for my "Lake Algae" spinach dip. The Nessie lumps are PVC pipe spray-painted green. If you look closely, you can see some items that were "party-recycled" from my party closet, such as this glittered L from my Leap Year party.

I also made pasta salad, which I dyed green. Did you know that you can dye pasta? I simply boiled it, then let it cool and added green gel food coloring. I used macaroni noodles because they looked like the Nessie lumps. I got those adorable cups and wooden spoons from In the Clear on Etsy. Then I added plaid washi tape to the bottoms.

The wooden castles are from Michael's. I spray painted them silver. If you know anything about Lach Ness, there is a castle on the shores, called Urquhart Castle. I created those cake stands with some plates and ice-cream cups from Hobby Lobby.

I made the little dessert picks with pom poms, toothpicks, and some hot glue. It really gave the sausage balls an extra cute-factor.

What else but plaid oreos?

The celtic knot pretzels were an easy last-minute addition to the menu.

I am pretty much obsessed with the smash cake. I mean, Melanie at Mad Lily Cakery blew it out of the box. She was, as always, amazing to work with.

I knew I wanted a unique cupcake stand, so when I found this candle holder at the antique mall, I knew I had to have it. Mindy at Creative Juice inspired me to use a candle holder as a cupcake stand when I saw her amazing July 4th party, which debuted in the Bird's Party Magazine. This one was originally an aqua color, but a little spray paint fixed that. I added the green craft foam onto the back with hot glue and then used a piece of PVC pipe and some more craft foam on the front for the head of Nessie. Add a googly eye and a tam made out of extra fabric and you've got a Nessie cupcake stand.

This is also a good picture of the tablecloth treatment. I wanted it to look like a kilt. Ironing all those pleats in the cloth sucked, but it was totally worth it. I love how it turned out.

And who else but Lynlee's Petite Cakes to make my Nessie cupcake toppers a reality?

I got this inspiration from a link I saw here. I think ours were cuter though!

I don't have any idea how Lynlee can make plaid out of fondant! I couldn't get close enough with the camera to show the level of detail, but there were also little wave patterns in the blue part.

Do and J were sweet enough to send me a high-resolution file of Nessie, so that I could print out a large version of him for my background. I ordered him from Shutterfly on 20x30 paper and then glued him to foam core and cut around him with an xacto knife.

Also at the antique mall, my mom spotted this little concrete worm, and I knew I had to have him. I painted him, of course, and added him to the gift table. For the waves, I cut the pattern into the paper covered foam core and then peeled the paper off to expose the white part underneath.

And, of course I added a tam to this Nessie's head too!

The beautiful, fabulous printables. The waves are so gorgeous.

My Lach Ness had a big time with his cake!

And who else but The Purple Pug herself could have made this beautiful banner for his high chair? You can't see in this picture, but there is a little Nessie on the left side, which of course was glittered.

For his monthly pictures, I used blue bulletin board borders. You can find these in the classroom portion of Hobby Lobby. I liked the way they mimicked waves. Then, I used a brad to attach the pictures, so they would hang off. I used a Martha Stewart plaid edge cutter to made the cardstock look plaid. Then, I added a little printable from Piggy Bank Parties to give each picture a little extra something.

For his gift, my sister had her friend paint this beautiful picture of Lachlan, so we had to have it on display at the party!

I wanted to do something out of the box for the favors, so I decided to do slice-and-bake cookie dough rolls--"Ness-le Tollhouse Cookies!'

I wrapped them in green felt and hot glued them shut. I froze them before the party so that they would stay cold during it. Then I tied a bow onto them and added a cute favor tag.

And of course, some gratuitous cute baby cake-smashing pictures!

He is pretty good at it.

Happy 1st birthday to my sweet, crazy Lach Ness Monster!

Vendors:

Cake and Cupcakes: Mad Lily Cakery

Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Lynlee's Petite Cakes

Plaid Oreos: Sweet Temptations

Printables: Piggy Bank Parties

Wreath: The Knock Knock Factory

Shirt: Personally Stitched

High Chair Banner: The Purple Pug

Washi Tape: Pretty Tape

Green and Blue Cups: In The Clear

All Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

Sharing on:

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

- See more at: http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/2013/02/party-central/boy-party-ideas-add-yours-to-our-linky#sthash.aERyBcBY.dpuf

{My Parties} Lime Green and Navy 40th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:42:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I got a call from one of my favorite client's Jennifer (mommy to Brett--of the Safari Party and the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles party) She emailed me and said that she wanted help throw a surprise 40th birthday for her friend Becky with the help of Becky's husband Tim.

She sent me over a little swatch of lime green and white trellis pattern and said that it reminded her of Becky.

So, I thought that lime green and navy would be really fresh, summery color combination for her party.

I found these beautiful baby shower printables by Love the Day on Lindi's Etsy shop and I knew that was the direction I wanted to go. Lindi was sweet enough to customize them for me and make them 40th birthday party friendly!

In the foyer, I hung a little welcome sign from Lindi's collection with some of the leftover fabric from the table.

A little double stick tape and some thumbtacks made it into a really cute welcome sign for the guests.

Becky's husband, Tim, decided on BBQ for the menu. I mean, this is Memphis--if you don't like BBQ, you had better just move. BBQ is an easy pick-up meal around here and everyone loves it. It's perfect for any sized crowd!

I found this lime, royal, and navy fabric at Hobby Lobby and it was perfect for this theme. It was the nexus of everything else. I really wanted a pillow made out of it.

I also bought some coordinating fabric to go with the main table fabric and framed them using these awesome lime green embroidery hoops! Who knew that there were colored hoops? I lucked out on that one!

On the sideboard, I used Love the Day's printable banner and added some visual interest with some blue Greek key fabric. I got that little blue table/cake stand at the antique mall and spray painted it. It was originally a pretty aqua color, which was lovely, but just didn't go with my theme.

They already had these large vases on their sideboard, so I just kept them there and added a little something to them to tie them in with the theme!

A little green ribbon and a printable circle and it looked absolutely fabulous!

All the plates, napkins, and utensils are from Target. I adore these! They are so modern and fresh!

BBQ is one of those menu items that you have to really work to make look cute, you know?

Of course, the pork had to be in a chafing dish, but to give everything else a little more visual interest, I tried to dress it up!

The beans went into jelly jars with custom tops by Love the Day.

The slaw went into clear plastic cups. Did you know that the standard size cupcake wrapper fits perfectly on those clear plastic cups?

Well, you do now!

To add some extra cuteness, I put straw flags onto the spoons.

To make the food have a little height, I used soup cans covered in fabric! Soup cans are totally sturdy and work perfectly as risers for your serving pieces!

Becky had a gorgeous collection of white, contemporary stoneware that I served the chips and sauces in.

When I opened her serving storage closet, I gasped! It's not often that you come upon a client with such an assortment of beautiful serving pieces.

Best part of this party? It was afforable!

I only spent $165 on all this! Now, that's my favorite kind of party!

Happy 40th birthday Becky!

Hope you loved your surprise!

Vendors:

Printables: Love the Day

Cake: Miss Muff'n

Food: Germantown Commissary

Fabrics: Hobby Lobby

All Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

Giveaway: Party Like Paula Printables

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:29:00 +0000

I've got an awesome giveaway to share with my readers today!

One of the most creative ladies I know, Paula, from Party Like Paula, is offering one of my readers a FREE printable package from her Etsy shop!

If you are not familiar with her work, you can check out her website here.

I featured one of her adorable parties a while back, you might remember it--the All American Round Up!

So, now I will let her tell you a little bit about her printables!

Party Like Paula was born in October of 2011 with a passion to bring creative and affordable parties to our customers! Currently we offer printable parties, but printing services are on the horizon. Whether it be a birthday party, baby/bridal shower, mom's night out, or any holiday party we have you covered. All designs are original to Party Like Paula and strive to bring you fresh and fun designs. Their A La Carte section allows you to pick and choose your favorites from a package saving you money!

Fast delivery and excellent customer service is something I am passionate about. You will receives all orders within 24 hours unless it is a custom order. Whatever you choose, Party Like Paula is sure to help you plan the perfect party.

For all Grey Grey Design followers they are offering 30% off for the month of June. Use Coupon CodeGreyGrey2012 when checking out.

Today you have a chance to win a free customized full printable party package that is worth $50! Paula will work directly with you to create a unique invitation that brings your vision to life. Then 18 additional items will be created to match the invitation. Here is what is included:

5X7 Invitation

Return Address Labels

2" Party Circles

Welcome Sign

Shirt Design (can also be used as a centerpiece and/or cake topper)

Party Signs (Drinks, Food, Favors, Gifts, Cake)

3 Different Designed Yard Signs

4x6 Thank You Cards {Flat}

Happy Birthday Banner

Dessert/ Food Labels {Blank}

Address Labels {Blank, for use in addressing invitations)

Napkin Rings

Water Bottle wraps

Patterned Paper {Use to make drink flags, confetti, mobiles, placemats, and much more!}

4x6.5 Treat Bag Topper {Works great with ziploc baggies}

Coordinating Favor Box {Looks customized when a party circle and/or favor tag is attached to the front}

2 Coordinating Fry Boxes {Looks customized when a party circle and/or favor tag is attached to the front}

2" Favor Tags

Instructions Guide {Explains how to make and gives suggestions on how to use each item}

You of course can choose an existing theme from the Party Like Paula shop if you like! Some of the most popular themes right now is their Vintage Baseball, Summer Fun, and Pool Party themes. Just in time for all of those summer birthday parties!

Giveaway runs from Monday, June 4th-Friday, June 8th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Currently Obsessed With: Embroidery Hoops

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:05:00 +0000

I love seeing party elements that are trending in big ways.

One of these is embroidery hoops! There seem to be endless ways to use these simple, inexpensive wooden hoops to dress up your event!

I am constantly amazed by people's creativity in using everyday objects and transforming them into big impact pieces!
Take a look at my collection of beautiful, inspiring ways to use embroidery hoops.

Source

25 Things You Didn't Know About Me.

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:38:00 +0000

Jillian at Catch My Party was kind enough to tag me in this post!

So, here are 25 things you don't know about me.

1. I am from small town USA. Magnet Cove, Arkansas. Look it up. Yeah, there isn't even a stoplight.

2. In high school, I was the feature baton twirler for my band. I think it is a dying art in many parts of the country and I wish that it wasn't. I am a band geek at heart.

3. I wish I could have been a teenager in the 80s. I really feel like I missed out on having awesomely teased hair and going to Bon Jovi concerts.

4. I LOVE reality TV. I mean, love it. If it's on Bravo, you can pretty much believe that I am watching it. My husband and I do NOT miss a housewives episode.

5. I am pretty positive that I have had at least one past life in Italy.

6. My degree is in Art History. Which is probably on the list of the all-time least money-making degrees of all time, but I loved it.

7. I have seen Leonardo DaVinci's The Last Supper in person. My husband is amazing and took me to Milan on our honeymoon. I had a visceral reaction to it. It is amazing.

You can't tell from this picture, but this is me at the Santa Maria della Grazie church, which is where the Last Supper is located.

8. I still have the same best friends that I had in high school. We are "as thick as thieves" as Caroline Manzo would say. They are my heart and soul. They know me inside and out.

9. No one has ever thrown me a big birthday party. Not since I was a child. I am actually not into having a party for myself, now that I think about it. I am too much of a control freak.

10. I curse A LOT and with a Southern accent. It is a terrible habit. It comes from too many years of waiting tables in college.

11. I live on Dr. Pepper 10 and Milo's Sweet Tea (sugar free). And food, obviously, I love to eat.

12. My favorite food is anything with goat cheese on it.

13. My little sister is my very best friend in the entire world. We seriously channel each other sometimes. She is the blonde, blue-eyed version of me.

14. I have always known I would have boys. I am so glad I had boys and not girls. While I am really girly myself, I have no interest in tea parties and princess dress up.

15. I don't really like being outside and getting hot. It doesn't suit me. I get cranky.

16. Since the baby I have been doing Barre workouts to lose the weight. It WORKS. The only time you will see me running is if someone is chasing me.

17. My favorite color is purple. Always has been, always will be.

18. I really don't like wearing shorts. They are all up in your business all the time. I am much more of a dress girl.

19. When we were little, my mom got us these awesome 80s "glamour shots." They don't look like child porn at ALL!

20. The week of my wedding in 2005, I met Justin Timberlake. He is much taller than you think. I am 5'7" and I have heels on in this picture. He came to play golf at the country club in Memphis were I was the Catering Manager at the time. I met Brian Williams a few weeks later. He is much shorter than you think.

21. I love to cook. I cook meals 5-6 nights a week. I want to be "that mom" who is a great cook and my kids friends want to be over at my house to eat. My sister says that in case of natural disaster, she needs to be at my house, because we will have 6 different types of cheese and a pantry full of food.

22. I am completely obsessed with Princess Grace (Grace Kelly). Yes, I was three years old when she died, but I adore her. She is the epitome of style and elegance.

23. Once upon a time in college, I thought I wanted to be a model. Witness this God-Awful picture from a shoot where the makeup artist was tragic. This was the era of heroin-chic. Then the Ford scout told me I was too "hippy" as in too wide around the hips. I was a size 2.

24. My music taste is wildly eclectic. A small sampling of my ipod: Loretta Lynn, Chicago, tons of 80s music, Tupac, Heart, John Mayer, James Morrison, Incubus.... Yeah, eclectic is the best word.

25. I have the worst fingernails in the history of the world. I never have them painted. Ever. I am terrible about having manicures. My last one was June 2011, the day my baby was born. I guess all that relaxing made him want to come early!

I am tagging:

Natalie: The Knock Knock Factory
Amanda: Amanda's Parties to Go
Gwynn: Gwynn Wasson Designs
Annika: Cakes Likes a Party
Claudia: Tini Posh

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:35:00 +0000

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I think this week is of the utmost importance. My grandmother was a teacher for over 30 years and when she passed away, we received so many touching messages from her former students. They told us stories about her, let us know how she influenced their lives, and most of all just reminded us how special she was to people.

My Greyson attends a special needs Pre-K class and his teacher and her aides are amazing! They adore Greyson and we are so lucky to have them. I would never want their jobs! Nine four year olds in a room all day makes me insane just thinking about it.

So, for every holiday and for Teacher's Appreciation Day I always try to get them a little something to remind them that we appreciate their hard work and dedication to their jobs.

Monday was "Bring your teacher a flower" day at Grey's school. I knew I didn't just want to go to the grocery store and get some cut flowers (you should have seen the wasteland that was the WalMart flower section on Sunday!), so I went to Lowe's and got these potted orchids. A large one for his teacher and two smaller ones for their aides.

I wanted to make a cute saying to attach to them, and I was trying to rhyme "orchid" with "kid" so I called my sister in NYC. My brother in law is a brilliant writer. He is probably the most creative person I know. I told him my idea and they literally called me back within an hour with this adorable little poem for the tags:

While there aren’t thanks enough

For your patience and care

And there’s no gift on Earth

That could ever compare

With the gift that you give us

Treating our kid like your kid

We still hope you’ll accept

Both our thanks and this orchid.

I put the poem on this little tag that I made in photoshop and printed them on photo paper.

For the actual Teacher Appreciation Day on Thursday, I put together these picnic baskets for them. Inside are melamine plates and glasses from Target. Each teacher got a different pattern. You have probably seen these brightly colored plates and cups at Target.

Each one is filled with 4 cups, 4 plates, and the teacher's bigger one has a pitcher to match.

The tag says "Thanks for making this year a picnic!"

I made these tags in photoshop, but you could make any kind of cute tag and use any kind of plates and cups!

The possibilities are endless!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

{My Parties} Woodland Forest Baby Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:47:00 +0000

I love taking a popular theme and putting my own spin on it!

This Woodland Forest baby shower came about because of the baby's name. I always ask my clients if the baby has a name yet, because I love working it into the decor and the theme.

When my client, Deanna, mentioned that the baby's name was going to be "Silas," I immediately looked up the meaning of that name, since it is a unique. What I found was that the name Silas means "from the forest." And, a theme was born!

Deanna also told me that the mommy-to-be loves brown and blue. So, I took those two concepts and ran with them.

I started out by getting by working with a new vendor, Jennafer at Oh Creative One! Jennafer emailed me a while back interested in a collaboration, and once I saw how cute her designs were, I jumped at the chance to work with her for this shower. She actually already had a version of this invitation in her shop and she was so awesome to customize it for me!

She also did some adorable party printables for me, which you will see later in the post!

I knew I wanted to incorporate the Faux Bois pattern in the backdrop, so I found this light colored faux bois fabric on Etsy. I saw this look on a baby shower that Honeycomb Events did and I loved it!

The next piece that I knew I wanted to incorporate were God's Eyes. Did you ever make these as a kid?

I scoured my backyard for sticks and even recruited my husband to help with stick retrieval!

They are the world's easiest thing to make, and you can use any color to make them pop!

You can find a tutorial here.

I saw these cool moss trees on Save On Crafts, but I just knew that I could make them, so I did.

A few pieces of foamcore, an Xacto knife, some hot glue, some dowels, and some moss later, I had made exact replicas!

(These would also be great for Christmas!)

The lovely Janet at Sweet Temptations did these amazing Faux Bois oreos for me. I was pretty much dying over them. They looked amazing with the backdrop!

Aren't they beautiful? And delicious, I might add!

Of course we had to incorporate Smores into the dessert display, so I found these Jumbo marshmallows at Target and the rest is super easy--just dip them in melting chocolate and then top them with graham cracker crumbs.

I made those dessert stands using basswood plaques, which you can get at any craft store, and glued them to raw wooden candlesticks from Michael's. I also got those adorable wooden signs there too!

Deanna definitely wanted cake pops for the guests, so I knew just who to call--Mom's Killer Cakes!

She made the pops look EXACTLY like the adorable characters on the invitation. I mean, scroll back up and look at the invitation again! Amazing!

I also added a cute little resin squirrel from Hobby Lobby and a glittered toadstool to the table for extra fun.

For the favors, Jennafer designed an adorable treat bag topper to coordinate with the invitations.

Inside we did Smore kits!

I found this great bark basket at the antique mall near my house.

For the guest book and sign-in, Deanna wanted to do something special for baby Silas. So, picking up on a recent wedding trend of fingerprint guestbooks, I drew this tree onto a canvas and bought two different color green inks to have the guests sign Baby Silas' "Family Tree."

Jennafer also did some adorable banners for me, welcoming Baby Silas into the world.

I printed an extra copy of the "baby" banner and glued them to dowels and used small wooden disks to hold them up on the savory buffet.

I think I made 20 of the God's Eyes total, so I used the extras to hang from the chandelier. I always like to draw the eye up with hanging decor.

In order to bring the theme into the savory food, I proposed doing menu items that were influenced by the forest. So, we started out with "Tortellini Twigs." These are a super easy item that any hostess could make. You simply buy refrigerated tortellinis (or ravioli) and cook them off. You serve them room temperature with a dipping sauce. You can even marinate them in dressing too!

To display them, I simply wrapped some styrofoam in some faux bois scrapbook paper.

To dip, we used Pesto sauce, or "Moss Dip!"

Cheese balls are something that most guests love, so we used an old standby of the Pine Cone Cheese Ball. Didn't Deanna do a gorgeous job on these?

And what is a woodland party without edible toadstools, right?

Broccoli is an obvious choice when you are talking about trees, so we used them in the form of broccoli salad.

I had my husband cut some large pieces off a cedar tree in our yard that coincidentally needed to be cut down. They added some interest to the savory buffet.

And easy way to dress up a simple galvanized tub is by wrapping it in ribbon--in this case, burlap ribbon.

Thanks to Andy and Deanna for trusting me to design this shower for their friends!

They were actually the honorees at my Diamonds and Damask engagement party a couple of years ago!

Vendors:

Cake Pops: Mom's Killer Cakes

Printables: Oh Creative One

Oreos: Sweet Temptations

Faux Bois Fabric: The Spin Cycle

Sharing on:
Bird's Party!

{Giveaway} $75 Gift Certificate to Shabby Apple!

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Who doesn't love cute clothes?
Well, if you are looking for gorgeous, feminine, fun clothing, Shabby Apple is where you need to be!
Shabby Apple would love to give one of my readers a $75 gift certificate!

Check out their Facebook Page HERE.

Contest Rules and Regulations:

1. Leave a Comment Here on my Blog, telling me which Shabby Apple product you like best!

2. Like GreyGrey Designs on Facebook

3. LIKE Shabby Apple on Facebook

4. Open only to entrants with a US shipping address.

5. Contest will be open until Monday, April 30th at midnight Eastern time.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, Shabby Apple would like to extend a 10% discount to ALL my readers!

All you have to do it enter this code upon checkout: greygreydesigns10off

This discount code is good for 30 days from the day of this post.

Good Luck!!!

{My Parties} Parents to BEE Baby Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:13:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I styled a small dessert table for my friend Wendy. You may remember Wendy from several of my other events, including both Casino parties, Mario, and Tailg8. I think she loves parties as much as I do!

She called me the weekend before this party and needed some last minute help styling a dessert table for a couple's baby shower. She really wanted to do a "Parents to Bee" theme.

I actually already had a lot of bee themed items in my party closet, leftover from my "What's It Gonna Bee?" Gender Reveal Party, so I really didn't need to buy that much stuff.

I love how the painting over the fireplace matches the party, don't you?

The first thing I did was email Lindi at Love the Day. She was so gracious to modify her Bee themed collection to fit this theme. I adore her printables. They are chic and modern and I love that!

For the sweets, we kept it simple by using mixing some store-bought candies with cupcakes, cake, and custom cookies.

These adorable bee and flower cake pops were done by Mom's Killer Cakes. Aren't they too cute?

I used Love the Day's party circles on the ribbon to give it some extra cute. Printable party circles don't need to be just used as cupcake toppers--there are so many fun ways to put them to use!

The beautiful cake was done by a local cake artist, Karen's Cakes and Cookies.

These double oreos are always a perfect addition to a yellow and black party theme. I used one of Love the Day's cute printable party circles to give the vase a little something extra.

The cookies were also done by Karen's Cakes and Cookies.

This little lantern was from Hobby Lobby and it was the perfect thing to add in to the table. Doesn't it remind you of a beehive?

The chocolate bee lollipops were made by Autumn Lynn's Sins. You may remember her work from the Spring Chicken party shoot.

Here is a great tip to fill up glassware or containers that are too large. I used bag shred and then put a piece of styrofoam covered in paper (this being the printable paper from Love the Day) on top to hold the lollipops. Otherwise the lollipops would be too far down in the glass cube.

Isn't this banner adorable?

I didn't realize until I saw these pictures that one of my cupcakes is missing a wrapper! Ha! Party Fail.

In the garage, we set up for the savory food, which happened to be fajitas! Yum, right?

I left before the caterer got there, but I wanted to show you a cute way to dress up inexpensive Chinese lanterns. I simply painted black stripes around them to give a nod to the theme!

You could also use ribbon or crepe paper to achieve the same look!

Vendors:

Printables: Love the Day

Cake Pops: Mom's Killer Cakes

Bee Suckers: Autumn Lynn's Sins

Fondant Bee Toppers: Burgundy Cakes

Diaper Cake: My Little Angel Co.

Cake and Cookies: Karen's Cakes and Cookies

Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Sugar Daddy Father's Day Party Styled Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:13:00 +0000

I always think that Father's Day is a particularly hard holiday to celebrate when it comes to originality, don't you? I get so tired of seeing Father's Day cards about golf, beer, mowing the yard, naked ladies, and farts.

So, when I picked Father's Day for my theme for the Spring and Summer issue of Tots to Teens Magazine, I knew I wanted to step outside the normal father's day ideas.

Big thanks to Natalie at Southern Belle's Charm for letting me help with this issue!

So, I started brainstorming and with the help of my absolutely brilliant brother-in-law (who is without a doubt the most linguistically creative person I have ever met. He literally gave me 10 or more theme ideas!), I decided on the "Sugar Daddy" theme.

Now, obviously this could be suggestive (try googling Sugar Daddy!), but if you keep it absolutely literal in your interpretation, it is super sweet and an adorable theme that dads of any age would love!

I knew I wanted to use that iconic Sugar Daddy packaging as a jumping off point, so I contacted my dear friends Do and J at Piggy Bank Parties and asked them if they could help me with some printables.

And, as usual, they exceeded my expectations. I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about them. They are the sweetest, most accommodating, most talented people ever.

Since sugar daddies are caramel candies, I knew that I wanted to do a caramel cake. And most major grocery stores offer caramel cakes in their bakeries every day. I dressed this one up using unwrapped sugar daddies. Then, I stuck some wrapped ones out the top.

To display the cake, I used a dollar store yellow bucket turned upside down and a red place mat.

For the drinks, I used Target brand frappucinos and wrapped them with Piggy Bank Parties's adorable drink wraps. Then, I wrapped the necks in red yarn and stuck a bamboo skewer through them. On the skewers there were red heart-shaped gumdrops, also from the dollar store. The red heart gumdrops pick up on the hearts in the printable banner.

To make the starbursts, I used a simple cardboard cake round that you can get at any craft store. I spray-painted them yellow and then glued the suckers on using hot glue. Then, I made a simple paper rosette for the middle and finished it off with a yellow heart,

You could achieve this look with any candy bar or sucker!

Dads of any age would appreciate this theme because Sugar Daddies are iconic candies that have been around since 1925!

Hope this gives you a new theme for your Father's Day celebration in 2012!

Printables: Piggy Bank Parties

Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Spring Chicken Party Styled Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:15:00 +0000

When Lauren, the editor of Baby Lifestyles Magazine approached me about doing some features in their Spring issues, I was absolutely thrilled.

To see the issue, you can visit their website here.

Isn't Spring such a fun time to do parties? It seems like a lot of babies are born in the Spring and that was what inspired the theme of this shoot.

The term "Spring Chicken" seemed like an obvious choice for a birthday party for a baby born in the Spring!

And aren't baby chicks like the cutest thing ever? I mean, really.

So, taking the orange and yellow color of baby chicks as inspiration, I used that as a jumping off point for the shoot. Yellow and orange are so happy! I envisioned this as a little girl's 1st birthday.

So, I kept it playful with fun DIY baby chicks, polka dots, bright details.

I saw these hanging box shelves at Hobby Lobby and knew I wanted to use them! They were originally turquoise, but I spray painted them and added some fun details with ribbon and scrapbook paper. They were the perfect way to display my treats. I love the idea of bringing the food up off the table and using the backdrop interactively. If this were a real party, kiddos would obviously need help reaching the sweets, or you could simply put the backdrop lower to the ground, so that little hands could reach.

I am a huge marshmallow fan, and these banana marshmallows from MiaMallows were just perfection. Light and fluffy and absolutely delicious!

The printables were designed by the lovely Ashley at Cupcake Express. She was so sweet to work with and was so helpful in tailoring this collection just for me! It is available in her shop right now!

Another fun treat were these amazing "cookie-wiches" from Tookies! Tookies sends you these cookies with the buttercream on the side so that you can use as little or as much as you want. And these didn't last long in my house. They will knock your socks off.

These adorable baby chick cake pops were done by the awesome Autumn Lynn's Sins. They were so precious and covered in luster dust, which made them shimmer. I am ashamed to say how many of these I ate. Lemon cake is my favorite and Autumn's lemon cake is divine!

I displayed them in a simple galvanized tub from Michael's that I covered in some scrapbook paper and ribbon. I topped the ribbon with a tiny little baby chick sticker that I got at Joann.

For drinks, I knew that Stewart's Orange soda was the way to go. Since Stewart's brand has a large amount of text on the bottles, I covered it with yellow duct tape! Then, I used Cupcake Express' printables to top them off.

To give the neck of the bottle some "feathered" details, I used orange pipe cleaners to create a collar for the bottles.

These cute lanterns are from Hobby Lobby and they have them in a ton of colors! I also got these wooden eggs there too.

The baby chicks are an easy DIY project that anyone could do. I simply used styrofoam balls, feather boas, floral pins, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and some orange foam pieces.

All you do is pin the boas onto the foam ball using the floral pins. Then, I cut some feet out of orange foam and pinned them on as well. Top with some google eyes and a pipe cleaner beak, and you've got yourself a Spring Chicken! Super easy!

For favors, I found these cute little yellow flowers in the $1 bin at Michaels. I simply hot-glued a barrette to the back of them and you've got $2 cuteness.

To display them, I threaded cute ribbon through this crate and clipped them on!

This theme would be great for a baby shower too!

Thanks so much to Lauren for asking me to do this and huge thanks to my vendors, who all were amazing!

Vendors:

Printables: Cupcake Express

Cake Pops: Autumn Lynn's Sins

Cake-wiches: Tookies

Marshmallows: MiaMallows

Styling and Photography: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Greyson's Skippyjon Jones Birthday Four-esta Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:55:00 +0000

When I started planning my Greyson's Fourth Birthday, I knew that I wanted to have Mexican food. Mexican is his very favorite food in all the world (just like his Daddy), but I knew that I didn't want to do a general fiesta party. So, that's when the idea hit me to do a Skippyjon Jones party! Skippyjon Jones is a series of books that Greyson received as a gift from my sister a few years ago.

The premise of the books is that Skippyjon is a Siamese cat who thinks he is a Chihuahua superhero. His imagination takes him on all kinds of adventures and the first book in the series is about his journey to Mexico to meet his band of Chihuahua friends, the Chimichangos.

So, once I had this idea in mind, I contacted my dear friends Do and J at Piggy Bank Parties to help me with the invitation.

There are not any Skippyjon Jones party items on the market, so we had to start from scratch on everything. Do and J, AS USUAL, took my vision and completely expounded on it. They created this gorgeous invitation with the graphic of a pueblo, and Skippyjon's back in the foreground. They also created an entire collection for me, which you will see displayed in these pictures.

As you can see, instead of gifts, we asked that our guests donate toys or monetary donations to LeBonheur Children's Hospital. Greyson is a patient there, so we felt like it was the least we could do. And, if your kids are like mine, they have more toys than they know what to do with.

I also knew that I HAD to have Natalie at The Knock Knock Factory to make me one of her outrageous door hangings. And I mean, come ON. How great is this? I wish I could get over to you the level of detail on this thing. It is amazing. There is a full on FOUNTAIN in the middle of it! And a taco, and a mission bell, and a sombrero! I couldn't bear to put it away, so it is hanging on Grey's closet door in his room. And it will stay there for a long time. It's so happy!
Natalie has mad skillz.

Now, everyone knows that I like to make a statement for my guests when they enter my house. Last year it was a 9 feet tall hamburger...this year, a giant Skippjon with a sombrero and maracas.
I hand painted all of them onto science fair backdrops, which I cut into the shapes that I needed. See? That Art degree DOES come in handy sometimes, EVERYONE.

Here is a pic of Grey standing under it, so you can see the scale of it.
I always hang these large pieces using floral wire and command strips. Command Strips are pretty much the best thing to happen to event planners in years.

I also had authentic Papel Picados hanging around the house.

Piggy Bank Parties also did gorgeous printables for me. For the little ones, we had juice boxes wrapped with cute slogans.

And, since there were a lot of adults at the party, we did beer and margaritas. It was pretty fun to see our moms drinking margaritas at noon.

And, what else do you eat at a Fiesta but TACOS?

My baby loves tacos, so that was a given.

So, I did a build-your-own taco bar.

Pin It The backdrop was painstaking, but I love how it turned out. I wanted it to be like a giant pinata. So, hundreds of pieces of tissue paper later and one worn out scissor-hand, it was gorgeous.
I had this brainstorm one day that I wanted to display the taco shells in a creative way. So, I thought, hmmmm, taco shells kind of look like bunting if you turn them upside down! I consulted with my party-guru friend, Kristy--The Purple Pug, and she said she didn't think I was smoking too much crack for this! So, I went with it! I am pretty sure I confused everyone though. I caught my grandpa looking for taco shells and had to tell him that it was okay to eat those!

I am slightly obsessed with these printables and how they look like little Pueblo houses!

And Skippyjon made an appearance, of course!

Pin It For the dessert table, I wanted to keep it loose and make it feel more like a Mexican restaurant than a perfect display of cupcakes.

So, I decided to use sombreros as a cupcake stand!

Piggy Bank did this gorgeous Papel Picado-inspired banner. The colors were so brilliant! I love it!

I made the cupcake stand using my old faithful Wilton cupcake stand. Did you know that you can spray-paint them? Well, neither did I until I tried it!
I cut the top out of the bottom sombrero and that allowed me to stack the cupcake stand together.

The UNBELIEVABLE toppers are by Lynlee's Petite Cakes. I mean, could you die? The cactus was my favorite. It was even prickled!! Lynlee is amazing. I mean, there is no other word for it. Sick talent.

Cute little Skippyjon!

The favors were displayed in a unique way too. In the books, Skippyjon imagines all his adventures while he is in his closet! So, I wanted to put the favors in his "closet." So, I painted this box and hinged it open to make it look like a door.

Then, on the inside, I painted a desert scene and displayed the pops in some foam that I covered in sand patterned scrapbook paper.
Could you die over these Skippyjon pops from Whimsical Boutique? I won these in a giveaway that Purple Pug had and Leanna absolutely killed it. They were so precious that I cannot even stand it. And those favor tags from the printable set were pretty awesome too.

For Greyson's special birthday spot, Purple Pug made me this fabulous little banner using her new product line. I was honored that she let me be one of the first recipients of this fabulous new stuff! It's so gorgeous up close--glittered of course! And how great does the fringe go with the backdrop?

And of course, a few pics of my sweet boy.

You like my sombrero fascinator?

Muchas Gracias Amigos! Hope you liked the Skippyjon Jones party!

Major thank yous to Crystal Brisco Photography for shooting these gorgeous pictures. She is wonderfully sweet and did an amazing job!

Vendors:

Cupcakes: Mad Lily Cakery

Cookies: Whimsy Cookie Co.

Fondant Toppers: Lynlee's Petite Cakes

Invitation and Printables: Piggy Bank Parties

Door Hanging: The Knock Knock Factory

Favors: Whimsical Boutique

Custom Greyson Banner: The Purple Pug

Photography: Crystal Brisco Photography
Shirt: Personally Stitched

All Styling: GreyGrey Designs

{My Parties} Boy Meets World Baby Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Brittany Schwaigert) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:03:00 +0000

This party is probably one of my favorite parties ever.

I had so much fun with this theme and I can't wait to share it with you.

Candace, the hostess, came to me a few months ago with a theme already in mind. I immediately loved this idea and my first thought was the wonderful Eleanor at Pink Peppermint Paper who had executed this theme so beautifully at a Sip and See. You can see her interpretation here.

So, I told Eleanor that I would be ripping her off in the coming months!

My vision for this theme centered on all things MAP. I love the colors of maps and particularly vintage maps. My grandmother was a history and geography teacher. She used to have a "thing" about map-folding and how to do it correctly, and she would make all of us grandchildren go to "Charlotte's Map-Folding School."

So, for me, this party is a tribute to her.

I started with the color scheme, which was derived from the beautiful sage greens, aquas, and tans of maps. From there, I knew that I wanted to do an "old world meets chic" theme.

Pin It

I knew that the fabulous Gwynn Wasson could definitely execute this theme for me, so I contacted her almost immediately to help me with the printables.

She designed this gorgeous invitation for us, concentrating on travel and the vintage feel of old suitcases.

Candace wanted to have a time capsule for baby Maxwell to have as a keepsake of the year he was born. So, we asked all the guests to bring something for him that represented 2012. The guests put all their items in this suitcase for Allonda to take home and keep.

I loved the look of the wreath that Eleanor did for her Boy Meets World party, so I used the same idea on mine. I used two layers of folded maps and then put baby Max's name on the front, using chipboard letters that I spray-painted to match the theme.

Piggy Bank Parties were the perfect people to call on when I needed a favor box!

And, while I was expecting a simple suitcase, Do and J, OF COURSE, blew it out of the BOX. The tiny suitcases even had the baby's name on them!!! I pretty much squealed out loud when I saw them.

To top them off, Gwynn made these gorgeous favor tags to look like luggage tags.

Candace had sent me some pictures of some small bottles with flowers inside them that she loved. I found these green and blue bottles at the antique mall and I knew they would be perfect. I made these map flowers by hand and glued them to a pipe cleaner to make them stand in the bottles.

Inside the favor boxes were something very special--plantable seed papers in the shape of Earth!

I ordered these from the seller DaVita on Etsy. Candace loved the idea of the guests being able to take home something green and sustainable and something that really kept the theme of the shower.

Inside were instructions to plant the papers and have beautiful flowers come up in 6 weeks!

In the living room, Candace cleared out all the existing furniture and we brought in rental tables and linens. This kept the flow cohesive and really allowed guests to sit and enjoy themselves while watching Allonda open gifts.

Behind the area where the gift opening was happening, I hung a banner from Gwynn that said "Max Meets World."

The "flowers" are made from coffee filters and some blue food coloring.

For the centerpieces, I used two different containers. Two containers were small hatboxes wrapped in aqua yarn and filled with these gorgeous hydrangeas.

And the other two containers were small chipboard boxes, modge-podged with maps.

For the beverage station, Candace wanted to have a signature drink for everyone. After several ideas for drink names, we settled on the "Maxipolitan." Candace used her mother's stemware for the party and we put a little drink flag from Gwynn on each one.

While I was researching the event, I came across an invitation with this Thoreau quote.

I thought it was the perfect quote to use as a backdrop for the party. So, in order to incorporate it into the party, I hand-painted it onto the backdrop of burlap. This is a super easy project that anyone could do. I simply printed the words out as large as I could using Word, and then cut them out of the paper to make myself a stencil. It is time-consuming, but totally worth it.

I found this adorable little stand at the antique mall and it was already painted the perfect shade of aqua.

It was really perfect to hold the cupcakes!

Gywnn designed us these beautiful cupcake wraps and party circles to add to the cupcakes from Mad Lily Cakery.

The little baby silhouette in the suitcase is my favorite!

The map flowers were made using a few different techniques. The large ones are simply large leaf pieces cut out of a vintage atlas and then glued onto a cardboard cake plate. Then, I embellished the middles with some fringed pieces and rolled up some tubes to make the stamens.

The more architectural flowers are actually from a tutorial I found online. You can see it here.

The fluffy flowers are coffee filters, as mentioned above. I simply spritzed some of the coffee filters with blue food coloring and water and let them dry. Then, I positioned them around a pipe cleaner. It's so easy!

For the menu, Candace really wanted a global cuisine. So, I brainstormed some ideas of food from specific regions in the world.

We had Greek Cucumber Salad...

Hawaiian Bacon Wrapped Pineapple...

This dessert stand cost me $2. That is a plate and a cup from Tuesday Morning that I glued together.

Indian Samosas...

Mexican Seven Layer Dips in individual portions...

And Chinese Egg Rolls...

For the letters, I simple modgepodged them with vintage maps.

One vintage atlas went a LONG way with this party!

I wanted the table presentation to be loose and flowing, so I made sure the blue runner was very puddled and sort of draped off the table.

Congratulations to Allonda! Isn't she gorgeous?

I am sure Maxwell will be a beautiful little world traveler.