feather her nest. {baby shower}

One of my favorite things to do is host. I love being in my element and having others over to relax and eat. When we were house hunting at this time last year, that was high on our priority, a place to be able to have a lot of people over.

A few weekends ago, I was able to host a baby shower for a good friend. It was for her third baby, but her first boy. And I say, baby shower's aren't just for the first baby, it's to celebrate life, a life joining a family, and to make the mama feel special!

My theme was inspired by a Pinterest idea--to make quill pens with gold tips. I knew I wanted a feather theme. The hubs helped design the invitations, he's so talented and handy.

I went with gold and teal colors, which made it easy, since teal is a color I regularly decorate with.

I bought the paper straws from Target, along with the square plates.

I bought quill feathers from Michael's Craft Store, washi tape from Target, and ink refills from Staples. All I did was cut off the extra part of the ink refills, stuck it in the feather, then wrapped washi tape around it and glued the end of the tape on to make sure it stayed in place. Washi tape isn't very sticky, but it's super cute. I brushed the tips with gold paint. These became useful for the game we played and they were the favors to take home!

We played two games. One was the typical "you can't say baby" game or your pin gets taken away. But to make it a wee bit more challenging I also said you couldn't say the mama's name. I bought clothespins at the Dollar Tree for this game and used an ink pad to add teal and then a circle stamp to add gold paint. Oh, I also used these clothespins to hang "James" up, which the letters were made from pipe cleaners, but I forgot to snap a picture of it.

The other game I found on Pinterest and it was a free printout! The placemats with the feathers on it came from Target clearance right after Christmas.

Trying to be frugal, I reused aluminum cans by painting them and using them for decor. These was so easy, and cute! Not to mention, I can use these over and over for other parties or every day.

My favorite thing was probably the cake. Mainly because the icing, oh my goodness, so delish! I was inspired by a cake on Pinterest that was teal with gold edible sparkles. You read that right, I found some edible gold and teal dust from Michael's Craft Store. The icing recipe can be found here. 

And here is the lady of the hour, herself, April: 

I had close lady friends of April bring some food to help. It was all so good. A great Saturday morning, celebrating the beautiful pregnant mama! 

fall fun. {come on over}.

Growing up, one of my fondest memories was having friends over. A lot. My mom had an open door policy. Anyone can pretty much come over anytime, as long as they eat. She loved to feed people. And have tea. And talk. Boy, could she talk. [I sure do miss her.]

I'm so thankful that her legacy continues on through me. I love to host. When we were house hunting back in early spring, we wanted a large house with an open floor plan and a large backyard for the purpose of having people over. And we are so incredibly thankful that our home now allows for that. We have an open door policy. We want our home to be a safe-haven for our kids and for anyone else.

On Saturday, we had over twenty adults and twenty plus kiddos (age 7 and under) in our home. It was kind of awesome. Face painting. Pumpkin painting. Fire pit. Grilling. Pitch-in food. And just plain ol' hanging out.

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. 

Disclaimer: We have big plans to paint those rooms a light grey, get rid of the dining room light fixture, paint the kitchen cabinets white, and change out the counter-top, and white wash the stone around the fireplace. All with due time. You know, in between rocking babies to sleep, changing diapers, potty-training, working, and enjoying life.