My Favorite Idea from the Bridal Shower

This is it.  My last post on the bridal shower.  Really.  

(Uh oh - did you see my crossed fingers? I might be done with the shower, but I've still got to tell you about the wedding!)

So one of my favorite things we did at the shower was to come up with date ideas for K and B.  

I started off by writing instructions (it's that teacher in me - so hard to let go of that) and putting them in a white frame.  (I always have plenty of white frames because I borrow them from my gallery wall in the hallway - I don't think I've ever shown you that - I will have to do that someday)

 Baby Bee and her buddy used a punch to make all the tags out of wood printed scrapbook paper.

 Everything was set up on a sofa table I have stored in the garage and it gave the guests something to do when they first arrived.  

 I had been trying to come up with a way to string them together and on my way out the door on Friday before the party I remember my teaching buddy had a plethora of binder rings so I got a couple from her and painted them the same navy blue I painted so many things for this shower.

 I knew some people might not be able to come up with an idea right away so I printed off a bunch of ideas I found on the internet.  (Plus I figured it wouldn't hurt if it gave them a date night idea too!)

 Here is some of what they came up with.....

Don't let Hallmark see that one!

One of the reasons I really like this adaptation of this idea is that it doesn't take up a lot of room and my friend, K, can just toss it in her purse for instant inspiration.

Okay.....I haven't had too many guesses as to what my big news is....so I'm just going to tell you....on a different post! (Can you hear my evil laugh? Bah ha ha ha ha!)

Now....my question for you is....

what would you do on a date night???

Buzzingly,

P.S.  I forgot to show the original inspiration.....

A Bee-utiful Bridal Shower

My poor friend.  

You don't know how many times I've called her bridal shower a BABY shower!  I keep telling her that if she hears any rumors about her being pregnant it's all my fault.

But seriously we just had a lovely Baby Bridal Shower here at Sweet Bee Cottage.  Well, just might be a stretch because it was at the end of September and October is almost over.

Our weather in September is usually pretty nice and so it was when we had the shower - it was about 85º F
(that's about 29º C for all my friends outside the USA)
so we had it out in the backyard.  My friend and I hosted it.  She was in charge of food and I did decorations and dessert.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but you know how you just get into having fun at the party and hostessing it and I forgot.

 As the guests walked out onto our patio I had my meemaw's
(spelling? afraid she passed away before I was born so I never knew her)
gate leg table set with beverages.  We used mason jars
(that the lovely bride also used at the wedding)
and we had iced tea, iced coffee, and water.  Guests could add different sweeteners – plus I made some simple syrup – half & half, or lemon and lime wedges to their drinks.  

 I made the iced coffee recipe from Pioneer Woman and it was fantastic!  I need to make some more!!!

There's my shadow!

Of course, I had to use my beeskep drink dispenser!  The stool it's sitting on is one I just happened to have stashed in the garage and it fits on it perfectly!  Don't you just love when that happens?  Serendipity I call it! 

(I think others might call it hoarding.)

For favors Baby Bee dunked store bought biscotti 

(Hey!  I work full time and I baked a lot of other things – don't judge me – as Baby Bee tells her father and I all the time.) in yummy dark chocolate.  We put them in some adorable little bags I bought on etsy from the Party Fairy

  (great service and quick delivery and no she isn't paying for the shout out).  

Worker Bee 

(trooper that he is) 

spray painted all the clothespins navy blue the night before.  We also had more little wood "cookies" that I put labels on.

 I used an old matelasse coverlet as a tablecloth for the gift table.

 We ended up renting round tables and chairs.  The tablecloths I had from a party I threw about 15 years ago.
(It's not hoarding if you actually use them again.)
They are queen size sheets that Sewing Bee hemmed to make them square.
(Sew, -yes, pun intended - if you ever need a LOT of fabric and price is an issue - buy sheets!)
Aren't they cute?

Each table had a different set of white plates.  Most were mine, but I had to borrow a few from Sewing Bee.

Now the orange napkins you might remember me going on and on about in several posts.  I got those on clearance at World Market for $5 for a bundle of 6 napkins!  What a deal!!!

 My favorite part of the decor was the little bunting I clipped to our string lights on the patio.  I just made it out of scrapbook paper that I glued together and then clipped them to the light string with more of those clothespins Worker Bee painted.

 Did I mention he also painted the frames on my chalkboards too?  Boy am I lucky to have him around to help!  
(And don't worry, he doesn't let me forget how lucky I am!)

 I made the desserts.  We had heart shaped peanut butter cookies inspired by this pin, mini pumpkin pies inspired by this pin, and s'more cookies inspired by this pin.  Why yes, it was quite a pinterest party!

Hope you enjoyed coming along to the Baby Bridal Shower!

I had so much fun getting ready for it and trying to take care of all the details.  Have you noticed I'm a wee bit of a detail person

(and control freak - but that's for another day)?

Thanks so much for buzzing along with me!

And no one has quite guessed my big news yet - although knowing about the Herdmans was quite close.

Here's another hint.....

It will all be happening in this brand new building in my little town!

Buzzingly,

Linking up with Tweak it Tuesday
with
Brenda
from
Cozy Little House

A Bridal Shower Table for the Big County Fair

I recently hosted a bridal shower at Sweet Bee Cottage and I'll share more about that soon, but in the mean time, I thought I would share what I did for the Big County Fair.

And efficient little bee that I am I decided to have a bridal shower theme for the table.  I used similar colors for the real shower and my friend, the future bride, will even be able to use a few items from the fair for her wedding!

I am in love these days with the color combination of navy and orange.  (But don't worry, I don't want to paint my little cottage these colors.  I sure do like to wear them though.)  And luckily, my friend's colors for her wedding are a bright navy and autumn flower colors - think orange, gold, amber, eggplant.

I knew I wanted a navy tablecloth, but not gingham or polka dots.  

I wanted something a bit more modern.  Luckily we have an awesome fabric store in the Big City called Home Fabrics.  They carry decorator fabrics for $8-12 a yard (on average). Of course, you have to keep checking in with them if you don't find what you want on your first trip.  I happened upon the perfect fabric on my second trip there!

I also scooped up all the spiced orange napkins I could find on clearance at Cost Plus World Market in the tri-county area. I think I ended up with about 48 napkins.

Once the fabric was found, I needed to work on the centerpiece.  

My friend is having a sort of woodsy/tree theme for her wedding.  Of course, I found the perfect cake stand at World Market (man I LOVE that store) and it wasn't too tall too. 

On top of the cake stand I decoupaged the bride and groom's initials with orange and blue scrapbook paper.  (Cracks me up that the combination could be KGB!  But, of course, we will go with B(groom) G (last name) K (bride).)  I also used some vintage jam/jelly glasses with some autumnal (favorite word) faux flowers for some more spots of color.  

For dishes I used some thrift store finds - Hedge Rose by Wedgwood.  Picked up about 7-8 of these for $1 each.  Love them and will definitely be working on adding to this collection.  

I used the silver plate flatware I picked up at our local consignment store a few years ago -it's Adam from the National Silver Company.  

The glassware is by TAG and is some my mom found for me about 3 years ago.

The MCB also had her hubby cut some tree limbs for me to make place cards to go with the woodsy/tree theme.  

And I can't forget this adorable digital paper pack I found on etsy.  

I used that for the background on several place cards, menus, and dish information.  

Next I'll have to show you some of the things from the REAL bridal shower I threw!

Now it is a competition so, of course, I want to do well.....

See that 2nd place?  

Not quite as exhilarating as the Best of Show I earned last year, but I still love it and am proud of it!  That's what counts, right?

 

P.S.  Yes, we went to the Big County Fair today!  I have lots more to show you including how Baby Bee and Reader Bee did in the Jr. Division with their place settings.

Joining the party at Between Naps on the Porch!

Here's One Thing I'm Getting Done for the Bridal Shower...

I am so enjoying getting ready for this bridal shower, but I keep coming up with more ideas and time will run out.  Are any of you that way too?  My best inspiration comes at the last minute!

Well, the party is outside, so I needed to freshen up (okay - in all honesty I never did plant any pots this year, so technically it's not freshen up, it's more like plant them up) some pots for the patio.  

Just started playing with Instagram.  Do you like to play there?

Thanks for buzzing in and just hope I have enough time left to take pictures of the shower so I can share them with you!

Miss Baby Bee's Latest Birthday Party Ideas

Well my little Miss Baby Bee is turning 12 this year. 

(Informal poll here:  Do you think I should quit calling an almost 12 year old Baby Bee?) 

Can you believe it?  When I first started blogging she just started third grade and now she's in sixth grade and almost in middle school.

Well, right after last year's Nancy Drew party, Baby Bee said she wanted to have a tea party.  Well, we have entered the Land of I Don't Know What I Want, so that idea died (although I did collect a few teacups for this party, but no worries, I'll use them for something else) and my girl is a beach girl which brings me to this year's theme. 

 (Weren't we supposed to be done with theme parties? And there I go again, rambling all over the place.)

We are having a Beachy Slumber Party!

Today I'm sharing the invitations with you because they are soooo fun!

Do you believe in serendipity?  (Is serendipity really something you can believe in?) As the whole Sweet Bee family drove to the big city to head to Michaels we came up with this theme and as we walked in to Michaels there were all kinds of beachy toys on display and there were the perfect beach balls with turquoise AND lime green!

Serendipity, right?

(Oh yes, I do believe Worker Bee might have sat in the car listening to some sports stuff.  Just keeping it real here.)

I wrote all the details on beach balls!

The girls will hopefully remember to bring them with them to the party for some backyard fun.

I included some salt water taffy with the beach ball. (and of course, I had to sample a few - got these at Target and they were pretty good)

I popped all of these in some lime green bags and made some fun little tags.

Aren't those adirondack chairs adorable?  

I'm thinking I'll have to come up with some sort of decoration for the party using those.

I'm looking forward to our simple (please let me keep it simple, I know how I am) birthday party!

I'll keep you posted on the details

and

if you have any ideas for a beachy birthday slumber party

I'd love to hear them!

Thanks for buzzing by!

Game Night

This weekend we had some friends over for Game Night!  We've been talking about doing it for ages and we finally did it.

Worker Bee and I cooked dinner, another Teacher Bee friend brought drinks, and yet another Teacher Bee friend brought dessert.

I found tons of great ideas on Pinterest....

But did I do any of them?  Of course not!!!  Instead we just had some good food and some good fun!

We made from my favorite slow cooker cookbook of all time this delicious Smoky Beef Chili with the most amazing (and simple) corn salsa as a garnish.  (Oh yes, I'm afraid I'm going to share a recipe....again.....please don't groan.  But it's just for the corn salsa - I think it would be fabulously delicious on any homemade chili.)

Corn Salsa

2 cups fresh or frozen (I used frozen white corn) corn kernels

2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

4 green onions, including green tops, thinly sliced

1/3 - 1/2 lime vinaigrette

Lime Vinaigrette

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbl white wine vinegar

1 tsp grated lime zest

2 Tbl fresh lime juice

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

Toss well and indulge!

We built a nice cozy fire in our wood stove (it got below freezing that night)

 pulled out all the games,

and enjoyed our relaxing evening with friends!

We played Cranium, Catch Phrase, and the Game of Things.  I only won when I partnered with Worker Bee on Cranium.  Holy guacamole that boy is good!  That must be why he keeps passing that  Jeopardy online test.  

Can't wait to do it again!

Do you wanna' come the next time?

What games do you enjoy?  I'd love to know!

Thanks for buzzing in!  So nice to see you!