I am expecting my first baby in seven short weeks. It is a truly amazing time. I have loved sharing (possibly over-sharing) details with my family, friends and coworkers. A few weeks ago, family and friends threw me a butterfly-themed baby shower in my hometown.

Because I’m a Paper Source employee and former invitation designer, my hostesses felt some stress when coming up with an invitation for the event but, after a bit of collaboration, we came up with the most darling idea using our die-cut butterfly cards. (Note: Layout was a little tricky, but we just kept testing on white printer paper until it was perfect. Then, we used removable double-stick tape to attach the butterflies to a full sheet and fed them one-by-one through the printer.) At the shower, there was a matching banner and little butterfly gift tags to tie the entire theme together.

I was also introduced to a great new baby shower game – Midnight Advice. A tiny, newborn diaper was given to each guest. Read the rest of this entry »

I have come to appreciate a good baby shower game. If done well, it’s a great way to get all your guests involved. Not to mention, a nice transition from the eating portion to the gift opening portion of the shower. I knew for this baby shower that I wanted to get my friend’s husband involved because he is such a character. I learned of a game called Daddy Knows Best, where you ask the father-to-be a series of questions, then have the mother-to-be try to guess his answers at the shower. The game is simple, but I wanted to create an experience that would be fun for everyone.

I made game cards for each guest with two sections – first they would predict how many of Daddy’s answers Mom would guess correctly; second they read through the list of 12 questions I had asked Daddy and tried to guess his answers for themselves.

Once guests had filled out their cards, it was time for Mom to play the game. A spiral bound book made using our new Zutter machine contained all the questions and Daddy’s answers. It was much more interesting for me to flip through book than to have read the answers off a page, and my friend loved being able to keep the book once we were finished. Read the rest of this entry »

Gender neutral baby showers can be challenging because the obvious themes and color schemes aren’t good options. For my dear friend Laura, I went with a theme that would honor her love of reading and her mother, who is a librarian in our home town.

With a little planning it was easy as ABC.

I love creating extra special invitations – it’s such a treat for your guests and we all love the feeling of receiving a delightful surprise in the mail. The invitation itself was simple – I added baby blocks at the bottom and printed my own ABC envelope liners (my favorite part). But what made this particularly fun for guests was that it arrived in an 8.5″ x 11″ envelope because also included was a scrapbook page for each guest to complete. Sometimes bigger is better and an oversized baby shower invite?…that’s unexpected.

Playing on the alphabet theme we mailed each guest a scrapbook page with one letter (we happened to have just the right number of guests to make this work). With an instruction card we asked them to design a page in the theme of their letter with baby related words, parenting advice or memories of Laura. We left it very open-ended and encouraged them to be creative. There is some risk when doing a project like this, as you never know if your guests will have the time or creative energy required. But, I must say, I was SO proud of everyone – the ABC pages were absolutely adorable.

B is for Babysitter – with a list of important information to prepare for sitters

N is for Neighborhood – with a map of where the baby will first live marked with the parents’ favorite spots

U is for Ultrasound – with a place for Laura to slide in an ultrasound picture

So creative, right? And visually stunning whether painted, drawn, or collaged… Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I shared some baby shower ideas with you, and I wanted to show you the final piece to this creative puzzle. I created a keepsake album of the baby shower with a collection of paper t-shirts decorated by our guests and photos from the shower. It was a labor of love, but something I am so happy to provide for my friend who would never have done this for herself. A scrapbook project like this does take some planning, and along the way I was reminded of a few things that made this process a little easier.

As you’re planning a baby shower, remember to save items for your album – a clean copy of your baby shower invitation and in this case blank paper t-shirts that everyone received in their invitations.

Save items from the shower itself that will add to your album. I saved game cards from our Baby Jeopardy game Read the rest of this entry »

My dearest friend, Kelly, is having her first baby next month and I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower in her honor. We wanted this to be a wonderfully festive and fun baby shower filled with special touches and unexpected moments.

Since the invitations were the first thing that guests would experience, we wanted them to be perfect. It’s so true that your invitations set the tone for your event – we received lots of calls after people received these, so excited to see what was in store. I printed the invitations at home using our Quilted Frame Embossed Printable Party Invitations, then mounted them to blossom flat cards. Enclosed with each invitation was a paper t-shirt, along with a note explaining to guests that they should write a special message to Kelly and decorate their t-shirt in any way.

We asked everyone to bring their t-shirts to the shower where we clipped them to our clothes line centerpiece with miniature wooden clothes pins. It was wonderful to see what people created and it turned our gift table into a focal point. After the shower, I collected all of the t-shirts and will put them into an album for Kelly along with photos from the shower – something she, and the baby, can enjoy for years to come. Read the rest of this entry »

The New Year has arrived, and what better way to commemorate 2010 than to reflect on the innovative ideas that helped us Do Something Creative Every Day throughout the year?! From guest bloggers to seasonal how-tos to adorable baby showers, here are 10 of the most-read ideas to ring in 2011 with crafty style:

How-to: 4th of July decorating

How-to: wall bulletin organizer

How-to: camp stationery

How-to: hamburger party invites

Our first guest blogger! Introducing Andrea Boudewijn

How-to: paper doll pool party invitations

Easy wedding table cards

“Twice as nice” twins baby shower

“Cute as a button” baby shower

How-to: tissue pomettes

Oh boy! Baby fever continues and this time it is my oldest, dearest friend who is expecting a little bundle of joy. Her first! And, like a good crazy “Aunt” Liz, the news prompted me to send her a litany of whimsical nursery room decorating ideas for welcoming baby Grayson. My best friend has always had style—a contemporary and coordinated style much different from my own—so it came as no surprise when she sent me a picture of the modified Wildness Madness suggestion I threw her way.

It is just the beginning, but the tree and color scheme provided perfect inspiration for her upcoming baby shower. Here’s a glimpse of the invitations Read the rest of this entry »

Another Paper Source baby is on the way, and last week we celebrated new mom-to-be, Heather! Between the three of us we brainstormed all sorts of baby shower ideas, eventually landing on a “cute as a button” theme, which worked perfectly for a gender-neutral baby shower. Using our button inspiration, along with Heather’s nursery colors of light green and white, we created a simple, sweet space for all to enjoy.

Annie’s button baby banner, featured earlier this year, was a perfect fit for our shower theme. We hung two rows spelling out “cute as a button, cute as can be”, which was also used in our invitation.

One of the best ways to make a shower extra special is to add a personal touch. We knew early on that we wanted to incorporate gumballs into our design as a nod to Heather’s father who is in the candy business. Large glass jars filled with white gumballs made for perfectly sweet table centerpieces. Our tables were covered in solid wrapping paper in sage and pool, and button decorations made from circle cards and circle labels dotted the table tops.

We love doing spectacular gift baskets for baby shower gifts – the baskets are reusable for the nursery and you can fill them with all kinds of adorable goodies. Honoring Heather’s personality, we created two gift baskets – one for “practical baby” and one for “stylish baby”. Read the rest of this entry »

We recently threw a baby shower for our coworker, Lauren, who is having twins next month (or perhaps sooner!). With a “twice as nice” twins theme and a color palette inspired by her nursery, we put together simple decorations and a fun card with a baby shower gift that made for a delightful afternoon.

We always do our best to create a one-of-a-kind card for every celebration. For Lauren, I made a baby buggy card using circles as the design element. I featured two buggies for the twins, but the baby buggy concept would work well with just one buggy or used on a baby shower invitation.

To make the card… Read the rest of this entry »