I had the privilege of playing hostess for a bridal shower honoring Bradley’s cousin and his soon-to-be bride.  There were four of us hosting and about 20 guests that attended.  Our house was brimming with people and I think it turned out really well.  As a nod to the couple, we decorated with a rustic chic theme that included burlap and lace.

On the front door, I hung a veil and faux hydrangea bloom in place of a wreath.  Another hostess brought the cute little lanterns and tree slices to line the path on the front porch.

In the foyer, we set up the ‘guest book’, which consisted of paper leaves and flowers I cut out using my Silhouette machine.  Guests left messages on the leaves and then we arranged it into a wreath on a 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper.  The inspiration came from here.  The wooden ampersand cutout came from craftcuts.com.

The food table held tree slab stands from another of the hostess’s wedding, and were made by my father-in-law.  We had pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, vanilla cupcakes with almond buttercream frosting, mixed fruit cups, crackers and cheese, veggies and hummus, and I made ham and swiss sliders using this recipe.

We served water, sweet tea, and a fruity punch.  Also, we set out a Keurig with coffee and chi tea.  I included some rock candy sticks to stir into the coffee.

On the gift table I layered a white table coth, a white lace table cloth and a burlap runner.  Above the table I used an old lace table cloth to cut circles that would fit in some embroidery hoops that were suspended from the ceiling.

As a parting gift, one of the hostesses made some delicious cream cheese mints and packaged them in these cute stamped paper baggies.

2014 has been a year full of babies on my dad’s side of the family.  The fourth baby shower I’ve helped with this year for one of my cousins happened over the weekend.  I had helped throw a Welcome to the World shower for a couple in our small group last year using inspiration for a blue and yellow map/globe theme.  This Welcome to the World shower further inspired my direction.  My cousin’s nursery will have a travel theme, so reusing the theme worked well.

I was able to find an old atlas at Goodwill to use for making decorations.  I made this wreath for the front door using this as inspiration.

In the foyer, I started out putting some globes and a paper suitcase (from Target) on the table, but my cousin made an awesome diaper airplane, so we switched it up last minute.

The Welcome Baby sign consists of a hot air balloon and banner cut on my Silhouette machine and chipboard letters onto which I mod-podged maps.

The food table had brie bites on another paper suitcase, chocolate-covered strawberries, fruit and veggie platters, and a cute gift-themed cake.  Above the table, I hung embroidery hoops with maps in them.

Above the gift table, I hung a wire mobile with 3D paper hot air balloons.  I found a cute canvas bin at Kohls that seemed like the perfect size for a stack of diapers to hold her gift.

Here are photos from our friends’ shower at which I originally used many of these decorations last year – just at someone else’s home.  We made it an ice cream social with our community group from church.

I set the BABY  sign on the mantle and made paper ornaments to hang from the mantle .  On either side of the gift-opening area, I hung bunches of blue lanterns and yellow honeycomb balls.