DIY Shower: Yellow & Gray Elephants Printables

For the final day of the Yellow & Gray Elephants Baby Shower -- please enjoy the full printable collection (If missed, take a look now at Part 1, Part 2, and the Free Invitation Download). This is everything I created to make this shower complete. The only item added, which did not make it into the shower, was the waterbottle labels. For some reason I forgot about these and had to improvise with streamers and ribbon. :)

Yellow & Gray Elephants Printables (Download Now)

Includes all of the following:

1. Welcome to the Wishing Tree Sign {5" x 7" / Print on Cardstock / Insert in Frame}

2. Notecards for Wishing Tree {4" x 5" Cards - 4 on a sheet of paper / Print on Cardstock}

3. Welcome to the Candy Station Sign {5" x 7" / Print on Cardstock / Insert in Frame}

4. Animal Game Sign {5" x 7" / Print on Cardstock / Insert in Frame}

5. Animal Game {4" x 10" - 2 on a sheet of paper / Print on Cardstock}

6. Photobooth Props {Elephants / Hearts - Print on Cardstock}
7. Food Labels {8 on a sheet of paper / Print on Cardstock}

8. Waterbottle Labels {5 on a sheet of paper / Print on Paper}

Real Baby Shower: Yellow & Gray Elephants {Part2}

For part 2, I thought I'd focus more on the baby shower activities. Yet again, Jonathan Hickerson did an amazing job capturing everything. Hopefully you are smitten with the pictures below... Because they are coming your way tomorrow!!!











The first activity we came up with was a wishing tree -- a place where the guests could leave wishes and advice for the mommy-to-be. We provided little cards (of course, in the same theme) and little clothespins to attach to the branches. I loved reading reading everyone's advice! The next activity was a animal themed guessing game. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun trying to figure out the correct answers. They were hard!

Next, I put together a photobooth backdrop using fabric and streamers (with different shades of yellow and patterns) and lots and lots of tape. My inspiration came from SmileBooth. They are insanely creative and have one-of-a-kind backdrops and props! The co-hosts, Tracey & Jenn collected all the advice cards and photobooth pictures to make a book for the mommy-to-be. Adorable! What a special gift.

Printables & Party Decor: Bump Smitten / Photography: Jonathan Hickerson

DIY Shower: Yellow & Gray Elephants Invitations

After agreeing on the colors and elephant theme, I came up with this invitation and matching labels and liners. When creating the design, I thought it would be cute to have a little elephant showering hearts and then also bring the hearts into the background. I hope you enjoy this invite {and baby shower} and are able to use it!

Yellow & Gray Elephants Envelope Labels:
Download Now {8 blank labels on a 8.5"x11" sheet of paper}

Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. Bring pdf file into any word processing application
2. Insert 8 text boxes and insert names and addresses
3. Print on sticker paper and trim at crop marks
4. Place on A7 envelope


Yellow & Gray Elephants Envelope Liner: 

Download Now {1 outlined liner on a 8.5"x11" sheet of paper}

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Print on plain paper

2. Trim along the white line
3. Insert to a A7 envelope and tape top with double-sided tape


Yellow & Gray Elephants Invitation: 

Download Now {2 blank invitations on a 8.5"x11" sheet of paper}

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Bring pdf file into any word processing application

2. Insert 2 text boxes and insert baby shower text

3. Print on white cardstock paper and trim at crop marks

Real Baby Shower: Yellow & Gray Elephants {Part 1}

So... here it is. My first baby shower. The pressure was on. It had to be perfect! Well, it wasn't perfect... It was great! I got lots of ideas from previous posts (DIY Colorful Mobiles & DIY Pom Poms) as well as some wonderful blogs (Hostess with the Mostess & Smilebooth) and simply adjusted them to fit my color palette -- bright yellow and gray. Thankfully, I also had a FABULOUS photographer, Jonathan Hickerson, who made it look even more gorgeous. Tomorrow... I'll have the invitation for you to download. Yep -- Another FREE download. :)

Since the mommy-to-be didn't know if she was having a girl or boy, we decided to go with a yellow and gray color palette. And since the nursery has an animal theme, we thought it would be cute to bring in the elephant (and they happen to be gray too...) 


For the party decor, I was determined to make the paper mobiles created by Jordan Ferney from Oh Happy Day. Jordan used multicolored vellum, but since I didn't have easy access to lots of vellum -- I decided to go with cardstock paper from the Paper-Source. Please visit Project Wedding for Jordan's step-by-step instructions. Get out your sewing machine!!


I also made a few pom poms to add some more yellow in the room. In hindsight, I definitely should have made more! Please visit my DIY post to get the easy to follow instructions. 


Lastly, I put together a small candy bar filled with yellow rock candy, lemonheads, jelly bellys, m&m's, yogurt covered pretzels and animal crackers. I made some labels which will be available to download on Thursday! The guests got to leave with a small bag of goodies wrapped with yellow ribbon and a small elephant attached.


All-in-all it was a wonderful baby shower and everyone had a lovely time. Thanks Jen and Tracy for all your help! And a special thanks to Tracy's husband for the AMAZING truffle mac & cheese! 

Printables & Party Decor: Bump Smitten / Photography: Jonathan Hickerson / Cupcake Topper Elephants: Martha Stewart Punches at Michaels

Sneak Peak Friday + Weekly Wrap Up

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Friday and is excited for the weekend! I thought I'd leave you with a small taste for what's to come first thing Monday morning. :) A baby shower designed by Bump Smitten and beautifully photographed by Jonathan Hickerson! I hope you are as excited as I am. Also this week... More FREE DOWNLOADS. I'm talking invitations, envelope liners and labels, food/candy labels, activity labels, photobooth props, etc. See you soon.

Cupcake Toppers: Bump Smitten / Photography: Jonathan Hickerson


Catch up and enjoy these adorable posts from this week!
The mix of sorbet colors in the High Tea Baby Shower is so bright and refreshing
Another fabulous inspiration board by The Finishing Touch -- Baby Blocks
A dessert table perfect for those mommies-to-be who are craving cookies
Loving the mix of bright colors and Chinese food for this simple {no pink} shower
Water bottle labels DIY tutorial plus 7 free downloads

DIY Shower: Water Bottle Labels {Free Download}

I just had someone write me on Facebook looking for help with personalized water bottle labels, which you see EVERYWHERE. So... I thought this would make a wonderful DIY tutorial! And... why not throw in some FREE DOWNLOADS. Woo Hoo! This is such a quick and easy way to tie in your theme with an ordinary bottle. I've also seen people wrap IZZE bottles, soda bottles, wine bottles and even Italian sodas. Sky's the limit.

Click on one of the descriptions below to download your baby shower water bottle labels:
Orange Guppies with blue accent
Pink Pom Poms
Yellow Polkadots and flowers
Blue and White Polkadots mixed with or without Green and White Stripes
Navy Blue and White Anchors
Green and White Football Field 

Materials:
Our Template
Water Bottle / Soda Bottle / Juice Bottle
Craft Knife
Metal Straight Edge
Double-Sided Tape

Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. Download the PDF and print it out on regular white paper
2. Cut the paper along the crop marks with your craft knife
3. Remove the existing label and place your new label starting at the sticking side
4. Wrap the bottle with double-sided tape 

Real Baby Shower: Simple [No Pink] Shower

Loving the bright mix of colors plus Chinese food for this simple baby shower photographed by the extremely talented, New York based, Maggie Harkov. I would have loved this shower for one simple reason -- I CRAVED Chinese food during my first pregnancy - especially hot & sour soup. A bit strange... I know. Maggie did a marvelous job decorating with multicolored pom poms, vibrant candy jars and SUPER CUTE handwritten labels.











From Maggie Harkov... I had the privilege of hosting a baby shower for my dear friend, Kendra. It was so wonderful to celebrate Taylor’s near arrival with such joy while helping Kendra get ready for motherhood with all the necessary baby items (and my goodness, are there many!), and to see the absolute glow on her face. It goes without saying that she will be an amazing mother and I can’t wait to see her play that role so beautifully.

It was a great fun to plan a non-pink baby shower for a little girl and to serve some non-traditional dishes that were easy and didn’t require hours of preparation. Kendra loves all Asian cuisine, so Mr. Hallmark and I suffered through taste testing from every Chinese and Japanese menu in town to find the perfect place. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. We ended up ordering from Shanghai Bistro & Den and prepared the easier dishes in our own kitchen. Instead of cupcakes or a cake, we did a miniature candy bar and served doughnuts and coffee for dessert. It was a low calorie, highly nutritious meal, obviously, but it was great fun and it was enjoyed with friends over much laughter.

Etsy, my new amazingly creative best friend helped me out with the adorable banner and the pom-poms that gave a little kick of color in our home.

And my very wiped out little girl, Sophie, who found all the female attention simply exhausting.

Photography: Maggie Harkov / Food: Shanghai Bistro & Den