My little sister is getting married.  Eeeekkkk!!!  It still doesn’t feel quite real that my baby sister is getting married this summer.  Seriously, when did she go from being a little girl with wild banana curls to a beautiful, (and very grown up) young woman?

For as long as I can remember my sister has loved the color pink.  Sometime during the planning of my own wedding, I made an off hand comment that when she got married her bridal shower theme would be ‘Think Pink’.  So when the bridal shower planning began it seemed only fitting to follow through with ‘Think PINK!’ theme.

Creating invitations is one of my favorite creative things to do in preparation for a party.  Invitations set the stage for an event.  They serve as the guests’ first glimpse of what is to come.  So I wanted to give the guests a small taste of the event while providing them with all the details they need.

After reviewing a ton of invitations, which provided ample inspiration, I started designing the Think PINK bridal shower invitation.  The bridal shower invitations took a few iterations.  All the details of the invite from the font and color to the wording and design had to be spot on.

Here is the final product:

Think Pink! Bridal Shower Invitations - Front of Invitation | Life's Tidbits

Think Pink! Bridal Shower Invitations - Back of Invitation | Life's Tidbits

With the bridal shower invitation I enclosed a recipe card for each of the guests.  My sister has been getting into cooking over the past few years; this seemed like the perfect way to build her recipe collection.  Originally, I had planned to design and print custom recipe cards, however time got away from me and I ended up purchasing recipe cards online instead.

Think Pink! Bridal Shower Invitations - Front of Invitation with Recipe Card | Life's Tidbits

Think Pink! Bridal Shower Invitations - Back of Invitation with Recipe Card | Life's Tidbits
Here’s the copy for the back of the invitation {it’s kind of hard to read in the pictures}:

One small request that won’t be too hard…

Bring a Recipe

{Bride Name} & {Groom Name} will soon say, “I do.” They’ve got lots of love, but they’ll need to eat too!{Bride Name} might like to try your favorite cake, or that dish your friends always ask you to make.

So don’t forget the recipe card on this special date. Fill it in now, don’t hesitate. At the shower will be a recipe box to fill so bring this card or mail it back if you will!

All in all, I am very happy with how the invitation turned out.  My sister was very pleased with the bridal shower invitation design, which was the most important thing.

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Seriously, my daughter is a toddler (where does the time go?!?! Jellybean, please stop growing up so fast) and I have yet to share her adorable shabby chic nursery!  While a few things have changed since she was born, like lowering the height of the mattress and the addition of toys, her shabby chic nursery is finally making its debut.

Brainstorming ideas for Jellybean’s nursery began before I even knew if we were having a boy or a girl.  I settled on a nautical theme for a boy and shabby chic theme for a girl.  You can check out the Pinterest board here.  Despite my favorite color being purple I was drawn to pale pink accents for the nursery.  The hubby was pretty much on board with whatever made me happy.  His one request once we found out Jellybean was a girl was to keep the pink to a minimum … fair enough, fair enough my love.

Picking out the wall color was a huge undertaking.  I’m fairly obsessed with gray walls and finding the perfect gray is, well, challenging.  It couldn’t be too blue or purple or tan … I had to have (what I consider) a true gray.  My sister and (soon to be) brother-in-law came into town for a weekend and spent at least an hour at Benjamin Moore with me looking at samples, pontificating and eventually settling on the Harbor Gray sample. If they weren’t there to assist it is possible the nursery would still have sampled gray colors all over the walls hehehe.  I was worried the Harbor Gray would be too dark for the room so the sales associate suggested I get it at 75% or 50%.  I am fairly certain we went with the 75% …. and it was total perfection.

I love how the room came out.  It’s absolutely what I envisioned!!  I ran out of time and energy before JB was born and didn’t fill the frames.  I’m ashamed Jellybean is almost 20 months old and I am yet to fill the picture frames, but at the same time I kind of like them empty.

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery - Wicker Elephant Hamper | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery - Vanity Tray | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery - Ikea Bookshelves | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery - Wooden ABC's | Life's Tidbits

Light Pink, Gray and White Shabby Chic Nursery - Vintage | Life's Tidbits

  • Bookshelves – Ikea
  • Frames – Hobby Lobby {painted the same white color as the trim}
  • Crib – Bratt Decor
  • Dresser & Nightstand – Consignment Store
  • Rug – Pottery Barn Kids {no longer in stock – similar}
  • ABC’s – Etsy {painted pink}
  • Elephant Hamper – Home Decorators
  • Sheet/Bed Skirt – RH Baby&Child
  • Curtains – Pottery Barn Kids
  • Light Switch Plates – eBay {painted the same white color as the trim}
  • Shade – The Shade Store
  • Vanity Tray – Hobby Lobby
  • Glider – Storytime Series
  • Barrette Frame – DIY {gift from a friend}

 

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The Twinkle Diaries
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For Jellybean’s birthday party I made a first birthday chalkboard sign.  It made for a great decoration and everyone took sometime to read the tidbits we included on the poster.  My mother raved the whole weekend about how cute and unique it was (clearly not unique if you’ve been on Pinterest, but either way) I was thrilled with her feedback!

My mom asked if it was possible to make some tweaks and create a bridal shower version of the chalkboard sign.  She was throwing a bridal shower for a co-worker in a few weeks and thought it would be a perfect for her party.  I gave it some thought and figured why not?!  We sat down and came up with a list of fun things that could be included on the sign.  She called her friend and asked for answers to some of the items she didn’t already know.  Armed with the sign content I got to work!

It took a little bit of finesse, but I was able to adapt the 1st birthday sign into a bridal shower chalkboard sign!

DIY Bridal Shower or Wedding Chalkboard Sign | Life's Tidbits

Inspiration & DIY Directions

I think this would be a really cute detail for at the wedding (like near the guest book and/or card box) or maybe even a bachelorette party.    Either way the sign was a huge hit with the bride.  Bonus is my mother was a happy hostess!!

In case you are interested … I used the following fonts: MomsDiner, ReturnToSender, KGMakesYouStronger, and Adobe Devanagari as well as these dingbats: FramesAndRiboons, Bergamot Ornaments and AEZ Wedding Dings

Have you made any chalkboard signs for a bridal shower?  What’s your favorite personalized decorations for a bridal shower?

Signiture_Nicole

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I struggled with if I should call it a baby welcome basket or baby shower basket.  Since I got the basket as a welcome gift for Jellybean, welcome basket won out!  A friend of mine reached out shortly after Jellybean was born and asked if she could come meet the baby.  She texted on her way and offered to bring us Starbucks, which I happily took her up on.  Not going to lie, the husband and I were pretty excited about having lattes delivered to the house!  When my friend and her husband arrived they not old had Starbucks, but also a gift basket for the little one AND some much needed sustenance (soup and cupcakes) for the husband and me.  Talk about thoughtful!!

Being new parents with little to no time to cook for ourselves we quickly ate devoured the cupcakes and soup.  Truth is, we totally had cupcakes for breakfast a few days in a row … when you had a newborn you eat what’s available, plus those cupcakes were DA BOMB!  It didn’t dawn one me until after they were gone to blog about the food and gift basket.  C’est la vie – the welcome basket is really what I want to show you anyways.

babywelcomebasket

This gift is both unique as well as personalized!  I just love it and we’ve used everything in the basket with the exception of one item that doesn’t fit Jellybean quite yet.  The pink dog is a huge hit not only with my daughter, but the little girl next door who is a few months older is pretty into it as well.  The contents of the basket included:

  • Book
  • Headbands
  • Night Gown
  • Onesie and Pant outfit
  • Pink Dog Tag Along Toy
  • Bath Cozy

babybasket_contents

Soooo fabulous, right?!  I can’t wait to copy my friend’s idea and create a welcome basket for someone’s new bundle of joy … as copying is the highest form of flattery!  Since my friend is kind of known for creating these baskets I certainly don’t plan on stealing her thunder, so I am going to have to hold off under a non-mutual friend has a baby.  :)

Have you created a welcome basket for your friend’s new baby before?  If so, what did you include in it?

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on PinterestInstagramFacebook and Twitter.

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As 2014 kicks into high gear I thought it would be interesting to see what posts were most popular in 2013.  I was a bit surprised by the top 5, however maybe I shouldn’t be.  No two post were from the same category. which I was pretty happy about.  I think it helps “prove” sharing different types of tidbits is working out well for the blog!

mostpopularposts2013

Without further ado, here are the 5 most popular posts of 2013 …

Number 1 – {Recipe} Cracked Sugar Cookies

These cookies really are A-MAZING!

sugarcookie_baked

Number 2 – DIY Wedding Envelopes with Calligraphy

This post is read consistently each week.  It was a pretty easy DIY wedding project and saved us a good chunk of money as well!

envelopes_readytosend

Number 3 – French Dresser – Inspiration / Mood Board

The first purchase we made for the nursery was the dresser (and nightstand).  Everything else we selected was based on the shabby chic / french inspired dresser.

NurseryDresser_inspiration

Number 4 – One Year in a Flash – Birthday Party

The party was decked out with all sorts of details and DIY projects.  As co-owner of Baker’s Bliss Kia made all her own cupcakes for the party!

dessertable_caleb

Number 5 – {Pregnancy Tidbits} The 5th Month

I really enjoyed blogging about my pregnancy.  It’s fun to go back and read how each month went!  Some tidbit I remember so clearly and others I had kind of forgotten about.  I’m glad to have the pregnancy log to help me reminisce.

22WeeksPregnant

I’m looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for Life’s Tidbits.  I hope you will continue to follow along and share your tidbits!!

What was your favorite blog post in 2013?

Happy New Year!!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on PinterestInstagramFacebook and Twitter.

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