Baby Shower Planning, Part 1

We have come to the end of February and soon it’ll be Spring and Spring often times (in Nature mostly) means babies. In some upcoming posts, we will be planning a baby shower! We are actually throwing a baby shower at the end of March so we thought that we would do a couple of posts along the way of how to plan it, decorations and any crafting needed, and food.

This week we’ll look at the early stages of planning a baby shower. Take it as a guide for throwing one if you have never done so before. If you are planning one with others, kind of divide the duties as best you can. We have three people planning this shower; one is doing food, one is doing games and décor, and the other is hosting it at their house so they’re doing a lot of the decorating and also working on the decorations.

First of all, timing is everything. You have to decide if you want to do shower before the baby arrives or one after (Sip and Sees are becoming ever so popular). Take the mom-to-be into consideration. Is she having a rough pregnancy? Does she know the gender? Do her and her family have any hesitations or superstitions about having a shower before the baby arrives? When the mom isn’t feeling so great it might be better to have the shower after. It may not matter to some, but if you are waiting on finding out the gender it may be nice to wait for a shower so that you can buy gifts and decorate accordingly (that may not matter to the mom at all). Also, some moms-to-be might just want to wait until the baby arrives so that she can introduce him or her to all of her friends and family. On the other hand, having a baby shower before the baby arrives is very common. It’s a nice way to wish the mom well before the baby arrives and to also play some fun baby prediction/belly games!

We decided on a shower after the baby arrived so that everyone can meet the baby and mom can get some gifts that are more suited to her brand-new little one. We chose a date almost a couple months after baby was due. That gives mom time to adjust to things and to recover. That’s always something very important to remember as well if you’re picking a date afterwards. If you’re planning to do a shower before, check in with the mom to see how she is feeling and if she’s up for having a baby shower in general.

Once we picked the date, then we started planning the food, decorations, and the games. We’ll focus on all of these things in more depth in later posts because we are still in the process of creating and preparing for this shower, but here’s an overview…

Decorations/Crafting – We opted for a digital invitation. Handmade things are our specialty, but we thought that it would be more efficient and save money on all that postage if we just sent out an email. Ask the mom for a list of important people that she would like to have at the shower and ask her about people if you think she may have forgotten about some. You can find many online templates to create a fun and original digital invitation. We sent out these invites before mom gave birth so a fun thing that we did was get everyone to send back their RSVP with a prediction of gender, weight, and date. The person closest will get a prize on the day of the shower. Make sure you give people enough time to send in their predictions but also a fair deadline because they will lose out if mom delivers before they send in their prediction!

Other crafty and decorative items that we have on our list to make are garlands, favour bags, table décor, flower arrangements, and a name banner.

Games – Games are always a fun part of any type of shower! We went through a long list of ideas and narrowed it down to three. Baby food guessing, match the mom with the baby, and baby Bingo. We’re doing an afternoon shower from 2-5pm so you want time to mingle, hold baby, and have food so as much as we wanted to have lots of games, we just had to pick three.

Food – This is my specialty and responsibility! On our invitation we mentioned that if people want to bring food, then they can but they not obligated to do so. We are going to provide the basics like drinks (punch, tea, coffee, juice), a fruit platter with dip, a veggie platter with dip, and a meat and cheese platter. We are also going to do some deep-fried won tons and some special baked treats. Make sure you check if anyone coming to the shower has any food sensitivities or intolerances. Since I have bad food allergies, I always want to make sure and try and not exclude anyone from enjoying in on the food. You can also do some alcoholic beverages and more finger type foods like, sandwiches, chips and dips, skewers, and chicken wings. Or you can do a sweets only afternoon too. It’s up to you and what you think is most practical.

So now you have a plan in place to throw a fun baby shower. Stay tuned for more posts and to see how it all turned out!

Oscar Dress Card 2020

It is that time once again...it’s Oscar dress card time! We absolutely love this post every single year. I’m watching the Oscars now more to look at the dresses and to pick our top ones to make a card from! After looking through many many dresses, take a look at our top 10 and then take a look at the dress we chose to inspire a card this year!

10. Brie Larson - We’re starting with sparkle here. Brie Larson seems to always make our list (her blue Oscar dress a few years back was chosen for our Oscar card  (http://paperwhitecreations.blogspot.com/2016/03/oscar-dresses-and-card.html) and this year is no different. The cape, the sparkle stripes, and the slit all makes for a perfect gown. Even the pale pink colour is perfect!

9.  Greta Gerwig – Simple and poufy, this dress is just enough. The olive green colour is something that is also very different and helps to make this dress stand out. The quaint little bow on the bodice is a perfect little detail as well.

8. Penelope Cruz – We liked this short little black high-low dress. Again it’s poufy and the little accents like the pearl belt and the white flower really makes this dress pop and stand out.

7. Idina Menzel – The bright pinkish purple colour of this dress is what caught our attention. The pleating and big bow are nice additions to this otherwise simple strapless gown.

6. Charlize Theron - Love that slit! This dress is simple when it comes to fabric and colour but the overall design has a lot going on. Like I said that slit is amazing! The dropped shoulder strap is very different as well and that mid-section “wave” stands out. Is it a two piece? It gives that illusion. Finally that train is also something amazing making it look very regal and just stunning overall.

5. Renee Zellweger – First of all, did you see JUDY? Amazing! And so is this dress. Not everyone can pull off the one shoulder look but Renee did in this fresh white dress. That very subtle sparkle really takes the dress to the next level.

4. Mindy Kaling – We’ve chosen a yellow dress before because it’s so bright and cheerful and exudes happiness. This dress is no different. One shoulder dresses seem to be popular this year. This one shoulder dress is also an off the shoulder dress with a v neckline. It utilizes the pleated or draped look that the Idina Menzel dress did.

3. Scarlett Johansson – I love the metallic colour of this dress. It’s not quite silver, maybe it’s pewter. Whatever colour, it’s beautiful and so soft. It also looks very soft as well and the beading makes this otherwise simple dress just a little bit elaborate and over the top.

2. Regina King – There’s a lot going on with this dress, but all of it works so well together. The very light pinky peach colour is so dainty and soft and then you have a big poufy train which draws your eye to the back. The actual dress part could stand alone without the train, but it just takes it to the next level. Your eye also goes to the small single strap but then also down the bodice which is covered with some bling. The almost diagonal neckline is another element that stands out on this exciting gown.

1. Florence Pugh – Ok, so our number one pick for the best dress at this year’s Oscars is Florence Pugh’s layered teal gown. This is definitely a fun party dress. It’s got a long train with a skirt that falls at ankle length in the front; perfect for some dancing. The skirt part is layered satin teal but when it hits mid-section, there is a small teal belt before the low cut bodice with spaghetti straps. It’s a teal and satin lovers dream come true. Take a look at our teal card inspired by this beautiful gown. Enjoy it!

Oscar Dress 2020 Card:

For this teal card you will need some teal ribbon, three shades of teal cardstock, light grey cardstock, a simple small stamp, and the basics (glue tape, embossing powder, heat gun, and ink). Our inspiration is coming from the layered look of Florence Pugh’s dress.

First of all, we cut a card base out of the darkest teal shade It roughly measures 6 ½ x 5 ½ inches.

Then we used a light teal shade for the centre stripe. It measures 5 ¼ x 1 ¾ inches.

For the top and bottom stripes, we used a mid-teal shade. These stripes measure 5 ¼ x 1 ½ inches, so just slightly skinnier than the middle one.

Once those layers or stripes are glued down, then you can glue your thick teal ribbon down through the middle of the bottom strip. You can glue it the length of the card. The ribbon represents the satin aspect of the dress and also the belt element.

Now get some light grey cardstock and cut ¾ inch squares. We have a tiny stamp that says “all you need is love” which we are using. If you have some other words or a slightly bigger stamp, then you can use that; just adjust your grey square sizes accordingly. We stamped our words in black ink.

We glued the stamped square near the far end of the stripe with the ribbon and evenly spaced out the other two light grey squares. When we first started, we had all intentions on using the three squares but then we just left the card with the one square. Finally we added the other two squares becasue it needed them becasue it was missing something. 

Heart Healthy Food

Valentine’s Day is a day away. Such a happy week and day! We’re doing our last Valentine’s post and we’re taking a little different approach. We’re looking at heart healthy foods. Oh, and we haven’t forgotten or left out our Oscar Dress card, we’re gonna do up a card and our top 10 list of dresses next week so hold tight!

We usually do the typical Valentine post, heart crafts and sweet treats but today we’re going to delve into some foods that support heart health. Literal hearts!

Top Heart Heathy Foods:

1.      Leafy Greens – They a great source of vitamin k which helps with promoting proper blood clotting and to help with good artery function. Some include, spinach, kale, and collard greens which are full of minerals and vitamins and antioxidants.

2.      Whole Grains – They are high in fiber which can help reduce bad cholesterol. Common whole grains are quinoa, oats, rye, brown rice, and barley.

3.      Berries – Are also high in antioxidants and help with controlling the bad cholesterol. Blueberries in particular help improve cells that promote blood clotting. Berries that are good to have are strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

4.      Avocados – Are high in monounsaturated fats which help lower cholesterol levels and lower the risk of heart disease. They are considered a healthy fat and are also high in potassium.

5.      Beans- Beans can reduce the levels of blood triglycerides and bad LDL cholesterol. They can also help reduce blood pressure and inflammation which are linked to heart disease.

6.      Dark Chocolate – Yum! It is rich in antioxidants and flavonoids and can help lower the risk of heart disease. Make sure to have a high quality of dark chocolate though with at least 70% of cocoa.

7.      Tomatoes – They have lots and lots of lycopene that has powerful antioxidant properties which can neutralize harmful free radicals that can lead to inflammation and heart disease.

8.      Garlic – It contains allicin which has therapeutic effects. It can help reduce platelet buildup that can lead to strokes and blood clots.

9.      Olive Oil – Again it is loaded with antioxidants that can relieve inflammation and decrease the risk of chronic disease. The monounsaturated fats in it helps with heart health.

10.  Green Tea – It has a lot of polyphenols catechins which can prevent cell damage and improve heart health. It can also decrease blood pressure and lower cholesterol.

Valentine's Day Card for Kids

It’s only a week until Valentine’s Day and we have a fun little craft that you can make for the special child in your life.

We thought it would be fun to make a cute kid’s card to make them feel special and loved on Valentine’s Day.

We found a super cute stamp, an elephant with hearts and an umbrella. We’ve also chosen a fun pack of cardstock to work with. It has some bright cheerful colours sure to make anyone smile.

For our card base we chose the light green shade folded it and cut it into a 5x5 inch square. Then we cut a layer of orange (3.5 inch square) and light purple (3 inch square). To stamp on we cut a white layer measuring 2 ¾ inches square.

We stamped our cute elephant in black ink and embossed it with clear powder. After letting it flatten under books, we coloured it with pencil crayons (light grey, red, and an orange to match our layer).

To assemble, we glued down the orange layer onto the card first, then the purple layer, and then the stamped layer on top.

In the corners we glued on baby hearts that we punched out in the light purple cardstock.

And there you have it, a super cute kid’s Valentine’s Day card.