shower | eyeheartprettythings

Watercolor Baby Shower

This baby shower was very near and dear to my heart because it was for my closest friend Amy. Amy and I both love beautiful details, so I wanted to make this a very special party to celebrate their soon-to-arrive baby Hayley. This was a very DIY baby shower brunch. I was on a tight budget, so I was determined to hand-make everything that I could.

I took my inspiration from some vintage italian watercolored crepe paper party decorations that I found on Etsy. I became obsessed with finding some, but since they were vintage and seemingly one of a kind, I decided to create my own. I ordered white crepe paper balls online and used watercolors to delicately hand-paint them to match my palette. The styling of the baby shower slowly evolved into a vintage watercolor-esque affair. I found some inexpensive textile fabrics in varying patterns that fit nicely into my palette, and I tore them into strips and tied them to a string to create a backdrop for the buffet table. The paint chip garland was an easy and very cheap piece of decoration. I used a scalloped hole punch to create circles from paint swatches I picked up (for free!) at a hardware store. I glued them back-to-back with a string in between. The extra paint chips were scattered around the floral centerpieces to add some color to the white tablecloths.

I created a few chalkboard signs with plywood and chalkboard paint that I picked up from the local hardware store. That chalkboard paint is one of my new favorite craft supplies! I also used a wooden sign and two wooden jewelry boxes which I found at the craft store for under $5 to glue together a long white cake stand. I created little watercolor flags and small colored water balloons filled with air for the sign on the cake.

All of the food was homemade by myself and a few of our close friends who helped out, except for the Krispy Kreme donuts of course. I’d been saving baby food jars for months, so we served chocolate milk in the jars adorned with a paper straw and mini donut through the straw. They were a huge hit! On the menu was sausage & egg strata, muffins, a brown-sugar french toast bake, tater tots, mini quiches, cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit. For our beverage table, a “bubbly bar” with champagne, fruit puree and fresh fruit, as well as some non-alcoholic mixers for our preggo guest of honor.

The invitations and all the paper goods I designed and printed myself. Using watercolors, I painted several pages of ombre colors, which I used for all of the backgrounds on the invitations, signs, labels and flags. I used the extra watercolored paper to punch scalloped circles and assemble a watercolor chandelier for baby Hayley’s nursery. For the guest table, I used my grandma’s vintage wooden hutch. I designed “wishes for Hayley” cards for guests to write and clip onto fabric streamers hanging from tree branches. I also created a Meal Train sign up sheet that coordinated with all the paper goods from the party, and guests were able to sign up to bring Amy and Josh meals once Hayley arrived.

Overall, the baby shower was a beautiful event and I greatly treasure having the opportunity to host this for Amy.

If anyone is interested in some of the crafts, DIY Tutorials are up on my blog:
Long Pastel layered cake
Watercolor Chandelier
Painted Onesies
Watercolor Party Decor + Paper goods
Paint Chip Garland
Baby Food jars for Donuts (how to get the sticky gunk off! :)

Credits:
Party planning + decor: eyeheartprettythings
Flower arrangements: Jessica Burns
Photography: Amy Stone Photography
Paper goods + Invitations: eyeheartprettythings
Donuts: Krispy Kreme
Craft supplies: Michael’s and Home Depot
Food: eyeheartprettythings , Jessica and friends

Pastel Layered Cake

Baking and assembling this cake took me the entire evening before the baby shower until the wee hours of the morning. I wanted a long, layered cake that would surprise everyone with beautiful pastel colors when it was sliced. I used 3 boxes of white cake mix and divided the batch into 6 separate bowls. I added a tiny amount of food coloring to each bowl, and spread each batch onto a jelly roll pan in order to get the long, thin layers. I baked them much less than the recommended bake time, because the layers are so thin. I kept a close eye on each batch to make sure they didn’t burn.

Once the cake was baked, I used a cardboard cake board that I found at Michael’s and cut it into a long rectangle. I used this to slice around to make sure each layer was the same exact size. Then I used the same cake board as the base, so that I would be able to transport the cake without it bending. I layered each color with a thick buttercream frosting, using extra frosting in the shallow areas to make the layers lay flat.

Overall, the cake was a little bit wonky because it was my first time trying this, but I think it turned out nicely given that I’m no pro baker :)