woodland critters baby shower decorations

a little over a week ago, i had the honor of throwing my best friend a baby shower for her little man!  it is hard to believe it had been a whole 4 months since the gender reveal party, which means that baby is almost fully cooked.  i made a few crafted things for the baby shower, and i am stoked with how they all turned out.  so here's a quick collection of things made :)
diaper wreath
one of the major things i wanted to make was a diaper wreath that would serve a dual purpose.  one, it was a decoration (that erika ended up keeping) and two, it was also a memory game.
the wreath was hung on her front door for guests to see as they came in, then unknown to them, they had to try and remember as many things on the wreath as they could.  having been my first diaper wreath, i am very pleased with how this creation turned out!  here's a few more photos so you can see some of the things put on to the wreath.
i had previously done a similar version of this game at lisa's baby shower in 2010 as a clothesline, but i think if i ever throw a baby shower again, i'll totally do it as a wreath.
lifesaver & jellybean pacifiers 
i had made these for amy's baby shower last year, originally seen at jessica's baby shower so i HAD to do them for erika's!  last time i used fruit lifesavers, and they were SUPER sticky.  this time i used the wintergreen ones and larger jelly beans and i think these turned out a lot better.  the only thing i wasn't so fond of was the string i used this time since i ran out of ribbon (and couldn't find my big spool i bought last year)
we used these for the traditional "don't say baby" game, instead of clothespins.  we also added in the word "cute"as a word to not say.  i still had just enough spray paint from the last round to make these ones.
woodland cupcakes
these cupcakes were one of the first things on pinterest that i knew would be a perfect addition to the woodland theme.  the little "acorns" were the perfect touch instead of having globs of frosting.  i made 2 kinds of cupcakes for the shower.  one, similar to her bridal shower treats, were chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  the others were vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting - i dyed it green to add a bit of color to them as well.  the acorns are made from a hershey kiss, nutter butter bites cookie and butterscotch chip for the stem.  clearly the buttercream "glue" showed up a lot, so i'd likely advise anyone that made these to dye the frosting brown so it wasn't as obvious :)
side note:
i didn't get a picture of the invites or bingo cards, but you can view them on etsy at inkyinvite.  they were perfect!

my best friend's gender reveal

spoiler alert: my best friend is having a baby!
yesterday, while enduring a series of unfortunate events that will always coincide with this story, i (mostly) threw erika a gender reveal party celebrating her finding out what she and matt were having.  the days leading up to it i sharpied some chocolate bars, chalkboarded some drink jars and prepared some signs for everyone to cast their votes.  i ordered a cake that went with the "rifles or ruffles" theme from jaynee cakes that hid the gender in the filling of the cake.
the cake was perfect, with half camo and half ruffles. melissa with jaynee cakes was awesome and figuring out exactly what would fit our needs. she also did 2 dozen cupcakes to feed guests as well. loved them! plus, they were delicious!
this next one is my all time favorite, since you can see the excitement on both of their faces!
erika and matt were pumped that the baby is going to be a boy, and i couldn't be more excited for them. it has been a long journey to get to this point, and i cannot wait to see their new adventure as parents!
now, with the events of the day i'm sure you noticed that i "mostly" threw the party.
erika's mom helped with the food, but then as i arrived to set up, chaos happened on its own.
we went out to make sure the dogs were aware we were there and greet them, and then one of the dogs chomped down on my hand.  i was able to get away, got back in to the kitchen and started to run my hand under water.  while i was doing well, apparently my body decided otherwise, and i fainted... twice... my parents came and picked me up and then we drove to kaiser er (after 15 minutes with the advice nurse deciding what i should do).
got in, out, antibiotics and headed back to lincoln to make it to the reveal party right before the cake was cut and the excitement happened.  while i didn't get to fully set up, i am so excited i was able to celebrate with erika & matt and see them off on to the rest of their pregnancy adventure with their baby BOY :)
yes, i'm ok.
that wrap makes it look like my hand was ripped up, but i promise all my skin is where it should be, minus a few punctures.
i have no harsh feelings towards said dog.  crazy accidents happen, and this was a crazy thing.
she's been my best friend for 13+ years, its about time that i pass out in front of her :)

lion king car seat canopy

when it became apparently that the baby shower was happening, i really had to crack down on getting gifts for baby barto done!  i went from having a november/december finish time to september, just like that!  one thing i wanted to make for amy was a car seat canopy.  i recalled my cousin lisa making one for baby mark, so first i headed her way.  and when i say headed, i mean texted.  she sent me the link she used on pinterest, and from there i began my planning.  of course it had to be lion king, so i used my ebay skills to find something that could be gender neutral enough to be used for future babies as well.  once i found my front fabric, i got a solid green minky fabric from joanns to be used on the back.    i let everything sit around for awhile (literally until the week before the shower) and then finally put it together.  it seriously went together in a matter of hours one night.  the hardest thing was dealing with the stretchy-ness of the minky, but it is not as bad as i thought it would be!
when asking lisa questions about this project, i learned she had just left hers as a car seat blanket. i was a little nervous about strap placement when sewing them down, but being able to see it on an actual car seat made me so glad i went full out canopy for it.
and there's the green!
much thanks to leah for letting me borrow baby elise's car seat at the baby shower!  the pictures of it on my porch look really dumb.  ha!  amy was very excited to have it as well, and even stated that she was in fact looking for a canopy, but couldn't find one that she liked.  now she has a one of a kind one all to her very own.  hoorah!  i also got word not long ago that it also fits the car seat that they have as well :)
for anyone that would like the pattern themselves, here you go! i followed it exactly, including the measurements of strap placement.  i didn't create a pattern to round the corners though.  i traced a cereal bowl.  so much easier :)