Farmhouse Bridal Shower

Farmhouse Bridal Shower | mamasbrush   Pallets, chalkboards, garlands, tiered trays, mini rolling pins, wooden signs, mason jars, old trucks, wooden beads and buffalo check come together to make this farmhouse themed bridal shower.

This is one of three bridal showers I did last spring for ladies in our church. This bride is the one I designed wedding invitations for (I shared those here.)

The bride is one of the adopted daughters of our pastor and his wife and I was delighted to have the opportunity to do something special for her. She loves farmhouse decor (as do I, so it was perfect!), so it just seemed natural to use that as her theme.

The invitation was designed to be emailed to the church. (I’ve changed all names and numbers to protect privacy.)

Would anyone be interested if I were to list invitations in my Etsy store? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do!

I used my trusty chalkboard (love this thing!) and a pennant banner my oldest daughter and I made for her 11th birthday (several years ago now). I just love using it when I get the chance!

The center pieces were fun. I ordered a bunch of mini rolling pins (I’d wanted them forever and found a great place to buy them on Etsy!) for this event and my own use. For the party, I used fabric to cover them and taped it on. This was a great way to temporarily dress them up, but leave them for me to do something else with later. I also decoupaged and added vinyl we cut on my cricut to the wood wood pieces for fast and easy signs.

The jars were painted with chalk paint. We made three of them and I gifted one to the bride. I took the idea right off her registry. She had registered for one exactly like it, so I just DIY’d it for her. (Thanks mom for your help in that project! We all know you did all the work!)

No two tables were exactly the same. Many other elements used for the center pieces were taken directly from my house. That’s my cake plate, my cute blue truck from Hobby Lobby, my “abide” wood block (part of my home spring decor), and those beads were something I wanted to make for myself anyway… just used the party to get it done. 🙂

Farmhouse Bridal Shower | mamasbrush   Pallets, chalkboards, garlands, tiered trays, mini rolling pins, wooden signs, mason jars, old trucks, wooden beads and buffalo check come together to make this farmhouse themed bridal shower.

Oh, and that’s my cute little tiered plate piece. (More beads I made for myself… these were part of my Valentine’s decor.) I keep the church party budget down by using decor and making decor that I want for myself anyway. 🙂

Farmhouse Bridal Shower | mamasbrush   Pallets, chalkboards, garlands, tiered trays, mini rolling pins, wooden signs, mason jars, old trucks, wooden beads and buffalo check come together to make this farmhouse themed bridal shower.

These pallets really make this dessert table, if you ask me. They are painted grey and fit perfectly with the pink. Of course more of our pennant garland to finish it off.

The tiered tray is from home also, as well as all the decor on it. My son made the “LOVE” blocks for me years ago (it actually spells “SNOW” on the other side. The little houses, the cupcake stand, the Rae Dunn mug I styled re-styled myself in this fashion, the mason jar plate and all the hydrangeas were right out of my kitchen.

All the little details were so fun to pull together, right down to the gingham ribbon on the rice krispie treats and the “R” I placed on the drink table as a nod to her new last name.

Was the event perfect? No. No event ever comes together just as it is in my head, but we enjoyed a time of fellowship, ate some goodies, watched the bride and her fiance open gifts, and bowed in a time of prayer for the couple and their coming marriage. The couple and their families felt the love of God poured through the church family… that makes the event a success.

Gathering here.

Pink Kitchen Themed Bridal Shower

Pink Kitchen Themed Bridal Shower | mamasbrush #pink #bridalshower #customrecipecards #cakedecorating #kitchenillustration #macarons #partyplanning #eventplanning

After what felt like several years with no bridal or baby showers in our church, we have had a flush of them in the last year or so. The first was a double shower. Two September weddings led to two brides needing showers in August. Both brides loved pink and cooking, so it just made sense to do a pink kitchen bridal shower!

Above is the gift table. My favorite part is the matching aprons hanging in the windows. Sorry it’s hard to see, but I used my Cricut to add their new married names and the year to them.

I designed these for each of the brides. The artwork is mine and some of the first I used Adobe Illustrator to create (before I had a tablet). They were super fun. There is a 4×6 recipe card… and a 8×6 foldable size too. The last gift is little gift labels with their names on them. Isn’t that whisk so cute? I love it! 🙂

I used both sides of my chalkboard this time. I had homemade tootsie rolls (rolling pins) sitting by it for guests to help themselves to on their way out. (Here’s the link to those!) The other side was visible as guests arrived. I loved adding Hebrews 10:24 – “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love….” (Anyone else love puns?)

Pink Kitchen Themed Bridal Shower | mamasbrush #pink #bridalshower #customrecipecards #cakedecorating #kitchenillustration #macarons #partyplanning #eventplanning

Dessert table – I’m noticing in this picture that I could have used something festive on the wall behind the table… oh well. 🙂

Our evening party was perfect for serving dessert. I try to have some non sweet/non sugar options as well, but mostly this was dessert.

The food tags were made with my cricut and embelished with white pen to enhance the hearts. Both brides were gluten free, so I was careful to have gf options for everyone. Rice Krispies dipped in pink melting chocolates, macarons, fruit and veggies, popcorn, meringues and…

Pink Kitchen Themed Bridal Shower | mamasbrush #pink #bridalshower #customrecipecards #cakedecorating #kitchenillustration #macarons #partyplanning #eventplanning

This cake was super fun to make. It was gluten free and the cupcakes were regular chocolate cupcakes.

Here are some close up shots of the cake for those of you who like that kind of thing. 🙂 I’ve been working on my cakes. I feel like this one hid my novice more than most. I was pretty excited that it turned out. I found an inspiration photo on Pinterest, I’m sure, but I can’t find it now. Check out my Cake Decorating board if you are interested, though, for more ideas!

I hope you found something to inspire you from this party. Remember, parties don’t have to be perfect to be appreciated. Everyone had a good time and the brides were blessed!

Until nextime,
Babychaser

You can find me gathering here.

Christmas Market 2021

Yes, I’m running behind. But since I struggle just to get here at all, I’ll do what I can. Just because I’m not posting, doesn’t mean I’m not doing… in fact, it’s probably because of all I’m “doing” that I rarely get around to post.

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

All that to say… here are some pics of this year’s Christmas Market. The kids and I participate in it together and my mom comes to help. Sometimes that means we work together on projects, sometimes that just means we all contribute our own work and sell at the same table. This year my three oldest and I sold. The kids use the money they make from the market to help pay for summer camp. I used mine to by my husband a Christmas gift. 🙂

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs #treeornaments

We had a number of ornaments this year. Some were from past years and a handful were new.

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs #minibookstack #ornament

My 11 year old son and I made these extra-mini book stack ornaments. They turned out so cute!! In the tree pic above you may be able to see the “Hot Cocoa” and “Candy Cane” versions too.

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

As far as book stacks go, we also made this cute regular mini sized book stack. I used dowels for the mini-marshmallows on top. This sold almost immediately. We’ll be making more next year! 🙂

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

My oldest son (15yo) and I did these big books as well. I’m just loving these book stacks! We’ll be making some spring versions for sure!

You can also see some of the garlands and rolling pins I did. And the snowman salt and pepper shakers. We gave them an upgrade from last year, replacing the burlap with black and white check. I love them! 13yo DD made them a couple years ago.

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

This shot is more of my tiered tray. There are so many cute things in here. My mini “home brewed” coffee sign, a couple more bead garlands and more rolling pins.

Here are a few more snowman signs like I shared last weekend. I just love the square one. When I get around to making my own, I’ll do it that way.

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

I expanded on the mugs I sold this year. In addition to the ones I made last year, I also had some printed with original artwork. I forgot to take close ups of the mugs, but one is my snowmama and kid hugging. It says “I love my snowmama”. Another mug has an illustration of mistletoe on it and says “In this house we do mistletoe.” The last design is my “home brewed, served always” coffee print. I didn’t sell enough to break even on those this year, but they were fun to include and hopefully more will sell next year.

It was our best year so far and we had such a fun time doing it. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of what we did this year!

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2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

Until next time,
Babychaser

You can find me gathering here.

Simple (and cheap) Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

It’s a chocolate themed birthday party! Super inexpensive, simple and fun. The kids loved it and so did my mom (the birthday girl).

Mole Chicken - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

So, a couple weeks ago we celebrated my mom’s birthday with a chocolate theme. We often go out for dinner on her birthday, but there is chocolate in Mole sauce and she LOVES her Mole. No question… I would be cooking. (We got our all-you-can-eat sushi a few days later!)

I kept the decorations pretty simple. I spent August trying to recover and catch up from the unexpected 10 days we spent in the hospital with my daughter in July. Only now am I starting to feel we’re back to normal.

Mole Chicken - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

I made the Hershey Kisses by wrapping foil over upside down bowls of various sizes. The paper is just printer paper I cut into strips and put messages on. Are they perfect? No. But they were well received and did their job. The little ones in the next picture (on my shelves) can also use the top of a water bottle instead of a little bowl, but I forgot to keep the ones we had. If you do that, you can fill them with candy and give them as party favors too. Since it’s always just us at these parties, we didn’t need the candy or the favors. 🙂

Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

The Chocolate Tuffles and Cupcake cards could have been framed, but I didn’t get to the store for the frames, so they were cute on their own. My mom has since framed them and hung them in her chocolate themed bathroom. They doubled as gifts.

The chalkboard frame is just a cheap white frame (my go to frame for all my artwork because of it’s simplicity) from Walmart with a black sheet of paper in it. I used a white water based paint pen to do the illustration of a mug and hand lettered “just add chocolate and cream please” on the side. I love that frame! Silly that it took me so long to pull it together!

Chalkboard - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

As you know if you’ve been around for a while, I decorate my large (husband made) chalkboard for birthdays and events too. Everyone has come to look forward to it and uses it to help determine the theme for the day when I keep it a secret. This one says “birthday wishes and chocolate kisses.”

Brownie Cake - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

This brownie cake on the back of a Ghirardelli Brownie box mix was the inspiration for the theme. This past spring, my mom saw the picture of that Ombre Brownie Cake on the box and declared that she wanted to try that. I decided that day that we would do it for her birthday.

I’ve never made ganache before and as you can see, my cake doesn’t look exactly like the picture. It was a good first run though, and I hope to do it again because it was yummy!

Note: Not all (or any) of your plans have to work out just right. The person or people you are celebrating will still feel loved that you tried to make their day a big deal! Don’t let fear of failure (or failure itself in my case so often) keep you from going all out!

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Cheap and Easy Chocolate Birthday Party

Gathering here.

Recommended Reading:

Ladybug Birthday Party
A Jolly Holiday – A Mary Poppins Birthday
Ice Cream Parlor Birthday Party

Easy Chocolate Truffle Artwork – You can do this!

Easy Chocolate Truffle Artwork - You can do this!

Remember that chocolate themed birthday party I threw for my mom? The one I painted the Chocolate Frosted Cupcake for? Yes, the one I haven’t shown you yet. That’s the one! Good memory!

Well, I painted these cute little truffles for that party too. (Pinspiration here.) Again, part gift-part decoration! She actually hung them up already on the wall in her bathroom in little white frames! Yes… it’s adorable!

Easy Chocolate Truffle Artwork - You can do this!

I painted them with watercolor and added the white with Sharpie Paint Pens. Then I added a touch of black with my Faber Castel thin pen to add shadow and make the white pop. It really helped! Super easy!

You could do this with markers too! Just color in the chocolate with brown marker and then use the white paint pen (a couple coats would help!) and add the black lines at the end. (Keep the black on the same side of the white on all the lines so it has a realistic “shadow” look.) I think they would make adorable greeting cards! Let me know if you try!

Easy Chocolate Truffle Artwork - You can do this!

Looking at them now (I always notice details like this when I look at the picture of whatever I painted, not before) I think I would put the swirl one in the middle to make it seem more balanced, but that’s because I have issues with symmetry. What do you think? Would you switch them out to put the swirl in the middle? Or do you like them as is? Let me know in the comments!

Gathering here.

Recommended Reading:

Custom Chocolate Wrappers
Some February Painting
Custom Conversation Hearts

Something Sweet – Chocolate Frosted Cupcake in Watercolor

Chocolate Frosted Cupcake in Watercolor

This week I spent some time painting sweet things. Chocolate, to be specific. And all for my mom’s birthday.

Sometimes birthday presents don’t need to be wrapped. Don’t get me wrong, there should be some presents to unwrap! But they don’t ALL have to be, do they?

Chocolate Frosted Cupcake in Watercolor

I painted this one for my mom’s birthday this past weekend. Her bathroom is decorated in chocolate. That’s right. Chocolate. No, it’s not dirty fingerprints from over indulgent children. It’s been done on purpose. From a poster on the wall about it’s history, to candles shaped like truffles, and everything in between… chocolate!

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Chocolate Frosted Cupcake in Watercolor

I thought a chocolate frosted cupcake with a pink liner would match her bathroom perfectly! But it also matched her birthday theme… so instead of wrapping it, I set it out to decorate! 🙂 Double duty!

Gathering here.

Recommended Reading:

Cupcakes – Watercolor Illustration
Let’s Meet Over Coffee – God
Ice Cream Parlor Birthday with Artwork to Match

Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

These adorable Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool were super easy to make and so fun for the kids on our first day of school!

With the the approach of the 4th of July and all the other summery goodness, comes the start up of a new homeschool year for us. But who has time to spend blogging in real time? What? People DO blog in June? I don’t know how you all do it. I actually did post 3 times in June and I’m pretty sure other more important things didn’t happen because of it. June is just crazy for our family!

Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

That’s right, we start school July 1st around here. (Pop over here to find out why.)

Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

I saw the idea originally on Pinterest here, but you can find her amazing tutorial directly, by clicking this link.

As per usual, I didn’t click over to read the directions until after I’d done my own thing. That means I used different means to a similar end. 🙂

Instead of melting candies, I mixed up some powdered sugar and milk to make a simple frosting. I started with the white and dipped all the pencil tips. I then added the chocolate chip (mini chips would work better as Keri suggests, but I worked with what I had.) I put the sheet pan in fridge to set up after this.

A while later (30 minutes to an hour?) I added some powdered sugar and milk to the left over white frosting and then a bit of red food coloring. I had to go back and forth a bit on the amounts until I got the consistency I wanted, and even then it could have been thicker if I had been more patient.

I dipped the “eraser” side of the wafer into the pink and set them to dry on the lined cookie sheet.

Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

Then back into the fridge they went.

In the end I could have trimmed the run off of the pink frosting like I did for the white, but I figured the kids wouldn’t mind the extra frosting. 🙂 They turned out so cute and the kids love this little tradition we do for the first day of school (two years in a row establishes tradition around here. Good thing it’s easy.)

Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

To be honest, I had a dozen other ideas I wanted to do for the first day of school, but it’s a busy time and this is the only one I actually carved out time for. You can find all my fun back to homeschool ideas on my Back to Homeschool Board. I hope you will find some to make your first day of school special… whether you homeschool or not! 🙂

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Easy Wafer Cookie Pencils for Back to Homeschool

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No Sketch Challenge: Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

This collection of summer themed watercolor illustrations was a spur of the moment adventure.

The big kids were at summer camp, leaving me with the little three, ages 3-7. It’s been a long time since my oldest was 7. It was quite the adventure, and to be honest, while I had more chores to do without them here, it was like a mini vacation.

The kids wanted to paint, so instead of my usual “no”, I actually said yes. (Point for mom!) I grabbed their paint sets and got them some water and brushes and paper towels. Then I grabbed some for me.

But what would I paint. I don’t paint as much during the summer due to more demands on my energy, less time, and less inspiration. I just get more excited about painting the other seasons I guess.

I started with the little blue crab in the corner. It reminded me of our weekend in St. Michael’s, MD this past fall (you should totally go, by the way, super fun little harbor town!) From there it just sorta turned into a summer theme. I laid down some paint for a handful of illustrations and when one was dry, I added the next color or layer. (I like having more than one painting going at a time for this very reason!)

Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

The catch? Whatever I wanted to paint, I had to start with the watercolors. No pencil sketch first. My reasoning was lazy enough. I didn’t want to take a bunch of extra time getting things laid out. Who knows how long the kid’s attention span would last this time anyway.

Way back in the beginning, when I was just learning to paint, I painted like this all the time. I hadn’t fine tuned (ummm… still haven’t) my drawing skills and I didn’t know any better. I don’t paint like this as much anymore, mostly because I usually have a purpose to my painting and I want to sketch it out first to get the look and layout just right. But it is so fun to just paint. It frees me from the need for perfection (ahem) and lets me experiment. I have to remember two things when I paint this way.

Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

2 things to remember:

  1. It does have to be perfect. Things won’t be laid out just right or centered or anything. (Note the position of the palm tree to the cloud. If I was going to be all crazy, I might wish it was a smidge to the left, but who’s going to be like that?) And the end result doesn’t have to look exactly like the real thing… it’s my creative interpretation. (aka I can do what I want.)
  2. I don’t have to love every illustration in the end. There are a couple little illustrations on here that I really love and will probably scan for use later, or at least try to paint again sometime. (I think that tiny firefly is just adorable!) Others, I wasn’t happy with at all, and if I do them again, it will be to improve upon them. (The bee needs a lot of work people!)

So now it’s your turn! Grab a set of watercolor paints (your kid’s are fine!) some water and paper (I began my painting adventures with card stock if that’s all you have) and just start painting. It helps to have an idea or theme in mind to get you started, but paint anything you want. No sketching! And have fun!

Leave me a link to the pic in the comments if you upload it somewhere! I’d love to see it!

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Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

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Hot Air Balloon Theme for Gender Neutral Baby Shower, Birthday Party or Event

Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

A gender neutral baby shower, birthday party, or event just lends itself to an adventuresome and colorful hot air balloon theme. I started with my own design for gender neutral nursery wallpaper, and this is exactly what we did for an expecting mama in our church a couple weeks ago.

Food Table Decor | Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

I know this post has been a long time coming. Not only did I promise it was coming, but I also promised detailed prep posts. Well, that didn’t happen. Between kid sickness and normal spring busy-ness, I should have been more realistic. I was just glad to pull off the party at all. 🙂

Cake, Cloud Cookies, and Rainbow Fruit | Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

One of the friends of the mama to be has a sister who makes cakes. When she volunteered her, my first thought was that I wanted to do the cake. Then I realized that if she made the cake, I wouldn’t have to and time was at a premium. I accepted and I’m so glad I did. Isn’t it beautiful. I tried to get a website for you all, but she only makes them for family and friends. If that changes some day, I’ll try to get you a link! The cupcakes are gluten free and that basket was completely chocolate! Yummm!

Cloud Meringue Cookies | Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

The dish next to the cake is my take on meringue clouds. (Find the tutorial here.)

Centerpieces | Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

I adapted this tutorial and borrowed heavily from several other pics on my Hot Air Balloon Party Board to create these cute centerpieces. I had my 7 year old and one of her friends spread the left over triangles around the tables for extra color.

I created these tags using my own artwork. Find my inspiration for them here.

Gift Table Under the Clouds | Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

Pops of color around the room came in the form of these pendent banners and adorable paper hot air balloons. For the balloons I used these instructions from Karen Kavett and this template. At the end of the party, I cut them down and sent them home with each of the ladies who came. I suggested that they put them somewhere they would see them and remember to pray for the family and new baby. They also liked the idea to hand them from the Christmas tree to remember the event for years to come.

Party Decor | Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

The whole event really turned out beautifully. My sweet husband helped me to blow up and hang all these balloon clouds. I used this tutorial to string them together and it was pretty easy, but this one with glue would have been even easier.

What was your favorite part of this event? Please let me know in the comments! And as always, please…

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Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush
Hot Air Balloon Theme Baby Shower | Party or Event | mamasbrush

Gathering here.

Summer Time Design for Fabric and Gift Wrap

Summer Time Fabric and Gift Wrap | BBQ Grill Outdoor Picnic Fun | mamasbrush

This week the theme at Spoonflower is Small Scale Summer . I came up with this basic design last year, but never took it beyond the sketch. When I saw the theme for this week, I immediately wanted to bring it back out. I transferred it to watercolor paper and got painting.

This would be great on fabric for a summer tote or purse or adorable on gift wrap for any of your summer parties! You can vote for your favorite design through May 7, 2019here.

I have a free printable of the original design coming up for you soon. Click follow in the sidebar so you won’t miss it! 🙂

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Summer Time Fabric and Gift Wrap | BBQ Grill Outdoor Picnic Fun | mamasbrush

Gathering here.