aqua

FEATURED: DEVAN’S WINTER WOODLAND NURSERY

She did it again! Our dear friend Shara (remember her Shark Party HERE?!) is blowing our minds with her son’s dreamy gray and aqua nursery. It is styled. to. perfection. We’ve been stalking gently convincing her to let us show her whole house! One day, Shara, one day…. mwahahahaha!

SHARA:
When I was pregnant with my second, I was so sure I was having a girl that I went ahead and bought crib bedding and started planning out a perfect baby girl nursery. I was just SURE. Halfway through my pregnancy at the big ultrasound, the tech waved her magic wand, paused, and then asked me if I still had the receipt for that bedding… I was having another boy! I was shocked and kind of in denial, so I decided I didn’t need to do up another room for baby boy – he would just share a room with his big brother once he was old enough to move out of the bassinet in my room. 
Fast forward to a month before my due date. The urge to nest suddenly kicked in haaaaaaard and I just HAD to have a nursery. Jenni had thrown me the most perfect “snowy sprinkle” baby shower (see it HERE), and I worked from that idea to create a gender-neutral winter woodland nursery. The room was already painted grey (Valspar’s “Cement”), so I left it as is and used that as my starting point. Anyone who has been to my house knows how much I love the color aqua, so I (unsurprisingly) decided on a grey/aqua/white color theme, accented by warmer tones here and there to keep it from being too matchy-matchy or cold. It took more than a year to finish up the room – I had my hands kind of full with two little ones! – but I think that the extra time allowed the room to evolve into something even better than I had originally visualized. Now it’s one of my favorite rooms in the house!
PS. I never did return that girly bedding… it’s packed away carefully in hopes that maybe one day my pretty pink nursery will become a reality 😉

 

SOURCES:
Tree decals – WallDecorative
Arrows – Mineral and Matter
Feather mobile – DIY
Dreamcatchers – DIY
Bedding – skirt from Land of Nod, sheet & chevron knit throw from Target
Aqua book cart – Land of Nod
Rocking moose – Ikea
Chair and ottoman – Little Castle “Charleston”
Polar bear blanket – Land of Nod
Polar bear “skin” – eBay
Lamps – Target
Squirrel nightlight – Modcloth
Tree wood bead puzzle – Skip Hop
Bird mobile – Boon
Changing pad cover – Land of Nod
Curtains – Amazon (blackout lining added DIY)
Dresser, end table, book ledges – Ikea
“Things” organizer – Land of Nod
Grizzly bear wood block calendar – West Elm
Fox, raccoon and owl art – Sass and Peril
Antlers – White Faux Taxidermy
Clock – Target
Rocking bird – West Elm
Ceramic fox figurine and white fox speaker – Target
Moon globe – Urban Outfitters
Marquee arrow light – Target
Forest Love screen print – Sass and Peril
Young & Brave print – Billy and Scarlet
Paper deer – Template from French Melody
Name letters – DIY
Woven baskets – Walmart, spray painted teal
Owl vase – Target

FEATURED: ROWEN’S SHARK PARTY

We’ve been bugging our crazy-talented friend, Shara, for pictures of Rowen’s Shark Party since we walked through the door of the party… and had our mind’s blown. Modern, clean, fun, creative touches EVERYWHERE. Crafty in the coolest way, clever menu, fun games for kiddos…so good.
Shara used two slightly different colors of crepe paper and twisted them to create “water”. She hung all the sharks from string so they would appear to float on top of the waves. Genius.
 One of our favorite things of the party was this shark wreath! Shara spray painted a foam wreath core gray then hot glued plastic sharks (here) all around to simulate a shark attack feeding frenzy!
The fins on the mantel were pin-on fins for the kids to wear. Shara made them using stiffened felt and a template found here.
 I mean… really
Cake topper here

 Menu:
Shark Bait sandwiches (tuna salad)
Shark Fin sandwiches (cheese triangles)
Slow Swimmer Salsa and Sea Algae Guacamole with Fins (blue tortilla chips)
Shark Teeth (Bugles)
Whale and Goldfish crackers
Vegetarian Shark Food (crudites)
Watermelon Shark fruit salad (carved by Shara’s husband after she showed him pictures on Pinterest and convinced him it would be easy! Ha!)
Sea Dogs (hot dogs)
Great White Sugar Cookies
Fish Kabobs (gummy fish and shark candies on a stick)
Life Preservers (mini sugar donuts with red gel icing)
Jaws cupcakes (vanilla cake with vanilla whipped frosting and gummy sharks
Shark Attack cupcakes (blue velvet cake with coconut cream cheese icing and fondant fins)
Chum Punch
Shark Infested Lemonade
 Shara’s favorite things about the sharks hung from the ceiling were the shadows they created when the light was turned on. The slight movement of the sharks and the big shadows made it look like there were actually sharks swimming around the room.
Party Activities: 
Shark Dress Up Bucket- shark, sailor, and captain costumes, beach ball, surfboard, sunglasses, flower leis, blow up shark, beach paraphemalia
Air swimmer remote-controlled helium shark (Amazon)
Pink the Fin on the Shark (Amazon)
Make Your Own Shark Game craft station
Let’s Go Fishing Game
Finding Nemo Movie
 
Ari LOVED this activity… we still have his shark on the fridge!
 Favor buckets: “shark tank” bubbles, “under the sea” coloring book, shark stickers and tattoos, bag of shark and fish gummy candies, shark squirter toy, fish stamps, sunglasses, and glow bracelet
Invitation, favor tags, and thank you notes here
Gummy fish kabob!
Big Birthday Boy Rowen!
Thank you for sharing your party with us, Shara! We loved every minute of it (oh and so did our kids!!). 

A “WINTER WONDERLAND” BABY SPRINKLE

Our #TBT (Throwback Thursday) Party this week is a baby shower I put together for our sweet friend, Shara. Baby number two was on the way, and I wanted to do something simple, not over the top, but still oh so special. 
It was a “winter wonderland” theme with some confetti markings as well. My main focus was to have “snow” hanging from the ceiling and an amazing dessert table. It was January, so it just felt right. 
^^The invite (Rock Paper Scissors) ^^
I actually put confetti in the envelopes as well! That always a nice surprise for the recipient! yay! 
^^ I did simple mantel decor by using fake snow and cotton balls, flowers, candles, DIY anthro inspired letters and a handmade felt banner. I put modge podge on the bottom of the votive candle jars and sprinkled glitter on them to give them a little something extra. Also, the banner consists of felt flags and wooden beads from JoAnn’s that I painted an aqua blue…. shara’s favorite color.^^
^^ White flowers are just so classy to me. They ALWAYS work!! ^^

^^ The dessert bar was my favorite part! So many yummy treats, especially those Aunt Ellie’s Campfire Crispies! I mean…. seriously. ^^
^^ Hand-lettering on the chalkboard. Always fun! ^^
^^”To go treat bags” are always a good idea when you are serving lots of sweets. Guests took extras home to their kids. That is what they said at least. I am SURE that they probably had a treat or two in their car…. in private! ^^
^^ Anything you can do to make writing “thank-you” notes a little easier on a new mom really helps. I had each of the guests address their own envelope, and I had already written Shara’s address on the back as well. All she had to do was write the simple note, and put a stamp on it. Easy! ^^
My only tutorial I took pics of because I am the worst at stopping throughout my projects to take tutorial pics, as I get too excited favorite tutorial that I can share with you are the DIY color-blocked spoons I made. Pretty self-explanatory…. just tape your utensils down with painters’ tape while blocking off different sections. Paint your first color, allow drying time, move your tape and block off another section, and repeat until you get the desired look. It was time consuming, but man… I am such a sucker for little details! ^^

P.S. Tomorrow is Friday!!! WHOOP WHOOP!
-J