Cirque Du Bebe Shower

Sorry it's been so long my fellow followers! Thank you for being patient and always checking back for updates. Well here it is...the long awaited Cirque du Bebe shower I have been talking about.

A few weekends ago, my fabulous soon to be SIL, Amanda, and I threw a boy themed baby shower for her friend, Charlene. Amanda came up with doing a French circus theme and named it Cirque du Bebe. I know it sounds weird right? But just think...feathers, flowy fabric, masks, rich textures, beautiful trims and details. Our main colors were orange and a gray blue with hints of red which we drew from a beautiful paisley patterned pillow found at Pier 1 Imports. We matched them together with gray blue silk ruffle pillows and a red/orange bowed pillow. Gorgeous tall, blue ostrich feathers and vases from Z Gallerie rounded off our cirque look along with masks and clear blue vases, also from Pier 1 Imports. What's a circus without a tent, or at least a tent like effect?! Yes, with Amanda's help, I swagged our entire patio area with strips of blue chiffon fabric. Let me tell you, it was no easy feat but it made our room like complete and Cirque du Bebe ready!

We wanted to stay true to our cirque theme as much as possible with our spread. So we focused on the snacks. We didn't just have popcorn, we had gourmet popcorn and 3 flavors at that! The popcorn was from Popcornopolis and our flavors were Cinnamon Toast, Kettle Corn and the Zebra. Then of course we had to have cotton candy, so we hired Tasty Clouds to make them in 2 of their popular gourmet flavors, green apple and orange. Boy was it tasty. Amanda made her famous Red Velvet cupcake and Lemon Cheesecakes while Charlene's mom provided the savories. Typically I use white trays and platters to maintain a clean look and I like the food being the main focus. However, this time I wanted to coincide with the feel of the shower and make things a little more fun and whimsical. The cake stand, popcorn and cotton candy holders were made from cardboard and styrofoam covered in fabric with and trims and details that Amanda and I personally chose from the fabric store.

There were no games played at the shower, instead we had activities. All guests were invited to decorate onesies for the parents to be. I couldn't believe how creative our guests were. We also had a wish jar and baby name suggestion jar for Charlene and Keith for a keepsake.

I was so proud of the way everything turned out. I hope you will like it too! Thanks for stopping by!!!

Our sofa set up with our pillows and feather arrangement on the sides. Behind is a lattice screen which we displayed masks, flower cones and a "Cirque du Bebe" sign.

Our signage in a circus font lettering with rhinestones up close.

Corner spot in the room. Here you can see the draping and feathers.

Ostrich feathers and beautiful tall vase.

Pillows up close. You can see some of the paisley print as well as the ruffled pillow. I loved the different textures of each pillow and how well they all sat together making one cohesive "cirque" look.

We hung masks and cones with flowers on a white lattice backdrop.

Flower cone with gerbera daises

Draping in our patio room

You can see more of the draping and gift table here.

More draping...

Gift table deocor

Also on our gift table were "Thank You" lollipops in the same circus font used in our "Cirque du Bebe" signage.

Up close

Favors for the guests: 3 orange and white candy sticks tied with the same ribbon used on our cake stand boxes

"WISH" Jar made by Amanda. Guests put in wish notes for the parents to be.

Baby Jar for name suggestions.

Our fabulous spread...cotton candy, cupcakes, popcorn, fruit salad, savories on the side, etc.

The lovely flowers we had were balls of hydrangeas mixed with mini gerberas and rancunculus on a candle holder that we used as a vase this time.

Amanda's delicious lemon cheesecakes topped with fresh raspberries. Notice the trims and details on the stands behind it. =)

Cupcake station with animal flags on them, how perfect is that for Cirque du Bebe?

Cute!

My little soldiers.

Pretty papers for our eyes... I made these cones out of 8"x8" scrapbook paper. A hot glue gun is the answer to the strong adhesive, everything else just popped apart.

The BEST macarons from Paulette. The flavors from bottom row, left to right: Cassis, Pistachio, Coconut, Raspberry, Lemon and Passion Fruit. The best ones were Cassis, Passion Fruit and Lemon.

Yummmm....

Back side view

Guests hard at work on their onesies...here are a few below....

"Mommy's Little Angel" on the outside and "Devil" on the inside. Very cute and clever.

Preppy baby

California Love

Cupcake Monster, gee I wonder who that was from. =)

This lion onesie had a tail on the back! So adorable, one of my favorites.

Utterly Engaged Tablescape Design Challenge

It's finally here!!! Utterly Engaged's long awaited Issue #008 is here and in it is featured our Design Challenge from their Utterly Spanking New Year Party. Which means I am finally allowed to post up pictures and blog about it!!! Just to give you a background again since it's been 2 months since I've last talked about it, I did a Modern Vintage theme using bird themed icons based on a plate that I had. I used bold colors of black, red, pale blue (from the plate) and white. A part of the challenge was to incorporate some sort of industrial material or paper of some sort. I used an acrylic candelabra and also made a garland that was made from paper, epoxy stickers and metal.

Floral: J'Adore

Linens, Lighting, Backdrop: Flowers on Mars

Menu and Escort Cards: Paper Girl

Cupcakes: Kayla's Kakes

Photos: Jasmine Star Photography

Nestle Cupcake Challenge

The annual Nestle Cupcake Challenge took place on 2.20.10 at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood. There were 40 different cupcake flavors with about 20 vendors that featured at least 1-2 flavors each. The three categories competing for the title were Best Original, Best Traditional and Best Overall.

Our strategy was to go around and gather all of them and then try the ones that thought were best looking or interesting sounding first, then vote for our favorites. We didn't want to fill ourselves up in the beginning and not have room for the ones at the end, that wouldn't be fair now would it?! My personal favorites were from Cupcake Couture and Tavern. Not only were they beautiful they were delicious and unique.

Shirley's 30th Birthday Party

I must start off by saying this party was so much fun to plan. I absolutely loved working with Shirley and the theme she came up with. Her guests were so warm and friendly, everyone just had a blast. The ambience was set to her liking and of course to my standards (and yes, including the bathroom in which I taped down the light switch so everyone was forced to use the candles I placed in there for mood lighting.) After 14 bottles of wine, 90 cupcakes, and a table of tapas all gone, it's safe to say that all 40+ guests left happy.

Dining Table: I showed Shirley a picture of a table linen with this same bustled look and she absolutely loved it. We did it in her colors and voile this was the result. The gray linen is a pintucked taffeta and the pink is a satin. In case you're wondering, yes that is bustled by hand!!

Gray tiles with pink paper behind it, 36 handmade paper flowers in total

Paper flowers on the table for decor

Shrimp and Chorizo phyllo cups.

Label reads "Shrimp Chorizo Phyllo Cups" in pink rhinestone sticker lettering.

An up close shot of the empanadas, also done with the same sticker technique.

Potato and Chicken Empanadas

Cheese plate

Dried roses

Centerpiece on the dining table: A mixture of glasses and goblets all filled with tea lights and a vase of dried roses in the center to go with the color theme.

Our Spreads...

Dessert Table: 90 cuocakes made by the famous Amanda. We had 30 of each flavor: Her ever fabulous red velvets, her chocolate ganache with nutella (yes it's as delicious as it sounds) and a vanilla cake with strawberry meringue buttercream frosting. YUM!

Manzanita tree with pink and white flowers (peonies, hydrangeas, cymbidium orchids and garden roses) as the main centerpiece on the wine bar.

Back View

Special wine charm and glass for the birthday girl

Wine claims with guests names on it. They were alphabetized to make for an easy find.

Tealights lining Shiley's wall

Entrance Way: There was a little alcove in her entrance way so we strung and hung flowers, put an uplight and a candelabra on the floor surrounded by a bed flowers.

Candelabra with flowers

We rearranged Shirley's furniture to make it more conducive to a lounge feel with couches facing each other and a table in the middle.

Simple candles on the table to add height but not take away from the space.