Bedtime Stories Baby Shower

Nitika's Surprise Baby Shower

Its been a while since I posted, but thats because I was very very busy arranging a surprise Baby Shower for my dear friend Nitika. It was a combined effort by Anu, Deepti and me. As it was a total surprise, we booked a hotel meeting room in Duncan, for the shower. We stayed in the same hotel, the night before, and it gave us enough time to rest and start preparing and decorating the room. 

The theme, we 3 girls decided on was 'Bedtime Stories', and the color theme was Orange and Green. Here is the invitation and the favors designed by Anu.

We decided to use a canopy to create the bed effect and put matching sheets on the table which Deepti picked from Ikea. We also added a pillow on each table. Nitika can use this bed canopy around babys' crib later on as well. I made the matching banner going with the theme. Added the sleeping baby from the invitation to the banner. Deepti made the cute tissue pom poms below. 

The picture below is of the main cake and dessert table. It had cake, cookies, cake pops along with the decorations. For cake, we decided on chocolate cake, as its Nitika's favourite flavour. I decided to make the cake, and had fun making all the decoration on it.  I made a sleeping baby, and some books and a torch. Carrying the cake to Duncan was the most difficult part. Apart from some dents here and there, the cake made it ok on 2 flights to Oklahoma City and long drive to Duncan from there.

Red Velvet cake pops in orange and green were a big hit. I decorated the orange cake pops with green candy, and vice versa. It took so much longer than I anticipated, to decorate them, but it was worth it. Liked the overall effect. 

We really wanted to add toppers here and there to give a personal touch. But as there were no cupcakes, I just popped them along with the cake pops.  I made these toppers from printed card stock and die-cut butterflies I had from before. These were one of my favourite things.

I decided to make the cookies at the last minute. I had a baby feet cookie cutter in hand, and used that along with regular round one to make the cookies. I was planning to later pipe a button on the round cookie, but because of lack of time, I dropped the idea. 

We placed these colorful printouts in cute frames from Ikea all around the place. It really helped pop things up.

Food Table: We had some Indian snacks, salad and pasta along with regular chips and dip. Deepti got very cute matching paper plates and napkins for the party.

Just few hours before the flight, I made these orange circle decorations. I sewed together different sized circle cutouts in 2 shades of orange to make these.

As baby's gender is still unknown to most, especially to Dad (out of choice), I made the below door hangers(which ended up on the wall) saying 'Is it a Girl?', 'Is it a 'Boy'....

I made the food labels, and placed them with a toothpick on the fondant books that I'd made. I wish I had taken a better picture of it.

The Moment

Nitika was totally surprised. It was a nice emotional moment for all

Cutting of Cake

 Deepti, Nitika, Kabir and me. Anu couldn't make it to the party as she had a family emergency in India.

In the end, we played tons of games. Enjoyed each one of them. Pictures for few games are below..

Congratulations to Nitika & Sid, and Happy Parenting ahead.

Birthday Card

I have been thinking of making a card at home from a long time now. Opportunity struck when we were invited by a friend for her son's first Birthday Party over the Labor Day weekend. It was a jungle themed party, so I did my best to incorporate it in the card. I used the cardstock paper available at home, along with an animal print ribbon.

As the card size was customised, I could not fit it into a standard size envelope. So decided to make one of my own. I got the above design of envelope in one of the magazines I read recently. Now this will work only if card is handed over in person.

Below, Kabir and I ready to hit the party :-)

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Last week I tried my hand at cake balls for the very first time. As Kabir was moved to a new room in his daycare, I wanted to do something for his old room teachers as my way of saying THANKS. I don't have enough words to express how grateful I am for all the teachers at his daycare. I just love them. 

I got the idea of making cake balls from Bakerella. The recipe asked to use the red velvet cake box mix, which I did. Normally, I would have used my favourite recipe for making Red Velvet cake, which can be found here, but this time, I really wanted to try a box mix. What actually prompted me to use it, was a comment on pinchmysalt.com that box mixes are as good, which I knew was not true, but still wanted to try it out. So, the cake balls were serving two purpose.

I got the Duncan Hine's cake mix, and followed the instructions on the box. When I tasted the cake, I knew my hours spent in making cakes from scratch, were not wasted. It tasted like any yellow cake, and had no flavor of red velvet cake. Next time, I will be using my favourite recipe without any hesitation. Cake balls tasted very good though, as once the cream cheese frosting was added, the mixture did not taste that bad. And the chocolate dipping made it taste like heaven. After giving it to the two teachers, I had plenty left at home. So, I took a few to my office and they were all gone by lunch.  Kabir and I ate the rest :-)

I can't wait to try these balls again with my favourite recipe for cake.

Cupcakes for Ryan

Last weekend we went to the surprise picnic that Jodie had organized for Ryan. I baked these chocolate cupcakes for it.

For those who don't know about Ryan, he is my colleague from office who met with an accident exactly one year before, and suffered spinal chord injury. This picnic was to celebrate the progress he has made since then and to make good memories for the day instead.

Those who want to read more about Ryan can go to below 2 sites or just read the open letter Jodie wrote to the teenager who is totally unapologetic for her doings here:
http://www.clausingfamily.com/pages/dear-teenage-driver.php.

www.clausingfamily.com
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ryanclausing

Wishing Ryan, Jodie and kids well.

Big Boy Room Planning

Last couple of weeks have been so busy. We are setting up Kabir's Big Boy room(Jungle/Animal theme), and thats all I have on my mind these days. We are converting our 2nd floor kitchen into his bedroom. The renovation and painting is complete, and this is how it looks now. I wish I had some before pictures to show. 

It had to be blue and green, as those are Kabir's favourite colors. Went with yellow for one wall and roof, to brighten up the room. Though these days he has developed a liking for orange as well. So planning to incorporate that color in the form of fabric appliques on wall.

 
Initially, this was to be a sunroom, and so we put in 4 huge windows, and somewhere in the middle of renovation, Rohit and I decided to make it Kabir's room. Now, I have to make black out shades for total of 6 windows.I am super excited to make these shades. That deserves a whole new post, but for now, here is the fabric. It has been finalised after much research by Kabir's Mom, Maseeji and Kabir's Dad (names in the order of involvment in choosing fabric) 

Kabir's Big Boy bed would be arriving soon, but he won't be able to use the room without shades. It has to be pitch black in his room while he sleeps. The only thing between me and shade making is the sewing machine, which I ordered couple of weeks back, and has still not arrived. Hoping it to come by tomorrow so I can make couple of shades this weekend. So hopefully, my next post would be of a ready product and not just ideas:-)