Baby Shower Photos

Hope you are all having a lovely week. Today, I finally sat down to download and browse through the photos I'd taken at my cousin's baby shower on the weekend. However, I found I didn't have as many good shots as I'd hoped I would. I seemed to have focused more on the guests than on the party details but I've managed to choose a few photos to share with you all to give you an idea of how the party looked.

My cousin really liked the decorations I had used at Grace's 1st birthday party so I re-used some of those and stuck to a similar style invitation. We also used the floral fabric centrepieces from the Pink Ribbon morning tea fundraiser I held last year. I made the cupcakes with polka dot flag toppers but apart from that, my Aunty and a few other guests made the remaining delicious dishes.

Here's the few photos I managed to scrape together...

Guest Post At Pure And Noble

Image by Victoria Smith of sfgirlbybay

Pure and Noble is one of the blogs I read regularly and whose ideas and commentary I find inspiring – if you haven’t already, be sure to check it out for yourself. I really enjoy Brooke’s posts and find that I relate to and respect her views on life, and so when she asked me to write a guest post for her, I was very excited to say the least. Pop on over to Brooke’s awesome blog here to see my first guest post where I talk about 'Making Your House a Home’…

Party Planning Tips

Image by Sarah Thompson of Style Me Gorgeous

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Ours is a long weekend here in Perth for the Queen’s Birthday and we’ve had lots of fun things keeping us busy. This morning I had my cousin’s baby shower which I organized the invitations and decorations for. I will share some photos of the morning tea in the next few days.

One of my favourite things about holding a party is the actual planning stage and gathering of ideas for decorations and invitations and all the small details. Today I thought I’d share my top five tips for planning a successful party, accompanied by some images from my favourite blogs about entertaining…

Image by Mrs A In The Cove

1. Have a colour scheme

Everything looks more cohesive and less busy when you stick to a few key colours or patterns. You don’t have to have everything matching but small decorative details like napkins, table runners, flowers, balloons or bunting look more pleasing to the eye when you stick to a ‘colour theme’ or style.

Image from I Am Baker

2. Balance the savoury and sweet dishes

When deciding on the types of food I am going to make for a party where finger food is being served, I try and aim for a balance. Usually I will have a few savoury dishes and a few sweet dishes. With savouries I try to have a few different choices such as sandwiches, something involving pastry like sausage rolls and something vegetarian such as quiches. For the sweets, I try and incorporate something with chocolate, something cake-y, something with cream and a platter of fruit.

Image by Sharnel of My Life My Loves

3. Make a sketch of your food table

Whether I have a dessert style ‘help yourself’ food table, or am placing the food in the middle of the table around which guests are seated, I always have a good idea of how I’d like the table to look and how things will be positioned. I usually make a brief sketch and try and have plates positioned at various heights using things like cupcake stands, cake stands and even boxes covered with decorative paper. I like food to be served on white dishes or ones only with a small pattern which compliments the colour or style I am focusing on.

Photo by Leo Patrone via Green Wedding Shoes

4. Encourage guests to mix

If you have a small number of guests seated around a table, make sure that things placed in the centre of the table aren’t too tall or an obstruction which will make conversation difficult. For parties with larger numbers, rather than having seats placed in one huge circle where guests can only talk to those on either side of them, I like leave clusters of chairs around smaller tables so that small groups can talk more easily.

Original photo by Anna of Around My Table found via Birthday Girl

5. Plan a timeline for yourself

I always have ‘to do lists’ for things to be organized before the party day itself as well as a more specific order of things to do on the actual day. I try to do as much as possible beforehand, especially when it comes to preparing food. Anything that can be made in advance and frozen is a lifesaver and food that can be cooked earlier and just reheated on the day is also perfect. Besides the food, things that can be done in the days before the party include ironing tablecloths, having platters and cutlery out ready, hanging any decorations (so long as they are safe from the elements) and positioning tables and chairs.



Hope you enjoyed my little list of party hints. Are there any tips you agree with or would you add something different to what I’ve suggested?

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Sunny Spring Morning

Growing up and living only a few minutes away from the beach, I was always a summer girl. However, last year when Grace was born, I was confined to the house more over the months following May and I found myself enjoying winter and its cosiness too. This year with all the bugs and colds that have seemed to follow us around over this colder period, I have really looked forward to and am enjoying Spring. Here in Perth we have beautiful sunny days forecast for the next week, perfect for spending time outdoors which is definitely where Grace prefers to play.

On Monday, my friend Lyndell and I took advantage of the warmer weather and took Grace to a nearby park to feed the ducks. Grace had a ball throwing pieces of bread to all the birds, although the two swans were being a bit too friendly and becoming a bit territorial with their little cygnets in tow.

These photos were all taken Lyndell - I always love seeing the moments she has captured…

Changing Focus

This week, I’ve decided I need to focus on all the special things in my life I have to be thankful for and to stop letting 'the case of my disappearing tastebuds’ consume all my energy and thoughts. When I spotted this print by Erin Jane Art Prints on Etsy today, it definitely ‘spoke to me’ and so I thought it would be perfect to share in this post.

On Friday, I went to my GP to explain my taste dilemma in the hope of her being able to ‘wave her magic wand’ and offer me a solution only for her to say I had her baffled and she’d need to ‘Google it’ which was exactly what I’d been doing for the past week myself!! She has given me a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist who I cannot get in to see until a month’s time and over the weekend, things really started to get to me. I do have the sense to put things in perspective and realise there are plenty of people in the world worse off than me and that I should be grateful for all the good things that surround me, I’d just love for someone to give me a date as to when my taste will return, or to at least reassure me that things will eventually go back to normal and I’ll be able to enjoy food again. In the meantime, I’ve decided to start thinking positive thoughts and to focus on other things and so I promise I won’t blog about this predicament any more until my taste returns.

So now that all that negativity is off my chest, let’s get on with the rest of the week! What lovely things do you all have planned?

Image above available for purchase from Erin Jane Art Prints