Made In Paris - Buffet des Desserts

We've discussed the dessert awning and NOW it's time to share the yummy sweets on di-splayee on di-splayee (RHONJ for yo' mind!).

...

Sheena and I laughed all throughout her pregnancy. I think we may have laughed every time we spoke... Sheena's infectious laugh bubbles up from her soul.  You know the laugh when you cry and then have to take deep breaths to stop laughing... The one where you wish you could STOP laughing for a second... I have one that makes me cough and then I feel like I might puke because I'm laughing so hard... Yea, that one.  We shared that one on, just-about, a daily basis.  I think her hormones think I'm hilarious...  I also think they KNOW she is, lol.

During our conversations, I learned a lot about the pregnant version of my friend Sheena.  I believe that when women become pregnant, their bodies are kidnapped by an alien and they are forced to reintroduce themselves to the people around them(if only the alien that took over my body left her boobies *wishful thinking*)... Pregnant Sheena has a thing for sweets... and fruit...O and bread.  Not necessarily veggies, though. 

At the shower, I knew we had to have a sweets display!  After all, I'm in the business of belly gets what belly wants, ya dig?

I purchased the silver platters on sale from Michael's and the white(plastic) platters from Party City.  Both types of platters were for a great price, however, another budget-friendly option is to use scrapbook paper as mock platters.  Simply cut the paper to the size you need and place it on the table OR cut the paper to the size of a paper plate's center or Dollar Tree platter to help unify your theme :)

Mini black&whites

(from Target)

Mini Lemonade & Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes

(from Gabie's Goodies Bakery)

We'll talk a little more about the cupcake toppers in a future tutorial.  They are SO easy and SO cute, right??

Red Velvet Brownies

(from Walmart)

The CAKE

I worked with my dear baker, Misty of Girl Meets Cake, to create the PERFECT cake for Sheena!  Damask and stripes? That bow? The butterfly details?! OMG, it made for a conversation piece worthy for my sweet pregos! 

O and, because mommy went to Paris after her Retro Party, that topper was a souvenir from her trip.  Authentic and actually FROM Paris? I love.

Misty also made some yummy cake pops that were a hit(you can kinda see them in the full patisserie photo above)!

 

I used white wrapping paper to cover the base of the desk.  It really made for a polished presentation!

The other sweets(muffins, pretzel sticks, donut holes, etc.) were on the buffet tables but we'll talk about THAT a little later...

During the wrap-up, please keep in mind that my goal was to host a fabulous event for a fabulous event planner. I did not focus on the typical BABY shower decor.  In the photo above, can you see the frames, the butterflies and the pretty papers?  I used those elements to unify the space but no need to get into that stuff right now.  I'm going to get something for this sugar high and you tune in tomorrow to begin the decor discussion with a tutorial!

There's so much to share that I just can't wait :)

Made In Paris - The Awning.

While we unwrap the Made In Paris shower deets, I'm going to sprinkle in some tutorials and what better way to start than with the dessert display awning?

Here goes...

Sheena and Dom offered their home as the venue for their baby shower.  They have a large, clean slate in the auxillary room of their basement and it had more than enough space to meet my needs.  It's an open, bright and blank canvas.  Matter of fact, the ONLY piece of furniture in the space needed to work WITH the theme rather than against it. 

The desk.

It isn't exactly like this but it has a similar hutch.

You know, the typical desk with hutch combo... Nothing wrong with it but HOW could I put it to use... I looked at my list of party elements and decided to use it for the dessert display... La Patisserie, if you will.  I needed it to look MORE Patisserie and LESS desk hutch... What to do, what to do??? It hit me, an awning :)

Supplies

3 white poster boards

Craft paint

1 paint brush

1 cereal bowl

Pencil

Painter's tape

Scissors

Steps

1. Measure your hutch (or table if you're going to make it for a table display).  The desk hutch was exactly 3 poster boards. You may need more or less.

2.  Place your cereal bowl at the bottom corner of the poster board.  Trace the bowl. 

Note: In order to get the scalloped look, be sure you have a full circle shape of the bowl along the bottom.

3. Use your painters tape to mark off your stripes.  To obtain an evenly striped awning, you need to be careful while taping.  The white stripes will need both pieces of painters tape to fall inside the circle.

4.  Paint the stripes.  Be careful not to paint over the scalloped portion at the bottom as it will make cutting difficult.  Also, you may need 2-3 coats of paint if you choose a dark color...

5.  Slowly remove the tape to reveal your stripes! I prefer to remove the tape as soon I finish the last coat; the tape is less likely to pull the paint off with it.

6.  After the paint has dried, use your scissors to cut the scallops at the bottom of the board.

7.  Label the back of your awnings so you know the order to hang your poster boards.  I allowed the bowl to overlap so when I taped them up it looked like 1 piece.

8.  Erase any pencil marks from where you traced the bowl and, if you're like me, stare at how your idea came together :)

To adhere it too the wall, I first placed the scallops up against the desk to get an idea of where I wanted to hang them.  I then used Command strips along the back (2 strips per board) to adhere it to the wall.  some tape behind the scallops, black butterflies and the glitter sign and VOILA! I had a fabulous awning for  less than $5!!!

Check it out in action:

Consider that your sneak peek into the adorable dessert display we'll talk about tomorrow!

Made In Paris - The Intro.

"Tabitha, I had a moment.  What makes me think I deserve to be somebody's mom?"

This was the topic of a tearfully excited conversation between me and one of my very best in the whole-wide world friends, Sheena.  Just a few hours before this conversation, we walked in a restaurant and prepared to meet with 2 of our bridal clients to further discuss the details of their upcoming wedding.  It was time for our meeting to begin, our clients would be seated at any moment and HERE's how the discussion went:

Sheena: "Girl, all this water.  I'm gonna have to use the bathroom."

Me: "You drinking more water than before?"

Sheena: "That's my life here lately..."

Me(giving the side eye): "What?  Are you--?"

Sheena(sips water while nodding her head with her eyes closed).

Me(eyes full of tears and face turning bright red): "I can't.  How am I supposed to-- You?  Why didn't I?"

Sheena: "OMG. Go to the bathroom and get yourself together we have a meeting!"

I was a mess.  We had talked about babies for 2 years.  Sheena is a planner in every sense of the word.  She knew DOWN TO THE DATE when she would begin to grow her family - no surprises.  I knew when she stopped her birth control but, as anyone who's ever "tried" before knows, you just don't ask.  It hadn't been THAT long had it?  She had been normal, RIGHT?! Focusing on our clients and work, I wasn't even CLOSE to expecting this news...

We conducted the meeting. I couldn't even look in Sheena's direction but as soon as the meeting concluded, I could burst -- into tears, into laughter and into excitement.  After all, she's my business partner, my diary, my sanity, my friend.  We've stayed up all night pulling together floral designs, we've stood together at reception entry doors against the masses, she's been my sounding board for every aspect of my life, we've made miracles happen and we've planned it all. Together.  Sheena is one of those friends who has morphed into a sister... I knew she would make an amazing mom... How'd I know?  DUH! She is that kind of family in your life by choice. The kind you trust with things because she only has your good intentions at heart...  The kind of person who wants to do for others simply because she can.   THAT's how I know.

Family... Sheena's family is in Rochester and her husband's family is in Philadelphia.  Both families hosted showers in their respective home towns.  For the friends and co-workers in Virginia, I was honored to spoil my {play} niece-to-be :)

I set to planning! 

According to calculations, baby was conceived while the couple vacationed in Paris!  I've always wanted to do an Ooh LaLa event and knew this was the perfect opportunity.  I waited on the other hostesses to finalize their plans before I finalized the VA shower's theme. You can imagine my excitement when I was able to finally start...  Here's one of *like* 10 sketches where I tried to document my thoughts:

I wanted this event to be a girly, feather-y, frilly, fabulously decorated party with crazy-fun activities that the co-ed audience would appreciate and remember! 

Stay tuned to see how I pulled this shower together; I've got loads of tutorials, pretty pictures and fun coming your way :)

Wordless Wednesdays(WW): Made In Paris Shower

WW: I can't wait to share the deets of Sheena's and Dom's Paris-themed shower; it was fabulous!  Here's a sneak peek of the table decor in action: