march showers.

Oh how I love that Spring brings new life (though it hasn't quite arrived in NYC yet - boo!) and it's just the perfect season for a baby shower and a wedding shower, don't you think?

I was privileged to be apart of some happy days this month. The first was a wedding shower for my brother-in-law, Dan and his now wife, Ashley. It was a lot of work to host solo, but really fun to use it as a reason to work on new projects. Lucky you - I thought I would share some fun *affordable* ideas and resources for parties. I will most definitely be re-using some of them myself.

For starters - I used THIS DARLING BLOG post as my overall inspiration for the theme and presentation. (Thanks Katy for the find!) So, it really doesn't compare, but a girl can't be blamed for tryin' to create some country in the big city.

Invitations: Using my new Christmas present, I sewed vintage looking fabric purchased at a craft store in Harlem for $1/yard onto the top of card stock cards that I already had from years (literally) ago. I sewed the fabric in a ruffle just on the top and got the idea from this darling blog. I have since seen invitations with the ruffle on just one side as well as on both the top and bottom. Then I just printed the words in a vintage font on our home printer and used those scrapbooking shears to create a "torn" look.

For the table:

Here is a charger I picked up at said craft store for $2 and then painted the inside with chalkboard paint. Then used it to introduce the table. I have two of them and am keeping them out because I love them so much.

For flowers and place cards detailing each food item, I used mason jars and placed them near each dish.

Nothing like a salad bowl to keep the beverages cool.

The table.

Then: I used some old frames to display the wedding invitation hung by clothes pins and twine. Didn't cost a thing!

Banners: A new favorite for me. I made this one below by printing letters and using my circle cutter and then just taping on a ribbon to hang above the table.

This banner I printed off on cardstock and glued it other cardstock, punched holes and strung twine through it to hang. I thought it was a fun idea to have their wedding date up, but you could put names or a birthday - anything! Love it.

Another Decoration: The FOOF ball. Makes me happy to say it. It was a perfect addition to the wedding shower.Completely made of yes, you guessed it... coffee filters! Believe it or not, we had a box (still do) of coffee filters we ordered off Amazon.com that were too big for our machine and well, I guess I could have returned them, but this project seemed like a better option to me! Just looks bridal to me. You can find the tutorial HERE.

Easy Addition: Yellow and white candy set out in votives from Target and placed on some of my favorite little plates I found for $1.50 each at the craft store. We may not have Hobby Lobby, but we have Harlem!

Then, we hosted a Sip N See baby shower for a sweet new friend here in the City and her three month old baby girl.

Gifts: One of my favorite ideas for a baby gift and one that makes a darling decoration for a baby shower is this one-of-a-kind onesie. Think ruffle from the invitations and put it on a onesie. Love that. Hostess #1 made these for this particular shower and I think she did a fabulous job. Three ruffles around the bootie and one ruffle around the neck. Love it.

Then, Hostess #2 made these darling fabric flowers that she made into hair clips for the baby. I believe the tutorial can still be found on Jones Design Company blog. Fabulous!

Activity: I love this blessing jar that hostess #2 also made. I love how the paper around the jar is added to each mail tag to coordinate.

Favors: At the wedding shower, I made chocolate covered pretzels. Easy and delish! For the "sip n see" baby shower, I simply wrapped up a tea bag and called it a day. Now that's what I call simple!

Blogs: Some of my "go to" blogs for great ideas and DIY projects are:

Jones Design Company

Ashley Ann Photography

Little Green Notebook

Retropolitan

Bake It Pretty

Sweet Designs

Kate Landers Events

Thrifty Decor Chick

One Pretty Thing

Frugal with a Flourish

Design Aglow

A Little of This, A Little of That

Design Sponge

CityCraft Sewing

**If you have a favorite idea or inspiration blog, please leave a comment and share!**

Thanks for coming. Hope you found an idea to take with you!