A Sweet Baby Shower

With only a few more days to go until our little one arrives, I thought it was time to share pictures from my baby shower which was held a few weeks ago. I was honored with the pure joy of family and friends gathered to celebrate our little baby on the way. I am seriously the luckiest girl and have such great family and friends who traveled from Northern California just to attend and my sister who flew from Florida so that she wouldn’t miss the day – seriously blessed! All of the decorations in the world can’t compared to the love that filled the room as the shower wouldn’t be the same without these people there.

The invitations were one of the my favorite elements of the shower. I wanted them to be simple and classy with just a touch of baby. Because we are not finding out the gender of the baby, this made it difficult to incorporate gender neutral colors. While we could have gone with something more neutral such as green or yellow, I ultimately love pink and wanted to incorporate that color into the shower, so we settled on baby blue and blush pink.

As I mentioned before, my family is a 7 hour drive away but they were still just as invovled as if they lived right around the corner.  We made the invitations ourselves, while my Mom printed the envelopes and glued the envelope liners.  I love the classic look of envelope seals and thought this would be the perfect touch of baby. At our wedding 3 years ago, we created a candy buffet which I loved so much, so I wanted to create a station where guests could pick dessert items as they wished. For the baby blocks, my Mom and I found unpainted wooden ABC blocks at Hobby Lobby. I had Ryan scrape off one of the “C”‘s and glued a “Y” on instead. We used white hyngragea’s in decorated glass vases.

The wonderful ladies at Sweet & Saucy made the adorable carrot cake which I loved so much I didn’t want to cut into it.

Above the gift table, I displayed my weekly pictures which I have been taking since week 8. Because my family does not live close by and cannot see the baby’s progress I began taking these so they could see the growth throughout my pregnancy. I decided it might be a fun way for guests to also track the progress.

As I mentioned before, I love decorating with pink, so my Mom had to continuously remind me to use blue as well. She found these plates at Kirkland and because she is the best mom ever, she picked up 25 plates for us to use. I made salted carmel macrons for each guest to enjoy and placed them in the mini dessert cups.   

I am not a huge fan of traditional baby shower games, but the celebrity game never gets old. I took 15 celebrity baby bumps and using Photoshop put my head over their face. Guests had to guess who the celebrity bump was!


I loved the idea of a onesie decorating station which I had seen on many other blogs, but when it came down to it my Mom had a good point which was, “Shan, you are going to have so many cute baby clothes, I can’t really see you putting your kid in one of these homemade onesies.” Which, well, is true. She brainstormed different ideas and came up with a onesie cookie decorating station. “Perfect”, I said!

I made a double batch of sugar cookies using this recipe (which made about 40 onesie cookies total) the weekend before and froze them. I was nervous that they weren’t going to be fresh, as I had never froze the cookies before, but thankfully, I couldn’t even tell a difference and they tasted as if they were just baked. I made 6 different colors of royal icing which was more than enough and filled them in 12oz bottles.

Each guest decorated a sugar cookie which was placed on the voting paper for everyone to cast their vote for the favorite cookie.




My sister ended up with the winning cookie!!!!!!! Seriously, some of the cookies turned out awesome. Once the cookies were dried, we packaged them up for each guest to take home. 


I was so blessed to have so much love at the baby shower and to have so many family and friends in the same room all together to celebrate our little one with us.  So many people came together to help pull off such an amazing event. It seriously could not have been done without the help of everyone involved.

xoxo

BLUSH PINK, YOU ARE MY FAV

BLUSH PINK, oh how you speak to me like no other color. You are happy. You are just the most perfect color in the whole wide world.  You make me giddy, smiley, and want to paint a whole room in your beautiful tones. You make my heart pitter-patter…just a bit. No doubt, you were my first choice for bridesmaid’s dresses because you are perfect in every way.  Show me a pair of pants in this beautiful color and those babies are coming home with me! Make them high-waisted and I might have to buy two of you!

Mix it with this yummy YSL lipstick and you might just have to peel these suckers off of me because I-don’t-wanna-take-them-off! Pink pants you will sit nicely hung in my closet, until we meet again.

xoxo

Friday | Picture of the Week | Week 25

Yes, this actually happened and I was lucky enough to capture it in the camera where it will live forever (sorry babe, even if you try to delete it, I have it backed up)! For those of you who know Ryan, you will see the amazing humor in this shot; however for those of you who do not know him I will tell you, Ry conducts himself in a very serious manner–always thinking and always learning. Ryan’s idea of “letting lose” means going out with his top two shirt buttons undone compared to his usual one and maybe throwing a few fist pumps while on the dance floor. So when Ryan came with me to take a few pictures of the goats, this particular goat began kissing his cheek which resulted in Ry, well wanting more I guess!!!

Now that we had a little fun with Ry, this is me laughing so hard……hmmmm..what could it be that has me almost on the floor laughing?

Well, you see I just asked: “Check out that goats goat-…Wait, GOATS HAVE GOATEE’s?!!?!”  At this point the entire barn stall stood looking at me with a long pause, then I saw small confirming head nod from my husband which turned into a “Omg, Shan are you serious?! Yes!” At this point, I was in full blown hysteric’s repeating my new revelation that the term “goatee” comes from GOATS!!!  I am pretty sure an actual light bulb went off during this revelation! Seriously, goats have goatees — Still cracks me up!  Does everybody know this and I am the last to put this together?? Doubt it, but if you did then A+ to you in farm animal class!!!

Thanks for the laughs and hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!!!

XOXO

Recipe | Apple Cinnamon Muffins

For my birthday I received these fabulous measuring spoons from my dearest friend, Melissa, and once I found a few free hours in my schedule I had to put them to work immediately! I made these muffins last Saturday and thought I over cooked them (left them in the oven for 45 minutes), and therefore decided to make the blueberry muffins so I had something to take to Ryan’s Grandma. Turns out, Ryan liked these muffins better than the blueberry muffins, so lets just say we had a whooole-lotta-muffins in the house!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
From  Closet Cooking
Makes 18 muffins

Note: This is also be good as a bread, as these are delicious denser muffins than the traditional fluffy recipe.

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 1/4 apple sauce
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups apples (peeled, cored and cut into bite sized pieces)

For the Streusel Topping:

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tins with parchment paper liners.

Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, apple sauce, oil, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the apples until just mixed.  Spoon the mixture into a muffin tins.

For the topping, place all the ingredients in a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly. Spoon about the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake the muffins for approximately 25 minutes, until knife comes out clean.

GIFT FOR YOU

 I have been in loooove with these hangers since they first appeared on Style Me Pretty. Fast forward a few years and yep, I am still in love! For my sister-in-law’s bridal shower gift, I wanted to get her something that she would be able to use on her wedding day and this hanger from Lila Francis was just perfect…unique, sentimental, and made my heart pitter-patter because I know how cute it will be in the photos!!

If you need a bridal shower gift for that special someone, go to Lila Francis‘s shop as she has lots of other cute items for sale, but please keep in mind it takes about 8-10 weeks for her to complete your order but she tells you this before you order, so no surprises!!

XOXO

Friday | Picture of the Week | Week 21

I tell you, veils are my fav! I could photograph a bride in a veil allllll day long! I treasure the opportunity to photograph certain moments and experiences that can only be experienced a few times in a persons lifetime such as:

1. A Naked Baby: I mean seriously, how many times in your life are you completely comfortable and totally adorable naked and can actually have your picture taken in this state without a worry?

&

2. A Bride in a Veil: Again, it’s not everyday a girl gets to walk around with a piece of magic fabric flowing behind her; and yes the fabric is magic because it turns a beautiful girl into a briddddde.

XOXO

Bridal Shower | Love Story

It seems as if from the first day she walked into our lives she became family. Corynne’s first time meeting the family was during our family portrait — yikes! Of all situations to meet your future in laws, I am sure this may be one of the worst, but Corynne was gracious, loving, and won over our hearts. There could not be a better girl for my little brother and I am so happy for their upcoming wedding in July.

We started the wedding festivities off with a “Love Story” themed bridal shower. My Mom, sister, and I started planning this bridal shower months ago, but we do not all live in the same town so coordination was key!  We wanted to incorporate many vintage details because we had leftover decorations from my own wedding so it would save on costs and fit perfectly with the venue, my parent’s home which is modeled after French country influences.

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The chalkboard frame was purchased from the Santa Monica flea market. The actual chalkboard was made using masonite and chalkboard paint purchased from Home Depot. (If you measure your dimensions beforehand Home Depot will even cut the masonite for you!)

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From the beginning, I knew I wanted to work with vintage books. I fell in love with the cupcake liner pomanders and decided to incorporate books into the design.  Here is a tutorial on my pomander process.

As for the books, I searched several antique shops in the area and came home empty handed. I tried a used book store and found  several linen covered books with the dust jacket still on and therefore not the “old” look I was going for. To give them the vintage distressing they needed, I used sand paper to give the edges a worn look. This saved me a lot of money because I was not paying antique prices.

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The bride arrived driven by her fiancé in my Mom’s 1940’s MG TC. An MG TC is actually the car that Ryan O’Neil drove in the movie “Love Story.”

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One of the games we played was titled “Crazy Little Game Called Love” in which celebrity wedding photographs were used and the faces of the celebrities were replaced with the face of the bride and groom using Photoshop (Yes, they take as long make as the sentence to explain it!). Each guest received a packet of “playing cards” and a sheet in which to write down their guess.  It was great to see the Mom’s who all knew Grace Kelly’s wedding but were completely clueless when it came time to guess Carrie from Sex and the City.

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I spent the first part of the year learning to master the craft of french macaron’s so that I could make for this event. My Mom bought Annie Rigg’s Macaron book from Anthropologie for me and I am proud to say I successfully made 30 vanilla ganache macarons!  

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Each guest’s place setting was set with a vintage paper flower. I bought the flowers from Jardin de Papier on Etsy and assembled them myself. My Mom purchased the pink “Love” plates during Valentine’s Day from several TJ Maxx’s around the area.

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Instead of a “Marriage Advice for the Bride” we decided to make a “Love Story” book where guest were asked to describe their own love story or write the love story of Corynne and Nick.  This was really sweet for the bride to be able to have all of her guests, including her Moms’ Love Story on paper for her to look back on. 

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The best gift of the day goes to Michele, the bride’s Mother, who decided to give her daughter this book…naturally it provided for some good show and tell and lots of laughs!

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I also wanted a champagne infusion station where guests would be able to mix together their favorite champagne drink. My Mom bought champagne and peeled the labels off to make our own “branded” bottles. I made labels which read “Love Story”, “Once Upon a Time”, and “Happily Ever After”. We used old wine bottles for the peach nectar and orange juice and used a corresponding design on the juice labels.

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We ended the day with mini homemade chocolate mousse desserts and a 3-tiered pink cake masterpiece created by Shirley a San Juan School District’s ROP bakery teacher! 

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DIY | Vintage Book Pomander

I made these pomanders for Corynne’s bridal shower a few weeks ago and everyone fell in love with them! The bride liked them so much she is borrowing them for her wedding! Since having them completed weeks before the bridal shower we got to enjoy them around our house for a bit and we plan to put them in the office once they are safely returned.  Warning – this takes a bit of time, hot glue, and patience, but it was well worth it! 

dreaming.

Lately, it seems everywhere I look I am surrounded by beautiful flowers, gardens, houses, and yards. Last weekend, we spent a night in Santa Barbara and the yards were all full of blooms – lilacs, roses, hydrangeas, and ivy surrounded us. Even a house of four boys managed to have rose blossoms galore.

A slow morning here in the office, has led me to several interior design blogs which are filled with gorgeous dining areas, fabulous living rooms, and even cuter powder rooms. These photo’s are making me want to have a place of our own to create rustic, soft, romantic spaces to call home. For now, I will spend the rest of the day planning how I will decorate our fake house with a big yard filled with lots of blooms!

This is where Ryan will get ready in the morning – very simple, a little bulky, and mostly I will be out-of-the-way. I love the idea of using an antique table for the counter top and adorable lamp on the left. The hint of green plants just top off this bathroom to make it perfect!

Upstairs I will be getting ready in this simple, serene, slightly girlie paradise! I love everything about this bathroom – the paneling on the wall, the stunning tub (don’t miss the precious detailed legs on that sucker), and the wall sconces.   The register on the top of the ceiling is even adorable!

This chair will be used to sit by our fireplace and sip on a glass of wine while chatting with family and friends. Seriously those vintage books on the book shelves make the perfect backdrop to this photo. Brooke, the owner of this room actually bought 1500 leather books to fill her home store and house with. And check out the gigantic books that serve as a side table! Seriously, where do you find books that big!?! They look so fantastic!

I will have to have some textured wallpaper like this,and some more creamy colored vintage books. The flowers will be from our gorgeous garden.

These Vietri dishes will be fill our white cabinets and be placed on the counters with lots of food, treats, and snacks! Those cake plates are just asking to be filled with one of my Mom’s amazing home-made treats.

For now, I have mentally filed away all of these images of my dream home and hope that they will be put to use the day when we decide to become home owners and have a place to enjoy all of these stunning creations.

*All photos by Velvet & Linen

never too old to play dress up.

In order to get a few new pictures for my Dad’s photography website (www.kevingeorgephotography.com), I decided it would be fun to organize a mini-photoshoot! I recruited a few picture loving girls, picked up some of my favorite spring flowers, created a few amazing accessories (check out the flower headbands!), and told my Dad to snap away at all the beauty!

Here was the inspiration board created to give everyone involved the overall vision of the shoot: * sorry, I did not keep track of where all these images are from, but I know some are Jose Villa, Duet Weddings, Style Me Pretty

The day was filled with sunshine and lots of girlieness which always means lots of laughter! I think all the pink, flowers, and hairspray scared any potential snakes away because, thankfully, they all decided to stay home that day!

Although this shoot was set-up for my Dad, I just just couldn’t pass up the chance to take a few pictures myself! These girls were definitely channeling their inner top model and really poured on the fierceness!

See why I was so excited to share! These girls looked totally stunning and everything turned out beautiful! A big thank you to Corynne, Melissa, Kelsey, and Mom!

a little bit vintage. a little bit country.

I have never been a “country kind of girl” and in fact I recall when I was young actually crying at the thought of moving to the country. Don’t get me wrong, I love to camp, fish, and shoot guns, but I don’t like the “getting dirty” part of those experiences.  The older I get and the longer I live in a city, the more I treasure those times that I get to be in among the weeds, checking out the wild flowers, watching turkeys and deer cruise by, and just the simple smell of fresh morning air. There is just something so calming about it all.

Here are a few shots from yesterday that just make me want to pack up a vintage Louis Vuitton suitcase, put on a big hat, and take a ride to the country in my 1960 black convertible Porsche — now that is how you travel to the country.