Rustic Chic Baby Shower Decor

Last month I had the honor of hosting my sister-in-laws baby shower!  You may have seen several teaser shots on Instagram because I started planning it months in advance.  #compulsiveoverplanner

The guest list was relatively small and my 'vision' for the shower was going to most easily created if I could start putting things together over the course of a few weeks.  So the decision to host the shower at our house was made relatively quickly!  Thankfully, we have the extra space and we borrowed the tables and chairs from Matt's office.

Jennifer and I spent several hours on the phone talking about what she didn't want for the shower (hot pink, lambs or shower games) and things she did (ice cream, rustic/vintage and not too much of a fuss... Ya, that didn't happen!).  Armed with that knowledge and what I had in my party planning/catering stash, I settled on  subtle feminine touches with lots of burlap, barn wood and pastels.  Rustic Chic, if you will!

The first thing I started obsessing over on was the invitation and book request cards!  Thank goodness for free graphics and PicMonkey.

Once I was satisfied with the invites, all my attention was turned towards decorations!  Using some leftover vintage fabric, I sewed napkins.

I made pink tulle pom poms, burlap pennants and paper fans to hang as the backdrop for the food table.  The straps of fabric I tied in little bows around jute.  The white curtains?  Plastic tablecloths hung with fishing line!  Thank you, Husband!  Matt also cut and built the barnwood 'canvas' that I painted to say "You're our greatest adventure!!". 

I also came across some really cute clothespins at TJ Maxx and figured out a way to incorporate them as well with some paper doilies!

All of the linens were freebie fabric that I was given by a friend and the burlap runners were leftovers from our wedding decorations!  I don't save everything, but what I do I know I'll use again.

For the table decorations, I borrowed wood slices to set burlap wrapped cans, wine bottles wrapped in jute and old hinge topped Ball jars.

By the grace of God, I was able to track down peonies and force bloom them just in time for the shower!  The pops of pink and green from the store bought flowers coordinated nicely with the pink center in the peony!

 

Let's talk table service, shall we?  I decided early on that I wanted to use 'real' plates, so I hit up The Dollar Tree for plates and bowls for a $1.00 each.  Since the shower, we retired our existing plateware and are using these!  I pretty much dig 'em. 

 

When the new purple Ball Heritage Collection came out late this winter, I had already decided that I needed a pack.  You know, just because.  The shower gave me a perfect excuse to buy three boxes!  I tied some jute in a bow around the neck and popped in a paper straw.  Done!  And cute to boot.

To finish off the tables, I used Marisa's amazing recipes for Blueberry Butter and Orange Rhubarb Butter to give everyone as a favor for attending.  After scouring Pinterest high and low, I found the perfect printable to accessorize each little jar!

I {big puffy heart} love how it all turned out!  More importantly, Jennifer loved it too!!!

A post fully dedicated to food and drink will be next!  Come back, you'll be glad you did.

Brand Loyalty

I grew up with an extended family who did LOTS of canning and food preservation.  Both of my aunts and my grandma had huge gardens and eating everything fresh just wasn't feasible!  So they spent many days during the summer prepping and processing using both the hot water bath and pressure canner method to put fruits and veggies up to use all winter long.  I don't remember much about those days, other than I wasn't supposed to be in the kitchen!  Hot water.  Hot jars.  Hot food.  Not a place for little girls to be running amok! 

The summer before Matt and I got married I received a GIANT basket of canning goodies from my Aunt Pat as a shower gift and I'll be honest it's been the most used of everything we got for the wedding!  Canning requires quite a bit of stuff from jars and lids to can lifters, funnels and other accessories.  Everything in our basket was from Ball.  This company has been around for 125 years and they've got it going on!  They have anything and everything you could think of to help you preserve food!!


I obviously use my jars for their intended purposes of canning and preserving food, but I also use them to store items in my pantry and throughout the house as decoration!  Some of my favorites are the old hinge top jars or the ones with the zinc lids that you may find at antique stores or you might also acquire them from the basement at your parents house... wink, wink. 

Have you noticed that these mason jar type products are everywhere these days?  Walk through just about any store and you'll see a shelf of drinking glasses or travel mugs molded to look like a mason jar.  I love these just as much as the next person, but here's the issue... I already have hundreds, not even kidding, hundreds of these jars at home.  I don't really need another one just for the sole purpose of taking it with me in the car or when I travel.  Last weekend when I was home to see my parents we stopped in at the local farm store and the heavens opened up and the angels sang as I walked past these puppies...

I knew that if I waited long enough, Ball would make something that allowed me to roll with the in crowd and use what I already have on hand!  Halleluiah! 

Here's where I wax poetically about their products!  FYI.  This is not a sponsored post, but I'd be delighted to have them send me some products to review!  These are bangin'!  I've used them on several occasions for my morning breakfast smoothies.  The best part is the straw!  It's made of hard plastic, wide enough nothing gets stuck and doesn't collapse when my smoothie is thick!  I bought the regular mouth lids, but they also sell ones that fit wide mouth jars too. After trying out several jars, I've found that my favorite is the 12 oz. Quilted Crystal Jelly Jar because it's narrow enough to fit in the cup holder in my car, but large enough to hold my entire smoothie.

Have y'all seen these in the stores where you live?  Am I late to the party or is this the first you're seeing Ball Mason Jar Sip and Straw Lids?