Hold on to your hats because today’s adorable baby shower is sure to blow you away!  Up, Up and Away, that is!  When I first received a note from Jessica Harris about this event… I knew it would be good!  We’ve had the pleasure to ooh and awe over Jessica’s cakes in the past (see them here).  She is an incredible cake designer who also happens to be part of a family of artistic women!  So what happens when a talented graphic designer (Kim Harris), cake designer (Jessica Harris) and photographer (Jamie Zanotti) come together to welcome a new baby girl into the family?  An amazingly sweet and thoughtful event full of charming DIY touches.  Based on the baby’s hot air balloon nursery, prepare to be swept away by this Up, Up and Away Baby Shower!

Kim Harris, creator of the invitation and graphics, was kind enough to share some of her thoughts with us about this adorable shower.

“Jamie and I decided on the theme for the baby shower based on what Ashley (the mom-to-be) wanted to do in the nursery, hot air balloons.  Since this was her first girl we wanted everything to be soft and vintage and girly, thus the reason for all the pink!  With a little vintage blue added in here and there!”

More from Kim…

“I knew I wanted to have hanging hot air balloon decorations that had a strong impact but I couldn’t find anything online that wasn’t expensive.  I was looking through Ashley’s nursery inspiration board and she had saved these tissue paper lanterns from Martha Stewart.  I decided I would make the hot air balloon decorations based on a different version of these, using pages from a book instead of tissue paper, which I thought would look a little more vintage.  I used paper lanterns for the base of the balloons, scrap book paper for the hot air balloon basket and bakers twine to tie it all together.  Cheap, fun, cute and easy!”

Okay, can we pause for a second and talk about this cake?  I absolutely love the striped details around the bottom and the detail work on the hot air balloons is perfect!  Staggered in height and intermixed with clouds, these hot air balloons are oh-so-charming!

The pink and white striped ‘tablecloth’ is actually a twin-sized sheet, found on sale at Target.  Such a clever way to save money without skimping on the pretty!

A few last thoughts from Kim:

“This shower was truly DIY – we did everything ourselves, from the cloud cookie favors to the suckers and sucker stand to the invitations and signage and food.  The beautiful cake by Jess was truly the cherry on top that tied everything together.  What a talented family we have!!”

I could not agree more!  A huge thank you to all three of these talented ladies for sharing this delightful Up, Up and Away Baby Shower with us today!  It’s absolutely dreamy!  You can get the full scoop on Jessica’s hot air balloon cake on the Jessicakes Blog.     

Vendors & Credits:
Cake:  Jessica Harris of Jessicakes
Invitation & Graphics:  Kim Harris
Photography:  Jamie Zanotti

I’ve been dying to share this shower with you for months!  You may remember that back in JUNE, I mentioned that my family was hosting a baby for my sister who was expecting her first child.  My sweet little niece, Addison, was born in July and is now almost four months old!  It’s about time for me to share this shower!  It debuted earlier today on Hostess with the Mostess (yay!) and I’m thrilled to share some additional images and details with you now.

For those of you who are loyal Half Baked readers, you might recall how excited I was about my little sister’s wedding.  Numerous inspiration boards, a bridal shower, photos from the actual day… well fast forward almost two years and my sister was becoming a mommy!  Of course we were going to throw her a shower!  It was a fun collaboration of efforts between four of us, all living in different cities.  My older sister, the two grandmothers-to-be and myself.  Planning everything from afar can be tricky but with countless phone calls, emails and photos exchanged, we somehow managed to pull it off.  Best of all, we were thrilled to celebrate Ashley and welcome Baby Bray with this Elephants on Parade Baby Shower.

After much discussion, we decided to base the theme on the baby bedding for the nursery.  It’s a fun and vibrant combination of elephants and polka dots.  We wanted the shower to be inspired by the nursery but with our own modern twist.  The color scheme was black and white with pops of pink.  We incorporated numerous different patterns with big dots, little swiss dots and stripes.  And of course – oodles of elephants!!

I designed the invitation and we went from there.  The elephants, with their long trunks and polka dot ears, are my rendition of the elephant on the crib bedding.  The back of the invite featured black and white polka dots with a pink stripe reading ‘Welcome Baby Bray’.  (My sister kept the baby’s first name, Addison, a secret until her birth.)

Guest arrived to a front porch lined with black, white and pink flag bunting and a welcome sign featuring the whimsical black elephants.  Little did they know, but those black elephants were on parade inside the house!  From the desserts to the presents and games, elephants everywhere!

Cupcakes were topped with charming fondant toppers by Brittany at Edible Details who recreated our elephant and polka dots perfectly!  Aren’t they just adorable?  My favorite picture from the whole shower is my sister holding a cupcake over her baby bump!  Only my sister would be willing to put up with me zooming in to get just the right picture!

My older sister, Jennifer, crafted a coordinating diaper cake which created a playful centerpiece for the living room along with much discussion about it’s fabulousness!  We had such a hard time getting a good picture of it but let’s just say that many of the guests thought it was a real cake!  Additional flag bunting wrapped the front table where guests dropped off their gifts while signing the baby book and grabbing a matching name tag.  A plush toy elephant and soft blocks, custom made by Little Sidekick in funky black and white fabrics, added an extra touch of decor and a gift for my niece to keep!

Of course, I designed the cake with it’s sassy cupcake liner flower. {A tutorial on how to make this flower is coming your way soon…}  Additional desserts included meringue cookies, cream puffs, mint truffles and cheesecake shooters (recipe here). Lime Tea Punch and lemon water was served to wash it all down.

To help balance the sugar rush, we served up portions of mixed nuts and white cheddar popcorn in paper cones.  Baby Addison’s Grandpa even got into the shower spirit and made custom stands for the popcorn cones.  Like I said, this was a team planning event!

It was such a great day, showering Ashley with love and well wishes as we welcomed her sweet baby girl.  A huge thank you to Jennifer, Sheila and Sunny for all of their help with this shower.  From the countless planning emails to the shopping, baking, sewing and crafting…  I think we make a pretty good team!

Thanks to Jenn at Hostess with the Mostess for featuring our Elephants on Parade Baby Shower!  You can see and read more about it in her post HERE.

VENDORS & CREDITS:
Party Styling:  Carrie Sellman of Half Baked
Invitation & Paper Goods:  Half Baked on Etsy
Fondant Cupcake Toppers:  Edible Details
Decorated Sugar Cookies:  The Cookie Jar
Diaper Cake:  Jennifer Niehoff
Plush Elephant & Baby Blocks:  Little Sidekick
Cake:  Carrie Sellman of Half Baked

It’s Friday again and we have an adorable cake to wrap up the week!  I’m really loving all of the woodland forest themed parties that have popped up over the last year.  Most of them tend to be birthday parties but a woodland theme is perfect for a baby shower as well.  Just think of all the furry, baby woodland animals.  The only thing cuter than a baby animal is a baby baby… it’s a match made in heaven!  And this baby shower cake is a simple yet sophisticated take on the woodland theme.  It is perfectly groomed and definitely well dressed.  Take a peek at this incredible Woodland Forest Baby Shower Cake created by Jeanne, of The Well Dressed Cake.

A very special thank you to Jeanne, of  The Well Dressed Cake in New Hampshire, for sharing her charming Woodland Forest Baby Shower Cake with us.  You can see more of her amazing cake creations on her website and Facebook Page.

Happy Friday everyone!