This week has been chalk full of real parties, and today is no exception.  Today we’re featuring a real baby shower brought to us by the talented Kim Mower, owner of Head of the Table and fellow blogger.  With the most adorable theme and a modern color combination of grey and yellow, what mom-to-be wouldn’t love this Alphabets & Elephants Baby Shower.

“…My friend heather and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Shelly who is preggers with her first child.  Shelly isn’t finding out what she is having so it was the perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite new color combinations: yellow & gray!  To make the gray more baby-friendly, I squeezed cute elephants in whenever I could. Its always special when you can adapt your theme to the guest of honor. Our mama-to-be is a teacher and loves to read, so i thought it only appropriate that i work in the alphabet whenever possible.  I’ve always loved made by girl’s abc poster’s and was able to customize the color to match the party!  Heather was in charge of food and made a delicious brunch including fruit kabobs and lemon sorbet with raspberry/vanilla ice cream.  I was in charge of drinks and of course used that as a chance to show off some more elephants.  It was a wonderful baby shower brunch for all ages.”

A very special thanks to Kim and Heather for sharing this darling shower with us!  Be sure to check out Kim’s blog for even more party inspiration.  And for you party planners in the St. Louis area, check out her chic tableware rental boutique, Head of the Table.

Remember, today is the last day to enter our Cupcake Note Card Giveaway. We announce the lucky winner tomorrow!!

Today’s real party is a modern baby shower that I know you will just love!  The shower itself AND the gorgeous images capturing the event are both the work of Jennifer Skog, a talented photographer we’ve featured before on Half Baked.  Jennifer hosted this shower in honor of her best friend who was expecting her first baby.  The bold color palette of the nursery and two modern art pieces displayed in the nursery were the inspiration for the shower…. a black and white drawing of a Boston Terrier and a cute abstract of little purses.  Put all of that together and what you get is not your typical baby shower.  Let’s take a look at this modern black, white and yellow affair.

“I took a lot of inspiration from one of my favorite designers, Gloria Wong’s French Whimsey themed wedding. I absolutely loved what she did, so I sort of did a mini version similar to it.  I found various different cups, vases and candle holders to paint white and use to hold flowers. We rented the chairs, table cloths, plates and glasses from Stuart Rental. My mom and I mixed her silverware and my silverware (which came from my grandmother) to give the tables a little more of an eclectic look. My mom and I designed, printed and stamped the labels ourselves.  My good friend Karen of Fresh Bloom provided the flowers….Karen made these totally cute arrangements with white branches and yellow blooms. I have a bunch of crystals on hand from my own wedding and marketing supplies, so we used them to hang crystals from the branches…. My new studio manager, Mel helped me bake the cookies. They match the shape of her dog and purse pictures. To cut the cookies, I printed out a large version of her artwork and traced the lines with folded up foil and wire. I was able to cut out the perfect shapes! My mom helped me frost them. We used them as our favors!”


From the purse shaped flower arrangements to the black and white dog cookies, I just adore this shower.  It is not your typical baby shower – it’s so much better!  A special thanks to Jennifer for sharing her images with us.  You can see more of Jennifer’s stunning work on her website and blog.

Coming up later this week, yet another modern baby shower you’ll love… only this one is yellow and grey!  And, be sure to enter our Cupcake Note Card Giveaway if you haven’t already.  We announce a winner on Friday!

I know, I know.  The holidays are over.  Everyone is back at the daily grind and I really should be moving on.  But today we’re going to take one last look at something sparkly, festive and completely holiday.  Then I promise to let it go.

Today’s real party was hosted by yours truly.  New Years Eve at the Sellman house was filled with good friends and laughter with food and drinks aplenty.  I’m really smitten with the color grey right now.  To spice it up a little, I added some glitz with silver and crystal accents.  Let’s take a look.

The illusion of a table ‘runner’ was created by tightly aligning candles, silver snowflakes, various silver ornaments, crystals and mini disco balls down the center of the table.  Off to the side, a ‘Celebration Buffet’ allowed guests to help themselves to tiaras, beads, feather boas and party horns (which much to my dismay, did not make any noise – what kind of party horn doesn’t make noise?).

On the menu was a mixture of finger foods to include cheese straws, a ham and cheese puff (much like a monte cristo), shrimp cocktail with lemon aioli, pigs in the blanket and individual ramekins of mac and cheese.  For dessert, mini cheesecakes topped with chocolate or raspberry and dark chocolate truffles.  The night was topped off with bubbly Prosecco at midnight.

I hope your holidays were filled with family, friends and delicious food.  Now, no more looking back because we have so much coming up this year to be excited about, like a great new giveaway on Thursday.  Here’s to a fabulous 2010!

Merry Christmas!  May you have a wonderful holiday season filled with family, friends, laughter and an abundance of sweet treats.

Wishing you a safe, happy and healthy holiday season.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Today’s the last day to get your holiday prep finished, and the last day of our countdown.  So let’s take a look at our top four favorite Christmas ideas for 2009.

Throwing a holiday party can take a significant amount of time and planning.  As guests, we simply show up, relax and enjoy a fun filled night with our friends.  So how can we show our host that we appreciate their effort?  A simple hostess gift will do the trick.  Here are some great ideas so that you don’t show up to the party empty handed.

I am quite enamored with the color combination of grey and pink.  Today’s post is gorgeous real wedding that features these colors AND a cruffles bar.  I was in love with this wedding at first site!

If you’re thinking “Cruffles, what?” then you may recognize these little treats by their more common name – cake balls.  Add a lollipop stick and you’ve got yourself a cake pop.  But somehow calling them cruffles does sound more appropriate for a fab wedding like this one!  Whatever you call them, these little morsels are like a cake truffle.  Bite-sized balls of moist cake that are hand dipped in a chocolate or vanilla coating to create the perfect little indulgence.  This mouth-watering cruffles bar is the creation of Cuca Lu in Dallas.

There are so many things to love about this wedding.  All of the little details add up to a well coordinated event that is just stunning.   Props to A Stylish Soiree on their floral design and event decor.