A Baby Shower Inspired by a Woodland Forest

As soon as the girls in my Shepherding Group and I began talking about planning a little boy baby shower for our dear friend Erin, I have been brainstorming nonstop! Another party -- Eeee!

My friend Jody and I were in charge of organizing decor. Ohh, decor. My FAVE. Since I was outta town for a couple weeks, planning didn't really start until a little over a week ago. There had been talk about going with a woodland/forest/fall theme, so I had been looking up ideas for inspiration on all the regular blogs I follow. We found a lot of great inspiration from some of the blogs, especially with felted acorns. All I can say, is Jody and I had a blast creating some pretty awesome, DIY things. Thankfully, Jody is megacrafty like myself, so getting in a fabulous-shower-groove wasn't too difficult. Of course, not many DIY's and amazing decor ideas aren't always cheap, quick-and-easy or stress-free, but it was totally worth it.

Jody and I made each of these fabulous balls by hand! She hand-wound the yarn and twine, I did the moss.

We found some incredible, textured moss at Hobby Lobby.. Jody used wool yarn from her collection (used to crochet Erin's baby blanket).

When looking for inspiration, we came across some "felted acorns". Jody said, "I'm totally gonna do that!" Oh my word, I almost died when I saw them.

Jody made her mouth-watering German Chicken Salad. (I found some pinecones behind our apartment, to use for the food label holders.. Turned out really cute!)

Jody's homemade Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes! 

I made these cute little owl toothpick-toppers..
Credit: Illustrator/artist - del4yo, found here, also see credit below.

Jody hand-dipped pretzel rods in milk chocolate, covered with cinnamon/sugar peanuts (gah!).. We also did these in mini's for the favors..

Bethany made these adorable Caramel Apples with little owl-faces!

Beth made some de-LISH deviled eggs.. (She also found the most yummy, gigantic grapes!)

Favors -- Mini Hand-Dipped Pretzels..

We cut each of these little flags and strung them on hemp-cord. The more we moved the flags around on the cord, the more it frayed -- giving it sort of a twine-ish look.

For our main centerpiece, we combined some sweet, furry green stems (Hobby Lobby) with some branches I 've had for a while, from ZGallerie



{Jody & Me} Proud of all our hard work!



Erin (Mommy-to-Be), Jody, Michelle, Me & Beth

We hung more of our flags in the living room (with a little bowl of pinecones & pumpkins).

Michelle made some really good Apple Cider Punch

Wishing Tree!

Michelle found some awesome branches to make the perfect "tree".







Hand-sewn owl pillow made by Erin's Mom-in-Law



Erin's sister made the cutest baby mobile

After the party began to die down, we posed for a Shepherding Group girls' photo + a few friends!



 
xo

[Photos: Jody Peach]

[Owl illustrations - del4yo - used with the authorization of the author. Please be warned NOT to copy or use these images without contacting illustrator first.

I just wanted to mention.. The images were actually found - exactly as you see them - in a speedy Google-search in preparing for this shower. Among several owl images we found, we chose and quickly began using them and cutting them out, ultimately failing to locate the original source. Unfortunately, there was no watermarking on the single jpeg image that was stumbled upon (containing 4 little owls) - as we would never intentionally use, share, sell or especially "take credit" for images we didn't create.

I have in no way attempted to sell or take credit of the images.

Upon contact from del4yo, I immediately and genuinely apologized for the unintentional usage of her illustrations (posted on my blog and featured on Ohdeedoh without a clear, known source + permission). I immediately provided credit, as well as offered to remove any image - including the entire feature and post seen here. I still feel bad that the situation even happened as it did. Our goal was to plan and create a fun baby shower for our friend. It was absent-minded and careless to use images and post them without identifying the original source first. If the images had been found on del4yo's adorable site or contained any markings, we most definitely would have asked permission before using, or we wouldn't have used them at all. Regardless, credit should have been given prior to posting, and all posts have been credited accordingly. I know that I have taken the correct and immediate steps to resolve any hard feelings or accusations of dishonesty.

I absolutely understand the severity of using ANY images/illustrations without permission of any creator or source and since this post in 2010, I have continued to source any images found/used as accurately and specifically as possible.

[Fonts: wwwkevinandamanda.com]