An Oink and a Moo ... our sweet "Little People" are almost due

For months my life has been consumed planning a baby shower for my niece who is expecting her first baby in January; turned out to be babies.   She’s not so much a girl-ie girl but a country kind’a girl.  She wanted a “John Deereish” themed shower, but I convinced her to allow me a little freedom and promised her she would be happy … and she was.

Her invitations were from etsy: Little Bee’s Graphics – we printed and embellished them.

I decided to use Fisher Price “Little People”, their farm toys are precious.  Here’s what I ended up with:

The banner is hand cut, embellished with baker’s twine, ric rac, ribbon, and buttons.  The corn stalks are made in a tube (of sorts) over a metal rod.  The cobs are made from paper and wrapped with crepe paper, the tassels are jute.  There are four different cakes on the table, but I cheated, only the sheet cake is edible, the others are fondant covered rice crispy cakes for decoration. My Dad was no doubt rollin in his grave over me buying miniature hay bales, even with a Michael’s coupon.   “W” is for Weston, and “A” is for Adeleigh. 

We have a history of twins in the family.  My dad had twin maternal aunts and twin paternal uncles.  Kelsey’s Grandmother Barbara has two sets of twin siblings.  Our guests enjoyed the display with all the twins pictures.   

 The "store bought" sheet cake was topped with toy John Deer Farm equipment.

The children on this cake represent the twins: Adeleigh and Weston

I loved his frog; her blue bird was perfect !

My friend Amanda made the fondant with a simple recipe melting marshmallows, and adding powdered sugar.  She covered the cakes and I helped her decorate them.  I used a small sauce pan as a mold for the rice crispy cakes.  The fence posts are Kit Kat candy bars.

  

 The pig cake is my favorite.  I've had the sweet little pig toy for years; I made the mud puddle and pig rump from pre-packaged fondant. 

The centerpiece on my appetizer/beverage table was a challenge.  I saw these wonderful gigantic (41/2 ft) sunflowers and knew I had to have them, but vases were way outside my budget so I used a plant stand, turned it upside down, wrapped it in poster board, and covered it with paper and chicken wire.  I added the red fabric and a jute ribbon. I was pretty pleased with it, and the price was right !  

  (look close and you can kind'a see the chicken wire)

I made two types of centerpieces: The diaper cake is topped with a toy from 

Oriental Trading Company. It's a cute cow that will fit inside the barn. 

(Afraid we didn't get a very good picture of these).

 

The paper animals, flowers and tractor are cut with scissors and punches (sure wish I had a fancy machine to do this !), the hay bales are raffia wrapped around tiny foam squares.  Some of the paper elements are embossed.  The base is a cake round supported by ping pong balls I spray painted red. 

The pig centerpiece is a puppet from the Dollar Tree, over a tin can and the eggs are painted Easter eggs.  Mums are gorgeous this time of year, and inexpensive (5 for $20); they looked great on the tables.   

The food was wonderful (thanks to someone other than me):  Fresh tossed salad with almonds and mandarin oranges, fried/grilled chicken (of course), green beans, scalloped potatoes, and fresh yeast rolls with honey butter served from a wheel barrow. 

  

We had a huge crowd, mostly family.

She received a ton of really nice gifts.

The day and the shower were perfect. One thing is for certain these babies are 

surrounded by a family that loves them and can't wait to meet them.   

(me, Kelsey, Laura my daughter)

We had a “real” photographer in the group, and I can’t wait to get her pics. I can’t thank everyone enough for all the help !!!  ( ...and as horrible as I look,  I’m look'in pretty good for someone who had a horrible GI bug for the 4 days leading up to the big day, thought the gallbladder might have to come out at one point ! ) 

Thanks for stopping by !!  E