Gaga Over These DIY Diaper Babies

DIY diaper babies for baby shower idea

It’s been awhile since I have purchased, or changed a diaper. I don’t miss changing dirty diapers at all, but I do miss the days when my kids were tiny. The days of those precious newborn smells, first giggles, first steps and holding those tiny hands passed by in the blink of eye. Working with diapers again had me reminiscing on all those wonderful times.

Whether the days of diapers are in your past, present or future, these DIY diaper babies are worth making. They make the perfect gift for new moms, or a fun baby shower activity.

I shared all the details with Momtastic, so check it out here.

Ladies Bachelorette Weekend at the Beach

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There are so many things about this photo shoot that make us happy. Not only do we love the girly bachelorette party happening, and the custom gold foil shirts with numbers on the front and Mrs. on the back, but also the candid beach shots and the tradition behind the whole thing {keep reading}.

These women make us…
1. want to take the time away from our busy lives to make special memories with our girlfriends
2. remind us that we’re never too old to play with balloons on the beach
3. before there was a Mr. in our lives, there was a Ms./Mrs. by our side

We’ve been blessed by amazing girlfriends in our lives, and what a gift it is. Never underestimate the power of a good girlfriend. When you surround yourself with smart, strong, respectable, kind and honest women that bring out the best in you, you are surrounding yourself with joy, friendship and love.

This is such a cool story to go along with these beautiful photos from Linda Fourie Photography, so make sure you read it in Lizanda’s {one of the ladies} words.

We are a group of friends from University, and when the first one of us got married, we pledged to have a weekend away dedicated to each one of us, where the Bachelorette does not know about anything, and gets surprised and spoiled.
 
Margot was the last of the seven to get married, so we decided to have a shoot to celebrate the last weekend and our friendship. 
 
The plan would be that Linda would start taking ‘stalker’ photo’s of us in a local coffee shop. It was really funny when Margot said “Guys, I swear that woman is taking pictures of us!” So she was quite happy to find out that we had a shoot planned.
 
We just had fun walking around Hermanus and Linda, our photographer, was great!
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Vendor Love
Photography: Linda Fourie Photography
Location: Hermanus, South Africa
Coffee shop: Oskars Delikatessen 
Beach: Harbour and Grotto beach

 

Bloom into Spring with DIY Watercolor Flower Cups + Giveaway

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Clearly, Jessica is in the mood for paper cups and watercolor this spring. Jenna was described as the ‘flower child’ growing up, but it seems Jessica’s inner flower child is coming out now. First came the bunnies, and then came the flowers.

Our Nani, fabulous as ever at age 79, is a proper lady that loves to entertain and host. She’s good at it, too. Amazingly, she has more energy then we do. Just like mother’s do, she will still walk up to us at a party {even in our 20’s and 30’s}and remind us to say hi to Mr. and Mrs. so and so, and congratulate them on their recent successes. We never understood it until we became mothers. Being the hostess with the mostess that she is, the thought of using plastic and paper glassware and flatware at a party is unbearable. It must always be china or glassware.

But, these DIY watercolor flower cups got the seal of approval from good ‘ole Nani P. They are paper, but they look lovely, and they don’t look cheap. You can fill them with water, juice or a fave cocktail, or fill them with a favor. They make for a great place card, too, with custom names painted on them. Use them for Easter, a spring brunch, bridal shower or baby shower.

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If you like them, and think they would be a great fit for your next event, follow us on instagram, then tag a friend in comments under the photo of these cups. Those who follow and tag will be entered to win a set of 30 of these watercolor cups for FREE – you can choose to receive a variety, or pick your faves. We are not professional artists, and what you see is what you get. But, for free, they are darn adorable. Giveaway starts March 25 and ends March 31, 2015. Giveaway is not sponsored by Instagram. Names are NOT included on cups for giveaway. Good luck.

Questions? Email us at hello@jsorelle.com.

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To make them, you’ll need:

  • Paper Cups {$1 for a pack of 10}
  • Watercolor paints
  • Brush
  • Water

The amazing one step tutorial is…explore floral inspiration in your head, online or on a print, experiment with watercolor paint.

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{images via j. sorelle}

sweet peony

We’re obsessed with peonies, so when we saw these pretty images by Becky Young Photography from her sister’s bridal shower, and peonies were in the details, we were in love.

The soft colors, ribbon backdrop, sweet peony arrangements by the one and only Cori Cook and desserts made for one lovely bridal shower. And according to Cori, the bride, Jenny, is as sweet as pie. We want to meet her…and see her August wedding!


VENDOR LOVE
photography: Becky Young Photography
florist: Cori Cook 

{images via Becky Young Photography}

coffee for 2

I wanted to spruce up a wedding gift for an upcoming shower with a cute prop to go along with the gift. I bought the bride a complete set of “Coffee” Mugs from Crate and Barrel, but instead of just giving her a wrapped package, I made a DIY Chalkboard tray for the couple so they could have coffee for two together…hopefully forever! Here’s how you can do it too…for a gift, or for yourself!

First I made coffee filter flowers.

You’ll Need
30-35 coffee filters
A stapler
Scotch tape or painters tape

How To
Stack 5-6 coffee filters on top of one another.
Fold the coffee filters in quarters, and then open again {you will just have ‘seams’ from the fold}.
Use your fingers to pinch the bottom of all the coffee filters so you have four seams, and then staple it on the bottom.


Then pull each filter up one at a time, and bunch it together.


Continue to do that, until you have gathered each coffee filter around the center, and you have a flower. From the gathering process, you will have a ‘stem’ on the bottom, so wrap a piece of tape around the ‘stem.’

Then, I made the tray.

You’ll Need:
A cookie sheet
Chalkboard Paint
Rope
A Drill
Chalk

First I primed the cookie sheet with a Primer, spray painted it with Chalkboard paint, glued handles on the sides and Voila, right? Nope, not the case for me.  An hour and a half before the party, the gold handles fell off {and I used Gorilla Glue}, along with some paint. So, when I saw rope on the garage floor, I got to work on Plan B {my dad came through like a super hero…despite his dislike for DIY projects}, and then I had to re-paint it. Honestly, it’s cuter than Plan A – it just stressed me out more than I intended…and made me late for the shower.

How To
Use an electric drill to drill 2 holes on each side of the cookie sheet. Thanks Dad!
If you have pieces of metal sticking out or the edges are rough, use a sand block or a hammer to smooth it out.
Cut pieces of rope for the handles.
Prime the cookie sheet with paint primer.
Spray paint the cookie sheet 2 times {allowing appropriate time in between each layer for it to dry}.

Wrap a piece of duct tape around one end of the rope so you can easily fit it into a hole. On the other end, tie a knot.
Insert the rope, duct tape end, from the bottom-up of one hole, insert it down in the other hole, tie a knot, and then remove the duct tape and cut the leftover rope.


Write “Coffee for 2” on the cookie sheet, or even a game of tic tac toe.

Fill each mug with coffee filter flowers {I used Scotch tape to keep the flowers in place in the mugs}.

Add the mugs, a package of coffee, an ‘I love you more than coffee’ tag {from Fleur de Lis} and you have yourself an adorable prop for your gift.

{images via Tutto Bella}