Throwback Thursday

While baking up a large batch of cookies last night, I was reminded of the cookie trays I made up for all my co-workers shortly after my son was born.

Camden came 2 weeks early and I ended up missing my last week of work and the baby shower that was planned for me. I ended up going in a couple days after his birth to clean up a few items, and I was given a beautiful gift basket and a Babies’R’Us gift card that helped buy us some of the larger baby items we needed.

Since my co-workers were so incredibly generous with my baby gift I wanted to find a nice way to try and thank everyone that contributed. I never got to say a proper goodbye to most of them and I felt a bit guilty that they also had to miss out on yummy baby shower treats. When thinking of what I could do for a thank you, I remembered that we sometimes got boxes of Cookies by George to the office at Christmas and they were always very well received. Unfortunately I had just gone on maternity leave and ordering cookies wasn’t something in the budget, so I decided to DIY and bake up my own variety of cookies.

Cookie flavors I included were:

Oatmeal Raisin
Gingersnaps – get my recipe here.
White chocolate and Macadamia nut
Rolo Filled Chocolate Cookies
Mini M&M chip cookies

I worked for a large company, with staff among four different office buildings, so I ended up making a tray to drop off to each of the lunch rooms. The cookie baking was time consuming, but I stuck with basic recipes and it went faster then I expected. It also helped that I had an easy newborn that liked to nap!

The large plastic trays came from the Dollar Store and I simply lined them with a bit of parchment paper before neatly stacking the cookies on them. For the cost of the trays and a few baking supplies, I think my thank you gifts turned out great. I will admit the cookies weren’t quite as good as Cookies By George, but they were all still pretty tasty. And on my visit I am not sure what my co-workers were more excited to see – me, the new baby, or the giant platters of fresh baked cookies!

Celebrations

Throwback Thursday: Mickey Wedding Invites

July 17, 2014 chantelledoll

Today marks the day we said our vows at ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’. 7 years later, my love for my husband and my love for all things Disney has not faded!

I was quite shocked when my husband-to-be agreed to the whole idea of a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, but I am so happy he did. It was the perfect intimate venue and I was able to incorporate small touches of Mickey Mouse throughout. Can you spot the hidden mickey in my bouquet?

For my invites I wanted something clean and modern. I wanted it to say Disney without looking kiddy or cartoonish so I ended up settling on this subtle mouse ear graphic. Luckily I only had a dozen or so invites to make, so I printed, cut and assembled all the different elements all on my own.

Because it was a destination wedding and we sent the invites so far ahead of time, I also included save-the-date fridge magnets with our wedding website address.

Did you know you can “invite” Mickey and Minnie to your wedding or birthday and they will mail you back a photo and a pin? The address is:

Mickey Mouse
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-00100

And I just made the happy discovery today that July 17 is also the anniversary date of Disneyland opening which makes our anniversary date all that much more magical. We were married in the year where every other couple seemed to be getting married on 07/07/07, so our date always seemed a little dull. Happy 59th Anniversary Disneyland!

Thankfully our wedding was planned long before the days of Pinterest, and before I became really interested in party planning. I know if I was planning today I would be making a lot more work for myself via DIY projects. It was truly an amazing day and looking back there are very few things I would change about our special day.

One other fun element I did work on for the wedding was the program fans. It was a pain to hand cut all the Mickey silhouettes, but I loved the way they turned out in the end.

Thank you to my wonderful husband who continues to work hard to make all our dreams come true. I love looking back at our wedding and trip photos and can’t wait to start planning for our 10 year anniversary trip to Disney World in 2017!

Celebrations

Throwback Thursday: DIY Cake Smash Session

July 10, 2014 chantelledoll

I hadn’t intended to do a cake smash session with Keira, but the day after her Cupcake Themed First Birthday Party I still had the entire giant cupcake cake untouched because the guests had enjoyed one too many of the mini cupcakes before cake time. At first I was upset the cake would be wasted, but then realized it was the perfect opportunity to grab a leftover tablecloth, relocate the birthday banner from my dining room to the fence and go outside for an impromptu cake smash session with my little girl.

Keira was more then happy to have her new puppy join in on the action. We got Rumbull a couple weeks before Keira’s first birthday so he is still just wee in these photos.

And then it was time to clean-up:

It has only been a year, but it is hard to believe the difference in both my babies.

Photoshoots with the kids usually end up with both them and myself melting down, but I am always glad I took the effort when I look back on the moments I have captured.

Celebrations, Parties, Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday – Jones Soda Baby Shower Favors

May 29, 2014 chantelledoll

My old coworker and friend is expecting a baby any day now and recently posted facebook pictures of the adorable Jones Soda bottle favors her sister made for her baby shower. It reminded me of the Jones Soda favors I had created for my own shower and prompted me to have my own Throwback Thursdays on Dolled Up Design to feature some of my older projects.

My baby shower was less of a shower and more of a meet-and-greet, taking place a month or so after Camden was born. My sister was kind enough to come up to my house to host it, but I wanted to be involved so I ended up making the cupcakes, cookies and favors for it. I think this was the first glimpse into my insane party planning that was to come!

The theme was a Boy Shower, playing off the classic poem “What are little boys made of? Snips, and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails”. It was co-ed and my sister served up boy-friendly foods such as chicken wings and sliders. There was also plenty of beer for the male (and female) guests!

For the favor bottles, I incorporated the rhyme as the ingredients portion of the Soda bottle labels and used the nutritional information section to include my little guys birth stats. Once the template was done, it was pretty quick to edit so I ended up doing 3 versions for the 3 different flavors of Soda I had.

To create the labels I simply printed them onto photo paper using my home printer, and then attached them to the bottles with strong double sided tape.

This is such a fun and versatile idea! I have seen it used for everything from weddings to first birthday parties. Since her baby isn’t here yet, my co-worker’s featured pictures of her husband and herself as babies. Really, the sky is the limit when it comes to picking images and changing label information and even choosing a soda type that color coordinates with your event!