Sunshine Farms Gets A Whole Lot Sweeter!

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One of the biggest treats of this blogworld is the opportunity to make friends and hopefully meet them in person and work together one day. Operation Shower holding events all over the country is allowing me to do just that and I have to say, it is FUN!

One such instance is the sheer pleasure and honor of working with Marie from Sweets Indeed. You know her work. She is just as amazing as a person as she is as a designer. She's gone above and beyond helping with so much more that just desserts. She's now a huge Operation Shower cheerleader and networker. Thanks, Marie!

I know what you really want to see though is her work. I can't blame. Girl is GOOD!
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Isn't it stunning? Just look at all the hand cut out work alone! Those mini cupcakes in egg cartons, the mini banana pudding, the gorgeous cookies...it's all just too much!
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I love how Marie took the printable elements that Jenn of Hostess With The Mostess designed and used them to embellish her sweets area. Superb collaboration!
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Loving that old wine rack used to hold caramel corn cones. Great reuse!
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Click on the pictures to enlarge, because you will want to see all the detail on that fondant cow and those amazing cookies!
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Miniature pies for the shower weren't enough for Marie. Nope. She worked with her vendor to create pies to go for all the moms! Check out all of Marie's vendors below for all the sweet scoop!
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Thank you again, Marie. You helped take this event to another level! Thanks to all of your fabulous vendors who donated as well!

Vintage prop pieces: Found Vintage Rentals

Southern Banana Pudding Dessert Shots: Vanilla Bake Shop

Strawberry Cheesecake Fudge: Jewel of the Lion

Mini Cupcakes: Heavenscent

Fondant Cow: Half Baked Co.

Decorated Cookies: Rizza Raglin

Mini Pies and Take-away pies: Porch Pies

Sweets Indeed provided the popcorn and all decor, etc.

Welcome To Sunshine Farms

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The most recent Operation Shower event, "Sunshine Farms", was a smashing success. This shower was held at The Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on January 25th.

There are so many pictures to share that I will break this down into a couple of posts! Click on any picture to enlarge!

Today's posts will focus on some of the decor. You will want to come back tomorrow though for the adorable sweets station by none other than, Sweets Indeed!

Let's get started!

When guests entered they immediately saw a veritable bounty of gifts in our "Gift Garden" and "Raffle Ranch" areas.
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Don't you love that signage? A big thank you to Hostess With The Mostess herself, Jenn, for doing all the printables and graphic design for this shower and for coming out to help!
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(An exhausted but excited pair...Jenn and yours truly)
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The Gift Garden included diapers, adorable and cuddly items from Cloud B and the most lovely handmade blankets for each mom, made by a local mom and her teenage daughter. Thank you, all!
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Thanks for having such great Raffle Ranch handwriting, Andrea! Don't you love that little chair by Jennifer Delonge? Kirby Ink created a special "Sunshine Farms" print for one lucky mom, too.
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Sun setting on set up day over the 14th green at Torrey Pines.
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The next morning. Get ready...here we go!
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Heavenly Blooms went above and beyond in donating all the gorgeous florals you see. When they all arrived in boxes it was a stunning sight to see. Thank you, Jaclyne!
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Centerpieces were a mix of pails with kid sized garden tools, toy wheelbarrows filled with hay and fresh veggies and florals with mini haybales. We mixed all of that with basic black and white linens donated by Celebrity Weddings, runners made from burlap, sushine yellow plates, mason jars for drinking glasses and Jenn's fabulous printables. (Details of printables to come soon)
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Don't you love these aerial shots? All photos are by my friend of over 25 years, LeeAnn Widyn. Widyn Photography is based out of Dallas, Texas so if you live there, check her out. She's amazing.
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Thanks to our friends and partners at March of Dimes and Kmart for everything you do and everything we do together! Additional thanks to The PGA TOUR, Farmers Insurance, Ashford University and AT&T.
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Okay, that is post #1. I promise there is so much more to come. To see all the photos, head over to Operation Shower's Facebook page and become a fan while you are there!

Beautiful Be Mine On A Budget

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Sorting through all of the Operation Shower photos today to share with you all, and while I do, I had to share this adorable Valentine shoot and garland tutorial sent in by The Busy Budgeting Mama. Isn't it precious?
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Once again The Busy Budgeting Mama shows us how to create a lot of cute for a little cash.
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She even posted this sweet tutorial to show everyone how to make their own garland at home. I love the mix of the cut out hearts, circles and inexpensive doilies.
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Heart doilies are one of my favorite budget Valentine's day decor items. Love it when old is new again!
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Sophia sure seems to be pleased with mom's work!
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Pop over to see more photos and all the 411 on how to recreate all of this yourself for your own Valentine's party.
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Thanks for sharing!

Coming Soon!

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See this adorable, happy mom-to-be? She was one of our special guests at "Sunshine Farms" Operation Shower event last week. I love that smile!

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I cannot WAIT to show you all the pictures and share all the details and talent behind this shower. All the pictures should be in soon so do come back for more Sunshine Farms, ya hear?!

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Photography by my talented friend, LeeAnn, of Widyn Photography.

We LOVE these Operation Give Thanks for Valentine's!

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All New 2011 Custom Printables From Some of Our Favorite Party Sites for Operation Give Thanks! We’ve once again teamed with some amazing party printable talent to bring you sets specially designed to benefit Operation Give Thanks.

For a small $5.00 donation, you can download these simply incredible sets for Valentine’s Day. For as little as $5 you can kick off an amazing Valentine's Day party and give back to some deserving military families at the same time!

Big kids or little kids...there is something for everyone with these sets. Just follow the links to the respective sites to download and donate. Or, donate here!

Take a look at the amazing sets by Paper & Pigtails and Bird Crafts.


Paper & Pigtails...perfect for a Girls' Night In! . .

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Bird's Party can Bee Mine anytime of year!

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In case you don't know... What Is Operation Give Thanks?

Operation Give Thanks is a nation-wide fundraising campaign to help Operation Shower continue our mission to throw amazing baby showers for military families to ease the burden of deployment. We are often asked how to best help Operation Shower. We decided that since Operation Shower gives back to our military families through parties, so can YOU!
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We are asking people across the nation to host parties, big or small, to raise money for Operation Shower. Already hosting a party for a holiday or special event? Why not simply ask guests for a small donation to Operation Shower’s Operation Give Thanks while you are it? What a wonderful way to express your gratitude and thanks at this special time of year — and have fun!
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Our long-term goal is to reach every military base in the nation. Our short-term goal is to raise $50,000 through Operation Give Thanks to enable us to shower over 200 more moms-to-be! That’s right, if you raise $250 for Operation Shower, that helps us to throw a full amazing baby shower with gifts for a military mom to be whose spouse is deployed!

Donate Now!

Huge thanks to Paper&Pigtails and Bird Crafts for creating these sets for us. Don't forget, you can still download the 2010 sets here. Many are still perfect for your next party!

Cool Baby Products to Go Ga Ga (Goo) Over

That is a really lame title for some really cool, funny and hip baby products.

Egg2Cake seriously has some of the cutest, most entertaining things for new moms or moms-to-be.

A clever mom dictionary with all kinds of funny terms is just the start.

Mama needs her sleep and so does baby.

This might be my favorite though. A feeding and diaper log that is so much cuter than your spiral notebook because, let's face it....nothing is cute about diaper changes.

Visit Egg2Cake for these and many other clever and cute baby products.

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Can you tell I'm in baby land getting ready for the Operation Shower event in San Diego next week? I can't wait to share more on that event very soon! Please pardon the sparce posting until then!

Spotlight: Paper & Pigtails

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Have you seen Paper&Pigtails new site? Isn't it dreamy? Love the large photos!

Know what else I love? This adorable Night Owl sleepover set coming soon. Aren't those mattresses just the cutest?

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Stop in and see Kori's new digs and be sure and hit The Shoppe for your next party!