Let's Eat Cake!

I'm thinking of Lemon-Blackberry Cake for the shower! Sounds yummy and summery and I found this great recipe on CountryLiving.com that includes a jazzy blackberry jam filling and a luscious lemon-buttercream icing. Wouldn't this look pretty with one of my nylon dragonflies placed on top? But . . . do I really want to make the cake myself???? Or will I have enough to do? I just haven't made up my mind.

Wishes and Advice

I really hate going to showers that have us playing stupid games like bridal bingo or guess the baby food flavor, so I'm opting out of games at Jenni's shower--they just seem a bit childish. I want the mood to be fun and cheerful and elegant, so I came up with this idea of "Wish Cards". I saw the idea on someone's wedding blog and decided to use it at the shower. Wishes for the Bride have become something of the theme for this shower, so I made these little yellow cards for guests to scribble a wish or even advice for the bride. I thought advice might add a bit of whimsy; maybe I'll have Jenni read them aloud.

I purchased the white lace tablecloth in these pictures at JC Penney on sale for just $25.00--it will be the perfect setting for the luncheon display on my dining room table. Originally, I was going to use a mix and match of china, but decided on paper plates and napkins just to make life a little easier--I found a beautiful spring green square plate at target and matching green and white cherry blossom napkins (that match our specially designed invitations)on PlatesandNapkins.com. I still intend to use wine glasses for all beverages and real china cups for coffee to be served with cake. Look for my menu coming up soon!

A Dragonfly Shower

Mom is also hosting Jenni's Bridal Shower! (Woo-hoo! Lucky me!) It's going to be at the end of June, so we can have it on the deck and use the new sliders that will open into the dining room where I'll set up a luncheon, of tea sandwiches, salads, fruit slices, white wine and lemon water (still perfecting my menu). The idea is elegant, pretty and fun with lots of flowers, a fun music playlist and no silly games! So, I'm going with the dragonfly theme and I'm really loving it!

The Dragonfly is a great bridal shower theme because of its wonderful symbolism: dragonflies signify light and joy, transformation and growth, and all the beautiful things I wish for a daughter who is joining her life with another. Yes, I wish her love and happiness, but I also hope that she can maintain her sense of independence and individuality!

I found these beautiful nylon mesh dragonflies online at A Butterfly Store. I purchased three 4" x 5" yellow dragonflies to stick in vases with the flowers. I just love them--wish I could have bought more.



These are the fabulous tags I came up with for the favors! I purchased several dragonfly cookie cutters online from American Tradition Cookie Cutters for 90 cents a piece to make chocolate candy dragonflies (for how directions click here), which will be placed inside cellophane bags and tied with this pretty white polka-dotted chiffon ribbon, purchased online at The Papermart, and these cute yellow tags.

The tags pick up on the theme of "wishes" with print and paste letters that spell out words like "peace" and "joy" and "love" to name just a few. The dragonfly punch was purchased at Michael's Craft Store for about $10., and the tags are cut from cardstock also purchased at the craft store. Bonus: the punched out dragonflies double as confetti!