The Modern Farm Girl

When my friends told me that they wanted to hold a baby shower for me, I was not excited in the least.  I am NOT a “shower” type girl and a bit of a control freak, so we compromised and they agreed to let me be involved in the planning of my shower.  I was adamant that there would be no shower games, and I wanted the feeling of the shower to really reflect my values and the type of pregnancy I had.

I’ve always loved earthy colors and nature inspired surroundings, so that’s what I searched for when coming up with a shower “theme.”  I came up with a “Rustic-Chic” theme and I was able to find inspiration from there.  I searched baby shower sites and blogs and scoured Pinterest to find elements that I wanted to include in my shower.  One of the first pieces of inspiration was a burlap baby sign that I found on Etsy.  Once that was set, everything fell into place.

Almost everything used was local & recycled.  A friend happened to have old burlap feed bags, so we made the name sign with that, jute rope and wooden beads.  We used the left over burlap to line the food tables at the shower.  Local wood was cut into small stools so that we could stagger the food and bring a visual depth to the set up.  The succulents and other small greenery pieces came from Hope Bloom’s, our local flower shop.  The owner, Heidi Guertner was kind enough to let me borrow all these props.  The jars and glasses came from my own home, as did the moss rocks and pinecones.

Click Here for the Gluten-Free Almond Lemon Cake Recipe….YUM

I decided to keep the food really simple and “organic.”  I have Celiac’s and cannot have gluten, so I took it upon myself to come up with most of the food ideas.  Nuts, fruit, olives, crackers, cheese and a gluten free soup covered most of the menu and I made a variety of gluten free cupcakes and a gluten free almond lemon cake for dessert.   I also included chocolate from our local chocolate store, Arrowhead Chocolates.  For a beverage we offered lemon-cucumber water and homemade lemonade.  Mason jars were used as cups.

For party favors, we put together simple brown lunch bags that included a Blessingway Candle, a bag of tea and a local chocolate from Arrowhead.  We decorated the bags with tree moss and labels that I printed out on my own computer.

The only items at the shower that weren’t local or re-used were some paper lanterns that I purchased for the nursery and used at the shower.

Overall, the day came off without a hitch.  I think the set up was beautiful and the day was peaceful and perfect with all my friends surrounding me.

Venue: A friend’s house in Joseph, OR

Photography: Indie Photography

Stylist & Planner: Nicole Slater & Jill Doughtery

Cake & Cupcakes: Nicole Slater

Chocolates: Arrowhead Chocolates

Silk Flowers in Nicole’s Hair: Dawn Alderman

Flower & Succulent Accents: Heidi Guertner of Hope Blooms, Enterprise OR