bridal shower decor

Recently, I worked on a few projects with two other bridesmaids in preparation for my sister’s-in-law bridal shower.  My husband’s cousin, who {poor thing} is on pregnancy bed rest, offered to do most of the work. She cut up mountains of fabric rectangles and triangles so that we could make fabric wrapped vases, personal-sized tissue holder covers as favors, and flag garlands.  She put the vases together on her own, and then she, my other sister-in-law, and I got together for a sew-a-thon the night before the shower to make the favors and garlands.

The idea for the vases came from this post at Once Wed, although we used materials we had on-hand (packing tape and hot glue). What is so nice about this idea is that you can use any vase that has non-curvy sides.  You could make a set of coordinated vases that are different shapes (cylinders, rectangles, squares).  We happened to luck out because a friend of mine lent us a set of eight square vases.  But vases of varying shapes and sizes would have been great as well.  All of the fabric is Denyse Schmidt’s County Fair.  I was so pleased with how nicely it coordinated with the cafe at the Fuller Craft Museum where the event was held. (So pleased, in fact, that I made sure the bride’s blindfold was matchy as well.) My mother-in-law came up with idea for the palettes and paint brushes mixed in with the flowers for the centerpieces. It was the perfect little touch to personalize the party for this particular bride, who is an artist. Each bridesmaid brought two bunches of tulips and we assembled the arrangements just before the shower. The food by Lavishly Dunn was excellent and the cake, which was decorated to match the fabric, was delicious.  It all made for a lovely afternoon.