I primarily used the Under the Sea clip art set (mentioned in previous post about the invitations) from MyGrafico to make the signs and decorations, but I did mix in a few plastic and more realistic crabs from Michaels. If you're interested in using the invitation or some of the printable decorations for a shower you're hosting, please visit my Etsy shop . I will be very happy to work with you to customize colors and text!
I also placed some coastal grasses in bunches down into small vases I already had on hand, and filled the vases with sand to hold the grass in tight.
I made many sized versions of this crab. For the fishbowls I just printed him out twice, taped him together and used some thick floral wire for "legs" that I could use to stand him up in the sand. I did the same thing with the little starfish in that same clip art package. It's very similar to the technique I used for a Woodland Baby Shower.
I always add the Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms into my party decorating plans. This time I made some very small ones (which I've done before but used them as flowers in a centerpiece arrangement at the Sweet Mod baby shower) to use in the little mobile from my dining room light fixture. Once again I just cut out smaller sizes of the crab, starfish, and a number 1 that I made in photoshop and hung them from the light with fishing line.
For the desserts I used Graul's (a local grocery store in Baltimore--Mays Chapel location) bakery for the cupcakes and they did a fabulous job!! I took a print out of the starfish and crab and they replicated them on the tops of the cupcakes. In the beach pail I made "sand cake", which is just a vanilla oreo and vanilla pudding version of dirt cake (instead of gummy worms I threw in some gummy fish I found at The Fresh Market).
My friend Candy (who makes fabulous things--see for yourself!) made the super cute red and blue stuffed crabs that are on the buffett in the dining room.
I also made a little sign for the front of the house, announcing the location of the party for guests who had never visited before.
I made two different types of favors. Some for adults and then some for the kids. I made little labels for both.
For the adults, I gave out crab shaped cookie cutters (Candy's idea).
In the kids' bags, I placed a cookie cutter (which can be used to cut sandwiches, or play dough, or make pancakes, or cookies) along with some lollipops and a handmade coloring book (see the coloring pages below).
I thought I'd give a charm bracelet a whirl. I like the bracelets that are pretty chunky and colorful. This is just the test run. I'm making a similar long necklace that I hope to add to this post soon.
I found some neat starfish charms that I thought would be cute on earrings. I need to re-shoot these though...it was late at night and natural light would be much better. The brown circle beads are very pretty and look like tortoseshell. The long green bead necklace also needs to be re-photographed. The beads are pretty chunky and cool.
