Pepper Design Blog

Faux Birch Centerpieces for an Outdoor Party

I love the look of this diy faux birch vase by Love & Lace. Wouldn’t it look lovely grouped in a set of three (at varying heights) as a centerpiece for an outdoor wedding or party? I’d house a beautiful bouquet of white flowers (such as peonies, garden roses and wax flowers) in each, or even long branches (like manzanita or pussy willow) that would stretch up over the center of a table.

Check out the full project and step-by-step directions by Stephanie here. It’s the perfect alternative to buying the real deal at ~$20 a pop…

Stephanie turned hers into gifts (a great favor idea), and because it’s essentially a decorated tin, made beautiful cookie containers out of the birch project! You could also use them as indoor decor for the mantle, dining room table or a kitchen nook. Be sure to check out her very creative blog while you’re visiting, too.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Grow, Baby, Grow: We’ve Reached the Finish Line

I try not to overwhelm the blog with too many baby update posts… I know it detracts from the design element of the site and that it’s not super high on everyone’s priority list (though we can hardly contain the excitement over here!) but I thought it would be fun to provide the occasional 3 month update on the belly and impending baby arrival.

Well, we’ve officially reached the finish line! Here’s the announcements from month 3 and month 6, and here’s the most recent photo update looking back through month number 9!

Kevin and I cannot believe that there’s a little person in there!

Choosing an outside photo location was not such a great idea considering the lighting of different times of the day (aligning that one correctly each month would have been a bit difficult) but overall I think this growing-baby-belly experiment was successful. It’s been neat to record the progress of the bump for use in a future baby photo book and just for oohing and ahhing over here by Kevin and me.

On another note, we’ve celebrated with a few wonderful showers that I’m excited to share. The first was a coed shower in the Santa Cruz Mountain wine country (where I’m from originally) and the second, a local San Diego shower for friends and family close by.

Kev and I are so fortunate to have family and friends who are just as excited to celebrate with us to welcome this new life. Kevin’s mom threw me a shower in Phoenix earlier in the fall, which I posted about here, and my Mom threw us a shower in October in my hometown of Santa Cruz. Kevin had the chance to participate in this one since it was a coed get-together at a local vineyard.

Don’t worry, I didn’t take part in the wine tasting, but the tour of the vineyard and chance to catch up with family and friends was wonderful!

A fun present for a daddy-to-be (if you’re attending a coed shower any time soon) is a diaper changing tool belt! Kevin received a belt and one of my baby dolls from long time ago – he was timed and had to correctly change (with all of those diaper changing tools) the doll while everyone cheered him on.

My girlfriends in San Diego also threw me a local shower which was so special, and they really went above and beyond when it came to adorable decorations and delicious food. A few of the details included a brunch buffet with a handmade paper flag backdrop, glass mason jars hanging from a lemon tree (we opened presents on big blankets under the tree – how perfect for a beautiful San Diego afternoon) and chai tea favor jars for all guests.

A great game that they put together was a quiz that was first answered by both my mom and Kevin’s, and then passed out to all guests. Questions varied from how much we weighed as newborns to when we took our first step to our favorite baby food, it was really neat to hear what everyone thought and to attempt to answer the questions myself!

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Don’t worry… if you’re not all baby belly crazy like we are right now, updates on the new office/guest bedroom (and its new set of found-by-the-side-of-the-road french doors) and nursery are coming soon.

Happy New Year to you all!

New Year’s Eve Party Inspiration

There are so many inspiring ideas out there for New Year’s Eve! If you’re planning on throwing a dinner or late-night bash, here’s a round up of a few of my favorites. They may not all be designed for New Years (some of the tablescapes are from weddings and photoshoots) but the colors and diy ideas are beautiful.

Sandra from The White Library recently sent over the above Winter Wonderful New Year’s Eve dessert bar. The entire table is so fun but my favorite is the paper lined party trays – what a great idea!

The above Style Me Pretty photoshoot is the perfect combination of a little dash of Christmas filled in with a whole lot of glittery New Years. A dinner party focused on soothing colors such as green, pink and gold would be oh-so-lovely.

This Glitter and Snow themed celebration was sent over by Bird from Bird’s Party. I adore the little details that make this black & white party so special – from the mini glitter disco balls to the cute labels it’s a classic way to ring in the New Year.

This Kate Spade-inspired shoot could easily be modified to create a beautiful New Year’s Eve party. How great are the colors?

I think if I had to pick a theme for a dinner party at our house I would lean towards a rich peacock blue with vintage silver accents setting like this inspirational photoshoot (found here at SMP).

Finally, The Couture Cakery designed a damask-themed dessert table and party (shared recenty at HWTM) that pulls in big white feathers and bold prints perfect for the holiday!

There you have it, five themes to inspire for the final days of 2010! I’m always so surprised at how quickly the week between Christmas and New Years flies by…