An Old Fashioned Baby Shower [Card]

Keeping with my Bestie's love of all things vintage and shabby chic (and because I found these great planters at Goodwill, her mom and I have decided to throw her a vintage baby shower.

I'll put pictures up of everything as it comes together, but first and foremost, I am so proud of my two vintage cards that I changed to make look like her and her husband. I'll show the original and my edits.

If you're wondering how I did it...two softwares: GIMP and FotoFlexer. GIMP is an online, free to download photoshop-light that allows you to add layers. And FotoFlexer is an online free to use editing software that I've been using for years.

The Original Card

Beautiful, touching, but she does NOT have black hair

So Gimp:

Use the lasso tool to select the area you want to recolor

Go to: Layer: Add new layer

Pick the color that you want to recolor it 

Use the fill bucket

In most cases you then go to the layer menu and select mode from "normal" to "overlay." HOWEVER, if your color is lighter than the original, that doesn't work.

So I chose mode as "lighten only"

Looks a little unnatural. But not TOO bad.

I then went back to "layer" and merged down the layers together and saved it / exported it.

The I went to fotoflexer.com

I uploaded the image

I selected the "effects" tab

Then "tint" and chose a light pink color to tint the entire image.

It took away the starkness of the orange hair, and it gave it a beautiful vintage feel. 

Second card:

She and her hubby both have red hair. His is more blonde with a little red and a redish beard. Hers is red red. 

Found this adorable brunette couple and a baby card:

Gorgeous but they're not brunette.

So off to gimp:

So Gimp:

Use the lasso tool to select the area you want to recolor

Go to: Layer: Add new layer

Pick the color that you want to recolor it 

(I picked an bright orange/red for her hair)

Use the fill bucket

Go to the layer menu and select mode from "normal" to "overlay." 

Tada! Hers looks great. 

Merge layers.

His hair: trickier. 

I once again do the 

So Gimp:

Use the lasso tool to select the area you want to recolor

Go to: Layer: Add new layer

But here's where I have to change it up.

I add four new layers, all of the cutout of his hair.

The first layer I made very light blonde and picked "Lighten Only"

Then I combined the two.

The second layer I made a darker blonde

"overlay"

The third layer a light red "overlay"

The fourth layer a medium red "overlay."

Pick the color that you want to recolor it 

Merge them all.

You get this:

Not bad, but he has a beard.

I google beard drawings. 

I pick one:

I go to fotoflexer and use the "smart cutout" tool to leave ONLY the beard and no background.

I then "tint" the beard:

Tada! Now I layer it over the original picture and I erase off the extra edges and tilt it to fit.

Tada! I made an Aliya & Cody vintage card!

If you want to make the vintage cards you love look like the people you love feel free to use my techniques. And if you don't know what to do for something you can always ask me or google is your friend. And because Gimp and FotoFlexer are both free you can play around on them as long as you want until you get your desired result. 

Picnic Party Decorations

So next I'm going to start on the decor, and how I picnic-a-fied this party. I'm going to let you in on all my little secrets, and how you can copy them.


Tablecloths:

Wanna know how much each of those tablecloths cost?

$1!

The yellow and white one came from the $1 bins in Target. It's paper

The pink and white came from Biglots, it's plastic. 

The two pitchers on the floor used to lemonade and tea: $1 each, dollar tree

Instantly things look more like a picnic when you have gingham going on.

I also had a polka dot table cloth that was just left over fabric I used to cover a table. 

Baskets:

All four baskets: GOODWILL $1.91 each

The huge picnic basket with the rolled up towels and blankets in it I bought years ago and have used as a trust picnic basket since. When the party was planned for outside there was a "Grab a Sheet and Take a Seat" sign that went with that picnic basket, but as it was inside most everyone sat in chairs and couches and a few just hovered standing up instead. 

The basket on the polka dot table was filled with plates, forks, spoons, knives, and napkins for everyone to start off the "picnic" feel, and the green plastic bucket next to it (purchased for $1 at dollar tree) was filled with ice for drinks. 

The blue basket I stuffed with tissue paper and veggie chips that I bought by the case at Sams for $8 for 24 bags. Nobody ate all of them, and I get to eat them myself. I hadn't bought them specifically for the party, but I had a huge box of them and dumped them in the basket.

The final basket was a beautiful (broken) picnic basket. It had a front latch but nothing for it to latch onto up top and no handles for carrying. I took from my home:

wired gingham ribbon, high tension beading floss, and a hot glue gun and made my own handles for it. For the full description of how I made the basket whole again check out my "Present" post.

Pictures

The two puzzle piece framed pics were simply pictures of the bride and groom that were cute, and I had them printed at Walgreens as 5x7s. Walgreens is an amazing place to get pictures for things because they often have the 99 cent print sale. Even printing at home when you factor in the amount of ink and paper you're using, you can't beat that deal. So both of the 5x7s were $1.50 each, and then I got all of the 4x6 prints for the bulletin board at 99 cents a print. Those were really the most expensive buy, but I had wanted to make that board for her. I spent about $25 on photo printing. I will detail the making of the board in the "Presents" post.

But as far as the making of the two 5x7 photos: I simply took the puzzle pieces I had cut out of scrapbook pages that looked like vintage valentine cards and layered them around the photographs securing with hot glue. Then the oversized clothes pins were $1 each from the bargain bins in Michaels. 

I also printed a on cardstock: Write your well wishes and marriage advice for the happy couple's scrapbook and used the three pages of cabbage roses for people to write on. I framed the words with Ivy for both her ivy wedding theme and the picnic theme. 

Also on the gingham table: bridal shower bingo. For 10 cards it was $2 at Michael's in the bridal aisle. It had one page that was filled out, and the rest I had to fill in with sharpie on gifts I assumed she would be getting (by checking her registry). It was a cute and easy game, and the prize was a "manicure kit" that actually came from dollar tree. $1, and I already had the bag it came in. 

Finally the gift and card Table:

I used the same website as before:

http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/invitation-suites/free-printable-ombre-wedding-invitations/

I just used the "favor" setting instead of invitation setting

My inspiration for the card box:

http://pinterest.com/pin/141089400799102266/

I used an old suitcase that was my grandmother's that I've had for years. 

And then outside (even though it rained on them) I put signs to lead the way:

I bought three signs from dollar tree ($3 total) that had stakes in them

Then I hot glued poster paper to them (1 pink above, 1 green, and one green with a pink border) that all said "Bridal Shower". 

2 pieces of poster paper from dollar tree $2

Sign total $5

So let's tally up what the decorations cost:

Tablecloths: $2

Baskets: $7

Pictures (self framed) $3

Shower Game: $2

Gift / Card Area: $0

Grand Total for decorations: $19

Not bad, Eh?