My Stork Sprinkle

I was so excited to learn that my baby sprinkle was published in the April edition of Mingle Magazine!! I wanted to share the article I wrote and some of the fabulous photos that Cassandra took!!



Vintage Stork Baby Sprinkle

written by Bryanna Lenan
photographs by Cassandra Van Curen


When I discovered I was expecting a child in early 2012, my husband and I were ecstatic! In March 2011, we lost a baby girl late in pregnancy and the last year had been a long road of recovery for myself, my husband and our 4 year old son, J.J.
I could not wait to share this wonderful news with the family and friends that had held my hand through one of the roughest years of my life.

When I was pregnant with my son, J.J., in 2007 we were not living close to family and friends and so I never had a baby shower. So upon finding out about this new wonderful life growing inside of me, I decided that I really wanted to have a beautiful gathering to not only celebrate a new life but to celebrate the beauty of friendship and female bonding. I knew that I wanted to put a twist on the old southern tradition of an afternoon tea party. I asked my dear friends Cassandra Van Curen and Atina King to host a party with and for me! I was delighted that they not only obliged but spent the next several months making all my baby dreams come true!



A baby shower is generally reserved for first time mothers and so we decided we would have a baby "sprinkle". The idea of a baby sprinkle is that it is more intimate and smaller gathering then a traditional baby shower. Also, most sprinkles engage in a gift idea that includes diapering needs or smaller needed baby items. I decided to cloth diaper so the gift theme was cloth diapers and accessories. This seemed a great way of also introducing another old idea of a stork dropping off a beautiful, chubby, rosy cheeked baby into the welcoming arms of an expecting mother! With this idea in mind, we were on our way to finding a beautiful location that would be host to this vintage cloth diapering and stork birth celebration.

After doing a lot of research and leg work, Atina found the perfect location at The Cottage at Pratt Place Inn and Barn. The Cottage built in 1929 was the home to the Pratt family and carries a long history for Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was the perfect location for an afternoon tea and gathering of friends and family. The Cottage has a a charming "Snow White" appeal and the surrounding gardens and property are breathtaking.



In the meantime, Cassandra, was busy in Dade City, Florida designing invitations and stork decorations. She and I spent months shipping items from Florida to Arkansas -from tea cups and plates to vintage silver platters. We spent hours hunting in antique shops hundreds of miles apart just trying to to make this the perfect celebration!

As the date approached and Cassandra flew into Arkansas, I was a ball of nerves. We had a lot to do and I was moving slowly at 7 months pregnant! It was amazing how everything fell into place and before I knew it I was surrounded with the love and support from my family and friends as we celebrated the upcoming birth of my son, Rick Cash.

Guests were spoiled with tea sandwiches, decadent desserts, homemade cookies, fresh fruit and chilled speciality teas in canning jars. Cassandra, Atina and I worked side by side making all the items on the menu. We had also decided that a baby sprinkle wouldn't be complete without a full sundae bar with several toppings including "sprinkles"!



We hung antique baby clothes passed down from generations on twine throughout the cottage. Window ledges had vintage baby cards and baby booties. Cassandra made stork ornaments and a beautiful stork cake topper. She also set up a charming photo booth for memorable photos of family and friends.

It was a gorgeous day blessed with beautiful weather! It was so amazing to see family and friends and their continued support and love for me and my "growing" family!



Looking back, I can honestly say that I would not have done anything differently. It was such a beautiful celebration of new life, old friends, bonding and support. I am blessed!


The Day after Rick Cash was born Me, JJ and Rick Cash



(this picture not in magazine)

Thank you EVERYONE that attended my shower!

And thank you for looking and keeping up with my blog!

Big Hugs,
Bryanna

oh! Christmas tree!!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is decorating the Christmas tree. Every holiday season I spend days decorating my tree. I am partial to at least 1000 clear lights, silver and glass ornaments, and lots of birds.

Last night, John and I started preparing the Christmas tree to be decorated. JJ has been really excited for several weeks about decorating for Christmas. So while John and I painstakingly tried to figure out what was wrong with our Christmas lights, JJ entertained himself by digging through my ornament boxes. This process of trying to remedy our light problem was of course very frustrating and time consuming and it wasn't long before John and I were at each others throat!! JJ, in the meantime, was pulling out one glass fragile bulb after another with the clumsy enthusiasm of a 5 year old boy!! I found myself hollering at him and soon I had him crying!

I couldn't help but think, "yay! this is fun... um NOT!!".

Finally JJ fell asleep (basically cried himself to sleep) on the living room couch. And John and I were exhausted from fighting with each other, the Christmas tree and JJ! And to our chagrin, the dang tree and lights were still not ready!!UGH!!!

As I sat there looking at my sweet little boy sleeping on the couch with an ornament clutched in his hand, I felt like the crummiest mother ever! All he wanted to do was decorate the tree and there I was hollering at him every 2 seconds for "manhandling" my Christmas ornaments!! ugh!! I mean REALLY? How STUPID!! What was I thinking? I am so so so so blessed to have this sweet little boy in my life and now a new baby, too... wow! What was I thinking???

Just the other day I was complaining to a friend how I really wished I could get the real message of Christmas across to JJ, and then there I was totally forgetting it myself!

After talking with John, we decided we were going to pitch our original tree- take JJ to Lowe's in the morning and pick out a live tree of his choice and then let him decorate it how ever he wanted.

So-- we are the proud owners of a beautiful 7 foot live Douglas fir Christmas tree. It has colored lights and maybe 20 ornaments/toys all hand picked by my sweet big hearted little boy, JJ. It includes a paper tornado (a super cell, of course), a plastic bag with a taped picture he drew of a Christmas tree, a Swan, his and Rick Cashs' handprint ornaments and some toy trains! JJ picked each piece and it looks beautiful. I told him he could use any of the 1000 plus ornaments I had, and these were the few he chose. I have to say they were all very thought out choices. And so for us, this Christmas is the first of a new tradition where Christmas trees and Christmas decorating is reserved for our boys. After all, it is what Christmas is about- LOVE.

The smile on his face says it all!

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Bryanna John JJ & Rick Cash

Halloween 2012

Here it is Halloween and so much has happened since I last posted!! EEK!!

We had our baby in October! A healthy, beautiful little boy that we named after my father- Rick Cash Lenan.

I had the baby at home under the supervision of midwives! It was a wonderful experience and I will share my birth story at a later time. What I will tell you now is that it was an incredible and empowering experience!! So... I am officially a home birther, cloth diapering, breast feeding momma! It is going great and I couldn't be any happier!

JJ is an awesome big brother and John and I are very proud of our boys!!

For Halloween JJ decided that he would like to be a chef and so I thought it would be the perfect time to make a Martha Stewart costume I saw a few years back- a roasted turkey baby!

Please enjoy!!

Gobble, Gobble!!

Jewelry

In an attempt to keep my hands busy and possibly my mind as I/we wait for Baby Rick Cash to arrive- I've been making jewelry!

Swan is always on my mind!

Stork necklace (my obsession with storks continues)

I love the vintage Catholic medals.

This was a joint project between Cassandra and myself. I made the focal point (resin covered Stork- go figure- with blue rhinestone frame) Cassandra made the beautiful chain. We did this while she was here visiting me!

I have also been working on my Blessing Way bead necklace... it's almost done!

Thanks for looking!

Bryanna

Nesting is done!!

Finally all my nesting is done... however, I do keep finding other things to do- much to John's dismay! LOL.

Here are some photos of the master bedroom, JJ's big boy room and Rick Cash's nursery.
Enjoy!

This is the ceiling that is being photographed for Better Homes and Gardens. We did it by using paintable wallpaper. It looks like ceiling tin. It's rather amazing!!

Bedside table and master bed and quilt. The colors in the room are lilac ceiling before the drop and violet walls. Both are muted colors so although not exactly masculine, they are beautiful.

Dresser decorations. The dolly is bisque and very old... I love her.

Vintage Prom dress hanging on bedroom door.

Bedside bassinet, the bedding matches Rick Cash's nursery.

Quilt rack with vintage baby christening gown.

Master bath garden tub with chandelier.

I try to always have fresh flowers in the house.

Swan's dress (made by Cassandra) hanging on my closet door.

Before working on Rick Cashs' nursery I redid JJ's room into a big boy room. His theme is trains, like his Grandpa RailRoad.

The Titanic picture he drew himself, and the antique fire engine is his Daddy's.

The ceiling has clouds on it and the train runs on a rail system that goes around the entire room. Pretty cool!!

The carousel horse from the children's great Aunt is in the baby nursery. A good friend, Rosalyn Sue made the adorable ribbon in honor of Rick Cash.

The baby bedding is custom made and the print is Topsy Turvy vintage circus. We had a rag blanket from JJ's nursery and so I wanted to go all the way with Rick Cash. The bedding is gorgeous and I LOVE IT!!

Decorations on the hutch above the changing table.

Nursing recliner with beautiful baby quilt made by Cassandra.

My great great grandfathers rocking chair.


I hope you enjoyed getting a sneak peak at our home!

Thanks for looking! xoxo

Bryanna

My Stork Sprinkle

My friends Atina and Cassandra held me a "Baby Sprinkle" this past weekend. A "Sprinkle" in the south is a baby shower for a 2nd child or more. I did not have a baby shower with JJ so I was really excited to have a party in honor of Rick Cash. I choose the theme of Vintage Storks!!

I choose a location in Fayetteville that is well known for their extravagant barn events, Pratt Place Inn and Barn. I choose to have the sprinkle in the cottage that is on the property. It reminds me of Snow White's cottage right out of a Disney movie and I was thrilled to be able to reserve the date I wanted.

Every detail from invites, thank you's, menu, favors and decorations were carefully thought out... it was such a pleasure to plan with my friends!

Enjoy the pictures...

Pom Puffs-- it took us hours to open these poms up but they were incredible! Cassandra dangled from a ladder and strategically placed each one!!

We had poms on the windows, too and the wreaths I made out of dyed coffee filters. The wreaths were give aways for the STORK bingo winners!

Cass made this incredible RICK CASH banner that we hung on the fireplace!!

I decorated the window sills with vintage baby clothes that have been passed down from my side of the family, and collected vintage baby photos. We also went ahead and got spray roses in the most gorgeous shade of peach, baby's breath, and beautiful blue buds!

I made burlap bags with dyed paper flowers to hold the vintage linen napkins and flatware.

We served homemade lemonade in a beautiful crystal apothecary jar and flavored gourmet ice tea served in canning jars with beautiful tags. The straws were paper striped and polka dotted in muted lovely colors that complemented the shower!

Our menu included homemade tea sandwiches, pasta salad, cookies, cream puffs and lemon curd cupcakes. We made all the food ourselves!!

We had an ice cream bar with strawberry, butterscotch and chocolate syrup. Nine different colored sprinkles, nuts, cherries, whip cream and fresh fruit. The sundaes were served in vintage glass sundae cups!!

Cass made this delicious cake and the cake topper!!

Our favors were shortbread tea cookies dipped in chocolate, made by Atina!

It was a beautiful day! The decorations and details were perfect in every way, the memories made with sweet friends was priceless! It was so incredible to spend the day with so many wonderful and supportive friends! I am blessed!!

I hope you enjoyed the photos! Keep your eyes open... hopefully you will be seeing us in MINGLE magazine!! tee hee hee!!

xoxo
Bryanna