Nautical Set Up for Pottery Barn Mystery Box Challenge!

I've been so eager to reveal what I've been working on for the Pottery Barn Mystery Box challenge.It's been such an awesome opportunity! I knew that I wanted some resemblance of a theme for my styled set up. I took my inspiration from a single piece that was sent to me. A little whale bottle opener lead the way. I decided almost immediately that I wanted to go in a nautical/coastal direction.
   I had Miranda of Whimsically Detailed create some printables for me. She captured my vision and the direction for the shoot perfectly. We were also required to create a cocktail as a part of our set up. I chose Blue Lagoons because the color as well as the name fit so well with all the decor. I decided to do a very light fare. Blueberry salads as well as crab dip served as a prequel to a yummy array of sweets.
   Sugared Hearts Bakery was able to match the printables to her beautiful cookies with ease. The mermaid was one of my favorites! I also served lovely blue macarons made by Dolce Designs. I had my local baker, Heather of Gourmet Gals, create a pretty ocean ombre cake. For the topper of the cake I decided to use my inspiration for the shoot. Mama Fresh created a fondant version of the little bottle opener to sit on top of the cake! Cake pops were also added to the sweets mix by Painted & Sprinkled.  Lastly, nautical themed cupcake toppers were created by Kima's Konfections.
  Everything came together with classical nautical elements such as fish netting, anchors, and even a vintage model sailboat! Danielle McCann shot the set up at an outdoor kitchen. The outdoor element brought the theme to life. I was happy to be able to incorporate all the items that were sent to me. They each played an intricate part to the setup. Thanks to all my vendors and a huge thank you to Pottery Barn for such fun challenge!

When Pottery Barn Calls....

You answer! LOL :) Every year Pottery Barn selects only four stylists to participate in their Mystery Box styling challenge. I'm thrilled that Capes & Crowns will be participating this year! Talk about an amazing opportunity. I am more than a little excited about this. Here's how it works. You are sent several boxes of surprise merchandise from Pottery Barn. You get to KEEP these items afterwards! We can stop right there bc thats an award in and of itself right?! You must style a set up with the items. You are allowed to use any items in your home as well as $50 visa gift card thats provided to you for the purchase of additional items you may need. Having to stick with a minimal budget is always a challenge but sense this is for Pottery Barn it will be more clean lines and less fluff so I definitely think its doable! The other big challenge is the theme. Summer cocktails. UGH. I'm not a drinker so I definitely had to do my research. The participants were also allowed to chose between a couple of items on the merchandise list. The few items chosen allowed me to develop a theme (you know how I adore a theme) and I'm going with a coastal/nautical set up. Danielle will be shooting it day after tomorrow in my moms outdoor kitchen. This is a contest that fans can vote on once Pottery Barn posts them on their webpage. It will go live in June so please stay tuned and I'll provide the voting links!!!

 I will go ahead and share one small element of my set up :) I was able to chose which bottle opener I wanted and I chose the adorable little whale. This guy, will call him Barn ;) was where my inspiration took off for my theme. I had Mama Fresh make a cake topper in his likeness! Super cute right!?

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!