William's Birthday Party Crafts

Back to William's 1st birthday party!! I did a quick photo-filled post soon after his party, but I can't resist sharing more, including my DIY projects.

Since I went with the little red wagon theme (don't ask me why, but I decided on it probably ten months ago) I accented with light blue so it wasn't so picnic-like. For drinks, I borrowed aqua mason jars from my in-laws that were once used as centerpieces at my sister-in-laws wedding. I tied ribbon around the neck of each jar and also added red and white striped straws for the lemonade. 

Easy factor: 1  Time factor: 1

These super cute wagon cookies were practically the only thing we didn't cook or make ourselves. I contacted Brittanie at Snickety-Snacks because I had tasted her cake balls before and knew she made super sweet cookies. She even put each cookie in a bag for me and I created the scalloped edge bag tags. The cookies were favors for the parents kids and then the ones without names said "Happy Birthday William" and were for the rest of the guests. I actually didn't use my Cameo to cut these out because I wanted some help, so we used a scalloped hand punch that I also used for his cupcake toppers at last year's Baptism.

Had to make the scallop the right size and put each child's name inside before printing. Also punch hole in top for ribbon.

Easy factor: 2  Time factor: 2

I made a party-color-themed wreath using plastic tablecloths too! This was the most involved project because of the size of the wreath itself. I did the same thing as with my Christmas fabric wreath and even hung it in the same place in our dining room/kitchen since that's where most of the party action was happening. I am also guilty of it still hanging up!

Easy factor: 2  Time factor: 4

Since the "trend" nowadays is for kids to have their own smash cake or cupcake, I made a small cake for William using what else, Funfetti cake mix and cream cheese frosting. My friend had the small cake pan from her daughter's 1st birthday a week earlier and I made two layers since that was how much batter I had. I know it is a bit tall. I used red and blue sprinkles and put the little red wagon on top. Do you know how long it took me to find that wagon…?! 

But the real "craft" here is the plate. I bought a plain white plate and then cut the letters with my Cameo. Because of the curve of the edge, I placed each letter by hand which took a little longer than the standard method using transfer tape.

Easy factor: 2   Time factor: 3

(Factors based on having a Silhouette Cameo)

Since I already had this cute tin bucket from Kirkland's, I added William's monogram and it immediately looked customized for his birthday. I also did the water bottle labels. I designed them using Silhouette Studio and then sent it to my printer. To decide on the measurements I simply measured the original bottle label and matched it. The text said "William is One" then there was a wagon inside a blue oval and then "Happy Birthday!" I cut each strip of label out, covered it with packing tap and then adhered it to the bottle.

Easy factor: 2 Time factor: 3

I did two fabric projects for the party, a highchair banner (which fell while he was eating his cake) and pennants that hung in the dining room. I used coordinating but not matching red/white and blue/white polka dot fabrics. The pennants were each 9 feet long (the length of the store-made bias tape) and I cut the highchair one to be the right length for our particular chair. I didn't have any bias tape at this point so I used thick red/white ribbon I had on hand. I did an easy applique for the number one on the center pennant. I loved the whimsical nature of the pennants.

Easy factor: 3  Time factor: 4

(Post party pic to see the flags. You can also see his banner!)

And finally is my entry sign. I used my Cameo to cut the blue circle, the wagon and do the lettering with my sketch pens. The white backing is made of folded coffee filters (I might do a separate post on that). I wanted it the whole house to be connected with William's birthday theme :)

March 31

Tomorrow my baby boy will turn one.

I cannot believe that he is already one years old and how many changes this little 20 (or so) pound body has gone through. He has been walking since mid-February so it has seemed that he turned into a toddler the moment he started walking all the time, but I cherish the snuggle moments that remind me of when he was more of a baby.

As I write this post, he is sitting with me at the table eating a waffle, green grapes and craisins, his breakfast of choice today, and kicking his left foot and giving me a big smile while I sing "Happy Birthday" so he isn't scared by the song tomorrow. And lets be serious, I like his reaction.

Enjoying blueberry pancakes, his all-time favorite breakfast

William prefers books to toys lately, which I am not discouraging. He loves to chase our cat ("Jay"), baskets and boxes, anything that can carry other things. Oh and trucks, he already says "tucks" and "tees" when looking outside. He is definitely his Daddy's boy. He gets excited looking out the window and waving to anything that moves. He loves the loud noises that come from our neighbor's house who is a landscaper (the mowers, weed wackers, etc). He loves taking walks in the wagon that his Daddy used to ride in.

He also loves hummus, yogurt and strawberries, I think he'd eat them all day if I let him. He has started spoon feeding himself pretty well when I give him the opportunity. He is a hit when we are out in public as he waves and talks to everyone we see. It is so much fun to go out with him and sometimes we'll see a playground and just stop and play for awhile.

Tomorrow we are having a party for him with close family and friends and his playgroup buddies, so about 25 adults and 10 one-year olds. Hopefully one day he will appreciate all the thought and craftiness I put into his little red wagon 1st birthday, but for now, I just want him to have fun, eat cake for the first time and play.

Oh and always stay my little boy…..

Now We Have Everything

There was a quote I found while pregnant that I wrote in my baby journal:
First we had each other, then we had you, now we have everything.


As I parent, this is so true. 6 months ago we welcomed our son, William Michael, into our lives and had no idea what lie ahead. Would he be happy with us as his parents? Allow us to sleep? Like to smile and be held by lots of people? We didn't know the sex of the baby before delivery, but I always told people I felt it was a boy because I could only think of boys names and I considered that a sign. My husband was sure it was a girl as we both of our mothers. Well, we know what happened there ;)

Happy half birthday little man! Now Momma has to start thinking about your 1st birthday party because the months sure do fly by spending my days with you!!

Glass Stenciled Mirror {tutorial}

Two of my good friends, Nick and Sarah, got married at the end of July. They have been dating eight years and had known each other four years before that. We went to middle school and high school together so I have known both of them for a long time (or what seems like a long time).

A few years ago (or maybe less?) they bought what seems to be a beautiful historic home in Connecticut. I say "seems" because I have not actually seen it in person yet which is a shame on me. I know they were looking for antiques to fill their home and when I remembered I had purchased this mirror, yet not hung it in my own home, I thought of them.

I wanted to make a subway art mirror and although it didn't totally end up the way I envisioned, I was still happy with the result. Since I do not have a Silhouette and I didn't want to hand paint all the words, I went to a craft store to look at stencils. Lo and behold, I found blank stencils - hallelujah! I thought it would be easier to make my own stencils rather than lining up each letter for every word with precut stencils (I'm still not so sure about that). Once I got home with the blank stencils, I printed out various words that I wanted to use on the computer.

I grabbed a Sharpie and traced every word onto the stencil. I realized that letters with "inside areas" like P, R, A, and O were going to require an alternative plan since cutting the stencils out eliminated the center areas completely. So, I added an extra cutting line to try and preserve some of these letters since I didn't want it looking "off."

Once the words were cut-out, I started with their names because I knew I wanted it in the center and it was significantly bigger than the rest of the words.

For the etched glass effect I used NAME OF BRAND paint which I am thrilled worked otherwise I would have had to go to plan B which was doing this all on a piece of painted wood in contrasting colors and then inserting it in the mirror's frame. I did a few words at a time since it required me to paint a few coats, peel off the stencil and do touchups all before it started to dry.

Looking back, I think the words should have been larger to give it more of a subway art feel, but since the words are smaller, it is almost more of a mirror than I originally thought it would be. It also would have been much cleaner looking and more efficient if I had a Silhouette, but make do with what you have, right?!

PS: Sorry the photos aren't too great but it is hard to photograph a mirror!! Also, I blurred out some of the personal information on the mirror.

Time Out Tuesday

Helping Daddy celebrate his birthday!

We were very pleased with how well WM behaved at Brad's birthday dinner. He was asleep when we arrived and made some noise once he woke up so I sat him on my lap and he fell asleep again sitting up! Once he woke up when our food came, he played in his stroller and then helped Daddy with presents and the brownie sundae. He was in such a happy social mood...it was perfect!

Baptism party {the food}

Back to William's party!!

Typical of me to start with dessert first ;)
From the beginning I knew I wanted to do cupcakes rather than a cake. Granted I would have purchased the cake which would have been less work than making cupcakes (maybe), but I didn't want to have a bunch of leftover cake. I made cupcake toppers to make the cupcakes for festive. I designed the emblem with a cross and the words God Bless William in Powerpoint and printed two dozen. I did buy a scalloped punch, but when I used it, it worked in the reverse way that I needed if that makes sense. So, the individual trips to Michael's and Jo-Ann's and $30 spent didn't help. I resorted to cutting out each circle individually with scrapbook scissors. Same idea, more work. I used a drop of hot glue to adhere the toothpicks to the cutouts before adding a blueberry and topping each cupcake.

For the first time I finally decided to make a watermelon ice bucket! I saw this idea a long time ago (or so it seems) and I finally had a reason to do it. I used the watermelon on the fruit kabobs, which is why I had it. I hollowed it out with an ice cream scoop on Saturday and then kept it on the counter overnight covered in saran-wrap because I was worried about it smelling rotten. Well, it stayed fresh, so I filled it with plain ice cubes and special blueberry ice cubes I made. 

Sadly, this is the only food shot I have and it doesn't capture it at all. The party started and ended so quickly, and everyone was so hungry, that I didn't get the shot I wanted. We had beef brisket, pulled pork and hamburger sliders. Tossed salad, fruit kabobs, cheese and crackers, pasta salad, etc. I also made a few different drinks and put cute little tags on the pitchers to identify them. Stay tuned for the recipe for Fruity Mint Tea which was a hit!

God Bless William: Baptism Party {decorations}

As noted in my latest Time Out Tuesday, William was recently baptized which was very special for us. Following the service at the church, we had about 16 adults and 4 children (of eating age) over for lunch. I began thinking about this party weeks and weeks in advance since everything is a bit more complicated now that we have a baby around, and here is what I decided.

My nice blue and green handmade table runner would stay on the table because I was inspired by its colors as well as William's birth announcement which was baby blue and kiwi green. The green is perfect for summer and a bit unexpected since typically it is blue and white that is used (or at least what I have seen).

A few weeks ago while on vacation, I visited Dollar Tree once the little guy was in bed to hopefully find papergoods. Well, I did! I purchased light blue dinner plates, kiwi green dessert plates and dinner napkins and napkins that were green with white polks dots. I ended up wrapping the clear "silverware" in the polka dot napkins, tying them closed with white curling ribbon and standing all of them upright in a square glass container from our wedding:

The train napkins were leftover from another party

At Dollar Tree I also found blue/green/clear glass marbles which I purchased for a vision I had. I have a small glass globe vase as well as one that is a cylinder and I wanted to put the marbles in the bottom surrounding a candle. I also bought plain white candles (in glass votives) at Dollar Tree to prevent wax from dripping on the marbles. It also made assemble quite easy. Place candle in container and surround with marbles...done!

My mom added a few twisted streamers in our dining room with white curly ribbon at the corners to add additional color. Everything came together great!

I hope you'll come back in two days to hear about the food!!!

Thrifty Home

Independence

A new ode to some of the young soldiers and Veterans in my life.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Brother-in-law Justin on the far left

And to the republic for which it stands,

Eric, husband of Stevie (Matron of Honor at my wedding)

One nation, under God, indivisible,

My cousin Christopher who is an angel among us

With liberty and justice for all.

My cousin Gideon, 3rd from left in the back

THANK YOU, I love you :)

See this post on Veterans in my life from 2010.

Time Out Tuesday: Baptism

Our son was baptized on Sunday and it was emotional for us as parents. Here is one photo of him looking a bit angelic :)

Baby is here!

Well, I am in love again. WE HAVE A BABY BOY!!!

Our little cutie surprised us on Wednesday night while we were watching a movie and my water broke. He was born 21 hours later, soon after 8 p.m. on March 31, 2011. Believe it or not, he was pretty big at 8 pounds 2 ounces and we just can't get enough of him.

I will share when I can, but for now I am very low on time (at least time I want to spend online). Please keep us in your thoughts as we embark on the journey of parenthood!

Diaper Cake

This past weekend my mom and sister hosted a beautiful shower in our honor at The Nutmeg near my hometown in Connecticut. My sister contributed two cakes. This edible one that was out of this world!! Red velvet layers with white chocolate "frosting", not fondant and all delicious!

And a diaper cake!!

My sister referred to a site called Plan the Perfect Baby Shower when planning the diaper cake. She told me that she used about 80 newborn diapers (now all put away in the baby's dresser) to make the three-tier cake. The base of each layer was cut white cardboard and the center of each layer used a baby bottle as a support. Using the bottles made the diaper cake weigh less than if a full bottle of shampoo or other product was used.  

While my mom was recovering from surgery, my sister put her in charge of rolling the diapers. They opened the diapers (rectangle-sort-of-shape) and rolled tightly from front to back. Then a rubber band was used to hold it in place. You can see by the indentation in the second photo below that they did secure them tightly!

Then, ribbons were tied around some of the diapers that would be visible around the outside of the cake. She used thin purple and light green ribbon since the gender of our little baby is a surprise.

My sister grouped together several diapers with yellow ribbon when assembling the layers so all the diapers weren't loose. As you can see in the first photo of us with the diaper cake, she used the same yellow ribbon to tie the layers together and attached the plastic bottles, stuffed animal, pacifiers, etc.

Obviously we had to disassemble her masterpiece toget the diapers back to Maryland. What did that look like you ask? I was surprised that I didn't get extra screening from TSA since this was my carry-on bag!

Once home, I had the task of unrolling all of their hard work, which was the easy part. The rubber bands left faint yellow lines on the diapers, but let's be serious...those diapers are going to look much worse once they are put on the baby! The newborn diapers from the cake take up one full small drawer in the top of the dresser - jeez. And I know what all you moms are thinking...these diapers will only last a few days. Iguess the next thing we need to purchase is a trash can!

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself, Finding Fabulous,  FFA Friday, http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2011/01/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-see-kate-sew.html