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 :)

TotSwap Finds #2

If you didn't see my post about TotSwap Gaithersburg and my goodies I scored at that sale, check it out here.

The Frederick TotSwap sale is my favorite. I find better clothing, toys and accessories and I have alot more patience for the crowds at the Frederick Fairgrounds, which is probably because I am more familiar with the facility. This spring I signed up to be a consignor at the Frederick sale and sold $84 worth of items ($55 goes to me, $29 to them) which I am happy with. As a consignor I was allowed to shop on Thursday at 4pm as oppose to 6:30pm at the earliest. So I was third in line (my friend Holly was first) and we spent about two hours inside since she was shopping for multiples and there was so much to look through.

I spent $100 at this sale which I attribute to the $20 umbrella stroller I purchased and a $10 Fish outdoor rocker by Step2. Look at all the great clothes I found!!

The next two pictures shows the items up closer

These are three of my favorites: a red lined canvas Children's Place hooded jacket for $3, Gap gingham pants for $3 and a precious navy "seersucker" sailboat shortall and polo shirt for $5. What a preppy little boy William is!

I also got these items…the shoes were $3 and $2 and the books were $8 total. Woohoo!

Did I mention he had a birthday party two days later??

Bridal Shower Gifts with my Cameo!

To stay true to my word, I want to share all of the Cameo-created gifts I made for Blair's bridal shower. The first is for their kitchen and it is a split letter tile monogram with their names (obviously) and their wedding date. I chose the tile and the vinyl to coordinate with their kitchen, but also to compliment any future kitchens they will share together. Blair purchased a large frame stand for it and may even have it on display at her wedding…sweet!

The next item is for her ceremony. Blair's cousins children are in the wedding and the two young boys will be walking down the aisle together. While helping her brainstorm about what they could carry (pennant flags would be used as light sabers) she found a version of this idea and asked me to create it for her with her colors. During the processional, each boy will hold a ribbon so the guests see "Here comes the Bride." They will show the opposite "Just Married" side during the recessional and Blair and Joe could also take pictures with it.

The next gift didn't completely make it from BWI to ATL in one piece, but 75% of it did! I made a set of 4x4 tile coasters for Blair. They have black felt on the back to prevent scratching any furniture.

And finally, the most personal gift -- monogrammed stationery! I made a set of 20 or 25 monogrammed notecards for Blair (the A stands for Amanda, her "real" first name) in a few different colors. I did the majority in black to make it traditional, but spiced it up with some navy, purple and green. I stayed away from orange and pink although I was tempted. I decided against doing a couple's monogram for this gift because I wanted her to be able to send the notecards for non-wedding related things, and notes that were only from her.

So, what do you think??!!

Bridal Shower: The Decor

The weekend of St. Patrick's Day I hosted a bridal shower in Atlanta for my dear friend Blair with her sister and mother at Blair's house. I wanted to share the personalized decorations with you and in another post later this week I will share her gifts, all of which I made of course :).

Blair's sister Kristin, Blair the bride and me

Originally, Blair's mom thought a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme would be fun…guests in black dresses, hats and pearls with tiffany blue, white and black decor. In the same email she also commented on how Blair would probably like everyone to come dressed out of the movie "The Help," pretty sundresses, etc. So, we ended up combining the two and went with the sundress apparel and used tiffany blue and shades of purple (her wedding is monochromatic purple).

I spent January and February making about 25 invitations by hand. I used my Cameo for all of these projects. I thought the scalloped edge card was feminine and I designed it to fit in square purple envelopes I had ordered from Paper Source. By the way, why do square envelopes cost more to mail? I think USPS is profiting from the wedding industry! To make the plain white wedding dress look better, I added some small adhesive crystals randomly on the skirt and tied a coordinating ribbon around the waist of the dress. I wrote out the invitation text on the back of the flat card by hand because I had not yet ordered the Silhouette sketch pens. Those things are wonderful and I wish I had used them.

Now onto the actual shower…..

Blair's sister Kristin came up with the idea to give out wine as favors to our guests. Once we bought the wine at our favorite stop, Trader Joe's, Kristin removed the labels by soaking the bottles in the kitchen sink and just rubbing off the labels. Blair's dad got in on the fun by cutting out the adhesive labels, designed by Kristin, with a paper cutter before she applied them. I made the purple and tiffany blue wine bottle hangers to add a pop of coordinating color. I am glad I made a few different styles because I used the cutouts from some as dresses on the other which really made use of everything I had cut.

We displayed the wine bottles on a table underneath a window off to the side of the kitchen with some beautiful purple flowers arranged by the mother-of-the-bride. The tablecloths were actually from my baby shower in Connecticut last year and my mom had extra and since they coordinated, we used them!

I made a "Congrats Blair" banner to hang across the fireplace where I assumed the bride would sit to open her gifts. I used the same paper as the invitations and used thick gold sparkle letters since her wedding colors are purple and gold. I used a scalloped edge for the background to coordinate with the invitations once again and because it is feminine and springy. Did you know I make custom banners for clients? Come check out some examples on Facebook and "Like" my page…I'd love to talk with you about a custom order!

For dessert we had ganache filled chocolate cupcakes and one of the bridesmaids decorated them all different. I took one of Blair's cake stands and tied another tablecloth around it with some tulle we had on hand. Don't get me wrong, the cake stand was lovely colors, but it clashed with the look I was going for ;).

Another simple thing I did was fill the chine cabinet with framed photos. On the morning of the shower I asked Blair to go around the house and collect photos of her and Joe for me to put on display. Since guests sat in the kitchen, dining, and living rooms, I thought it would be a nice subtle touch to display more photos of them in the dining room.

Hoppy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER! Because I wanted to share this post on Easter morning to show you how much a year can change a child, I don't have an actual Easter morning picture to share (yet) since we left early for church and I am publishing this post via autopost :).

But, look at my sweet newborn boy on his first Easter last year. I was thrilled to purchase his outfit with a little tie from Zulily and I did it within a few days of his birth since we didn't know his gender beforehand, I couldn't purchase an Easter outfit. Lucky for me, Easter was at the end of April in 2011. When I look at this picture I still see the same little face.

Here we are one year later and William wasn't so easy to sit with the Easter bunny, so we went with him :). Tomorrow he will be excited to see finger paints, crayons and construction paper in his Easter basket. Since we have breakfast at church, church and then family brunch, he will probably play with his basket in the afternoon so we can actually do some artwork!

I hope you have a wonderfully blessed day!

William's 1st Birthday Party!

Last Saturday we had a ONE-DERFUL birthday party for my sweet baby toddler boy. I have alot of fun and easy projects to share with you since I had been planning this fete for some time, but for now, here are a few fun photos.

If you want to see more, especially of this cutie and her sisters, read my friend Holly's post about the party

TotSwap Consignment Finds #1

This is the first of two posts about this season's TotSwap experience.

In the beginning of March we started getting some oddly warm, okay, hot, days in western Maryland. I made a quick stop at Children's Place and Carter's before heading out of town mid-March to buy the little guy some shorts and short sleeve shirts that actually fit. But, I didn't want to buy much since TotSwap was just around the corner. Here's what I got!

I spent $53 at the Gaithersburg TotSwap. For this price I purchased 5 pairs of plaid shorts, 4 additional pairs of shorts, an Orioles Nike romper for his first game in June, a Gap bathing suit and Land's End long sleeve swim shirt, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 overalls/rompers, and 10 onesies/shirts. Whew! What a deal!

My favorite pieces are the Orioles romper, beach outfit, and two pairs of shoes. How could I resist?!