A Simple Backyard 1st Birthday Party

Hello everyone!  Today I am posting about the party that we threw for our daughter's 1st birthday.  I was on the fence of whether or not I wanted to throw a party for a 1 year old but after attending the 1st birthday parties for a few of my friend's kids, I realized that it is just a fun excuse to spend some time with friends and family and to make cute decorations.  I kept it very simple and since it was summer I decided to make it an outdoor event.

I started by making the invitation.  My daughter loves kitties so I decided to make the invite cat themed even though the party itself didn't have a specific theme.  I usually make this sort of thing with my Pixelmator software but this time I decided to use my Silhouette software instead.  I chose to use the Silhouette software because I could find the kitty shapes in my library in the software instead of having to find and purchase the right png images.

For the smash cake I made a kitty cake.  I made the cake layers in a 4 inch CorningWare ramekin.  I made a basic buttercream frosting and after frosting the cake with a crumb coat I piped on the "fur" using  Wilton No. 233 Multi-Opening Decorating tip. I then used some purchased fondant to make the face and ears of the cat.  The black and pink on the eyes and nose was gel icing.  The whiskers bled a little, they looked better after I first finished the decorating but I forgot to take a picture then!

The cake stand was a $5 purchase from the dollar aisle at Target.  I used a barnwood frame purchased at Hobby Lobby to showcase the monthly photos of Lyla.  You can read more about the monthy photo sessions here and here.  I purchased the prints from Shutterfly because they have a new 4" by 4" print option.  The baker's twine, thumb tacks, and clothespins were all leftover items from this photo display in Lyla's nursery.

I used a tablecloth I had on hand and the bunting from her monthly photos to finish decorating the food table.  We served fried chicken, watermelon, cowboy caviar and chips (you can find the recipe in this post on our last NYE party), a couple of store bought pasta salads, a layered jello salad, and this delicious broccoli salad.

My mom borrowed some tables and chairs from a couple of friends and I simply decorated them with a few jars wrapped in burlap ribbon (originally from Lyla's baptism but they also made an appearance at this baby shower) filled with some budget blooms from a local grocery store floral department.

We also set up Lyla's birthday gift for the kids to play in at the party.  There will be a separate post on the making of this teepee at a later date.  There you have it, a very simple 1st birthday party.  It was fun and the weather turned out perfect despite a little bit of wind.

Kitty ONEsie + Ribbon Trimmed Tulle Skirt

My baby girl is 1!  I can't believe it!  Where did this year go?  This is the first of few posts that will revolve around her 1st birthday.  Today I am sharing the outfit that I put together that she wore for her last installment of monthly photos and her birthday party.

First, lets talk about the onesie (I called it a ONEsie, see what I did there ;).  I purchased the onesie itself at Hobby Lobby but the design was created with my Silhouette Portrait.  When I was looking for ideas for 1st birthday outfits I found an image of a onesie with Minnie Mouse as the "o" of the word "one."  Since my daughter loves kitties I decided to take that idea and do a kitty as the "o" instead.

It was a pretty easy design to put together.  I used shapes in the Silhouette software to create the head and ears of the kitty.  The whiskers are just lines with rounded edges.  The kitty face is borrowed from a couple of different kitty designs that I had in my library.  I used a script font for the "n" and the "e."  I then welded the cat head and the "n" and "e" together.  Since it was a heat transfer design I made sure to mirror the image.  I used a gold glitter heat transfer material for the word and white heat transfer material for the whiskers of the cat.  You can check out how to layer heat transfer material in this post on how to make a Dr. Seuss thing maternity shirt.

I used two different video tutorials to make the skirt.  This video is a nice tutorial for making a tulle tutu with an elastic waist.  It gives ideas for how long to cut the tulle pieces and elastic depending on the age of your child. This video shows how to make a tulle skirt with ribbon trim.  I liked this method because she sewed the ribbon to the tulle pieces before attaching them to the elastic.  This tutorial shows how to sew the ribbon onto the tulle after the tulle has already been tied onto the elastic if you would like to use a different method.

And here are some more shots of the outfit in action.  You can see the many expressions of Lyla in this small sampling of the roughly 100 shots I took.

I love the expression in the last one especially and had to use it for her baby book despite the blurry hand.  Hopefully this post will inspire you for whatever project you are completing!

4 Years

The fourth year in our house has been the fastest one yet.  The biggest change in our lives this year was our family addition last July with the birth of our daughter.  Technically her room was mostly finished before our 3 year house anniversary but I only shared one photo last year so I thought I would share some more this year.

Above is a reminder of the blank slate that I started with.  The only updates that I did to this room before turning it into a nursery were to paint the walls and trim.  The only furniture in the room was a full bed and the rocker that I bought at a thrift store several years before getting pregnant.

As you can see the room looks completely different.  I loved the way it came together (although it is a little messier in there right now).  I hope to share one more big project in that room in the near future.

The other room that is in the process of getting a large makeover is our bonus room.

A few years ago it looked like this but then it got water damage over the last several years.  The carpet was stained and ruined.  Thankfully everything else in the room besides some drywall was unaffected by the water.

So we had drain tile installed and new drywall and flooring put in.  The workers also installed a banister and built a drywall banister to close off the previously open stairs.

Last weekend we took a trip to Minneapolis and made a stop at IKEA.  We purchased a few furniture pieces there for the room and we are in the process of building them right now.

Well those are the major changes in our house this year.  Most of the rooms of our house are done now but you never know what kind of projects I might come up with over this next year.