J's first bday

Yes, I know she won't remember. I know it is ridiculously elaborate for a family party. I also know it was a creative outlet for me more than anything else. All this over achieving energy I have needs to go somewhere right?

Prepping for the party was awesome because everything was in a beautiful gradient. And I was able to spend hours playing with my new Silhouette. Not to mention the balloons entertained J and her cousin for a full hour.

Purse boxes with a 1 cut out, filled with skittles

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Here is the birthday girl who resembles Rainbow Bright, although that wasn't really the intention. I made the leggings from knee high socks, the onesie using the applique method I showed you here. The cherry is a fuzzy scrap from the socks I sewed the heck out of. I found the little jacket at Goodwill for a buck. The tutu is just tulle tied around some elastic.

My mom took a bunch of the cute pictures of her, but I can't find the disc, so you get this lame one

I used my mad student council balloon arch skills to decorate the front of the house. The neighbors may have thought we had a gay pride  party going on, but I like to insist that little girls have liked rainbows long before it took on a new meaning.



In case you think all of my projects and ideas work out, you are wrong. I wrapped yarn around balloons just like I did with the string balls decorating my ceiling. I experimented with spray starch and corn starch and they just didn't hold up like the flour and water I typically use. Flour leaves a white film though so I thought I try other options. The rest of the tablescape looks good though. The purses kept the plates from flying quite nicely. I used brown craft paper as a tablecloth and spread crayons all over it so people could draw. Bubbles, playdoh, and tops were party favors spread down the center.

I stole this idea from pinterest. Patterned duct tape is way faster than printing water bottle labels.

 The dessert table was my favorite part of the whole thing.

The paintchip bunting was my own creation, not even stolen from the internet. It took 2 minutes to sew and was absolutely free. Of course, now that I looked on the internet, someone else had the same brilliant idea. Ah well.

cupcake wrappers compliments of my Silhouette. Of course, the proximity to the edge of the table meant a nephew systemically licked each of those front cupcakes :)

Funny story. I had seen this really pretty gradient cake which inspired the whole rainbow theme. I colored and cooked each layer, but the green broke on transfer. No worries, I think to myself, I'll just add more frosting to work as glue. As I add the 6th and final layer, I realize my cake has started expanding and is moving like lava to the out edges of my cake plate. I use my freshly washed hands and try and push it back together but the whole thing is sliding like crazy. I rinse off my frosting covered clubs and pull out my spring form pans. I dirtied all three finding the right size, but was able to provide some little stability to cake's bottom layers. I smeared more frosting along the outside edges, laughed at my terrific cake wreck and slid it into the freezer. Day of the party I scattered skittles along the top and called it good. Full of low expectations, I was mighty surprised to find it actually looked great on the inside!

But before we ate the cake, we enjoyed typical BBQ fair. Mid December. My dad has some sort of deal with the Good Lord that gives good weather for his events. I asked him to put in my request and was delighted the week of rain abated for a day to give us a gorgeous, warm, sunny day.

On the food table I had these little frames I found years ago at target for 25 cents. (A sneek peek of our xmas card pics too). Some of the paint chips had a perforated circle that made excellent confetti.

Everyone had a good time I think.

Especially the bday girl who enjoyed her very own cake.

  

That crown was inspired by my sister-in-law Piper and took all of 10mins to make

And even though she didn't need anything, she loved all the presents. Generous family