I can't believe that my little baby girl is going to be a year old in a little over a month!! This time last year I was finishing up my nanny jobs and prepping for her arrival as patiently as possible and the days and weeks seemed to crawl by! But now the time just flys! The last 11 months have been wonderful and truly blessed but they have flown by so quickly there are so many time where I wish I could find the pause button, then again I think all parents feel that way at one point. However as we all know there is no pause button for our children growing up so we just have to roll with it do the very best we can to teach them and protect them and give them the best possible life that we know how and Pray to God for all the things that we feel like we can't do because he is able to fill in all the gaps for us! Isn't that just a wonderfully comforting feeling!
So while I am sad that my baby is going to be a year old before I blink my eyes again, I am also very excited to be planning her first birthday party! Now I know that first birthday parties are really for the parents and grandparents and not at all for the baby but that doesn't change the fact that I want her to have the best first birthday party ever!! And I want her to look back on her pictures one day and see all the time and effort and thought and love that went into planning her first birthday party so that even on those crummy days that we all have she knows that from day one she has had all the love in the world that we could give her! Plus I really enjoying being crafty these days and I am excited to plan a cute little party! But I also feel like its our chance to celebrate the year that we survived. I gave birth to a child and we have successfully raised that child for one whole year! And yes I consider it success but she is alive and healthy and happy and really what else can you ask for! So not only does this party celebrate her first year but it will be a way for us to celebrate our first year as parents!
Anyways enough about the emotions and what have you about planning her first party now to the fun part! All the crafting I've been doing and a few things I still have planned!
So of course I've been browsing pinterest for ideas and knew months ago that I wanted to go with the a "You are my sunshine" theme using pink yellow and teal for the colors. Now I have had big plans for months including an awesome cake ordered from the lady who made our wedding cake and paintings and lots of crafts and favors and all that good stuff however with furloughs in full swing from until well after her birthday my plans had to be scaled back a bit but its still going to be awesome! I was a little upset for a while and felt like I wasn't going to be able to give her the birthday I wanted to and the one I know she deserves but then I had to remind myself that no matter what I do its going to be great so I got over it and got crafting!
Working on the highchair decorations. I've seen lots of big fluffy highchair tutus but that was just a little too frilly for us so instead I used fabric in our party colors of course!
And here is the finished product! I was super happy with it!! Its perfect really!! You can't really tell in this picture but I did add a few pieces of tulle that I had left over from her outfit and it added just the right amount of girly fluff and sparkle :)
This is the beginnings of her bday outfit! Now this is officially the first tutu I have ever made and the first one she has ever had but I couldn't not make a tutu for her bday because they are just so cute!! I thought about ordering one but they didn't have the right colors anywhere plus it was sooo much cheaper to just make it myself and so easy!
This is the progress! One thing that was just a little annoying was how staticy the tulle was but it wasn't too bad. However static guard might help a little if I make more in the future.
And of course here is my little princess modeling her tutu! So cute!! It turned out a bit shorter than I originally wanted (i have a thing about short skirts on babies) but I'll find some bloomers that match and it'll be super cute!
Now it was on to the onesie to go with the tutu. I originally thought I'd buy one that is embroidered and has her name on it and all that good cute fancy stuff but then I realized people want upwards of 30 bucks for a onesie with all that stuff and I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to pay that kind of money for a ONESIE! So I decided I'd make it myself and thanks to the wonderful invention of Heat-Bond it was quick and easy! So I got online found the number template I liked best and printed it to size and then found a cute sun that I like to match our theme and printed it to size and we were off and running!
After I made my templates I just traced them on to the fabric, followed the instructions (sort of) on the heat-bond and POOF adorable bday onesie for my little sunshine! Now when I say sort of on following instructions its because I didn't read the instructions before I cut out my fabric pieces and infact your not supposed to cut out the shapes before you do the first step on the heat-bond so it was a little tricky and bit messier than it needed to be but I made it work!
Now how perfect is that outfit!! It came together so well and I love it!! Now I debated for a while about putting her name on the onesie with puff paint but I'm too afraid to mess it up plus I figure everyone knows her name! LOL!
Of course no party is complete without a party hat! But of course people like to charge way to much for those fancy things too so I decided i'd do it myself! I had fabric left over from her onesie and highchair skirt so I printed a template on cardstock, hot glued fabric to it and then add some feathery fluff! I'm still deciding what other decoration I want to add to the hat and I'll be sure to share a picture once I complete it!
All together and perfect! So excited to see my little sunshine happy on her big day in this outfit!
Now it was time for more decor so I got to work on the pennant banner for the mantle. This is the first one i've made and I originally would have liked to be able to make the pennants bigger but we have to go with the space we had to hang it but I think its super cute anyway!!
All done and ready to go! I love how it turned out! I figured I can use the happy birthday one again and again and I'm thinking i'll find somewhere to hang the one with her name. Maybe on her bedroom door!
It has been a busy couple of days with all my crafting but it has been fun and I am so excited how everything is coming together! Now I just have to decide wether or not its in the budget for me to make a painting, and I gotta make the tissue paper pom pom and finish up her hat once i decide what to do! Of course there are still invitations, food, the platters for the food and several other little things that I have to decide and figure out but a huge chunk is done and ready and I'm excited!!! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more Birthday fun and of course the big finale after her party!!
