Birthday Crown

First birthday parties require a special hat, I'm sure there's a law somewhere about that. So here's what I made for Emily.

I measured her head with a bit of string, then laid it out onto some felt, adding about 2" to the length. I drew a rectangle that length and about 2 1/2" tall, then added 2" triangles to the top of that, making the spiky crown shape. Here's the part that I think is awesome: I used spray mount to fix 2 different colored pieces of felt together. It's what I had in the house, and it worked super awesome. Better I think, than any of that stuff made for sewing that you have to iron on and whatnot. Since this isn't going to be washed, best to go with the easy solution, I think. So you glue the pieces together, THEN cut. Okay, I admit it: I cut first, then glued, and really wish I'd done it the other way around. It's hard to get everything to line up nicely if you do it my way. Then, I used one of her old swaddle blankets to cut a circle out of, and then cut a "1" from the crown material. More spray mount and ta-daa! Cute crown! Almost ... the last bit is to wrap it around her head, find out where it needs to attach, and in an act of laziness that can also be called super duper cute and inspired: I used a diaper pin. :)

I'm pretty sure that there's enough extra material so I can use this again next year, just pull off the "1" and add a "2;" that is, if she's not already telling me what she will and will not wear by then.

Under the Sea

It's been a while. Having an infant does wonders in curing one's projectitis. Only, it's begun to creep back. Last Saturday was Emily's 1st birthday party, which means a) she's no longer an infant; and b) I had a billion things I wanted to make and do to make it a memorable party. Thanks to pinterest (holy geez, that is a distraction in my life) I amassed a pile of images and inspirations to work from. (You can see it here) I began a month ago, designing the invitations. Which meant I had to pick a theme. Ugh. That took longer than I care to admit. Constantly flip-flopping. And then I couldn't send them out because I couldn't decide where to hold the party (ended up at home, which was not my first choice, but oh well). Finally ended up with this card, and thus a theme was born.

I'll admit that I found the seahorse illustration online and re-drew it, altered it a bit for my purposes, then added the colors. It is sort of cheating, but since it's just for my own personal use, I don't feel too bad about it. Though I must say I've started daydreaming about creating these personalized cards for people via Etsy. It's just that I'm not exactly that bored. I have a job, plus a toddler? No thanks. Maybe later. Let's stash that in the to-do file. I got them printed through Costco's photo printing center. It isn't ideal, but it's cheap. And so simple! I sent the file to Costco through their website, then picked the prints up an hour later at the store! I love it! Then I wrote the details on the back in Sharpie and stuck a stamp on them, mailing them postcard style! Best way to print on the cheap. Especially since I don't own a printer at home. Plus, that many invitations? I'd probably have spent $70 in ink! Anyway, I have a bunch more things to share, and they will come shortly.