Thank You Cards

Little Bub's birthday was now three weeks ago. I've been working on some homemade thank you cards and have finished them up today!

I was inspired by these thank you cards from my pinterest board (original source unknown).

It was a very simple project and perfect to fit in those extra ten minute slots you get between all the chores, work and playing you do with a one year old.

First, I picked some green paint I had in the drawer, poured it onto a small plate and cut an apple in half. I got out some sheets of white cardstock too.

 

Put the apple in the paint, making sure all of the cut side is covered and firmly press the apple onto the cardstock.

 

 

Repeat until you have filled the paper or made as many apples as you need.

 

 

Sometimes I had too much paint and other times I didn't have enough to make a good print. I made a lot of extra so I could pick and choose the ones I liked. I cut out the apples with just a thin margin of white showing around the edges.

 

To add something extra and because they were thank you cards (and I already had the stamp), I used some dark green ink and stamped the apples. First I experimented with some gold ink because I had used some gold accents in other party decorations, but it didn't show up how I wanted it to.

 

 

Finally, I wrote on the backs of the apples to thank each individual for coming to the party and bringing Little Bub a gift. Originally, I was going to paste them or tie them onto bigger cards instead of writing on the back, but with our Christmas cards arriving within the next two days, I'm just going to slip these in those envelopes.

 

Thank you cards are something that helps your children show their appreciation for things and don't take much extra time at all. As I said before, these small steps can be slotted into those times between other jobs and when your children are older, this might be something they actually enjoy doing on their own because it does add a little creativity.

 



 



 



Mission Accomplished

Little Bub's first birthday party went pretty well. There was a little bit of last minute scrambling to clean the house and finish the baking. I definitely recommend doing an appetizer party or something similar. It's very easy to prepare most of the food (in this case fruit) and the clean-up is also a breeze.



I was surprised at how much people ate! The party was from 2-4 PM and I was only serving snack type food, like what the caterpillar ate in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. By the end of the party, the whole cheese, cracker and salami plate was gone, as well as the pickles and all but 4 slices of pear.

The punch was also a hit! Just a few drops at the bottom of the bowl. We used Lemon Berry Punch and 7Up with raspberry sherbert.

First we opened gifts. Little Bub received so many cool toys, books and puzzles. My family went with a theme and gave him lots of musical instruments, like the Band in a Box.

Then it was time for cake! Little Bub was ready for a nap at this point due to his not napping well earlier in the day. He wasn't very interested in smashing his cake. It would have been a lot of fun, but at least there wasn't a huge mess to clean up! I don't think he likes how sticky frosting is. Once he got it on his hand, he was waving it all around trying to get it off!

Now I'm ready to take a little break from all the planning and the prepping. Just in time to get started on some Christmas activities!

The Birthday Boy

We also spent yesterday afternoon finishing a birthday photo shoot. Here is the little man himself!

 

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday!!

 

 

 

Desserts and Printables

Today is the big day! Little Bub turned one today and we spent the afternoon house hunting. What an expensive first birthday present! :)
Yesterday I spent the afternoon baking. I was inspired by the cake pop caterpillar at Pottery Barn Kids. I made the cake part and plan on dipping them in the chocolate in the morning.

 

I also made cupcake ice cream cones. Here is a picture from Stick a Fork In It. Mine are not finished yet. I still have to add frosting and the sprinkles.

 

 

 

Finally, I made some plain cupcakes that I plan on dressing up as apples. I bought the recipe book, Hello Cupcake, What's New? a while ago at William and Sonoma.  I loved these, but haven't had a chance to make them yet. What better time than a hungry caterpillar birthday party?! I assure you, mine won't be to perfectly shaped, but they'll still taste good!

 

 

 

I also found these labels for free at Polkadots and Puppies. They are perfect for the table and also explain the strange choices for the menu!

 

 

Finally, as an activity for the kiddos, I am going to give them a coloring page to take home. Quick and simple favor!

 







Odds and Ends

 A few more things I made for Little Bub's birthday this year: a quilt square and a crocheted caterpillar hat.
A while back I bought the book Art to Heart: Count On It at the local quilt shop to brush up on practicing my quilting skills on little small projects. It has a square hanging for each month and I've finished almost all of them! There was also an option to make a cupcake one for birthdays. I figured this would be a nice thing for Little Bub to have every year at his party. I added a little caterpillar with some velcro that can be taken off for next year's party.

 

 

Time for a true confession: I may have an obsession with crocheting hats for Little Bub to wear for every holiday and/or season. Seriously, I will have to post a picture of my ever-growing pile. I actually taught myself to crochet specifically to make hats for my baby before he was born. I certainly wasn't going to buy any crocheted hat for $15 plus when yarn is so cheap! (If you haven't noticed by now, this is an ongoing theme of all my projects!).

 

When I first started crocheting, I bought my first pattern from Sunset Crochet on Etsy. Her pattern was easy enough for a beginner like me, so that's who most of my patterns come from. She has a pattern for a Very Hungry Caterpillar hat and cocoon set for a newborn size. I just made a larger version of that hat for my soon-to-be one year old. (I also made the newborn size and cocoon for future use!). Little Bub won't be wearing this hat on the day of party probably because he'll be indoors, but it was perfect for his one year photos!



 

Bunting and Garland

To continue with DIY party decorations, I made a few wall decorations. I was inspired by the month-by-month bunting from The Scrap Shoppe, but I wanted to customize it for the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme. My sister-in-law suggested I do circles for the caterpillars body (why didn't I think of that?)

It was a super simple project. I started with circles cut from green scrapbook paper and cut the pictures a little smaller, then used foam tape to adhere them so the pictures would pop off a little. I wanted to add a little more so I included the head of the caterpillar, added some shiny gold stickers for each month and made some glittery, gold clothespins for some sparkle. I think my guests will enjoy seeing how Little Bub changed over the past year!

I also wanted to make a happy birthday bunting that I could use every year if I wanted to. First I made a triangle template from cardboard and traced it onto the wrong side of the fabric. Then I used pinking shears to cut on the lines, so I could leave the edges unsewn. I used some of the leftover fabric from his shirt and hat (I just love that number fabric - it's so perfect for a birthday!). I used store-bought double fold bias tape and sewed it with metallic gold thread to tie in with the gold clothespins.
I didn't sew down the edges on this yet:
1. the letters are so small they intimidate me
2. I just did this the last weekend before his party and haven't had the time!

 

 

The Outfit

As a mother of a little boy, I knew that Little Bub's first birthday outfit wasn't going to be some adorably ruffled and bedazzled number, but I wanted him to have something special and homemade. Looking around the internet I found this shirt that I absolutely loved! I wasn't spending $28 on one shirt for my baby.

I found Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric online at Fat Quarter Shop and bought a couple half yards, then dug out one of his many onesies. Using Heat N' Bond, I created this:

The only snag I ran into was how to sew down the edges...I couldn't figure out how to do it neatly, quickly and efficiently on my machine, but one of my lovely co-workers at school volunteered to HANDSTITCH it for me. I owe her big.

I also wanted to have special caterpillar themed birthday hats without buying them. I was inspired by this hat on Etsy, but again a $25 hat was not in the budget. I found this easy to follow tutorial at Project Balancing Act about using paper hats to make fabric ones. It worked out great! I made 4 for the kiddo guests to wear and a different one for Little Bub. A little fabric, glue, yarn pom-poms, jumbo rickrack and elastic - they were surprisingly quick and easy to make. I also made a bib backed with a little bit of leftover fleece for Little Bub to wear while devouring his cake.

 

 

And all of this (including the price of fabric) is still less than the $50 I would have spent buying the hat and shirt from Etsy. I'd say it's a success!



The Big O-N-E

I can't believe this past year has flown by so quickly! In just 5 short days, my little boy will be turning one! I've been gearing up for his birthday party for months now, trying to get every little detail done so I'm not scrambling around at 3 AM the day of the party! ;)

Being a book lover myself, I couldn't resist having a themed party based on a book, but what to choose?? I ended up going with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar because I loved the idea when I saw it on Pottery Barn's website. Mind you, this was about when Little Bub was about 4 months old and it's stuck ever since.

 

 

My version of the party will look very different of course: no paper lanterns, individual bibs or great lighting (ha!). This week I will be sharing those little details and my DIY creations in the 5 days leading up to the BIG EVENT.

 

Here is the link to my pinterest board and all my inspiration!