Happy Birthday Ava! Rainbow Party recap

Well, I am exhausted. I loved planning this shin-dig, and big sister loved it. But little sister, well, she was a little overwhelmed. Pretty sure she is cutting 4 teeth, and all the people just made her a little, well, special. She whined a lot, pretty much refused to eat, and didn't even want to smash her cake. But alas, my baby is one now! Next year, pizza and cake with the grandparents. No theme. Just small. And cheap. 

But here, in all its glory, the rainbow party: a story in pictures. There may be some DIY instructions later in the week. We'll see. If you want to know something specific, please, feel free to ask, and I can arrange a post about it! 

Crepe paper rainbow, and my mobile when I was a baby

Before the madness

Off center picture...

Rainbow Jello cups

Maybe my favorite rainbow! ROYGBIV food table :)

Drinks

Cupcakes

Coloring table- books from the Dollar Tree

 Candy Bar

Gift table, favors, and monthly picture banner

Our family :)

Sweet baby while she was still smiling

Me and my biggest little

Daddy and Ava

Cake fail

Ok, I'll eat it if mom holds me

Here momma!

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

And I may or may not have made our friends and family dress in specific colors.....

Do You Love Eric Carle?

I know we do at this house! I have started adding some new stuff to my ETSY store, in hopes of making a little money. This project started with me wanting to actually paint something for my own kids (wow!). So I made them these:

They now live in our playroom :) I LOVE them!!

Then a friend asked me to make these, for her son:

And once again, I fell in love.

So I started these:

I have two to finish during naptime tomorrow. How can I love each one more than the last?!

DIY cupcake tower

I can't pretend I figured this out on my own- I pinned it here, and I loved it! So I did it. And the best thing about it, I think, is that I can remove the ribbon on the edge, and replace it for the next party! So a $5 project should last me at least a few years.

So, here is my how-to. It is just about the same as the other lady's but maybe a few things are different.

Materials-

2- 10 inch cake circles
2- 12 inch cake circles
2- 14 inch cake circles
Hot glue gun
2 soup cans
1 tuna can
cardstock (I used white, to be neutral for future parties, but you can get creative here)
ribbon of your choice

So first, cut the cardstock to the size of your can. Then hot glue one edge, as seen here. Pull it around the can, and hot glue at the seam. It is best if the ends overlap a bit, like 1/2 inch.

Do that with all three cans.

Then glue the circles together. White side out, on either side. (The other side is brown cardboard, not pretty.)

Then, using your largest circle, hot glue the edges of the tuna can to the board. Try our best to be centered. I'll say, I didn't measure or any of that nonsense, I mean come on, the baby was due to wake up at any moment, and my kid + a hot glue gun= disaster.

Oh, side note, try to make sure the seams of the cans are all in line. That way, you can turn the whole thingy and the seams will be at the "back" of your party table. Same goes with the ribbon, when you get there. 

Then on top of that, glue your first soup can. Then, glue the next size circle to the top of the soup can. Repeat for the top layer, with the second soup can.

Now, cut your ribbon to the length of your circle, again, leaving room for a bit of overlap. Do for all three levels. Hot glue to the edge of the circles. Go in like, 4 inch segments, so you have time to be sure the ribbon is level, and the glue doesn't dry before you get there.

Let me take this moment to tell you, I love the glue gun. And I hate it. Glue strings everywhere, I burn myself every.single.time. But dang, it makes some crafty stuff!

Then go get the baby. She woke up.

Voila! Gorgeous!!!!

Next, and most importantly, go to my ETSY store, and buy a handmade cake topper in your party theme! I have rainbow and ladybug listed, but just tell me what you need, and I can do it!

T minus 10 days til my bebe's first birthday, and party!

Wordless Wednesday

I do not know what these faces are they are making, but it cracks me up that lil sis was copying what big sis was doing!

A little rainbow DIY project

You may begin to see a theme in the next few weeks; maybe or maybe not culminating in a similarly themed one year old's birthday party....

Anywhoodles, in preparation for said birthday party, I picked up these, thinking I could use them somehow. Also, mine were only $3.99 at my store. FYI- they are much more "rainbowier" in person. Yep, I said that.

Then I'm all "Um, how can I use 30 flippin candles at a party where there will be like, 12 kids? Sounds suuuuper safe." Yeah, so instead, I decided to melt them all down, and make one big rainbow striped candle. I'll be honest, it's really irritating me that it isn't perfectly striped. Apparently it is not so easy to work with piping hot wax, and get it to do exactly what you want it to do, without burning the crap out of yourself. Oh, doesn't help when there are 2 kids bouncing around your legs trying to see what it looks like.

I took each candle out of it's plastic tealight holder, popped the wick out, and melted each color individually for about 4 or 5 minutes in the microwave. I would stir it every now and again also, with a plastic fork. For the first color, I just held the wick in place for a few minutes until it "dried" enough to hold it in place. Then I would wait for the color to set until I started melting the next one. All together, minus kid interruptions, it took all of about 30 minutes to do it. Now I can put it in the middle of the table, or on the mantel at the party, and it will be one fire hazard that isn't reachable, versus thirty. Win.

So alas, here is the finished product, not perfect, but cute, and vaguely reminiscent of those colored sand things we made as kids:

Here is another little glimpse at something we will use for the party. Though I am yet undetermined as to what I am doing for cake, I think this plate will be used for Ava's smash cake. Thanks Teresa (mother in law) for lending me the Southern Living "Dress Me Up Plate." This could well find it's way to my birthday wish list. Wink, wink ;)

Really- Is it time for this?!

Oh How Pinteresting

Another Pinterest project done :) I began with two old frames with prints in them that I didn't like. Then I threw one of the frames on the floor and broke it, so then I had one frame left.... So I just took the print out, spray painted the frame, printed out this cute free printable and framed it. Voila! It was a one naptime project, which are really the only kind that happen here. Hope you like it!

Before- UGLY

After- totally cute :)