Kari'd Away: April 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Ellie's 1st Texas Ranger's Tee

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Ellie's Birthday Shirt

I had a hard time deciding what Ellie should wear to her 1st birthday party. Yes, I know she'll only be ONE and this isn't her prom or wedding or something where the outfit is uber important but still...If you know me, you get it..

So I found a picture of an outfit online that I liked but it didn't coordinate with E's party and it would take too long to get it here (I found it last night and I need the outfit by Thursday morning for her 1 year pictures.). So I went about figuring out a way to make it myself.

I found a tutorial for how to make ribbon flowers on you tube. Here's my own mini tutorial:

Cut a circle out of cardstock (the size you want the flower to end up).

You can use any width of ribbon you want. Now the length you cut your ribbon is really a toss up. For this circle, I used a yard and a half. This was litterally my first time to do this so I winged it..I over cut the first one just in case.

Ok..so get your hot glue gun going and attach one end of the

ribbon with a dot of glue in the center of the cardstock circle.

Then loop the ribbon to tie a knot and glue that down over what you just glued.

Once that dries a bit, begin twisting your ribbon around that know, gluing it down in a few places as you go. You'll do this until the whole circle is filled with twisted ribbon.

Once you come to the end of your circle, wrap the ribbon over the edge and glue it down on the back. Then trim any leftover ribbon. You should have a ribbon flower that you could use on picture frames, headbands, or like I did...on a shirt. I practiced a few last night before I made these. And I know this tutorial is lacking, but its my first one so bear with me. Google "how to make ribbon flowers" and you'll see tons of helpful videos on you tube.

To make her shirt, I just appliqued her onesie with the cupcake bottom, candle, and flame and sewed them down.

To attach the ribbon flowers, I tried to sew them on at first but with the cardstock backing it was too hard. SO..I...you'll never believe this..I sewed some fabric where the flowers would go and HOT GLUED the ribbon flowers to the onesie.

I sure hope it stays long enough to make it through her photo shoot and a little bit of her party! Hope you like it! I think it turned out pretty good for my first go at it.

What do you think?

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Ellie's 1st Birthday Wreath

Decided to make a big, hot pink, feather wreath for the front door for E's party in May. Made something similar (smaller) for her room before she was born and used it for the hospital door when we delivered her. I'll post pics of both.

Basically, I used a wooden wreath form that I found at Michael's for less than $3 for the big one..about $1 for the small one. SO much cheaper than they styrofoam or floral green styrofoam wreath forms. Yall are going to think I have a vendeta against styrofoam, but I don't. Its just expensive if you need lots of it..

First, I painted the wreath form to hide any place that the feathers didn't cover. For the little one I used a light pink. For the big one, I painted it black (for her black, white, and hot pink themed party). Then, I took a feather boa and hot glued it around the form. The little one too 1 boa and went around twice. The big one took 2 boas to make it as full as I wanted it. It didn't look bad with one..but I have some OCD issues..haha!

For her nursery one, I painted letters that spelled out her name and

hung it with a matching ribbon on her closet door.

For her party one, I'll hang it on the front door and took a larger "e" and painted it black to cover the edges. Then I covered it in a damask print wrapping paper to match the theme of her party. I'm going to tape it to the door in the center of the wreath on the day of the party. I can't wait to see that whole day come together! I've been planning her 1st birthday party for the past 2 months and I still have 1 month before the party.

Yes, I know I'm nuts. But I LOVE parties!

Here's some pics of both wreaths.

Tulle Pom Pom Balls for Ellie's 1st Birthday

Thanks to my friend, Tracy, I found an online tutorial for how to make these amazing tulle pom pom balls to hang from the ceiling for Ellie's party. I was going to make feather balls to hang but that was gonna get expensive pretty fast using styrofoam balls and feather boas. Styrofoam is expensive for some reason! So instead, I spent a Monday afternoon with my good friend, Courtney, sipping wine and making these tulle ones instead. They turned out super cute and ended up being way easier than the feather ones would have been. We ended up forgoing the tutorial I found and making our own, easier version that worked just the same. I have them in hot pink, black, and white. And I LOVE THEM I can't wait to see them hanging in the archways of the house on the day of the party. Pics to come on her big day!