Tuesday, July 10, 2018

My Granddaughter's 1st Birthday: Handmade Party Decorations, Card, and Tags

I am so excited to share today's crafting post with you because it is all about celebrating the birth of my beautiful granddaughter Alethea!  I got to spend five glorious days with this precious little one last week.  We celebrated her birthday, went hiking in a state park, swam at the pool, played in a water splash pad park, and celebrated the 4th of July.  Oh, the fun we had!  This sweetie has the most wonderful personality!  Just look at the sparkle in those eyes!  She absolutely loves people and loves having fun!


My daughter Ashley did a beautiful job of coordinating the colors and decorating her apartment for the birthday party.  She asked me to make a sign welcoming guests to the party.  She let me know the colors beforehand, which were white, pink, teal, red, and a touch of gold.  All the guests entered through the back patio doors, and this is what they saw when they first arrived.


Alethea loved her sign.  It as covered in glitter, butterflies, and flowers, what little girl wouldn't love that?

I knew Alethea would be wearing a blush pink dress, so I coordinated with her and wore my $4.99 H&M blush dress too!  It was perfect for the almost 100 degree temperatures we had that day!


I made the sign by using about five different Circuit Cartridges and cutting out all the different letters and shapes with my Circuit machine.  I don't use my Circuit Expression often, but it sure comes in handy for events like this!

The "Welcome To" and butterfly body were cut out of black glitter paper.  I brought the gold color in by bordering the first sign on the stake with it.  


Alethea's name was chipboard pieces that I painted and covered with glitter.  All the flowers, big and small were cut with the Circuit machine.  Some of the flowers I covered with pink flocking....there is a lot of small details in this sign!

The "1st Birthday" was cut with plain black paper.  I hope to re-use this sign for future birthdays by just changing out the one for other numbers.  Or, I might just use her name.  After all the work that went into this sign, pieces will get re-used at the very least!

The butterfly above the letter "B" in "Birthday" is three dimensional...I used dimensionals to pop it's wing up.

To finish the sign,  I purchased a piece of lathe for 39 cents at a home improvement store and painted it pink.  Then I grabbed an old plastic pot from my garden shed and spray painted it white.  It was kinda dirty and dingy that's why I painted it.  My husband than built a contraption out of wood for the sign to slip into to hold it steady.  He screwed it to the bottom of the pot.  The sign easily slipped inside the contraption.


 If you look at the base of the stake and see that natural wood, that is the contraption my hubby built.  It's basically just two pieces of wood glued together leaving a small slit to slip the sign into.  I then filled the pot with soil around his contraption and put a planted some pink petunias around the base.


And now for the rest of the party decorations!  

Ashley hung fun pink, teal, and red crepe paper streamers from the ceiling.


She created a gift table by covering her keyboard with a teal and gold plastic table cloth and hung a "Happy Birthday" banner above it.  She purchased seven helium pink, teal, and gold balloons and put them on each side of the gift table, varying the heights of the balloons.  


Would you believe Ashley hand cut all these letters and banner pieces?  She doesn't have a Circuit machine like I do.  She did an amazing job.  She attached the letters to ribbon using mini clothes pins.



Ashley also decorated Alethea's high chair using crepe paper and a hand cut #1.



And here is the birthday girl enjoying her very first piece of birthday cake...gluten free of course!  She never had anything sugary sweet before and seemed to really enjoy the pink frosting.


The food table was set up in the kitchen.  Ashley used a teal table cloth and hung another banner on the wall behind the table.


 The tassel's were purchased, but again she hand cut the banner pieces and drew the letters of Alethea's name on them.  They were attached to ribbon using paper clips.


I cut pink and white hydrangeas, baby's breath, and hosta leaves from my garden and made three flower arrangements for the party.


The cake was purchased from Mariano's grocery store.  Ashley found the design she liked on Pinterest and took the picture into Mariano's and they were able to duplicate the cake using her colors.


Ashley got really lucky and found pink and gold "1st Birthday" napkins at a party store.  They matched her theme perfectly.  She also used pink and gold paper plates.


And now I want to  show you the handmade birthday card I made for Alethea.  

I used the vintage images from the Crafty Secrets stamp set "Birthday Kids".   This is one of my favorite Crafty Secrets sets.  The images are just adorable!


I put glitter glue on the dots in the present image.  I made a bow with pink grosgrain ribbon and put a paper pink dot on the center of the bow.

The balloon was stamped and cut out separately, colored, covered in crystal effects to make it shiny, then popped up on dimensionals.


I also put glitter on the little girl's dress.  


The background paper is also covered in glitter and very shiny in real life.


I also made some tags using leftover pieces that I did not use for Alethea's sign.



I stapled this large flower that I didn't use on Alethea's sign to a gift bag.  It was just a plain purple gift bag and I wanted to dress it up more.


And finally, here are some pictures of sweet Alethea enjoying her party.  Her favorite gifts were this cute little pink monster truck a friend gave her and a wagon my husband and I gave her.  She played with both non-stop all five days we were there...especially the wagon.  But it was Ashley's idea to buy her a wagon, so I give her all the credit!




Here's my little doll playing with her wagon.  She loved to walk around the apartment and put stuff inside the wagon and pull it all over.  I never knew babies enjoyed this activity so much.  Ashley got the idea from an article she read on-line and told me about it.  The plastic Radio Flyer Wagon was the perfect size and weight for her small frame too.


I did buy Alethea a lot of other things too...because I love to spoil her.  But it was the wagon she loved most of all!


Well thank you for letting me go on and on bragging about my granddaughter.  Everyone always warned me I would feel this way when the first grandchild was born, and I would never believe them.  But they were right!  Grandchildren are such a blessing!  I can't believe how much my heart swells in love for her!  She is my little honey-bunny!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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18 comments:

  1. A party fit for a princess! I just love that cake eating photo! xx

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    1. Thank you! I wanted to put a tiara on her head, but she's at the age where she pulls anything on her head off.

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  2. Serious cuteness overload. We have a grandson that just turned 1 too. There's just nothing quiet like grands. I love the sign you made. I have a Cricut Explore, but it doesn't get near enough use.

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    1. Thanks Joanna. 1 is such a precious age! I don't use my Circuit machine much either. It seems to only get used for party events.

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  3. Ahhh, happy birthday to this little angel! Looks like she had an amazing day!

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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    1. Thank you Ashley! She had a wonderful day. She was so excited to show me her party decorations when I arrived.

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  4. Oh, happy birtday to Alethea! What a beautiful name and such a lovely party!

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    1. Thanks Nancy! I love her name too. It definitely fits her beautiful soul.

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  5. Such a fun party! The sign you made looks great! And I can't believe she cut those out by hand! Dedication right there! Great job!

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    1. Thank you! I know, right? I wish she would have said something to me, I could have easily cut it in minutes with my Circuit machine.

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  6. AW first birthday parties are so special! Looks like it was a great time!

    Amy Ann
    Straight A Style

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  7. Happy 1st Birthday to Alethea!! Such fun photos and you and Ashley did an amazing job with the decorations! Beautiful card too, loving that vintage style image!
    It's wonderful to see how much you enjoy being a grandma!

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    1. Thanks Ellie! I'm loving every minute of being a grandmother!

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  8. What cute party decorations! Looks like the baby girl really liked her wagon ♥

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  9. What a very special day! I don't remember Alethea's hair being this curly in other photos. Maybe she is growing into curls or maybe it's summer's humidity. What a doll she is. Your card is a precious keepsake that will remind her how clever and creative her grandmother is every time she sees it. Love all of the decor, the cake. Beautiful tribute to your angel.

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    1. I think Alethea's hair was more curly because of the humidity, but she does have somewhat curly hair. Thanks so much!

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