Sock Monkey 1st Birthday Party

   We finally had Ethan's 1st Birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked great and Ethan had a fantastic time. It was absolutely perfect. Which means, the bazillion hours I spent crafting the past 3 months, paid off. I couldn't have been happier with the result. So without further ado, here is Ethan's Sock Monkey 1st Birthday party!

      When the guests arrived, they were greeted by this little guy hanging out in his radio flyer wagon with "ONE" spelled in cardboard letters from the craft store.  I also made a welcome sign for the front door. I started by making a template for the monkey head using card stock. Then, I cut out the pieces using foam. Finally, I printed the welcome page and layered it with different scrapbook papers in the sock monkey theme.  I used the template for both the welcome sign, and Ethan's birthday shirt.

      Ethan's shirt was by far the most meticulous and time consuming of all my projects. Using my template, I cut each piece out in felt. I used embroidery thread and sewed each piece on by hand. It took me a total of 6 hours to make the shirt from start to finish. But it wasn't as bad as it sounds, most of it was done lying in bed, watching TV. Here is Ethan in his birthday shirt. I think it was definitely worth the effort :)

     I made a birthday hat to go with his shirt. But, he wouldn't wear it for even a second. I'm kind of sad I couldn't get a picture of him in it because it is so cute. It was pretty simple to make, I just wrapped a paper party hat from the dollar store with felt and trimmed it with ribbon. Then I hot-glued a '1' onto the front and a red pom pom on top. I finished it with a little ribbon to tie around the neck.

   One of the most exciting things about Ethan's party was the time capsule. I found the idea on Pinterest and couldn't resist including it in Ethan's party. I had everyone write a note to Ethan, to be included in a time capsule, he will open on his 18th Birthday.  With each invitation, I sent a couple of note cards, along with an explanation of the time capsule, and a few ideas of things to include.  Ethan got a lot of sweet notes, and I am going to throw in a few things from the party, too.

    For the food, I really wanted to keep it simple and mainly focus on the centerpiece; the cupcake tower! I made two different types of cupcakes; Banana with Peanut Butter Icing and Oreo Crumb Cupcakes (you can find the recipes here.)I found some cupcake trees on the Internet, but I refused to pay $50 for a piece of cardboard. Instead, I bought some styrofoam boards from the dollar store and had Brian build a cupcake stand. I saved $45 by doing it this way! I got the cupcake wrappers and toppers from Etsy and printed them out from my computer. I bought Ethan's smash cake from the grocery store. I ordered an awesome fondant sock monkey to sit on top of the display, but sadly, it was delivered to the wrong address. At the last minute, I cut a '1' and a sock monkey out of paper and stuck them in the top of the cake with a wooden skewer. I was a little bummed because it didn't make the same statement (and it wasn't 3D) but I was the only one who knew and it still looked fantastic.

Aside from the cupcakes, I kept the food pretty simple. I served a nugget tray from Chick-fil-A, chips and dip, and fruit skewers with yogurt dip. My Dad made sausage balls, spiced pecans, and pimento cheese on celery.

         The last of my craft-apalooza included 2 banners. A 'Happy 1st Birthday' banner and a highchair banner that read 'I am 1'. They were made using scrapbook paper matching the sock monkey theme. 

          

       After presents, Ethan was ready for his birthday cake. He absolutely loved it and ate almost the entire thing. Although, he was nice enough to share a bite with Daddy! :)

       I hope you enjoyed Ethan's 1st birthday party as much as we did!

All printables from Cupcake Express

Inspired by See Vanessa Craft & The Macs

Craft supplies from Hobby Lobby

Rustic 1st Birthday Photo Shoot

     I am so excited to finally be able to share the results of Ethan's 1st Birthday photo shoot! Everything turned out perfect and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I spent hours planning his photo shoot, trying to figure out exactly how I wanted it and collecting everything I needed for props. I knew from the beginning it would be in a rustic setting with Ethan wearing his overalls, sans shirt and shoes. I was surfing Pinterest  for inspiration, when I came across this adorable smash cake session from On To Baby. I immediately fell in love with it and knew I would be making a boy version for Ethan's photos.

      I have a friend whose family owns a wedding venue in Odenville, Alabama. There is a fantastic old barn on the property complete with old wagon wheels and bales of hay. It was the perfect spot for our pictures and my friend's Mom was kind enough to let us use it. Once I had the location, I started collecting my props. I used the chalkboard I painted a few weeks ago to write Ethan's name on and found an old wicker chair at my grandmother's house. I went to the local flea mall and found a great deal on an old Radio Flyer wagon. I bought some cardboard letters, spelling "ONE" at the craft store to put inside the wagon. I really loved the idea of the mirror, so I had my handyman/husband build me a rustic frame and tarnish it with our homemade stain. Brian's work boots were the perfect finishing touch.



   As far as the cake went, I HAD to have a giant cupcake! I bought a silicone pan that makes a cake 25x the size of a regular cupcake. I used boxed cake mix and a tub of icing and covered it with TONS of sprinkles! It looked perfect and it was so much fun to watch Ethan tear into it.

    One of my favorite details of the pictures is the giant moss-covered E. It was not part of my original plan. But, when we pulled up to the barn, the 'E' was hanging from a window. It turns out, my friend had gotten married there the day before and her new last name begins with an E. They had simply forgotten to take it down when they cleaned up after the reception. How great is that? It was the perfect accompaniment to Ethan's pictures.

    We used anything and everything we found laying around the barn. There was an old wash bin, hay bales, and 2 huge wagon wheels. Ethan is a ham in front of the camera and he had a ball walking around and playing. He carried his favorite wrench around with him almost the whole time. (He already gravitates towards tools and is very interested in how they work. Like father, like son.)

Modern Whimsy Nursery

    This is the most fun I've ever had decorating a room. I'm sure the excitement of a new baby had something to do with it, but being able to do something colorful and full of whimsy was a blast. We knew right away the traditional baby blue and pastels wasn't happening. We also didn't really want a theme, but more of a color story.  I decided on a bright orange, lime green, and electric blue. We toned the colors down by painting the walls a light neutral color and balanced it with dark wood furniture. We did kind of end up with a zoo animal theme, but that wasn't planned. I still think the color is what stands out the most. Every last detail of the nursery was well thought out. I didn't purchase anything that didn't have a specific purpose or place in the room.

    It is very hard to find baby bedding that isn't pastel or have a major theme plastered all over it. I wanted each piece to have a different pattern on it. I seriously thought about spending hundreds of dollars to have it custom made. Then I came across this set at Babies 'R' Us, on clearance, for less than $100. Score!! The convertible crib also came from there.  ( I wish I had cleaned out some of the clutter around the crib before snapping pictures.)

    This is the crib now, without the bumpers, mattress lowered. The mural on the wall was painted by my stepfather. I wanted something very simple with no shading, as if it had been torn out of a coloring book. It turned out exactly as I had imagined! It is a great focal point in the room. The giraffe in the corner is Henry. Brian's stepmother gave him to us. He started out in her nursery when she was a child, then her sister's, then her niece's, and now he is Ethan's little mascot. The sign hanging off his ear was a gift from a client. She hand painted it to say "Shhhh Ethan is sleeping". These three elements are so special to us because they required so much thought and time from people we love.

    We striped the far wall in the room using the color from the other 3 walls and a lighter shade that we used to paint the ceiling. The glider was given to us from my Aunt. She covered it in the cow print when my cousin was a baby to match his cowboy room. I threw a pillow from Urban Outfitters on it. The shades came from Budget Blinds and they are AWESOME! The chocolate curtains are room darkening and a must since the sun comes up on that side of the house.

   My father-in-law built this toy chest. My husband stained it and I made the cushion for it. We found the wooden letters at Michael's. We stained them the same color as the chest then wiped them so they'd be a little lighter. The 'H' looks lighter than the rest in this picture, but it isn't.

    The changing table it made from an antique secretary that belonged to my mother. We gutted the top portion of it, stained it to match the crib, and put more modern hardware on it. Now the fold down desk holds a changing pad and there is plenty of room in the cubby to hold diapers, wipes, etc. 

 
    We painted the shelves above the changing station the same color we used on the ceiling and striped wall. I painted each of the letters from Michael's the colors used in the room.  The owl lamp came from Urban Outfitters. If you've never shopped there, they have really fun and different stuff to decorate with, on top of cool clothing and accessories. Check it out!

   Finally, my favorite part of Ethan's nursery! We have very small closets in our house so I knew we were going to need lots more storage for all of those little things babies accumulate. I didn't really want another chest or dresser in the room. I wanted something different that allowed easy access to burp clothes, blankets, and bibs. When I was little, my brother had some shelves that fit all of his toys in little cubbies that seemed to fit each toy perfectly, like they were cut to the size of specific toys. I was always so jealous of those shelves. He finally gave them to me when I was a teenager, but they ended up being too big to keep when I moved into my first place of my own.
   So, I designed my own more modern version for Ethan's room. My husband then drew it out and built the shelves for me!  He built them out of high quality birch and trimmed the edges with poplar. They are immaculate! I bought colored storage baskets to hold Ethan's things and filled in with books, shoes, pictures and more. These shelves will last forever and Ethan will be able to display all of his toys on it as he grows.

Ethan playing in his room. (6 months)

Homeade Baby Food

I have several projects that we have done (my husband and I) over the past few months that I will be posting periodically. This is one of those.

I decided while I was pregnant that I would make all of Ethan's baby food from scratch. I figured I cook delicious food for us, why shouldn't Ethan get the same? And besides, who would want to eat that nasty garbage they call baby food? What is actually in that stuff anyway?

So I did some research. It is actually very simple and you can make enough food in a couple of hours for 1-2 months if you freeze it. I didn't buy one of those expensive baby food makers. I already had a food processor and knew I wanted to make it in large batches. All I bought was a steamer and some silicone ice cube trays. Here's what you need:

Steamer (I used an electric one, but you could use a steamer basket)
Food processor or blender
Ice cube trays
Large freezer bags
Fruits and vegetables

The first batch I made, I bought 2-3 fruits and 2-3 vegetables. I think they were apples, peaches, pears, yellow squash, green peas and carrots.  I sliced them up and put them in the baskets of the steamer.Most things steam in 15-20 minutes. They need to be pretty soft the first couple of months, because you want a smooth puree.

I also steamed some fruits on the stove with a small amount of water in a large pot.

Once everything was tender I pureed them one at a time in the food processor and poured them into the ice cube trays. I covered each tray with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer overnight. The next day all I had to do was empty the cubes into freezer bags and label each one with the food and date.

This has been one of the easiest and best things I have done for Ethan. I feel good to know I am feeding him only the cleanest and freshest foods. He will eat anything and everything and has a great appetite. I can't help but think it is partly because he is eating food that actually tastes good and is good for him. I highly recommend it!