Strawberry Shortcake Party - Noelle Turns FIVE!

My girl is five. I look at my baby - fun-loving and shy - but gracefully maturing into a beautiful little lady. She starts Kindergarten this year and I'm terrified. When we talk about it and she sees the tears welling up in my eyes she reassures me with this speech, "Mommy, it's going to be okay. It will just be for a little while and you can go to Target while I'm gone. I have to go to school to learn stuff." I've heard it a dozen times already. She's so brave.

In May we went on our annual Disneyland trip during Mother's Day weekend to kick off the summer and celebrate her birthday. She agreed to have a small birthday party but insisted it have a Strawberry Shortcake theme. I grabbed her Strawberry Shortcake doll and we headed to JoAnn's for a few supplies. Six yards of fabric, a box of 12 mason jars, a string of Martha Stewart pom-poms and we were pretty much ready to party.

Since it was June and the day heats up quickly we decided on a mid-morning brunch. The menu included Sausage Quiche, Muffins, Strawberry Greek Yogurt with granola, Fruit Salad and Cinnamon Rolls. 

For the backdrop, I cut the fabric into 5-inch strips and tied them using a slip knot onto a birch tree branch. I had the crates but painted them white and added the strawberry to the inside of the large crate.

The table was very quick and easy to set up. I found vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric at Walmart for $3/yard. 

At Walmart I also picked up a couple bundles of cheap flowers and a bag of limes. 

Noelle's refinished desk was used as the beverage table. 

Mr. G drilled holes into the mason jar lids just big enough for the paper straws. It's a one time deal since the lids will rust if they are washed. 

In the dining room I set up the dessert (strawberry shortcake and cupcakes) along with Noelle's previous birthday party invitations. 

When frosting cupcakes, I always whip a half teaspoon of vanilla extract into the frosting and pipe it onto the cupcakes for a bakery-style look. 

For the craft, the friends decorated a clay pot with foam stickers and then planted a flower. 

I'm certain that no flower made it more than a day but it kept them busy for 10 minutes. 

It was a lovely morning! 

My girl. 

Strawberry Shortcake hair bow from The Palmetto Baby on Etsy

Noelle's Strawberry Stand was an easy project that she loves and plays with every day. The total cost was about $20. 

Here's what you need from Michael's:

(2) Crates - They were half off for $7 each

(2) 24" sticks

4"x 24" plywood

From Home Depot:

Berry Pink Spray Paint

Wood Screws

Once all the pieces are sprayed with paint, stack the crates and line them up. Then drill the screws through the top crate into the bottom crate. 

The 24" sticks fit perfectly snug in between the gaps on the side of the crate. Mr. G used wood glue to hold them in place. You can touch up the glue with spray paint when you're done assembling the stand.

Lastly, paint the plywood slab and use wood glue to secure it to the top of the sticks. Done! Such a cute little stand that can be used as a ticket counter for a circus party, lemonade stand, grocery store play, etc.

A family photo for once!

Happy 5th Birthday sweet girl! I love you so.

First We Had Each Other - Personalized Onesie Silhouette Cameo Heat Transfer Material Project

Our dear friends recently welcomed their baby girl, Olive, to the world. Jeff and Nicole had a co-ed baby shower in San Luis Obispo, CA which was airplane themed and so much fun. For Olive's gift, I purchased a crate from Michael's, stained it, painted it white, distressed it, then used my Cameo to cut out "Olive" in hot pink vinyl. I also added her monogram to the other side of the crate and gave it a coat of weather-proof varnish.

When it was finished, I filled the crate with all of my must-have baby items and the most adorable lace outfit and headband on earth (from this Etsy seller). On each gift, I taped a tag which said what the item was for and why I love it. 

Now that Olive is here, and we are going to visit her tomorrow for the first time, I decided to make her a little onesie using my Silhouette Cameo and Smooth Heat Transfer Material. 

I had an idea of what I wanted the onesie to look like. Olive's daddy is an airline pilot (I flew with him back when I was a flight attendant), so I searched for a cute airplane in the Silhouette Store and found this little fella for .99. For the back of the onesie, I created a design with the adorable saying, "First we had each other. Then we had you. Now we have everything." Seriously cute.

When I was satisfied with the design I did the most important step - Mirror the Image! I wasted a good 6 inches of material by forgetting this step on a previous craft - major bummer.

This is how the image looks mirrored. Since you'll be placing the image material side down, it will be right-side up when you iron it on.

After a couple of test cuts, I found this setting to be the most efficient for my machine: Smooth Heat Transfer, Speed 8, Thickness 14, Blade 1. No cutting mat.

Once cut, I slowly peeled the excess material off the plastic sheet to reveal the image.

I love the handy dandy hook tool and used it to pick the small pieces of extra material off the sheet. Side note - holy crap, the plastic sheet is sticky! And try not to touch the material too much or it will be tough to transfer.

Then I placed the image on the fabric and fired up the iron. I use the highest cotton setting on my iron. 

After a minute or two, I removed the protective sheet (which comes in the Heat Transfer box) and ironed directly on the plastic sheet for a few seconds. Also, after I carefully removed the plastic, I quickly pressed the iron over the material to give it a good seal. I'm not sure if this step is effective or not, it just makes sense to do it.

The curly letters were a bit tricky and wouldn't transfer right away. I allowed the plastic sheet to cool before attempting to peel it away and that worked. If you're working with chunkier letters, it is easier to take the sheet off when it is still warm. 

Here's the final result!

I've enjoyed the few times I've been able to use the Heat Transfer material. This morning my sister ran  in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland (along with 12,000 others). I made this EAT MY PIXIE DUST shirt (with Tinkerbell on the front) for her first 13.1mi race. Way to go, sis!

-Amanda

Valentine's Day Mantle

Our little guy, Noah, was due on Valentine's Day in 2011. He ended up being born on the 15th but my point is, with a birthday party coming up in a few weeks, I didn't want to go overboard with Valentine's Day decorations. They will be replaced soon enough by a race car themed 2nd birthday party (which I haven't begun to plan - better get on that).

I had an extra canvas in my craft bin and after seeing this adorable DIY project from Craftoholics Anonymous, I decided that it's about time to fire up my Silhouette Cameo and see what it could do.

Turns out, I must be missing the vinyl talent because my version was less than perfect. I followed the directions exactly (and even used the mod podge trick) but when it came time to pull the stickers off I wasn't "left with a great looking love day decoration" as Linda claims. But she's a craft genius so I don't blame her for my unfortunate outcome.

Not one letter peeled off perfectly. I would normally trash a craft fail like this but I decided to just go ahead and spend a few minutes fixing it up.



Good from far, but far from good.

The next super easy craft for the mantle involved picking up heart-shaped doilies from the Target dollar section and stringing 5 of them from twine. Not much I could mess up with that. Although, they did come out of the package with a tear on the edge.

I balanced the mantle out with a seashell-filled vase, vintage books and letter G.

And called it a day.