Planning Adylee's First Birthday!!

I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what I should write next because I want to keep up with this blog more than I have been. So I decided to write a little one about some of the plans I have for miss Adylee's first birthday party that is coming up in just a few weeks.

Her theme was probably the hardest to pick! I had originally wanted to go with cheetah and pink but with the way I wanted to cheetah to look being nearly impossible to find I settled for something a little more Adylee. 

So I picked the one above!! It says "Diva's First Birthday." Which is 100% Adylee and it has both zebra and cheetah. Not to mention that black and pink are my favorite color combination. :)

I am not going to get every single thing in this picture because I do wanna try and save some money on the decorations so I have decided to buy and make some things myself as well as add in a few things. I will be getting everything pink and black to match the theme as well as throwing in the zebra

I plan on making my own happy birthday banner out of card stock, my own collage using mod podge in case I am not able to order the newborn to 1 year photo banner that I want, and my own chalkboard print that will have facts about Adylee on it. As well as making tissue paper pom poms!

One thing I am really excited about doing that I have not seen done before at any of the parties I have gone to is taking a soup can and decorating it to house your silverware for the party. It's so innovative and cheap!

As you may have seen in my other post, I made her tutu for her birthday outfit. 

In addition to this, she will have a black onesie that will have a zebra 1 and have her name underneath in a hot pink/neon. Once I get the picture from the lady making it off etsy I will post :)

I also had a birthday candle made for her that will go on her smash cake. It was hand painted to match her theme but the cheetah side to it since most of the decorations will be zebra print or just pink.

Now onto her cake! I have decided that I won't be doing the traditional cake and smash cake combo. Instead I am having one of my co-workers make her smash cake out of fondant which will be zebra print. Then I will be baking cupcakes and putting hot pink and black frosting on them. Because not everyone eats cake but they do eat cupcakes!

Food wise we're just going to be doing finger foods for the kids like popcorn chicken and for the adults I'm going to have cuban sandwiches. Sides are going to be pasta salad and some fruits and veggies. In addition to that, I'm gonna make graham crackers dipped in chocolate and pink sprinkles for the kids to snack on. I will also be making the zebra & pink cookies that go around on Pintrest alot. Both will be something like what I have pictured below that I got from Pintrest.

Goody bags I am just going to have a candy bar station set up that'll have baby and kid friendly stuff along with a few things for the adults. I'm not going to go all out on goody bags because most of the time you just end up throwing half of the stuff out. The candy will also be like what is pictured above. Something that will go with her theme.

As you can see, everything is going to be pink, black & zebra! Some of our favorite things! I am so excited to start getting everything in order since we only have 3 weeks until her birthday party! I can't wait. It's going to be so much fun decorating and making these things because what I make can last her for a while and can also go into her nursery if I don't decide to change it haha.

DIY Tutorial: How to Make A Tutu

Recently, I made my first tutu ever and boy was it fun, pretty easy and quite cheap. All of my favorites!! So I figured I'd do a little tutorial on it for my readers. There are tons out there I am sure but it never hurts to write your own :)

So first off you're gonna need the basics:

-Tulle (if you're doing one color I recommend 2-3 rolls depending on your model. if bigger than a toddler i would say 4. and if you are doing two or more colors i would say anywhere between 4-5. don't open them all because if you end up not using that many you can always take them back! i used 5 rolls on mine.)

-Elastic (1/2 in works best)

-Scissors (fabric or rotary)

-Needle and thread or sewing machine

The tulle, elastic and scissors I got at Wal-Mart for cheap! The tulle cost me 2.97 per roll, the elastic was like a 1.98 or so and the scissors were 3.00. The sewing part my mom did for me because she had a sewing machine.

The first thing you are gonna do is measure your model's waist. Then cut off 2-3 inches from that. So say the waist size is 20" you're going to cut it down to 17" or 18". I know this seems drastic but the elastic will stretch. 

Then you will cut your tulle which if you use the rolls from Wal-Mart just measure out 20" and cut. You can do longer if you are working with an older model. I used 20" on mine for Adylee and it is perfect. I may end up cutting them a little shorter just cause some end up in her face when she sits down.

After all that, you will sew the elastic together. It'll look like the bottom picture.

From there you will need to find a cylinder or a hanger to hold your elastic while you add your tulle. Don't go for anything too large or it will stretch it even more. I did this with my first one and ended up having to cut it at the end to fit my daughter. 

Once you get it all situated on a cylinder you're going to take your tulle and fold it in half like so:

After that you are going to take it and put it underneath the elastic.

You will then take the bottom part of the tulle and bunch it together in order to bring it through the top, like so:

Once you pull it through you will then pull it tight. Not TOO tight but tight enough so that it is secure. Once you do a couple you will understand what I mean. It's kinda hard to explain in words lol.

Continue doing this until you reach the end. If you want a real fluffy tutu like I made then you're gonna have to push them all together real tight which will reveal some more elastic so just keep adding tulle. Once you reach where you sewed it you will want to 

Once you have finished up using all your tulle you can add a flower or bow to where you sewed it together because it's going to be pretty hard to add tulle to that piece since it sticks out so funky. I have not done that with mine yet since it if for Adylee's first birthday so I have some time. But here is the finished product:

I ended up having to go get more tulle because I ran out and they didn't have the same pink anymore so I had to go through and add in a darker pink but it ended up coming out pretty good for my first tutu.