Chicken cake

 I nearly forgot to share Lily's birthday cake, which is odd, since I am ridiculously proud of it!

The plum pudding tin really comes in handy, I made her a giant cupcake for her first birthday using that as the base covered in way too much piped buttercream. This one has a standard cake at the bottom with a plum pudding cake upside down on top - then carved with a bread knife. I used coloured fondant for the eyes, etc. then covered with buttercream using different piping tips and shades of yellow.

Of course I also made cupcakes for the gluten and dairy free guests. I ended up rushing these, but did remember to 3D print some cute chick cupcake toppers, which I also turned into stamps for the party favours - one day I might remember to take a photo and share that with you too.

Birthday bunting

 I quite enjoyed making this Christmas bunting and mentioned that I would like to make birthday bunting and I finally did, with the help of my mum.

Originally my thought was that I could just cut some stencils and paint the letters on, but mum said she could do the letters on her fancy embroidery machine.

The fabric is all from Spotlight with the triangles being poplin with a white cotton drill for the backing, and the trim is another poplin. The font I chose for the embroidery letters is Jared.

It was quite the process in the end and would have been far easier to buy a printed panel like the Christmas one was, but this is special and one of a kind. And just like the tablecloth I shared last week, I hope that it will be used for many birthdays to come!

Rainbow tablecloth

 I decided for Lily's party this year that I would make a bright rainbow tablecloth instead of buying yet another one of those plastic "reusable" ones, that haven't actually survived their first use.

I nearly didn't finish it, turns out I don't like slippery satin. It's impossible to cut straight and equally impossible to press the hems. While I did roll the whole lot up and throw it in a box, I ended up getting it out and finishing it. The worst part of it all was that I was hoping I would enjoy sewing satin because it was supposed to be my practice run for sewing a dress with it... obviously not happening anytime soon!

The rainbow satin is from Spotlight and the trim is from Temu. Here's hoping it will suit many birthday party themes over the years, and save us from needing anymore of those "reusable tablecloths".

Bee Themed Birthday

A cute little girl turned two last month and I chose a bee theme for her party this year.

As much as I love this fabric, boy is it hard to photograph - it just doesn't want to focus! I opted for size three as I was worried it would be too small, but I was wrong - at least she won't grow out of it anytime soon!

This pattern is Nottingham from Little Lizard King and the fabric is one I bought from Spotlight while I was pregnant (along with many other bee fabrics).

I found the cute bee cupcake toppers on Printables and printed them on the 3D printer.

I have been saving lanterns and fans since our daughters 1st birthday, just added in some blue and yellow this year, plus some cute bee decorations.

The cute little hexagonal bee box was from Thingiverse - I just printed the top section in yellow which looks great! I added sunflower seeds from The Seed Collection.

Reusable Party Spirals

 I completely forgot that I made reusable spiral party decorations for our daughter's first birthday party. Hopefully I remember to use them at her next party!

Now I know you can buy these in many different colours, but they're so thin and I was aiming to have as many reusable items as I could so I designed these for 3D printing in 4 different sizes.

If you would like to print your own party decorations I have uploaded the files to Thingiverse.

Panda party favours

 I spent far too long trying to find panda party favours that would be enjoyed by kids of all ages, not lollies, food, noisy or annoying for the parents and hopefully not something that will be thrown away as soon as they get home!

I settled on Play Doh and a cookie cutter that I designed and added to Thingiverse. We're not sure about the safety of using 3D printed items with food since the filament is porous and has lots of gaps so I'd suggest not actually using it as a cookie cutter!

I added a lollipop but warned the parents first!

Panda cupcake toppers

 As usual I had grand ideas for all the things I wanted to make for our daughters first birthday, I had good intentions at the start of wanting to buy everything so I could focus on her birthday dress but I didn't find any cupcake toppers I liked. 

I was planning to print cute pandas and stick them to toothpicks but changed my mind and designed a 3D printed panda cupcake topper... and I've added it to Thingiverse if you want to print your own!

That's one thing I can cross off her list, but practicing icing is going to take a few more tries!