KT Did It: Rachel's First Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated our daughter, Rachel's first birthday party with family and friends. What a special day! There are so many cute ideas out there for first birthday decorations, themes, etc. I saved many of the decorations and party supplies from my baby shower with plans to use them for Rachel's first birthday party.

I made her a special 1st birthday party hat with scrap book paper and the left over tulle from what I used to make the wreath for her nursery.

I used fabric scraps to make a shabby chic high chair skirt.

For the table, I made a number one as part of the centerpiece to put next to her cake. I used cardboard to cut out the front and back of the number one. To make it three dimensional, I cut a paper towel roll into small pieces and sandwiched them in between the two sides. I used masking tape to wrap it and secure the two sides (paper mache would also have worked with modge podge and strips of news paper or magazines). I decorated the number with fabric strips and them made rolled fabric roses to put on the number. Look for the finished product below!

After my sister's baby shower, I knew that I wanted to make cupcake liners and cupcake flags for this part. I used floral and purple polka dot scrapbook paper to make the cupcake liners. For the flags, I used Microsoft Word to create the circles with the word "ONE" and number "1" on them - 6 of each for the 12 cupcakes that I bought. Yes - bought, I sold out of the homemade cupcakes. I hot glued the circles onto purple glitter paper, then cut them out leaving a border of purple paper using scalloped scrapbook scissors. I used the left over paper to hot glue a toothpick to each flag.

I also repeated the chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treats and chocolate dipped Oreos that I made for my sister's baby shower.

I also made a "Happy Birthday" sign using cardstock, hot glue and ribbon.

The final product was perfect!

Rachel had a wonderful birthday, we are so grateful for everyone who was able to attend and celebrate this special little girl with us!

KT Did It: It's a Boy! Baby Shower for My Sister

Hello all! I am so excited to be back on my blog sharing a new Did-It, especially something as special as this. Since my last post in March, I have been busy planning and preparing for a wonderful event: my older sister's baby shower. And it's a BOY! I was very honored that she let me host her baby shower, and I wanted to make it very special. My sister was a mermaid in another life, so it was fitting that her baby shower would be a nautical theme. Thank you Pinterest for all of the ideas and for giving birth (no pun intended), to Jessica's AHOY! It's a Boy! baby shower.
I started off looking for the perfect invitation.  I chose this blue and green invitation and matching party supply set by PartySparkle on Etsy. The next few weeks involved a lot of printing, cutting, and hot glue! I did a little bit at a time - one night I cut out cupcake liners, another night I made flags for the cup cakes, etc.

Once all of the paper was cut out and ready, I started to work on a few other crafts, decorations and party activities. I made my sister a Mommy-To-Be corsage using green, blue ribbons. Here is an easy tutorial for many a ribbon corsage for a baby shower by DIY Mommy. And here is the corsage I made for my sister, she loved it!

Next up were the activities for the shower. Thankfully my sister did not want to play any embarrassing games. Instead, I decided to have some crafting activities for the guests and Mommy-to-be to do. First, I made nautical themed alphabet prints for our guests to color with colored pencils, crayons and markers. For another station I made an underwater scene for guests to create fingerprint sea creatures and sign as the guest book. A third station was to write guesses about baby's name, birthdate, height and weight. I made paper onesies for guests to write their guesses and then hang with miniature clothes pin on a line which I created on a large frame. Finally, for decorations, I created a bunting banner with green and blue fabric to decorate the windows and railing.

Here is a glimpse of Jessica's baby shower! It was a huge success.

Here I am pinning on the corsage before the party! She loved it.

Here is the spread. My mom made the food, which was delicious as you would expect. We had a cheese tray with bread and crackers. There was homemade crab dip. For the main course, we had meatballs in marinara, Italian roasted chicken strips, a pasta salad and vegetable salad. Everything was scrumptious! And the spread looked pretty good too.

For dessert we served cupcakes (thank you Safeway bakery!) wrapped in matching cupcake liners and decorated with cupcake flags, all part of the baby shower package by PartySparkle that I cut and put together.  We also dipped rice krispie treats and oreos in blue and green chocolate melts, which was a fan favorite!

 

And, of course, the crafts! Here are some of the coloring pages that I made and printed on cardstock. They were beautifully colored by our guests. I am going to get them laminated and bound into a book for baby.

Here is the finger print guest book station.

For party favors, I cut out the matching chocolate wrappers and wrapped over 100 mini Hershey's chocolates and put them in party bags with some blue shark gummies and green round gummies.

Here is the bunting banner, which Jessica now has to decorate the nursery!

Love you so much, Jess! Cannot wait to meet baby boy!

KT Baked It: Hello Dolly's

Over the weekend I was battling my Sweet Tooth! Not only did I have the impulse to eat some sweets, but I also really wanted to bake. So I whipped out a few cookbooks including a photo album I made who knows how many years ago full of dessert recipes. And in it I found just what I was looking for...Hello Dolly's! Mmm, full of delicious chocolate, coconut and a bunch of other artery-clogging goodness that I just could not resist! It's also one of the easiest homemade desserts to make, which is great

What you need:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup butterscotch chips

In a bowl mix together graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.
 

Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Pour half the can of sweetened condensed milk over the graham cracker crust.

Pour the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips over the crust, then the walnuts and finally the coconut. Press gently into the graham cracker crust.

Lastly, pour the remaining half of the can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top.

Now you are ready to bake! So simple. Bake in preheated over at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until coconut is golden. Cool completely before cutting (and devouring)!