I’ve made a turtle cake and a duck cake for Ashlyn’s birthdays but I was having a hard time deciding on what to make for Rowan.  Thankfully I found a guide on how to make an owl cake on Pinterest and I knew what I wanted to make for Rowan’s first birthday!  I started with . . . → Read More: How to make an owl birthday cake]]>

I’ve made a turtle cake and a duck cake for Ashlyn’s birthdays but I was having a hard time deciding on what to make for Rowan.  Thankfully I found a guide on how to make an owl cake on Pinterest and I knew what I wanted to make for Rowan’s first birthday!  I started with my carrot cake recipe and made 2 9 inch round cakes.  That was the easy part!

While they cooled, I attempted my template.  Basically, you trace the bottoms of the cake pans (I have a lot of 9 inch pans for some reason so I used the ones that were not hot from the oven) onto some parchment paper and intersect them about half way or so.  One cake will stay whole, the other will become the head and other parts: wings, ears and legs.

You can see my failed attempt at tracing the pans the first time through the paper, hense why I traced over the ‘good’ copy in marker.  Then I cut out my template and when the cakes were totally cooled I used them to cut out all of the pieces.  Next I pieced together the owl and did the quick and dirty icing.

I also used a few things I had around the house (ie some of the girls play food) to act as the templates for the owl’s eyes and belly.  I just stuck the play food on top and used a toothpick to poke holes around them so I’d have a guide for my frosting.

Ashlyn had to get in on the icing of the cake.  I can’t do anything in my kitchen anymore without my little shadow helper at my side!  We decided on a purple owl with a pink belly so I separated the cream cheese into 3 portions: the largest was purple, then 2 smaller plastic sandwhich bags of pink and white.

I used an offset spatula and one of those little spreaders that I think are meant for appetizers at dinner parties but it’s what I had and it worked!  I cut the tips off of the plastic sandwhich bags and used them as piping bags. After I was done with the eyes I added some yellow colouring to do the little beak.  Ashlyn added 2 chocolate chips to the eyes and I added a little bow to put the candle in and ta da!  A cute owl cake for the birthday girl.

Next I raided my scrapbooking supplies for a fancy button and some ribbon.  I cut a 1.75 inch length of thin ribbon and attached it to the shirt when I sewed the button . . . → Read More: Do It Yourself Cupcake Birthday Shirt]]> I started with a plain, $4 t shirt from Walmart that has a tulle bow at the neck.

Next I raided my scrapbooking supplies for a fancy button and some ribbon.  I cut a 1.75 inch length of thin ribbon and attached it to the shirt when I sewed the button on to make the candle.

Then I cut 5 pieces of ribbon to 1.5 inches to make the ‘wrapper’.  I used a bit of scrapbook adhesive to keep the bottom together than pinned it at the bottom and used another pin to keep it in place on the shirt.

Then I sewed along the sides and bottom to attach it to the shirt.  I also did a stitch at the top where the candle meets the wrapper to keep it in place.

I didn’t bother doing the top because I figured adding the ribbon ‘icing’ would take care of that and I don’t sew any more than I absolutely have to!  I couldn’t take pictures as I did the icing because I didn’t have enough hands.  I was trying to do a bunch of cute loops but I failed pretty badly; I just couldn’t figure out how to sew them properly.  In the end, I used about 12 inches of ribbon and did an accordion fold, sewing through each fold as I went.  Then I sewed it into place.  Voila!

It didn’t take very long to make - maybe 2.5 hours total - and would have taken far less time had I not been parenting while crafting, and if I sewed more than twice a year.  I can’t wait ti put it on the birthday girl next week!

With less than 2 weeks until Rowan’s first birthday, I thought I’d better get crafting!  I started with a reusable birthday banner.  I considered taking a ‘before’ picture of all of the elements that I was going to use but decided that it would be pointless; what I think I’m going . . . → Read More: Easy Do It Yourself Reusable Birthday Banner]]>

With less than 2 weeks until Rowan’s first birthday, I thought I’d better get crafting!  I started with a reusable birthday banner.  I considered taking a ‘before’ picture of all of the elements that I was going to use but decided that it would be pointless; what I think I’m going to do and what I end up doing when I get scrapbooking are two totally different things.

This banner cost me nothing to make since I had all of the supplies in my scrapbooking stash, but you could make it fairly inexpensively.  I used 4 sheets of 12×12 paper (could have used 3), 28 eyelets, some ribbon, a cereal box, some stick-on jewels and a lot of glue.

The first step was deciding on a shape for the background pieces.  Once I finally settled on a cupcake, I picked 2 shapes (a hexagon and a flower) from my Accent Essentials cartridge for my Cricut to make the cupcakes and got cutting.  I used one paper for the ‘cups’, and 3 different papers for the tops: 1 pattern for HAPPY, 1 for BIRTHDAY, and 1 for the space between the words.

The hexagons were 4 inches and the flowers were  4.5 inches.  I cut all of the shapes in half using my paper trimmer and started assembling the cupcakes.

I loved how the paper looked with the shapes cut out and I kept it to use as a scrapbook page later!

I used a font from the Sophisticated Cricut cartridge to cut out HAPPY BIRTHDAY (3 inches) and a crown to go in between the words.  I wanted a font that was pretty but still easy for kids to read, since Ashlyn is starting to notice letters and words.  I sprayed the letters with a glitter spray to make them a bit fancier.

And then I used a gold glitter spray and some jewel stickers to finish the crown.

I was worried that the paper alone would be too easily ripped, so I opened a cereal box flat and glued all of the cupcakes to it.  Next the letters were glued down.  I also added one jewel sticker to each letter to hide where I ripped a couple of them taking them off the Cricut mat.  That’s why I love scrapbooking – there are no mistakes, just changes in the plan!

Once all of the cupcakes were cut out of the cereal boxes, I added eyelets with my Crop-A-Dile tool.

I cut the ribbon into 4 inch lengths and tied the letter together.  I also put 12 inch ribbon on each end so I can tie the birthday banner to something if I want to.

And here’s the finished product!  It only took me a few hours off and on and I’m so pleased with how it has turned out.

I love this birthday shirt and might just . . . → Read More: First birthday ideas found on Pinterest]]> I can hardly believe it, but Rowan will be turning one in just a couple of weeks!  We’re not having a big party, just a play date with our friends that involves cake (and probably balloons) but that hasn’t stopped me from gathering ideas from Pinterest.

I love this birthday shirt and might just try to make one myself:

Then there are all the fun decorations.  A good friend of mine used this tutorial to make a balloon banner for her little guy’s first birthday this past Sunday and it turned out great, so I might give it a shot myself:

And I have more than enough scrapbooking supplies to make a re-usable “Happy Birthday” banner!

This rainbow fruit tray is adorable and would be so easy to make.

My biggest indecision is what sort of cake to make.  I have made Ashlyn’s first and second birthday cakes and had no problem deciding what theme to pick, but for some reason I’m really stumped for Rowan.  Owl?  Cat?  Bunny?  A simple 1?  I just can’t figure out what to do and I’m running out of time!

The . . . → Read More: Pudding finger paint]]> Looking for an easy craft to do with your toddler when it’s too hot or rainy to go outside? Why not whip up a batch of pudding finger paint!  It’s so easy: make a box of pudding, then add some food colouring.  Let it set and let the fun begin!

The texture was fun for Ashlyn and she even enjoyed making a mess (she’s a very clean girl most of the time).  I really liked that I wasn’t worried about clean up since it wiped off the table without a problem.

The easiest way to clean up a toddler after some pudding finger paint fun?  A dip the backyard pool, of course!