Ice Cream Shoppe 3rd Birthday

 

It's official, I have a three year old! We celebrated last weekend with friends and family and had a great time. My favorite part of the whole day was seeing how excited Amelia was to blow out her candles. She stood on her chair in front of everyone (her favorite place to be) and sang "Happy birthday to me!" and blew out her candles. I had to relight them so everyone else could sing to her, silly girl!

 

It's hard to say who had a better time with the sundae station because the adults were just as excited about it as the kids were! Amelia has told everyone who has asked her about her party about the toppings she chose, nothing else. I think that is a good sign that it was a success.

 

 

Birth Story:Amelia Ann

After continuously telling myself over the past three years that I would sit down and write the story of Amelia’s birth so that when she’s old enough to care I can recount for her the torture that is child birth I’m finally doing it. I actually would sit down to write it and get distracted by the many things that parenthood entails thinking to myself; ‘it’s not like you’re going to forget any of it. Who would forget something that big and important?” Oh, maybe me?

With a little collaboration with the husband here is the story of Amelia’s birth.

Be warned, this is not an ‘envision the flower opening, take a deep breath, and push out new life’ kind of story. I guess I’m an over sharer.

Framed Number Party Decor

The big #3 birthday is quick approaching (as I am reminded daily by Amelia). Slowly but surely I am marking projects off the list in preparation. Since her age is her favorite topic and we are working on learning numbers right now, this seemed like an appropriate decor piece for the cake table.

The best part of this project is I made it using things I already had so it didn't cost me anything! I borrowed the frame (size 11x14) from the girls' room and used the remainder of the half yard of polka dot fabric that I also used for the drink toppers for the party as well as 1 1/2 yards of shimmery pink fabric I've been holding onto for some time now. Sharp scissors, a glue gun and a piece of cardstock and you're set to go!

To start I removed the back and the glass from the frame and stored the glass in a safe place. Using the polka dot fabric and glue gun I strecthed the fabric over the backing and glued the corners down on the back of the board. (I tested it out and if you use thick lines of glue from the gun they remove easily from the backer board as well as the fabric so after the party is over you can use it again for another project!)

Next I drew the number 3 onto the cardstock and cut it out. I wrote it in good ol' cheerleader-style bubble letter, slightly streched/thin looking, as it will fill out as you continue the project. (Clearly I was never a cheerleader because it wasn't pretty, but that's ok because it won't show)

Next cut the shimmery fabric into circles approximately 3" across. These do not need to be perfect so don't take too much time on them. I folded the fabric many times and cut cirlces from it that way.

Now begin placing the fabric pieces onto the cardstock. Using the glue gun and one circle at a time, place a dot of glue in the center of the circle, pinch it in half and roll it between your fingers, making it into a flower-like shape. Starting in the center of the number begin gluing them down close together, working out as you go. Once the cardstock is covered you may need to tack down some of the edge pieces to give the number a little better shape.

Using thick lines of glue from the glue gun, stick the number down centered on your fabric lined backer. Place back into the frame and it's ready to go!