One of the smaller details…all the pieces for the birthday banner were cut out the other night. Using multiple Cricut cartridges and Design Studio, I designed all the pieces to make a banner to span the the clubhouse entrance. When it is all put together it will say: Welcome to Amelia’s Grotto. I still need to tie ribbons and put it all together, but here are the pieces.
The plan for the boy’s wraps was to line the edge with orange ribbon [like seen on the girl’s wrap]…but I got some “weird” looks from moms of boys…so the brainstorming started.
I decided to skip the initial ribbon idea [even though I have 5 yards of beautiful grograin ribbon thanks to a friend] and create an appliqué to apply to the wrap.
Here’s the appliqué that I made by hand…
I cut the pieces from two layers of felt. Then hand stitched the eyes, mouth, and other details. [I apologize for photo quality…this one was taken on my phone].
The Steam-a-Seam came in super handy again. I put it on the back of the starfish, ironed it to the towel….voila…no need for pins as I set out to accomplish my very first appliqué.
And this is how they turned out…not bad for the first time sewing virgin!
Now with the most ambitious birthday party project completely finished and cleaned up [It was a little sad to put the sewing machine away], it’s on to the other smaller details.
OK…so sewing got tables for quite a while…was working on other projects…and I really didn’t have any sewing mojo! So, today I broke out the machine again [and broke my first needle – Does that make me a pro now?] and finished sewing the 5 wraps for the girls.
The green trim was definitely giving me problems…lots of problems. PSA - For a major novice sewer, tiny trim is a bitch!
So, I grabbed a towel and a piece of the trim and high-tailed it to Joann’s in hopes that the “sewing” lady was working. I needed help [sure, I could have just skipped the trim…but it was friggin’ adorable and the princess actually said, “Don’t give up Mommy, it’s so pretty!”]…and she was the only one I could think of that might have a solution. She suggested Steam-a-Seam…worked wonders [Chris might not like the appearance of his beloved iron, but it worked!].
After the trim, came the hand sewing of ribbon fish. A bow would have been much easier and faster [and I might be cursing myself later tonight as I work on the other 4] but the fish is so much cuter.
“Sew” what do you think:
Color is a little off in the last picture, but you at least get the idea how tiny that trim actually is!
Once it was determined that the princess party…which morphed into a Little Mermaid party…which then morphed into an “Under the Sea” party, I stalking internet sites for ideas. And I knew when I saw this, that we had to have it:
Then I saw the price!!!Holy Moly…this is one expensive piece of cardboard! Some sites had it for as much as $50…and even though I found it for as low as $29.99, I still was not going to pay for it!
So, a dishwasher box morphed into my version of the octopus stand-in late last night. I finished it today [how’s that for a 4th of July project!]. The final touch won’t be added until the morning of the party [the brown part at the bottom will be “hidden” with ocean bottom [crumpled tissue paper & hot glue].
Here are a few photos:
Just getting started.
After adding the rest of the sea creatures.
