First birthday party inspiration and ideas

I work a 3-day workweek these days. I go to the office Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Those three days are a whirlwind. My work tunnel. I emerge from that tunnel each Wednesday with many things needing my attention on the home front and in my personal life, and of course, in my sewing nook. I spend the next days digging out, getting things back in order and attempting to rediscover my creativity and balance... And then I do it all again.

And so, here I am, emerging from my tunnel this week with a big deadline headed my way. JJ's first birthday party is Saturday.

Here's what I've actually accomplished: I've been dutifully collecting ideas on Pinterest. And I ordered the cake for the adults. Now it's on to finalizing plans and getting things done! First, I thought I'd show you some of the things I found that I want to try. Don't know that I'll get to all of these, but they're my inspiration for the party, for sure. Wanna see?

Original source: etsy.

 I can't decide what kind of applique shirt to make, or whether to make one at all. This one, with the "O-N-E" spelled out in nice big letters, is cute. I'd love it to say "JJ" somewhere. And another idea we had was to make one that says, "Cake, please!" That's be cute, but maybe too many letters to deal with in applique.

Original source.

 I want to keep the decorations simple. (Ha. Famous last words.) I love the ballons tied onto the highchair here. Sweet. Simple.

Maybe something cute like this for the door. Probably the last priority though.

Original source.

Cute banner with month-by-month photos of the first year, marked with clothespins. This I really want to do. I've been taking his photo each month, and I've printed out a bunch of them to display. So this one should be on the to-do list for sure.

Original source.

I die of cuteness with this one. Definitely doing this. Who comes up with these ideas? Thank you internet for being so awesome!

Original source.

For food, these ham and cheese sliders with poppy-seed sauce looked so mouth-watering, I decided I must try them. They're something you can assemble before the party and then cook once guests arrive. So they'll be nice and warm and won't make my kitchen a big mess. Yay! I will do some turkey and provolone too, for the swiss-haters (i.e.: myself.)

Original source.

Both sets of grandparents are bringing a side-dish to pass. So my only other worry are some nibbles. Pita and hummus, cheese and crackers and I think these cute fruit kabobs. Kid-friendly, you know?

Original source.

As for JJ's smash cake, I want to do something simple. Small chocolate layer cake with a little confetti sounds about right.

Original source.

All I really want.... is this photo opp! Luke didn't really tear into his smash cake. He just gingerly touched its sides and then got weirded-out by the feeling of frosting on his finger tips. He's still a dainty eater, so I guess this was just our first clue. But JJ has a much more, um, voracious appetite. I have high hopes, little one! Please. give mama that messy show she craves!

Oh, and look! The first project is underway!

Reporting in from my pre-birthday Pinterest-induced coma

Sorry I've been a bad blogger this week. I'm having some sort of blogging block. I have a few things that have not been blogged about, but I'm not sure I want to blog them because I'm sort of unhappy with how they turned out. Two tutorials I want to write up, but I need to tweak both of them and re-make the item to work out the kinks. Le sigh!

I also have one work-in-progress that I can't show until it's totally done because it's a gift. So next week, hopefully.

While making it, I sewed through my finger nail. OW.

I've also been busy getting ready for JJ's first birthday. Admittedly, I am way behind. I feel like a bad mama. I did an Evite instead of a regular invitation (horror of horrors), and the party so far is relatively unplanned. I went on Pinterest for some inspiration, and of course, found plenty. But is it just me, or is Pinterest and blog-land almost coma-inducing in its creativity and inspiration? It's easy to get caught up in it and think your party just can't go on without a clever theme and coordinating color scheme, 12 different handmade decorations, tons of mouth-watering home-cooked food, of course a perfectly executed and personalized smash cake, a hand-sewn birthday outfit (which you better photograph as you make step-by-step and then write up a tutorial!), a crafty birthday wreath for the front door, a cupcake tower with personalized toppers and cake pops in the shape of your baby's head.... And on and on. And if you don't do all that, you don't really love your baby, do you. DO YOU?!?!?!

I'm trying to sort through what I actually want to do and what is realistic to do and what is just too much.

The party is in nine days.

So far... I'm pretty sure I'm making ham and cheese sliders. And that's all I've got.

Gah.

Anyway, just wanted to check in. Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be back with something prettier to look at and read about soon!

My newest obsession: Vintage sheets

I'm becoming a bit obsessed. With what you see above. Fun, colorful vintage sheets. I first bought one in the spring, to make the spring wreath from In Color Order.  I made the wreath, loved it, and then used some of the remaining sheet to make a spring skirt. 

Jen's blog, by the way, is almost solely to blame for my obsession. Every week or so, Jeni will post a photo of the new sheets she has rounded up to sell in her etsy shop. Every week, I marvel at how awesome her finds are. I started to wonder whether the same awesome sheets lurked in thrift stores near me. Huge pieces of cute fabric for one or two dollars? Then I read her guide to finding the sheets. The desire to conduct a hunt of my own grew. Even though I have no real reason for it. She's got a shop to stock. I have nothing so practical. But I was a goner. I wanted those sheets.

So my hunt has begun. It's really not very hard to find them. And they make me so happy. It's absurd, really. This one above is my favorite find so far. Scroll back to the very top and you can see a bunch I found this week in one Salvation Army.

I've been rounded up projects on Pinterest that use vintage sheets. I get that you can replace any standard fabric in whatever project you want with a vintage sheet. But I like seeing the projects that are made with these gems in mind. It's my favorite pin board right now. Here are some of the standouts.

1.Mobile 2. Market tote 3. Snap pouch. 4. Bunting. 5. Vintage sheet quilt. 6. Owl Pillow

Are you feeling inspired yet? Have you crafted with vintage sheets? And how much luck do you have when hunting for them in your local thrift shops?

Linking at...

Feeding my obsession

I'm procrastinating from working on Halloween costumes. I made a good jump on Luke's this morning, and I should work on it tonight. He'll be wearing it a week from now to a party. Eek!! But, ug. I'm distracting myself instead. Where else? Pinterest!
 
Can I follow you? I want to add some new boards to my latest obsession. It's really been such a source of inspiration. I need more. Drop me a comment with your username, and I'll check out your board and see if we've got similar tastes.

Just for fun, in your comment, I'd love if you'd tell me one project on your boards that you're planning to make soon or one you've made recently.

I made a circle skirt, I am sewing genius

So, I was at Joanns. (How many posts could begin that way? Many.) I ran in for one thing, but thought I'd just peak at the apparel fabric. Thanks to some recent blogging series about working with knits, I'd been thinking I wanted to give them a try. Also, I had this skirt pinned on my Pinterest board.

It came from the Ice Cream Social Skirt tutorial at the blog icandy handmade. Cute, isn't it? She made it based on the tutorial for the circle skirt at Made. Really, a circle skirt doesn't belong to anyone. It's as basic as it gets, as one of the contestants on Project Runway said last night. But in any case, I learned to make it from those two sources, and I plan to make many more. It's fast, it's cute, it makes you want to twirl. What more could you ask for?

So knowing this, I grabbed some striped purple kint fabric, a polyester, from Joanns. I thought it was $3 a yard but got confused by the signage. It was really $7 a yard. So I paid $14 and should have enough left over for some other sort of project (maybe a circle scarf?).

It's really something I think you could dress up or down.

I really like how comfy it is, and how easy it is to pair with flats and wear around the house or to the park. I tried to take a picture of me in my yellow flats wearing it....

  But this kept happening.

Oh, and here's how the waistband looks. I made mine four inches tall.  I also chose not to embellish the bottom, because I had no cute trim. And I'm lazy. Made this way, the whole shebang takes like 30 minutes. (Especially considering I totally forgot to wash my fabric first. Whoops).

Hopefully it doesn't shrink! Cause me likey.

Linked at... 

There has been sewing!

I swear!

I finished a skirt inspired by something I found on Pinterest. (Follow me!)

Oh, and am putting the finishing touches on a present for a pregnant friend.

Very soon, I will have cute sewing projects to show off.

Just.... not yet. 

The thing about having a sewing blog is that first you must find time for the sewing, then you must find time to photograph your cute sewing project, then you must upload the photos and edit them, then put it all to words. Don't forget before you get started you might need to spend time drafting a pattern or finding an online tutorial or buying a store-bought pattern, as well as shop for fabric -- assuming it isn't coming from your fabric stash.

When I was on maternity leave, I could crank out a few projects a week. And find time to blog about them! I made the time for it because I love it. I love the sewing. I love blogging about it and connecting with others who share my passion. All of that is still true, but finding the time is much more difficult, even if I am only working part time. My three year old doesn't nap anymore, and that's been a huge factor. There is no 2-3 hour break built into my day anymore. So last week, when we had a family wedding, I found little time for anything extra. This week, I've found a little time for sewing, but no time for photography.

I'm a big believer that you must embrace the stage you're at in life. Right now, I'm in a stage where I can sew 1-2 times a week for any length of time, and completing one project a week is about all I can expect of myself. Blogging about it might or might not happen right away. I have to be OK with that or I will drive myself crazy.

The other part of this is that because I'm busier, I have less time to become inspired. That's a bummer. I find myself often thinking... what do I even want to make? I was not like that on my maternity leave.

So one thing I plan to do with my blog here is build a little inspiration well for myself. I will be pointing a little more often to inspiration sources. Tutorials I want to try. Fabric I covet. Finished projects that are to die. That sort of thing.

If you follow me on Pinterest, I'm sure it will be a bit of an overlap. But that's OK.

I want to keep my little home here thriving and active, so that's my plan to help me do so. I hope you'll stick with me!

And just to make this post prettier, because ever post needs a photo, my little guy started preschool this week. How that can be, I don't know.

But it be. Sniff!