Eleanor is one!

Holy shnikeys! I just noticed it's been TWO MONTHS since I last blogged! What up with that?

Well, I can't think of a better update than to tell you that our little cupcake is one year old today!

A friend of mine once told me that the days are long, but the years are short. I can vouch for that. Still wouldn't change a thing.

And what's a birthday without a party? I'd love to share with you some details of the big day!

I decided months ago on a balloon theme. Not sure why, but it entered my mind, and I ran (or blew) with it. Here's the invitation:

 

Very simple to make. Just blow up a balloon, write your message (carefully - I popped several) on it in Sharpie, and deflate. Tie it to the invitation of your choice, or just make one using some scrapbook paper and sparkly washi tape like I did. That's eat! Easy and inexpensive and really makes an impact.

And obviously there was food involved...

Hot ham and cheese mini-sandwiches

Bacon Ranch roll-ups

Pop Chips

"Baked" beans

Iced sugar cookies (just plain cookies and this recipe and tutorial for icing)

Cake Pops

 

Can't forget the cake! I made it myself from a box mix (still just as good as scratch to me), some homemade frosting (kicks canned frosting booty), and a little fondant heffalump holding a paper balloon. Here's a tip for smoothing out the frosting: wet your offset spatula or bench scraper and smooth away all the parts you don't like. It works!

 

The decorations matched her room; pink and blue have kind of been the theme for her first year of life, you could say. This tassel garland was also really inexpensive, but it takes a little time. Still, you can make it to match your scheme perfectly.

But I think my favorite decoration was the party-hat-picture tree I made.

Print out some of your favorite pictures of your guest of honor, cut them out and give them little party hats with more scrapbook paper. Hot glue ornament hooks, and decorate a "tree" of spray-painted branches from your back yard. Ta-da!

Here's hoping all the pictures and DIY and recipe links will go a long way in you forgiving my absence. Is it working?

Have a great week, darlings.