Hellobee

I’m basically a fancy paper addict. I look for any excuse to shop at Paper Source and keep pretty paper on hand for last minute decorations, craft projects or present wrapping. I’m sure there are plenty of beautiful birthday decorations and crowns out there for purchase, but I cannot resist making something myself, even when there really wasn’t any time to do so because we’ve just moved and the apartment was full of boxes that still needed to be unpacked. I am not super talented in the craft department, but this paper is pretty enough that anyone can pull off a little DIY project. So here’s what I did, while drinking wine and pretending I had nothing better to do!

The crown:

I used this Quilted Metallics Paper and zig zagged the scissors down the paper sticking with its original edge. I just estimated about how big I thought it would need to be to wrap around her head and adjusted its length. Then I trimmed the whole thing with this Gold Foil Lace Tape. This was key, pretty tape is now my new addiction. Lastly I laid it out on a piece of magenta felt and hot glued it down. I just cut along the edge and hot glued the ends together. The paper is pretty rip resistant, but I expected my daughter to be pretty rough in handling it and wanted to make it extra sturdy but soft. So. Easy.

The Decorations:

I bought this Chipboard Pennant Kit and used the same paper as the crown to decorate it. I laid each piece down and glued it to the paper with craft glue, then cut it out and repeated the process on the other side. I trimmed these with the same gold foil lace tape. One piece of paper and one pack of tape was enough for both the crown and one pennant kit. I hole punched the paper and strung the pennants on this hemp cord. Done! I think they’ll look pretty as holiday decorations too!

I thought I’d make a whole Happy Birthday banner myself until I saw the Rifle Paper Company Botanicals Garland and recognized an opportunity to save some time AND have something much prettier than I could have managed. It comes with lots of letters to build all sorts of your own banners, I imagine it will come in handy for years to come!

For the high chair:

I cut a number one out of this gorgeous Brush Stroke Gold on Deep Purple paper and left it at that! Then I took the scissors to these heavy duty Gold Dot cocktail napkins and fringed them out and taped it all too the tray. I taped a few napkins over the seat to make it all matchy-matchy.

That cake:

I did not make that cake. I fell in love with it while getting sandwiches at Society Fair a couple of days before her birthday and went back and got one instead of a cupcake. It was perfect. They call it their “birthday cake,” put it in a really cute box and charge $13 for it and I didn’t even care because it was just that adorable and she was beyond adorable covered in it, wearing her crown, sitting in her chair, beneath her fancy paper decorations! (Which I felt slightly silly making but felt totally validated about when I saw her face light up at the sight of them on her birthday morning!) Anyway, if you have some baking skills, I highly recommend whipping up a fits-in-a-baby’s-hands sized miniature cake!