Baby Bean Turns One!

 

Earlier in September, our little Stella turned one. We had a small celebration with just the five of us on her actual birthday. The family party was yesterday and I feel safe saying little Stella had a fabulous day - as did the rest of us.

 

Since you only turn one once, and I'm certain Lil' Stell will always be our youngest, I wanted to go a little above and beyond. I don't normally get all matchy-matchy and party decor crazy. The picture you see above... It may not look like much to those of you who have experience in the party planning department. But that's a big to-do in my world. And you know what? I loved every minute of creating it! The best part?? 90% of it was either printed out at home or free! Yay!

I found these incredibly cute owl themed printables here. Everything from cupcake toppers, to "Thank Whoo!" tags, to invitations is there - free to print out at home.

Chris and I went on a "perfect cupcake" quest that involved well over 150 cupcakes, 10 pounds of powdered sugar (oy!), a heck of a lotta butter and some really happy "experiment" taste-testers. We landed with a hands down, ultimate favorite - these carrot cake cupcakes are The. Best. Ever! I have never been a big fan of chocolate cake, so Chris had the final say in that category - his pick? These dark chocolate cupcakes - minus the filling, from Java Cupcakes. I really don't like chocolate cake at all, but these were delicious!

I tried my hand at a mini candy bar, and homemade chocolate owls. I think the molds for those and the striped paper straws were my only splurges. I painted the ends of large dollar store spoons to give them the color dip look. Next time I will make sure to print on the food labels to give everything a more polished look. My cupcake stands are just empty boxes wrapped in coordinating colors, with ribbon taped to the edges.

 

 

This is one of my favorites. I found this frame at our local thrift store for a dollar. It had already been distressed the way I wanted it - lucky me! I glued twine to the back, and using Picasa, I quickly converted a handful of photos into Polaroids. These are a small blurb of Stell's first year.

 

My happy little girl with her very own cupcake.

 

She was more interested in standing on her presents, than opening them. I guess that's what big sister's are there for. Miss Hannah was more than happy to help unwrap.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Wishing you all a wonderful start to your week!

-Lisa