Dinosaur Birthday Party

For my son's first birthday, my husband wanted to use a dinosaur theme since dinosaurs were his favorite when he was little.  At Hobby Lobby, I found dinosaur 12 x 12 scrapbook papers with dinosaurs and used those for inspiration.  A few weeks later, I actually found the same pattern in the fabric section so everything matched.  First I made the invitations and birthday banner. 

On the banner, I cut out the dinosaurs individually and glued one on about every other letter.

I also cut out individual dinosaurs and taped them onto tooth picks for the cupcake toppers.

There were white cake pops and green cake pops that were supposed to look like dinosaur eggs.  Not sure if they really did, but I thought the idea was cute.  I wrapped up about half of them and added thank you tags for the guests.  They were definitely a hit at the party!

I wanted my son to have a birthday shirt and matching hat so I used the dinosaur fabric that I found.  It was easy to sew the number one on the shirt and for the hat, I glued the fabric onto cardboard and added ribbon and elastic.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  Of course, my son was not the biggest fan of the hat but he kept it on long enough for pictures.

There was a "real" dinosaur at the party played by our dog.  She was such a good sport to wear the costume all day long.  It was just a simple costume with green fabric and felt for the spikes.  Of course it doubles as a costume for my son too since both he and the dog can fit into the costume.

I had a lot of fun making the crafts and sweets for the party.  Next year when he turns two, he will be able to tell me what he likes and what the theme will be.  I'm looking forward to it!

Dinosaur Costume

I thought it would be fun to sew a dinosaur costume for our dog so that we would have a "real live" dinosaur at my son's first birthday party.  Even though our dog was not too happy about the situation, she did wear the costume the whole day.

I already had green fabric and so I just measured out a large oval and made sure to leave room for the tail.  I cut slits for the green felt by using the idea from Martha Stewart (dinosaur pattern).  I used my own measurements to fit our dog.  Then I cut out the green spikes and fit them through the slits in the fabric.  I sewed a line down the middle to make sure that the felt wouldn't move.  For the tail, I stuffed it and sewed it shut.  I hot glued the slits where the felt was poking through so that the stuffing would not fall out of the tail.  For the straps, I sewed rectangles and added Velcro to make sure the costume would stay on.

The hardest part was getting our dog to stay still to get a good picture.  Of course at the end of the day, she was worn out and was tired of wearing the green costume.  The costume also fit my 1 year old.  It was pretty funny because both he and the dog seemed pretty confused about why a green tail was following them every time they moved.

In order for Nate to wear the costume for Halloween, I sewed a green fleece hat with spikes and also some green mittens.  Nate refused the wear the mittens and would take them off immediately.  He wasn't a fan of the hat either, but I was able to distract him long enough to take some pictures.

Dino Cupcakes & Cake Pops

I love cupcakes and cake pops.  Keeping with the dinosaur theme, I used dinosaur scrapbook paper to cut out the dinosaurs for the cupcake toppers.  I also made cake pops and wrapped them with thank you tags.

Birthday Shirt & Hat

For my son's first birthday, I found dinosaur fabric and so I made a shirt and party hat.  For the shirt, I cut out the number one and ironed on adhesive to the back.  Then I sewed around the edge of the number.  For the hat, I found a template online and cut out the pattern on poster board.  I simply glued the fabric to the poster board and hot glued some decorative ribbon along with the elastic tie.  I actually made the elastic tie too short and had to take it off and add a longer one.  They turned out pretty cute for the pictures. 

Valance Curtains

I've been on a curtain kick lately which gives me a great excuse to go to the fabric store.  Since our bathroom has light yellow walls with black and white tiles, I decided to use fabric with a black and white pattern.  It was just a simple square, rolled up the bottom, and clipped it.  Again, I painted a dowel rod white and added the round ends.

For the kitchen, I used a blue and white pattern that looks like is has a Greek influence.  I would love to learn how to cook Greek food...maybe this will inspire me.

Dinosaur Pillow

My son was given the sweetest little red rocking chair by his grandmother.  It was my husband's  rocking chair when he was little and now my son gets to use it.  It was thinking about repainting it since some of the paint is fading but the worn look gives it a lot character.  So I decided to sew a dinosaur pillow to match the chair for my son.  It's so cute and it is a wonderful and sentimental addition to his playroom.

Ribbon Picture Frames

I've seen these in store and thought that it would be so easy to make.  I found three plain wooden frames from Goodwill for 69 cents a piece.  Originialy they were from Michaels for $1 so they are definitely a good deal. I wanted to hang these in my son's bedroom which mainly uses the colors grey and green. First, I painted the frames white and then used painters tape to make patterns with the grey.  The green ribbon is just hot glued on the back top of each frame.

And I thought I would also add this next picture frame to this post.  I saw this cute idea on Pinterest so it wasn't my idea and I think these can be personalized and bought on etsy.  I used Microsoft Word and replicated the pattern using my own information.

Playroom Curtains

My son has a playroom which used to be a porch that was closed in.  It's actually the perfect size for him.  I decided to add curtains to make it look more comfortable using some fabric that I already had.  And because we are renting and I don't want to make unnecessary holes in the walls, I used the 3M Command Strips to attach the hooks for the rod.  It works really well and when we move, it will be so easy to take down.