a handmade vintage birthday

i am a detail person. i blame it on my parents-they are gifted in math. while i somehow lack the math gene, God gave me the detail gene. i think they are the same except one you use as a business person and one you use as a mommy. one becomes an accountant or a nurse and the other one obnoxiously decorates for every holiday and birthday. the latter one, that's me.

and, the more children i have, the more details i get to create. i think i started thinking about spencer's birthday before i even knew what day it would be on. i looked for inspiration in birth announcements, outfits, gifts we received, and then, i found it in something so ordinary, so everyday. i found it in the 1956 home we live in. we decided we need to move this year and with each passing holiday, i have become more and more sentimental about this house. with a birthday right after christmas, i thought i would continue our vintage touched christmas with a vintage themed birthday.

having lived in old houses for a while, josh and i have a love for the 1950s so i already knew several things i would include. i used vintage photos on flickr and old recipe books for inspiration and accuracy-i told you i was obnoxious. so, on with the party . . .

i created the invites using a vintage greeting card image and rhyme. i just changed the pronouns in the rhyme to suit an invitation and not a greeting card. then, i used stickles to create accents of glitter on the image.


it reads:
she's cute and smart
and bless her heart
she's very, very dear
how did she grow so very sweet
in just one little year?

i also used vintage greeting card images to create the cake shirt. when i accidently printed the image at the wrong size, i decided to use it to greet guests as they arrived.

i made party hats  from scrapbook paper, fun fringe, ribbon, crepe paper, tulle and twill tape.

a special hat for the birthday girl

i couldn't find horns in the color scheme, so i took them apart, created a template and made my own. it's easy . . . i'll show you how soon.

luckily, i found color coordinated blow outs at walmart.

and, again, i made coordinated noisemakers by mod podging scrapbook paper to new year's noisemakers i bought on clearance.

guests dined on a buffet of 1950s themed appetizers including deviled eggs, pigs in a blanket, chips with lipton's french onion dip and a smorgasbord of pickles and olives. (once again, obnoxious about the details, thanks to the 1950s betty crocker cookbook.)

and, as the party concluded, guests created their own treat bag from the 1950s themed candy including rock candy, gum balls, nikle nips and candy necklaces.

i created cupcake toppers from even more vintage greeting cards to adorn the yummy strawberry cupcakes made by my friend.

after changing into the cake shirt i made and singing happy birthday, spencer very delicately pinched off icing bit by bit, very dainty to say the least.

as josh transitioned from film to digital, spencer decided to make a change, too.

in an apparent attempt not to get her hands dirty, she just leaned over and took bites.

once she understood the yumminess of cupcakes, she dove right in.

while spencer got cleaned up, all the big kids played pin the tail on the donkey, homemade style. once again, i couldn't find a vintage game in my color scheme, so i made my own. josh drew the donkey who looks kinda like donkey from shrek  and i added fun fringe around the edge. fun fringe is my new best friend. i love it. i could have put it on everything.

see, i even made fun fringe tails (or utters, in this case).

then, we opened presents. i love the expression on her face. she makes it all the time.

my girls.

oh, yeah, and we had a photobooth. you knew we would, didn't you?

the birthday girl in front of a vintage sheet i found at an estate sale. i love, love, loved it so much i knew i needed it. apparently, i needed it for this. 

her big sister holding an aqua frame, another estate sale find i spray painted my favorite color.

 . . . and big brother holding a handmade mustache i made. other props included vintage glasses and balloons.

another birthday has come and gone. our sweet "baby" is one. because our children's birthdays fall four months apart, i am already in the midst of another one, well, at least the dreaming and planning part. only two months and a few days to go . . . 

you can find even more images here.