It's All In The Details!

I had so much fun getting ready for Leah's ladybug birthday party! I decided to try and make as many of the decorations as possible to help keep the cost down. It was a lot of work, but so worth it! I came up with some of the ideas on my own, but most of them I borrowed from fellow bloggers. So, I am trying to pay it forward and hopefully give someone else ideas too. The following pictures show some of the important details that added to the fun ladybug theme.

I found these adorable invitations at babycardexpressions.com. I was able to customize the wording and picture and they were sent to me so quickly! I will definitely be using this company again!

The birthday banner was very simple to make. I just bought scrapbook paper and ribbon at Hobby Lobby. I cut rectangles out of the red card stock and letters out of the black and white polka dot paper. Then I threaded the ribbon through holes at the top of the card stock.

I got the idea for the picket fence from Hissyfits Photography Blog. I purchase it at Home Depot in the garden section and attached the wooden ladybugs that I found at Hobby Lobby. We found the great red and black wrapping paper in Canton.

I wanted to document how much Leah has changed over her first year of life. I decided that flower pots would be a cute way to incorporate the color scheme and add a fun addition to the kitchen. I printed off two pictures from each month and put them on flowers I cut out of the same paper I used for the banner. I glued those on popsicle sticks painted green and stuck them in styrofoam at the bottom of the painted flower pots and added green crinkle paper to finish it off. These were my favorite thing to make!

I wanted to add a little something to the utensils, so I wrapped them in red napkins and tied on ladybug ribbon and placed them in a ladybug basket. I found most of the ladybug stuff at Hobby Lobby.

Leah's smash cake was made from the top half of a giant cupcake cake pan. We plan on getting a "You are Special Today" plate for each of our children to use on their special days. This was Leah's first time to use it!

I decided to try my hand at candy making also. Why not! I found ladybug candy molds at candylandcrafts.com. I bought red vanilla wafers and dark chocolate wafers at Michael's Craft Store.

My friend Courtney helped make the tissue paper pom poms. We hung them with ribbon in various places around the house. They looked really cute!

Courtney's mom got these ladybug balloons for Leah's party. They were so cute and perfect for the occasion!

I look forward to making decorations for Leah's next birthday party (although I don't want it to come too soon!).

Pictures of the sweet ladybug at her party will be coming soon!