The First Birthday

It finally arrived.

After months of planning, weeks of having the dining table covered in my craft crap, and what seemed like hundreds of tiny, but seemingly terribly important decisions, a First Birthday Party was had.

I already had paper and string, so this bunting was FREE!

 You know how when you have something in your head it never turns out that way?

I sent out two versions of the invites, only because I couldn't get enough of this paper.

It didn't matter. They looked good, and came with a Fleur de Lys magnet made from Fimo, which I already had... = FREE!

Well, that didn't happen this time. The party looked and felt just like I planned. Just like I worked for. Just how I hoped.

You know I love a theme!

We celebrated surviving the first year of keeping a Tadpole alive in style.

Everything labelled in French

Finally an excuse to buy one of these babies!

Cheers!

Mr Frog doesn't celebrate birthdays. He's a weirdo. He knows it's a big deal for me so he said I could do what ever I wanted, and he'd just be there on the day.

Sweet!

And so I did. All the little lovely touches I found on Pinterest ( The Devil!) I could tweak to suit our little family.

This was meant to be on a blackboard looking fancy but that would've meant buying one and that was not an option. Make do people!

 And some ideas, I just kinda made up.

Leave a note for the birthday girl to read on her 21st birthday.

Tadpole was, understandably, quite overwhelmed by the people and noise. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family.

I drank bubbles. I forgot to eat.

A good time was had.

This little handmade act of love was wonderful.

Eiffel Tower shaped biscuits with edible glitter instead of lolly bags.

To our friends and family who made it a special day, and who for more than a year have helped us in ways big and small...

I say Merci Beaucoup.

And to you I say "Wanna know how I did something from the party? Just ask!"

MC

What a Card!

I love a good card, be it birthday, anniversary or just for no reason. The problem is, the nicest ones are at least $5 a pop. Add up all the lovely occasions that call for a card over the year and that's a lot of money spent.

Card making is one of the easiest ways to get your craft on. You can sit in front of the t.v at night and have one made by the end of an episode of NCIS. You can go crazy with all sorts of embellishments, or get into stamping, or even cheat and use a cleverly cut piece of scrapbook paper.

Here are a couple of cards I've been rustling up over the last week...

I cut out the butterflies on the scrapbook page, stuck a couple down flat, and left a few free to fly.





I still don't have a fancy stamp, so I very carefully hand write Happy Birthday and add a few more butterflies.




A sticker and some cut up paper...





A new stamp and creative use of the ink pads plus one more sticker.

Some paper, foam sticky dots, and some bling...

Some cut out hearts and my dodgy handwriting.

Now, a pack of 10, plain cards is $2, or I can get the pearlised pack of 6 for $2.50... when I use the supplies I already have, I call that free, but lets say I use $2 worth of embellishments etc. That's $2.20 a card. Plus, I get all the joy from making something for someone I care about with my own hands.... and that my friends, is Priceless!!

Here's to saving money, and having a good time doing it!

MC