{Adventures In} DIY Fabric Garland {tutorial}

Otherwise known as, That Shi*t Fray. (See what I did there?)  Anywho, everyone familiar with these gorgeous fabric banners? 

source Ok good. They are super simple to make - it just takes some time. And a whole lot of patience. As you all know, I am planning my best friend's purple ombre' bridal shower (which is in 3 weeks...eeek!). One of the design elements that I desperately wanted was a fabric garland, like the one above. The perfect place for this beauty will be in front of the fireplace. Only problem is, my friend's fireplace is MASSIVE. Like 6 1/2 feet of marble, MASSIVE. So, in order for the garland to not be completely eaten up by this fireplace, it needs to be massive as well.  Items Needed: Fabric. I bought 3 different colors of fabric, 2 yards each. I thought I was over-buying at the time. Ha. Twine. It depends on how you want to display the garland. I chose a thicker twine knowing that my garland would be heavy. You can use a thinner twine or a 1 inch thick piece of left over fabric.  Self-healing mat. Rotary cutter. These are nice to haves. You can certainly just cut 2 inch strips with scissors.  Step 1: Cut strips. The mantel alone is 22 inches tall, so I wanted my strips to be close to that. I cut my strips to be 18 inches long, but remember the fabric comes folded over in half, so your strips will be 36 inches, total. Be prepared for the strips to fray (more on that later).

Step 2: Assemble.  Place strip of fabric behind twine with the folded over part of the fabric at the top.

Take the bottom of the 2 strips and pull them above the twine (this will create a loop), through the top of the strip and back down again. 

Pull tight.

  Voila!! Lather, rinse, repeat. Like a billion times.  So after a couple hours spent, I figured I was done. Or so I thought. Remember how I mentioned that the fabric will fray? (You can actually start to see it fray in the picture above.) Imagine that X's 100. (In hindsight, I should have taken a picture of it, but I was too concerned with getting rid of the fray, I forgot. #blogfail) So I took the scissors and cut each piece of fray. On Every. Single. Piece. Of. Fabric. It took twice as long to cut the fray off as it was to actually make the thing. Had I bought better quality fabric, this may not have happened, I'm not sure. Just be prepared. So, do you want to see the final product? 

and a close up. 

Still some fray, but not NEARLY as bad 

I love how it turned out. Baby K will definitely have one on her 1st birthday, just not 7 feet long. :)

{Adventures In} Party Planning

Baby K turns one in 2.5 months. Ummmm, what?! Where did the past year go?  I've just started been pinning for months gathering inspiration for her birthday party. Since we've decided that the party will be at our house (and it's the size of a shoe box), we're limited on how crazy I can get with the decorations. So the plan is to pick the types of decorations that will make the most impact.  I am going back and forth with what I want her party to look like. Pink ombre', pink and white polka dots, shabby chic - the options are endless. While I haven't made up my mind on what direction I want to go, I have figured out what types of decorations will be making an appearance.  

high chair garland - chalkboard poster - fabric garland - ombre smash cake - photo display - invitation
Garland affixed to a vintage high chair - My husband and I found a vintage high chair at the flea market a couple months ago in a dirty white color. So I'm going to spruce it up by painting in a pink (I think) and affixing a fabric garland to the front of it. 
Chalkboard party poster - How amazing would it be to document your child's milestones every year on their birthday by using this adorable chalkboard party poster? There are a couple different options on Etsy - one is a pdf made to look like chalkboard art (totally reasonable and won't smudge) and the second is an actual chalkboard (expensive and could get ruined). We'll be going with the less expensive, pdf version.
Massive fabric garland - So I just made one of these for my friend's bridal shower and it's safe to say that Baby K's fabric garland will not be so massive. Instead it will be moderately massive. This banner will likely be above the food display and will match the banner on her high chair. 
Smash cake - Every baby needs a smash cake. Now to decide if a bakery will do it, or if I will. 
Photos of her first year displayed - I take a million pictures, so it will be nice to for your guests (and you) to reminisce and see where the past year has gone. Seriously, where did my baby go? 
Blow up balloon invitation - I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was so festive and fun for her first birthday. Your guests are instructed to blow up the balloon and the invitation is written on it. So fun! I'm really going to try to swing this (because it's not cheap, people), and I'll tell you how to do it in a later post.