Lucky's Halloween Birthday Party

Seven months ago, Lucky turned 2 years old!  Keith and I decided it would be fun to throw this October baby a Halloween themed birthday party that doubled as a housewarming party.  October 31 became a deadline for a lot of do it yourself (DIY) crafts and to get the house unpacked and put together.  I used this party as an excuse to practice my sewing skills and to try out a lot of fun Halloween crafts.  It took so long to finally share this party post because first I had so may projects to share with all of you!

Lucky's Lion Costume 

I made Lucky's Halloween Lion Costume myself by embellishing a sweatsuit with a looped yarn fringe I sewed on my new sewing machine.  I wanted a costume that would still be cute even if my toddler refused to keep the hood up.  I'm glad that I did since Halloween 2016 in Massachusetts was a warm and lovely night and Lucky wasn't cold enough to keep the hood on.  Lucky wore a "TWO" tshirt from Lil Threadz Clothing under his sweatshirt so he would still be party ready if he took his costume off.

When you entered my home you could immediately tell we were ready to party.  The entry ceiling was adorned with a fun balloon garland.  We blew up black and orange balloons to the size of a cantaloupe and then used a needle and black thread to knot them at intervals.  We hung these garlands on the ceiling with painter's tape.  On the back wall you can see the Trick or Treat Smell my Feet hanging.  I use this spot of my entry to rotate holiday or season specific homemade art work, and this particular footprint art inspired me to create more for other holidays.  On the left shelves I had the painted soda bottles, the trick-or-treat candy bowl (plus a non-food bowl for kids with food allergies or who don't want candy) and the sewn storage cube holding extra paper goods.  

The main party tables were set up in the dining room.  Construction paper bats are flying to hang the Chevron Pumpkin Birthday Banner over the table of Halloween themed sweets.  I wrapped the table top in Black Pacon Fadeless Paper so I could write on it with a chalk marker to label each of the sweet snacks.  

We set up a Spooky Cookie Bar with treat bags Lucky made himself in place of traditional goodie bags.  This allowed me to bake WAY too many Halloween themed cookies without having too many leftovers.  I think our guests really enjoyed getting to take some treats home with them.  

Even the M&M's were on theme.  The 3 opening bowl was filled with pumpkin spice late M&M's, Halloween colored normal flavor M&M's and pumpkin shaped candy corn.  

The table was sprinkled with mini pumpkins my mom grew on Mackinac Island, MI.  These pumpkins traveled from Michigan to Colorado (where my mom handed them off to me while we were at a wedding) and then back to Massachusetts.  Talk about well traveled gourds!  

In the back corner you can see the cake stand that I made for Lucky's first birthday.  This stand is so sturdy that I know we'll be be able to use it for many birthdays to come.  

For more information on the tasty Halloween treats I created for this birthday party (including links to recipes) check out the blog post I published yesterday.  

Of course, the star of the sweets treats was Lucky's Pumpkin Birthday Cake that I created using a bunt cake pan to create the layers.  

Although this was a Halloween party, not everything needed to be sweet.  We offered a number of different savory Halloween treats on our dining room table we pushed back against a wall.  All of the windows on the first floor were decorated with ruffled streamers that I sewed out of crepe paper.  

We had a few different Halloween themed plates, but most of the plates and cups were from the Boo Bunch themed set.  Lime green silverware (leftover from Lucky's first birthday party) was held in the sewn pencil holder I created from my learn to sew book.  

The table was dazzled with the chevron table runner I created and some painted beer bottles.  I found the pumpkin bouquet at a local craft store and thought it made a snazzy centerpiece.  

For Lucky's first year, I took a picture of him every day.  In his second year I still took a lot of pictures, but the only project ones were pictures I took every month to show how he was growing.  He wore a white onesie in each picture with a sticker on his chest.  I hung these up with some of the photoshoot I did on Lucky's second birthday.  Unlike the pictures I took during the first year I was more relaxed with months 13-23 and just tried to get a happy picture of my first born.  The pictures are held up with Halloween themed mini clothes pins (found at Michael's) and some more construction paper bats.  

The main party area was the dining room, but I still wanted to decorate the rest of my house.  The fireplace was decorated with more of the chevron jack-o-lantern banner, the cheese cloth ghost, and some pumpkins that my mom, Keith and I helped blow at the Corning glass museum.   We saved most of the decorations to use for future Halloweens but I threw the Cheesecloth ghost away after the party.  He was so delicate that I knew one wrong tip of the storage box and he would become a pancake.  

Since this is our first house we don't have enough artwork for all of the walls.  This means that I had plenty of wall space to decorate for the party!  I taped pictures from Halloween Photoshoots of years past to the wall with painter's tape along with some handprint spiders and footprint ghosts.  I wasn't excited to make the pillow covers in my sewing book so I created the circles floor pillow, skyline pillow, and concentric squares pillow out of Halloween fabrics.  I intended to replace these pillow covers with something else after the party but these Halloween pillows are still out in my living room and have become integral to many pillow forts.  

The kitchen and back hallway also got some DIY decorating love.  Our floor was covered in foam pumpkins to step on.  We secured them to the floor with painter's tape so they wouldn't slide around or damage our floors.  

Lucky loved stepping on the pumpkins!  

Eleven toilet paper bats flew on the wall.  Next year this might be a fun craft project that Lucky can help me with.  Since I struggled to save up the toilet paper tubes for this project I have since saved DOZENS of tubes that I can use in future crafts.  

We decorated the kitchen cupboards and oven door with hanging napkins and ghost footprint towels.  I've come a long way since these first sewing projects!  Lucky is still requesting to make "more footprints!"

When a party store offers a high flying solution to add do your helium balloons... take it.  We purchased these white balloons the day before the party and by party time they were no longer flying high.  I did like the "hoverloon" quality to them since I had already drawn ghost faces on them with a sharpie. 

Meanwhile the bat balloon and orange balloons lasted for WEEKS after the party.  It is sure worth the extra charge to have the balloons last!  

The bat balloon and pumpkin family (that my Mom also grew on Mackinac Island) added some more oomph to my decorations.  You almost can't see it but there is also a large Jack-o-lantern mylar balloon that had been flying for almost a month in the dining room.  We had intended to refill it before the party but it was still flying strong!  

In addition to some more footprint ghost hand towels, the bathroom cupboard held the glitter web and Toilet Paper Pumpkins.  No one needed to open a pumpkin during the party but this was a clever way to hide extra toilet paper in plain sight.  

Since it was Halloween we had to decorate the outside of our house, too!  We had our Brown Family pumpkin sign, a number of pumpkins and some milk carton ghosts with flickering lights in them (and some sand to weigh them down).  

We also displayed our teal pumpkin to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project so kids with food allergies would know that we were offering some non-food treats.  Lucky even decorated one of the pumpkins himself!  (Toddler tip - give your toddler some sharpies to decorate a pumpkin and save carving for when you can trust a little one with a knife.)  

Lucky really liked to play with the ghosts.

Finally, I wanted to set up a photo backdrop so guests could take pictures of their kids.  Our old falling down fence with some fall leaves made a perfect backdrop for Halloween pictures!  

The Jack-o-Lantern banner is created from the same font used in the Chevron Pumpkin Birthday Banner that Keith and I created.  This banner was used all over our house and yard for the birthday party since I loved it so much.  

The ChemKnits Family (minus Indy who went to Doggie camp during the party.) 

I wore my little pumpkin maternity Tshirt with a homemade mini pumpkin fascinator to be a "Pumpkin Patch".  Keith dressed up like Owen from Jurassic World.  Guests showed up in all kinds of costumes... even my parents!  It was wonderful to have our house full of friends and family whimsically dressed.  

Lucky's "TWO" Tshirt from Lil Thredz Clothing 

After the party ended we took Lucky trick-or-treating for the first time.  (Well, door to door trick-or-treating.  Turns out that there are many trick-or-treating opportunities all through October so we had already gone at a mall and a zoo in previous weekends.)  My brother took over the camera so I could be in some pictures, too.  

We marched around the neighborhood with all of Lucky's grandparents.  Talk about a lucky boy!  

"Just take one" became Lucky's mantra of the evening.  He loved putting things in his bucket but I still don't think he knows that there is candy inside these brightly colored wrappers.  Something tells me that he won't think these are just tiny fun items to collect next year and we might not get to eat it ourselves.  (Don't worry, Lucky filled up on awesome treats at his party so he was not deprived sweets on Halloween!)  

I hope that you enjoyed reading about all of the projects I made for this party as much as I enjoyed creating them.  I don't plan to have a huge party for Lucky's third birthday but this one was special since we moved back to Massachusetts and would be able to invite a lot of family who live nearby.  However, Rowdy will turn 1 at the beginning of 2017 and I'm already starting to think about what I can do to give him an epic party.  Do you have any suggestions for me?  

Free printable Halloween Birthday Banner by ChemKnits

For a different view of Lucky's Halloween Birthday Party, check out my Halloween Birthday Party Pinterest board.

Halloween Party Food

Tomorrow I will FINALLY share the culmination of all of Lucky's Halloween Birthday party planning.  I had so many awesome photos of the food we served to make a wonderful Halloween Spread that I had to split it into two posts.  Today I'm going to show you the awesome snacks, cookies and other edible treats we served to make a fun themed party.

Pumpkin Cake -  I have already dedicated a whole blog post to the construction of this cake.  This cake has 2 layers but I had to bake 3 because I accidentally cracked one when taking it out of the bunt cake pan. I crumbled up the chocolate cake and mixed it with half a can of chocolate frosting to create "dirt" that I topped with some sour gummy worms (shown in the first picture of this post.)   There is always space for some extra "cake" at a birthday party!  

Pumpkin Popcorn Balls - These are one of my favorite treats to make for Halloween, Thanksgiving or really any fall themed event.  My family LOVES pumpkins and these are tasty for days and days after they've been made.  I've never found green twizzlers for the stems so we usually stick with the standard red ones.  

Halloween Pumpkin Popcorn Balls 

Frosted Sugar Cookies - Themed cookie cutters and sprinkles are the simplest way to add some theme to a party.  I used bat and pumpkin cookie cutters and a boxed sugar cookie mix to make the cookies.  I purchased cookie icing from grocery store baking isle and then topped them off with some Halloween themed sprinkles.  

Black Cat Cookies  - These are another Brown family favorite.  I follow the linked recipe and get 24 cookies.  Shaping the pressed cookie into a cat shape is easier than you might expect.  Just make sure to press in the candy corn eyes and cinnamon nose while the cookies are still hot.  Yum!  

Zombie Finger Cookies - Also known as witch finer cookies, these butter cookies are a light and tasty treat with an almond taste from extract and the almond slice fingernail.  I like to add green food coloring to give the cookies a little extra pop. I prefer to use almond slices to whole almonds since the little cracks make the nails look like they've been through some battle. I bake the cookies with the almonds on the tips and then add some red gel food coloring after to glue them into the impression they've made.   

Chocolate Spiders - Chocolate covered chow mein noodles with candy eyeballs take very little time to make.  Instead of the candy melts I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave and covered the crunch noodles.  Pretzel sticks would also work well for this treat.  

Pumpkin Pretzels - I thought I was covered for sweet treats until I came across these chocolate covered pretzel pumpkins on Pinterest.  I used some orange candy coating and green M&M's to cover standard twisted pretzels in one last sweet homemade treat.  

It is acceptable to have many sweet treats at a Halloween party, but I wanted to make sure we also had some savory and salty options.

Mozzarella Eyeballs -  Little balls of mozzarella cheese topped with a green olive slice with a quarter of a black olive slice in the center.  These eyeballs lasted about 15 minutes at the start of the party!   I thought the sword toothpicks made a fun touch, too.

Spooky Cheetos - In 2015 Cheetos brand offered a skull and bone shaped Cheetos around Halloween. I couldn't resist such an easy addition to my themed snack table.  

Guacamole Brain - Have you ever noticed that a head of cauliflower looks a little like a brain?  If you hollow out the head of cauliflower it makes a great spooky bowl for guacamole!  Resting on a bed of salsa and pair it with some orange and black chips and you're ready to go for a Halloween Party.  

Jack-o-Lantern Veggie Platter - This veggie tray has a carrot base, cucumber mouth (that I replenished as needed) and hummus eyes for dipping. 

I'm feeling hungry now that I'm revisiting all of these party snacks!  I can't wait for you to see how this all came together in tomorrow's post.  Stay tuned to see Lucky's Halloween Birthday Party!  

Plaid Quilted Coster

Some projects from 1, 2, 3 Sew I'm not that excited about, but I force myself to do them anyway because the skills are beneficial.  However, I'm not that excited about the plaid coasters.  I feel that after making the quilted potholders I have a lot of beginning quilting up my sleeve, and this project requires plain fabric plus a lot of thread colors.  Plus a lot of bobbins.  What is a girl to do?

After I cut the fabric for my minion tote bag (yet to be sewn together) I had some scraps of cotton canvas that would be big enough for one coaster.  I also had some cotton batting scraps from the pot holders and I attached the scraps together with a zig zag stitch and then squared off the edges so it would be the correct size.  I'm not planning on making 4 coasters, just this one so this should be all of the fabric that I need.

I still need to order more bobbins, so I currently one have one empty bobbin to work with.  The metallic thread is so thin and delicate that I decided to just use a black bobbin for all the stripes.  There is nothing wrong with a clear RS and WS, right?

Compared with the craft caddy (I'm waiting to go purchase more thread) this project is super simple.

I found the quilting to be really fun and satisfying to do, but I'm not sure how many of these coasters would really be useful.  Before I started, I decided that I would make this coaster for Keith to bring to work or have in his home office.  I'd rather apply this technique to something more complicated.  Maybe create my own textile for a pouch (hey... that's an idea for later chapters since I'm not excited about the stamping!)

I used an air soluble marker to designate where the first quilting lines would go

Finished in black thread

Next I added the gold

Finally, the silver!  (You can see the difference much more in person.)  

The final coaster is darling.  I love the shiny metallic threads and the wrong side looks cool, too.

The wrong side of the coaster.  I think this looks super cool, too!

Do I think I should have made 4 of these coasters?  No.  Maybe I will make some other coasters at some point, but I should challenge myself to add applique on one side and then quilt around that on all edges.  That sounds fun, right?

Now I still have to wait to get more thread before I can get back to my craft caddy construction, but this fun little coaster was a nice distraction.  I hope that Keith likes it!

Project started 11.5.2015

Double Sided Fleece Blankets

I should be working on Boogaloo's quilt... but a massive cold at the end of 2015 (plus being massively pregnant) meant that I needed a simpler project.  I found some awesome fleece for the dinosaur nursery and didn't want the new baby to have all of the benefits of my sewing. Lucky has been sleeping with a small tied fleece blanket created by a loving cousin, and I wanted him to have a backup blanket.  Keith and I loved the new Star Wars Movie so we picked out some fun BB8 fabric plus a simple plaid for the reverse side.

For Lucky's blanket I purchased 1.5 yards of each fabric.  The dinosaur and coordinating dot fabrics had a minimum 2 yard purchase so I will have to cut these down to make the blanket.  (Maybe I can get a boppy cover or something out of the extra!)  Let's start out with Lucky's blanket.

Lucky loved the fabric right away, it is silly that I even NEED to turn this into a blanket but I'm excited for a quick project on my trusty Janome.

I squared up the fabrics as best as I could on my rug with the wrong sides together.  I pinned around the edge and then sewed with a 0.5" seam (as best as I could.)  I don't care if the blanket is perfectly square, of if my lines are perfectly straight. I care about creating a blanket full of love for my little boys.

For the first hem, I was using my standard foot.  I wonder if I should have used my brand new walking foot instead, but I'm not experiencing a lot of fabric bunching.  I left a 4" opening near one corner so I could turn the blanket right side out.  I then closed this corner with a mattress stitch by hand.

I wanted to finish this with some edging.  I decided to add a 1" border with a straight stitch around the edge.  With the blanket folded right sides out, I pinned the edge one more time to keep the edges straight.

Boogaloo still has over a month to arrive and Lucky is downstairs playing for New Year's Eve.  I gave Lucky his blanket right away.  This is my last project of 2015!  I may work more on Lucky's sweater during an Iron Man marathon later, but this is the last project I will start and finish before the year changes.

I considered the blanket done after the finishing 1" hem around the edge.  I may need to add some quilting to keep the two layers together (Update from 2016 - Nope!  It is perfect as is!), but for now I'm too excited to let Lucky play with it!

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As I said in the Intro, I had 2 yards of each fabric pattern for Boogaloo's dinosaur blanket.  This is way bigger than I want for the blanket itself, and I decided that I'd love to make a boppy cover with the remaining fabric.  I was going to purchase a boppy cover pattern but since I purchased one off of etsy for Lucky I can actually use that cover with an overlapping pocket as a pattern to make one out of the fleece. (The shop no longer exists or I would have shared the link.)  Anyway, I know that I want to reduce the length of fabric by at least half a yard based on the boppy case that I already have, but this is also consistent with the sizing of Lucky's blanket.

Not only did I end up with an extra yard of the polka dot fabric, but I can easily take half a yard off of the dinosaur and polka dot to make my boppy cover.  I pinned four sides of the blanket and then cut along one of the straight dinosaur lines (outside of the pinned area) of the fabric by hand to trim it.

The blanket was so fast to stitch up that I have a feeling I'm not doing making these simple fleece blankets.  I finished Boogaloo's blanket on New Year's Day and it felt great to start the year with a fast, fun project for my new baby boy.  

Lucky's blanket - started and completed 12/31/15
Boogaloo's blanket - started and completed 1/1/16