Friday, July 25, 2014

A Whole Hand! Lucy's 5th Birthday Party!

After the Dr. Seuss theme last year, I was out of themes for characters that Lucy liked.  I had planned to do an ice cream party, since she loves that stuff, and then she decided to like movies other than Tarzan!  My little girl is growing up! (sniff sniff)

We were settled on a Peter Pan shindig, and then two months before, Lucy changed her mind to Cinderella.  Since she likes the old-school, classic Cinderella movie, but doesn't go for any of the newfangled sequels and prequels and all that jazz, I wanted to stick with decorations that were in line with those illustrations.  Easy, right?

WRONG.  Cinderella, as she exists now, is all tarted up and flashy.  Lucy very much enjoys the old Disney movies period, and I wasn't sure if she'd even reconcile the current Cinderella plastered all over the Party City plastic tablecloths with the one from the movie she's come to love, (her favorite part is the Prince's dad jumping on the bed, trying to slash his Duke, btw) so I decided to make all of her decorations.  Because why not, right?

So I painted, and sewed, and papier-mache-d, and thrifted.  I managed to cobble together some pieces that I felt represented the essence of the original Cinderella, which could also be used in Lucy's soon-to-be-finished downstairs room (which is moving along at the speed of light!)  Brace yourself; pictures are coming.

The party was at Grandma and Grandpa's, 
so she couldn't very well ride in her princess dress.  
She needed a travel outfit.  I obliged, using this technique.

Then she changed when we got there!  I bought the 
Cinderella dress in the toy section at Target, and because
I don't like to do things the easy way, I used leftover rhinestones
from the hair clip I made to embellish the dress.

See?  Plain sequins, and then sequins with glass beads.
And because I liked the leftovers on the top so much, I went
and bought the rest of the beads at half off and finished 
off the whole bodice!  Bling bling!

What's Cinderella without her carriage?  And a fairy godmother?

You think she liked it?

Yeah, I think she liked it.




We also picked up a matching purse and wand at Target.
The wand flipped open with the press of a button.
She dug it.

She also dug the silvery beads that I hung on the chandelier.

Shimmery, crystal-y beads.

BEADS. And I get to reuse these for Christmas.  Thanks St. Vinny's!

And there was this.  A nice big canvas, that I had in our attic, was
turned into Cinderella's view of the castle from her window, as
depicted in the movie (or as best rendered from the blurry screen
shots I managed to find online.)  It took me a few sessions.  I'm more of
an abstract, throw-paint-at-the-canvas type of painter, mostly because I'm 
never satisfied with outcomes when I try to duplicate an already existing image.
Overall, I'm okay with this - plus, artwork for Lucy's room!  Two birds, people!

I always loved the scene where the birds and mice
are making Cinderella's dress, (hey, wildlife, I could use a 
hand with *my* sewing, but whatever) and I saw a version of
it that was based on a pattern I know well, so I added a little
of my own flair :)

Yep, I just draped the string of beads over my
"dress form."  La-zy.  The dress form is a hanger wrapped
in leftover poly quilt batting, and then black fabric, glued
to a broomstick.  Thanks to Grandpa for drilling out the 
round base, and Grandma for the hanger idea!

You can't make a dress without a dress pattern ;)  I got a book from
my beloved thrift store, St. Vinny's, painted the edges gold and sprinkled
them with gold glitter.  Then I traced these original images from the movie stills
online onto some pearlized scrapbooking paper, colored them with Lucy's crayons, 
and slapped those babies in the book with a little hot glue!  
Thread spools and basket also from St. Vinny's.  Love that place!  

It's made in Lucy's size, so she can wear it now :)

I am obsessed with book banners!  It took months of scouring good ole' SV
to come up with two of the same vintage Cinderella books - the ones that sell for $5+shipping each
on eBay, I got for $1.25 - for both!  I used a bowl to trace the rounded bottoms.  

Originally, I planned to use all pages, but that banner ended up being
22' long, so I went with the prettiest illustrations, that captured the 
general storyline.  Clipped them to decorative rope with mini
clothespins, easy-peasy!

Lucy's Aunt Mary knows how to get all the good shots ;)

Cinderella wouldn't have gotten anywhere without her 
pumpkin.  This is where the papier-mache came in.  This pumpkin
came to me as a jack-o-lantern, so I stuffed newspaper in his
toothy grin and papier-mache-d over it, and then spray painted the whole
shebang silver.  A little gold glitter on the top, and voila!  Candleholders
were from our wedding, with a couple Hobby Lobby deep discount 
items added (can't beat 90% off!), and the nice fat one that's holding 
the pumpkin is a thrift store find.

And the buffet was sprinkled with tiny acrylic diamonds, from the
lovely Christmas section at Hobby Lobby.  I'm not sure what 
diamonds have to do with Cinderella, but SPARKLE!

What's a party without balloons?

And beads on the chandelier?

Beads?

BEADS.



Take a breather, Lucy.  Focus.  On something beside the beads.

Like this!  Your glass slipper cake, made by the creative genius
that brought us your Lorax cake last year, the wonderful Josh's Cakes!

Oh, that's pretty!

BUT BEADS.

Adding the candles, while Prince Charming (aka Mateo)
looks on.

Ooh, fire!  Love me some fire!

Still, beads...

Oh, but they're singing happy birthday!  To me!

And she had to clap for the singers :)

She got a little goofy while we were cutting the cake :)  Kind of giggly, kind of eyeroll-y.  She can't eat her cake, but we let her have a little taste of the blueberry filling.  Watch the video in the link above!  And speaking of blueberry filling...


Lucy's glass slipper cake was white cake, vanilla cheesecake, and blueberry filling.
That's right.  Cake.  Cheesecake.

AND BLUEBERRY FILLING.
With a divine buttercream frosting under the fondant.
It was spectacular.

And look at that detail!  The quilting!  The gold tassels cleverly
fashioned from licorice!  Fondant buttons!  The perfect perch for
Lucy's glass slipper.  Thanks again, Josh!

After that crazy delicious cake, Lucy got to open her presents!


Mateo was all "Girl party?  Presents not for me?  This is for
the birds!"  Don't worry; his was the weekend after :)

The only female to get an ironing board for her birthday
and be happy about it.

We also had to get some shots of the price and princess before we wrapped up the party :)

Okay, you got your picture!

Now it's time to check out the BEADS!

Seriously.  She spent a good portion of that party admiring the silvery beads on the chandelier.  She has glitter in her veins - wonder who she got that from? ;)  I wanted to get a pretty light fixture like that for her room, but now I'm rethinking it; I'm pretty sure gazing at it would end up being the only thing she'd want to do!

As per usual, Lucy was up early the morning of her party, so she was pretty worn out by the time her party started.  She's been needing her bipap more in these situations, when she's tired, as opposed to just "wanting" it, when she was a little younger.  She's definitely changed in strength over the last year, so we're accommodating.  Getting used to having her on her bipap sometimes when we're out and about, and knowing when tired is *too* tired, so we can head off any situation that might become more emergent.  You can hear the relieved hoots when she gets her bipap during these worn out times.  Of course, if she would go to sleep and wake up at decent times, and take her naps, we may be able to avoid some of these instances, but try convincing her of that!  At any rate, we're very grateful for the machines that allow her to rest, keep her healthy, and make her happy.

Time to start planning next year's party!  Maybe we'll revisit the Peter Pan idea!  Or the ice cream.  Who knows what she'll like by then?  Whatever she chooses, I'm sure there's a Pinterest post for that ;)






























4 comments:

Amy and Colby Russ said...

EVERYTHING about Lucy's birthday party looked WONDERFUL and BEAUTIFUL!! I can tell the thought and love that went into planning her party. Turning 5, a whole hand, is a really big deal. Can't wait to see what you come up with next year for the big #6.

Sue O said...

Holy guacamole! What you did was stunning/astounding! Love all that you thought up and all your details. I know Lucy is made to feel special every day but on her birthday she must have felt super-duper, over-the-moon special! Here's to a very special year for Lucy.

Unknown said...

You are the coolest mom EVER!!!! Oh my word! Where do you find the time for all this?! You went above and beyond and the look on Lucy's face in the pictures is a little girl who knows how lucky she is to have a mom like you! I tip my hat to you! Great work!!!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful decorations! Beautiful dress! Beautiful Lucy!