Paris 6th Birthday Party

I fell in love with this print on Etsy by designer Laura Amiss.  I used it for the invitation and also for part of the decor.

Here is our beautiful Elle Belle..all dressed up for the party.  

Rob and I spent the evening before making the eiffel tower cake.  The top part is made of rice krispie treat, and the bottom is 3 layers of cake shaved and shaped.  We used fondant to cover the whole thing and then I used that awesome fondant spray paint to make it metallic gold.  

There were 21 little 5 and 6 year olds at brunch.  It was So fun to see them all sitting at the table!

My Mom and I sewed all of the pink fleece berets.  They were pretty simple to make!

The table was set with these adorable boxes...with the picture mode-podged to the lid of each one.

I found the charms on etsy, and the ball chain at a local bead store.  

I used this chalkboard pendant to write Happy Birthday in French to the birthday girl.

I had made over 100 crepes and frozen them so they were easy to pull out and warm up for the party.  Crepes, all the toppings, and french croissants... (ok, they were actually crescent rolls with a piece of hersheys baked in each one.  I didnt think the 6 year olds would know!)  There were actually really good!

This was a challenge...making homemade macaroons. 

I showed them pictures in the book "this is paris" because a lot of them probably weren't sure what or where paris is!

Each of the girls got to paint like a parisian...

My sister cut out eiffel towers on freezer paper...and we stuck them to a painted gold part of the canvas...then spray painted it white.  

The girls sponge painted all over the canvas.

When they were dry...we peeled the eiffel tower papers off.

So the girls went home with a taste of paris: Pink berets, gold eiffel tower necklaces in gift boxes, eiffel tower paintings, and french macaroons.

My home-upholstered ottoman

It all started with a picture...

I saw an ottoman that I liked online...but there was no way to get it.  It wasn't sold in stores.  So, I figured I would try to make it.  Here is a brief explanation of how I did it:

Rob built a plywood box.

My Mom and I covered it with 4 inch foam using a spray adhesive.

I decided I wanted "biscuit tufting" which means the squares are symmetrical (rather than diamond tufting where one side is longer)  So, I let my mom help in the measuring and drawing.

This is key:  This is a foam corer.  Everywhere that you are going to have a button...you need to core out the foam.  So every cross. (I borrowed this one from a local upholsterer. I dont know where to buy them)

Next, I drilled through the foam and the wood at every cross.

I brought the ottoman inside, because most of the messy part was over.  Then covered it in batting.  Then you need to tear a hole in the batting everywhere there is a hole in the foam

I had a huge fabric, so I only needed one seam. I put the seam on a diagonal so it would be hidden with the folds.

 Then...time to tuft.  OKAY, so in the real upholstery world, you would mark and measure your fabric beforehand.  That seemed daunting for me, so instead, I just started by doing one row at a time.  Remember, you dont pull the buttons from the bottom, you push them down from the top.  (or a combination.  I was underneath the ottoman and Rob was outside threading the needle through to me.  

This is a very long upholstery needle and thread.  you thread the button and then put both strands through the needle hole.   Underneath, you make one tie, put a little piece of batting in and tie again.

  

kind of look like little jellyfish.

I cut out a bunch of the extra fabric on the corners and then hand sewed up the corners.

Under the bottom button, slice the foam and stuff the additional fabric in the slits and pull underneath.

Just staple everything underneath.  (an electric carpet stapler became my best friend!)

I added some cute bun feet...and called it a day!  (or a couple weeks!)