Sesame Street Birthday Party DIY

My little guy just turned 2!  (They grow up way too fast!)  I wanted to share some of the cute decorations and designs I made for his Sesame Street party.

I designed invitations and backed them on colored cardstock.  I also printed matching address labels for the envelopes.  (My trick to save money is to buy a package of colored card stock and cut them to size rather than buying individual sheets from a craft store.  I save a lot of money and then I have leftover cardstock to use for other projects.)

Party hat with a yarn pom-pom

Noise makers - not just for the kids!

I took off the fabric garden flag we had up and replaced it with a sign backed on cardboard.  Of course, this wouldn't work in bad weather, but it was a perfect day out.

Front door sign

Right inside the front door, I set up a little table with balloons, Sesame Street characters, goody bags, and noise makers.  On the wall, I hung up photos from the year with the month written on each one so guests could see how he's grown during the past year.

Happy Birthday banner and colored streamers in the kitchen

Chocolate-covered pretzels are always a hit at every party we have!

Cookie Monster and Elmo fruit platters

Rubber duckies swimming in blue jello

We decided on a hot dog buffet for dinner because it's one of Connor's favorite foods.

I put all the utensils in the Elmo basket and hung balloons from the handle.

The one thing I didn't make was the cake, but the bakery did a great job on it.  Connor was so excited when he saw a giant Elmo on his cake!

It tasted good too!

We had a great time and Connor was such a big boy!

DIY Sew an Elmo Sun Hat

This might not be the most thorough tutorial, but I wanted to post it just to give readers an idea of what I did.  To make a normal reversible sun hat, I found a tutorial on another blog.  (Sorry, I searched for awhile and I cannot remember which one it was!)  I picked Sesame Street fabric for one side and plain red fabric for the other side so I could add the Elmo face.  

Before I completely sewed the entire hat together, I started working on the Elmo face so I could make sure it fit on the hat.  I printed out a picture of his face that was resized to fit the hat.

I used some little scraps of fabric for the eyes, nose and mouth and two black buttons for the eyes.

Using my printout as a guide, I cut out the face shapes and ironed some fusible interfacing on the back to make them a little more stiff.  I sewed the buttons onto the eyes by hand and then used the machine to do the rest.

I carefully pinned the face pieces onto the hat and then used a zig-zag stitch to embroider them onto the hat.  Unfortunately, my sewing machine had a mind of its own that day, so the stitches don't look as nice as I wanted them to.

Here he is showing off the Elmo face on one side...

And the Sesame Street print on the other...

I love how it turned out and it's great to have two different hats in one!

Miss Black Thumb

If you've known me for awhile, you know that I have no interest in gardening.  I am known for killing any plant that is given to me and I have no interest in watering anything.  I'm fine with the grass in our yard as long as it's green.  The husband has been talking about pulling out all the bushes around the house and I told him he could do whatever he wanted as long as I don't have to water anything or take care of anything.

So over the weekend, we were out at Home Depot (our home away from home), when I spotted a very sad little lilac bush named Miss Kim for 50% off.  I gave her a double-take and said something to the husband about it.  (Lilacs are my favorite scent and he knows I love them!)  Since we were already buying mulch, he suggested we just buy it.  Before I could second-guess my decision, I grabbed her and put her in the cart with Connor.

On the way home, I wondered if I made the right decision.  I'm going to kill her so quickly!  But the husband helped me plant her in the backyard and he's been watering her every day for me.  I'm so excited to see it bloom...if she lasts that long!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip

If you want to make a really easy dessert that is totally addicting and SO delicious, this is what you need to make. I made this for a treat day at work and everyone was raving about it and begging for the recipe all day! It was so good that I made another batch for myself and pigged out every night!

Adapted from Jenni's Seasons

Ingredients:
• 2 T butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 t vanilla
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 T brown sugar
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature before you start.

Mix all the ingredients together and roll into a ball. Wrap the ball in wax paper and refrigerate for a few hours to harden.

Serve in a ball or in a small dish with Nilla cookies or graham cracker sticks as dippers.

It might not look that pretty, but it's VERY yummy!