Super easy, super cute pillowcase dress

I've sort of been avoiding making clothes for Elise, mainly because I was afraid that it would start me on another creative path that I don't necessarily have time for, but Elise needed a dress for Easter. And honestly, making something seemed like the easiest option. I decided to make this dress while standing in the fabric section of Hobby Lobby, so that's where this fabric is from.

I bought a yard of the polka dot and a half yard of the paisley floral for the bottom band. If I had been using a print that needed to be upright (like, if it had animals on it that needed to be right side up and not upside down), I probably would have needed more fabric. Luckily, the dots were the same both directions. I followed the directions for a pillowcase dress on Prudent Baby, but added the bottom band myself. Once I was able to try it on Elise, I shortened it on the top a few inches because the given dimensions for arm holes turned out to be super long on her.

For the ties, I folded bias tape (leftover from the arm holes) and sewed it down the middle. Worked perfectly. This was a super easy dress to start with and only took around 2-3 hours to complete. I will probably be making her another!

I guess subconsciously I bought prints that had the same colors as those I was using for her birthday party. I originally planned to make her a birthday shirt, but was glad to let the dress do double duty as an Easter and birthday outfit.

But to give it that extra birthday touch, I made her a 2 pin by layering some circles of felt (leftover from last year's Easter basket project) and hot gluing them to an old pin button.

Numbers Birthday Party: The Favors

My idea for party favors started with a giant box of sidewalk chalk I got on clearance for $4. What kid doesn't love drawing with chalk? And what goes best with chalk? Chalkboards, of course.

I searched many stores for small, cheap chalkboards. Maybe they are out there somewhere, but I couldn't find any. No matter. I had lots of leftover chalkboard paint, so I just needed to find something to make chalkboards out of. My mom found some magnetic numbers at Dollar Tree that tied to the numbers theme, so I wanted the chalkboards to be magnetic as well.

I read a few tutorials about how to make small chalkboards using picture frames and sheet metal, but the whole thing just seemed like an ordeal, especially to make eight of them. So I hunted around the dollar store for something metal to turn into a chalkboard. 

These 12" steel pizza pans fit the bill perfectly. Although they were cheap, they are sturdy and have no sharp edges. And magnets stick to steel. Obviously.

On the advice of the can of chalkboard paint, I primed the surface first with regular primer.

Then I gave them three thin coats of chalkboard paint. After they were dry and "seasoned" (rubbed with chalk and erased), they were looking pretty great! They don't look exclusively kiddish to me either. I think they could totally live in a kitchen or some other messagey place.

Out of the package, the number magnets were primary colors, but I spray painted them white because I have a slight aversion to primary colors when they are used together. And white suited my color scheme much better.

Once I had all of that done, my brain went to packaging. I got to thinking how nice it is when small toys have a container. And wondered how could I possibly give out small pieces to the kids without some form of containment for the moms. This led me to use some fabric and ribbon scraps to sew up some little drawstring bags.

To display them at the party, I scrounged this plastic crate in our basement that had divisions for file folders (I guess that's what it's for... it came with the house). It was bright blue, so I wrapped it with some polka dot wrapping paper from Target.

We also gave kids and adults a pair of soft pretzels from Gus' Pretzels. I think everyone went home happy!

More Numbers Birthday Party posts

Invitations	Decorations	Activities

Numbers Birthday Party: Activities

Elise's second birthday party was pretty much just a house party with adults and kids. Elise and the toddlers were still a bit too little for any organized games or crafts, but I didn't want the older kids to be bored. So I put together a few low-key non-group activities, some of which went along with the numbers theme.

The little kids really seemed to love this plastic stacking cake. I picked it up a couple of months ago when Amazon had a sudden price drop that made it only $7! It was too cute to pass up. Elise is still playing with it days later.

I brought down Elise's chalkboard table from the playroom. And now I've decided that every kid party we host will have some sort of drawing activity, whether it be paper tablecloths, paper hung on a wall or whatever. It's cheap and easy, appeals to all ages and keeps them busy.

I mentioned in the decorations post that my brother knows a bit about balloon twisting, and he made balloon animals for the kids. Really, this was the hit of the party. I owe him big.

And a couple of little extras...

I printed some color-by-number sheets I found via Google Images. There are so many printable coloring sheets out there! I also had a Crazy 8's card game, which came in handy at the start of the party. I don't know if anyone picked up on the fact that those two things were numbers-themed, but I thought I was clever.

More Numbers Birthday Party posts

Invitations	Decorations	Favors

Numbers Birthday Party: The Decorations

This post has moved! Click here to read >> 

Numbers Birthday Party: The Invitations

Early on, I decided on a numbers theme for Elise's second birthday party. She can often be heard counting from one to ten over and over again or shouting out whatever digits she happens to see on an interstate exit sign or price tag. The girl loves numbers.

I found this number scrapbook paper and knew I had to use it for her invitations. It's so happy and festive. And it was on sale for 25 cents a sheet!

I found the coordinating orange paper in my stash, then discovered some leftover business-size envelopes, so I designed the invites to fit in those.

I took Elise's photo, cropped it to a square, changed it to black and white (the colors of the photo didn't really complement the colors of the paper), then printed a bunch of them out on photo paper. I left plenty of white space between the photos so I could cut them out to resemble a Polaroid.

I've been working on the same jumbo box of photo paper for like 10 years. The sheets have a bit of a curl to them, and I like how it pops the photo off the page a bit.

So the grand total for about 20 invites? 75 cents! Just three sheets of the numbers paper, and everything else I had on hand.

More Numbers Birthday Party posts

Decorations	Activities	Favors

Second birthday party: Sneak peek #2

Second birthday party: Sneak peek