I found these oversize stiff thick felt balloon shapes for under $3 each at Walmart, since it's felt I knew it would embroider well... so I grabbed two of them

Then I added "Happy" and "Birthday" to them in a thick oversize font.

I floated them in the the hoop, attached with spray adhesive and watched them pretty closely.

Then for the streamers I used Aleene's Tacky Glue and oversize ric-rac.

Of course since I'm all about the multipurpose. I printed Andrew's name in a similar font on colored paper and then cut it out in a banner shape.

It makes for a great effect.

 

Andrew had a great birthday and loved his new Mario Shirt!

Little darling Levi just celebrated his big first birthday!

Momma Audra contacted me with an idea and I ran with it of course.

Since this was a small amount of letters, yay short names, I didn’t break out the Cricut.

Instead I

1. Picked fonts and sized everything as word art in Microsoft Publisher (Publisher gives you better, make this 2” tall abilities").

2. Mirrored the image and printed.

3. Traced the mirrored image on the paper side of Heat n Bond  Sewable

4. Snip out roughly, then iron on to back of fabric.

5. Cut out letters, shape following your lines.

6. Iron on to the shirt.

7. Outline the shirt as desired, if you used the sewable.

Easy and sooo cute!

This got covered in birthday smash cake, and is going to be featured in Levi’s first birthday shadowbox, how sweet is that?

Levi and Uncle A

When we were invited to a Batman themed third birthday party, I KNEW I needed to expand my Superman cape skills into Batman as well.

Using the same method I used in my Super Hero Cape Tutorial and a Batman outline printout, I created this, which was a total hit!
On the back side I  embroidered a “3” and a heart with a “K”



Also be sure to check out his 2nd Birthday Elmo shirt Tutorial from last year!

Today is my 24th birthday and since birthdays are way more fun as a kid here’s a recap of some of my favorite Birthdays (AKA the evolution of Kirstin’s Hair)!

Baby Kirsti


Funjungle Birthday party in Kindergarten!


Me and my balloons in 2000.

Middle School friends please thank me for omitting my 6th grade birthday party…

17th!

CES in 2006 for my 18th!

Me and Little Amanda during my EPIC 20th Bday party at my condo in 2008.


Vegas in 2009 for my 21st and CES!

When the invitation arrived for a 1st Birthday party, I knew just what I was going to make since this little fellas Dad is a Superman super fan!

For the appliqué I use this concept from Cat on a Limb. 

I didn't kid myself into doing a black satin stitch on the edges though, I knew I had no hope, anyway the rustic look was gonna be just as cute anyways!

For the shape there are about a 100 different superman logos on google image search to try, I ended up printing this one as a full 8.5x11 sheet of paper, it worked out well. Since you're just looking for the basic shape if you have to blow it up some it's not a big deal.

For the rest I just cut it keeping the collar as I had seen done in a couple of other blogs.

Essentials

• Rotary Cutter (only way to get it smooth straight cut)
• Red Kids Shirt in a too big size, other wise the collar will be out of proportion.
• Blue and Yellow XL Adult shirt to get the most fabric
• Sewing machine
• Embroidery or nail scissors
• Embroidery thread if you want to add a name and made by.
• Safety pins to bustle if you're making it for a toddler.

1. Pick or cut off sleeves of red shirt so you can get maximum width from the cape
2. from the top of the front of the shirt cut out a piece larger than the logo, after you have the piece to make the appliqué, cut straight down so that you can layout the whole tee flat. Cut below the collar!!  
3. Fold the fabric in half carefully, with the collar poking out the top. Use your ruler to find the appropriate angle to cut straight line from shoulder to the bottom hem then rotary cut that line through both layers.
4. Fold in half again, and find radius's that work around the collar. I used a  wider one for the tops of the shoulders so the cape can 'grip' onto his shirt. Then a narrower radius around the neck to make it less bib like.
5. Now it's time to appliqué. Cut out your paper superman logo an fold it in half, then fold your red fabric in half and cut to the size of the pattern, then do the same for the yellow and the blue, making each a little bigger than the one before it. 
   
6. Center the red shape on top of the yellow, stitch around the edged using red thread.
7. Cut out the 'negative' portions of your pattern, then trace them onto the fabric using a water soluble marker.
8. Stitch using red thread again on top of those lines, creating complete shapes through the red and yellow fabric.
9. Cut out the negative portions with a good seam allowance, creating a salvage edge of the red fabric.
   
10. Fold cape in half and determine where you want the logo on the cape. 
11. Center the red and yellow on top of the blue and pin where you want it on the cape.
12. Stitch again where you did to stitch together the red and yellow pieces but now you are sewing the red, yellow, blue,and red cape.
13. using red thread and stitching in places where you created the outline tack the red and yellow layer to the cape so the appliqué doesn't sag.
14. Embroider Super ____ where the appliqué is taking care to only go through the red fabric.
    
15. Watch your favorite super hero zoom around his birthday party! (Tip: You can bustle it by pinning the edges of the cape into the 'V' of the applique, that way it can grow with the Super Hero =)

Pepper even gave his present some love before we left for the party.

I made the cute card using the free printables from Hostess with the Mostess' Birthday Parade Printables.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was super easy to swap out some of the colors with photoshop (swapping pink for red in most cases). I also added the flag pole and "1" pennant to the Elephant's trunk which turned out super cute!

If you have any questions about the construction let me know, I was so excited about how well it turned out I stopped taking pictures!

Links for the tutorial used to make the football softie coming soon!

Partying with