{"id":13904,"date":"2015-12-16T15:48:47","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T15:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ami.blogwrangler.net\/woodlandcreaturebday\/"},"modified":"2018-03-31T22:56:02","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T04:56:02","slug":"woodlandcreaturebday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/woodlandcreaturebday\/","title":{"rendered":"Brielle\u2019s Woodland Creature 1st Birthday Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan and I love creating and crafting together, and it all started when we were engaged and doing a lot of DIY projects for our wedding. \u00a05 years later, I\u2019m so glad that we are still crafting and creating together as a team, not only for the blog, but also for our kids\u2019 birthday parties!<\/p>\n

I know I say this a lot, but times goes by so quickly as Brielle is 1 year old today! \u00a0This year absolutely flew by, particularly since she is our second child and having a toddler and a baby really kept us on our toes. \u00a0For those of you who have been following us for a while, I\u2019m sure you remember when I first announced I was pregnant with Myla, then Brielle (and you were guessing the gender), and now can you believe she is 1 year old?<\/p>\n

\"Brielle's<\/figure>\n

Myla\u2019s 1st birthday party theme was\u00a0\u201cCute As A Button<\/a><\/b>\u201d (see HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b>) and for Brielle we decided to go with a Woodland Creature<\/b> theme! \u00a0I knew there would be so many ideas for us to draw upon with all the forest friends and trees. \u00a0We started brainstorming and getting ideas from Pinterest a couple of weeks before so that we wouldn\u2019t be scrambling last minute. \u00a0We wanted to make Brielle a special cake and we were a bit nervous since Ryan\u2019s sister Sharon was the one who made Myla\u2019s beautiful fondant cake for her first birthday (see her gorgeous button cake below). \u00a0We had actually never worked with fondant before, but we wanted to give it a try!<\/p>\n

\"Cute<\/figure>\n

We found a youtube tutorial teaching how to make a cute fondant owl cake by Wilton HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b> so we decided to try it out! \u00a0I followed this \u201cWhite Almond Wedding Cake<\/a><\/i>\u201d recipe HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b> and used a 10 x 2 inch square pan<\/a>. \u00a0After the cake was completely cool, Ryan then cut it in half and spread buttercream icing in the middle and around the cake. \u00a0We were going to make the icing from scratch, but we found some ready to buy at Bulk Barn, so we just picked up two tubs to save us some time! \u00a0Ryan then refrigerated the cake so that the icing would crust (the icing needs to be hard so that you can lay the fondant as smoothly as possible without it being lumpy). \u00a0Before adding the fondant, Ryan sprayed the cake with mists of water to moisten the icing so that the fondant would stick to it!<\/p>\n

\"Owl<\/figure>\n

Ryan prepared the fondant ahead of time to achieve the colours needed. \u00a0We used Wilton\u2019s Decorator Preferred Fondant<\/a><\/b> since we saw that it had great reviews. \u00a0It was indeed smooth to work with, and it tasted great! \u00a0Ryan found videos on how to cover a square cake with fondant, and I think he did a great job as it looks seamless! \u00a0Isn\u2019t this such a pretty colour?<\/p>\n

\"Owl<\/figure>\n

The Wilton owl cake doesn\u2019t actually have shape templates available, so Ryan had to figure out the sizes and shapes on his own.<\/p>\n

\"Owl<\/figure>\n

The finished owl cake! \u00a0Doesn\u2019t it look so cute? \u00a0Ryan did such a wonderful job!<\/p>\n

\"Owl<\/figure>\n

I love cupcakes, and we got the idea to make cute animal cupcake liners HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b>! \u00a0Ryan designed templates for fox and owl cupcake liners, and my mom and I traced and cut them out. \u00a0He glued the pieces together and later drew in the eyes and noses with a black pen!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Aren\u2019t these colours gorgeous? \u00a0Everything is so vibrant with the bright icing too! \u00a0I love Fuss Cupcakes<\/a><\/b> and I\u2019ve been happily munching on them after the party since we have leftovers \ud83d\ude09 \u00a0With so much other food prep and crafting going on, I\u2019m glad that we purchased these cupcakes!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

We also wanted to make a special welcome sign for our guests when they entered our home! \u00a0Ryan did this initial sketch with pencil\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Then he used some inexpensive water colours he purchased from Michaels HERE<\/i><\/b> <\/a>to paint it! \u00a0Ryan hasn\u2019t painted since elementary school, and he kept saying how much fun he was having when he was painting this welcome sign. \u00a0It\u2019s amazing rediscovering old past times or things we used to love doing as a child, isn\u2019t it? \u00a0This blog would not be here if I had not rediscovered my love of crocheting!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Here is the finished sign to welcome our forest friends- the animals are just sooo adorable! \u00a0I want to frame this sign and hang it in Brielle\u2019s nursery! \u00a0What a wonderful keepsake this will be when she grows up too- some artwork her daddy painted for her for her 1st birthday\u00a0\u2764<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

We wanted to make some cute foods to tie in with our Woodland Creature theme as well. \u00a0We found some hedgehog cookies<\/b> on Pinterest and tried to make our own! \u00a0I used this Butter Cookies recipe HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b> as we needed a dough that would keep its shape and not flatten too much after baking. \u00a0We refrigerated this dough and it was indeed stiff, which was perfect since Ryan could mold them in the shape of a hedgehog.<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Then we dipped the cookies in melted chocolate and pressed them into chopped pecans. \u00a0My mom did most of the faces, placing two cute little eyes and a nose with black icing. Here you can see the evolution of our hedgehogs!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Aren\u2019t they adorable? \u00a0The pecans simulate the spikiness of the hedgehogs so well! \u00a0They were delicious too \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Next my parents made these \u201cmushrooms<\/b>\u201d! \u00a0They were made out of mozzarella cheesestring, cherry tomatoes, and white icing for the dots ontop! \u00a0These were tasty as well!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

We found a recipe for \u201cAcorn Candy Cookies<\/b>\u201d on Pinterest (see HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b>) but decided to go with an even easier method that didn\u2019t require any frosting to stick the pieces together. \u00a0We molded a Werther\u2019s soft caramel around a Hershey\u2019s Kiss, and then inserted a butterscotch chip ontop!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

I first saw these S\u2019more Pops<\/a><\/b> on Christine of Just Bella<\/a><\/b>\u2019s Instagram HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b>. \u00a0They look sooo neat, like a mini forest, and they\u2019re super easy to make! \u00a0We decided to use these as favours to hand out at the end of the party. \u00a0You can see how to make them HERE<\/b><\/a>! \u00a0<\/i>The birch paper straws<\/a><\/b> add such a great effect, and you can purchase them on Amazon HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b> (I bought them locally from Ailynn of The Sweet Social<\/a><\/i>– thanks!).<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

To help add to our table decor, Ryan painted these cute little food signs! \u00a0Aren\u2019t they adorable? \u00a0I want to keep them in case I ever pick up scrapbooking again \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

We also got an idea to decorate our feature wall with birch trees from Pinterest HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b>. \u00a0You might be wondering where we got our paper from and how it is so long! \u00a0When we first moved into our home, we had no curtains or drapes, and my dad gave us two rolls of paper that usually cover medical examining tables to help cover our windows. \u00a0We still had that paper in our basement, so Ryan used Myla\u2019s tempera block paints to paint some gorgeous trees!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Here is the feature wall with our table of goodies! \u00a0Don\u2019t the trees look so modern and stunning against our grey wall? \u00a0The cupcakes and cake add such bright pops of colour too!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

And finally, here is a pic of our family with the birthday girl! \u00a0I can\u2019t believe how big Brielle is getting! \u00a0I found Brielle\u2019s adorable deer dress from the Gap in the summer and knew it would be perfect for her birthday party. \u00a0You can\u2019t really tell, but my dress has little cats (see HERE<\/a><\/i><\/b>) on it while Ryan\u2019s shirt has little birds!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Here is a picture of my whole family with my parents, brother Corey, and sister Ashley! \u00a0They helped sooo much leading up to the birthday party with all the food prep and crafting too. \u00a0We could not have done it without them, and I want to extend a huge thank you to them! \u00a0They love the girls so much and Myla and Brielle are incredibly blessed since they have so many people who love them dearly and who pray for them daily!<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/figure>\n

Ryan and I enjoyed planning for Brielle\u2019s special 1st birthday, and we hope you enjoyed reading about her Woodland Creature party too! \u00a0Perhaps you can get some ideas for future baby showers or birthday parties \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0We are so so thankful to have these two little girls in our lives as they bring us so much joy and teach us to be patient and understanding. Happy 1st birthday, sweet baby Brie! \u00a0You are such a joyful, smiley, friendly, curious, adventurous, and playful girl! \u00a0We love you so much and thank God each and every day for you! \u00a0We\u2019ll end off with a picture of Brie proudly showing how old she is today!<\/p>\n

\"Brielle's<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1646,11,697],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}