Friday, May 17

Callie's Pink & Chalkboard Extravaganza

After months of planning, fervently searching Pinterest for inspiration and hours of prep work, Callie's first birthday party has finally come and gone. I'd love to say that it went off without a hitch, unfortunately, as my luck would have it, I cannot say such.  But more on that later.

I had so much fun over the past year decorating Callie's chalkboard with her monthly stats and tracking her growth each month.  Looking back it is such a wonderful miracle to see how she went from a 5.8 lb teensie tot to an almost 17 lb toddler.

Everyone kept asking what the theme for her birthday was going to be and to be honest, I wasn't aware that there was an expectation for a theme at a one year old's birthday.  I mean, let's get real here... The girl has a great personality and is so very smart, but she doesn't watch TV, isn't into any type of book or cartoon character and is way to young to have picked out any hobbies, so a "theme" was very difficult to generate (unless you can classify hiding toys in boxes a theme).  After a little thought I decided to incorporate two of the things that were most prevalent over the first year of her life; chalkboards and pink.  Yep.  It was that simple.

Here are a few of the decorations from little Miss' birthday party!  For putting this all together by myself (again, more on that later) I am pretty proud, however, some things didn't make it to fruition and that makes me a little sad.  I guess there is always next year!

{Dessert Table}
{Animal Cookie Truffles <-- delish="" p="">
{Glittered wine bottles vases}
 {Tower of Delicious Cupcakes}
 {Animal Cookies - For the Kiddos}
 {Chocolate Dipped Pretzels} 
And yes, I am fully aware that I misspelled pretzel... I am not perfect.
 {Smash Cake}
 {12 Month Stat Chalkboard & Note Station}
 {This was actually a huge success... Can't wait to give them to her someday!}
 {Closeup of "chalkboard"}
**You can now find a tutorial for the chalkboard here**

 {Box for predictions/notes to Callie}
 {The 12 months of Callie... She's so stinkin cute. I can't handle it}

 {And of course, my little Birthday Girl!}
{I also created a book with all of her monthly pictures and a little note to hear for each month.  What an incredible keepsake!  It turned out so much better than I could have hoped for}

{For more fun and pictures you can follow me on Instagram nickilynne15}

Stay tuned for more party pictures and details about the big day!!  Thanks for stopping by. :)

27 comments:

  1. I found this via Pinterest, and can't help but notice that your post seems a little defensive. I sure hope no one criticized your party planning or anything, because this is ADORABLE! The chalkboard is precious, you are really talented! And I'm totally swiping your photo book idea for my boys, it's amazing!!!

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    1. Thanks for your sweet comment! I wasn't being defensive, just exhausted from all of the work and a little disappointed that some ideas didn't make the party :). I appreciate you stopping by!

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    2. Can i ask a question?? How did you do the lettering for the chalkboard? I'm interested in doing something like this for my daughter's birthday!! Thanks so much =)

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    3. Julie, I looked at font online and then free handed it in pencil.

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  2. I love this!! How did you do the chalkboard did you use chalk? I would be scared cause I would think it would come off really quick...can you make one for my daughter? :)

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    1. Thank you! The chalkboard isn't actually a chalkboard at all. That's the beauty of it. It's just black foam core board with metallic sharpie markers. It's pretty simple and very easy to do. Added perk, it's permanent!

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    2. Where did you get the metallic markers? I have only been able to find gold and silver, but I would like other colors.

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    4. Ditto, I looked at 4 stores today, please share :) Also, did you freehand everything on the poster board?

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    5. I did freehand all of the text on the chalkboard but I'm sure you could print the text, cut out the letters and then trace them in pencil, too!

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  3. Where did you get the book made?? PS- SUPER cute party, I love what you did!

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    1. I went the custom route on Shutterfly for the book. Thank you so much!!

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  4. Where did you get the metallic markers from? The "chalkboard" turned out awesome!

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    1. Thank you!! I found them in the office supply section in Walmart! It was actually an off brand, not Sharpie. They are called Write Dudes Permanent Markers, Fine Tip, ColorSharp Metallic and it comes in an 8 pack. Hope this helps! :-)

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  5. Wow! I am in love with this adorable party! Good job Mom :)

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  6. May I ask where you found her whitish/pink ruffled outfit she is wearing in the photo in her keepsake box? Everything just looks lovely!

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    1. Absolutely! The outfit is actually a pink ruffled swimsuit from Carter's. I think they still have some from the Spring season and are probably even clearanced now!

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  7. Wow, Its almost Christmas and I am just now seeing this absolutely precious, and so meaningful for Callie ( my nieces name!) When she gets older, birt hday party. (Didn't write that correctly, wise words of Nikki I'm not perfect:) our miracle angels birthday is Jan31, I want to give it the attention it deserves with the holidays. If you do not mind she's our miracle b/c I am 45 my husband just turned 51 Nov 25 We have been married 51/2 years.Whenwe first got married we saw the top fertility docs at Wash U and SLU ,in St.Louis were told we had a 1% chance of conceiving in vitro! Not even giving us a chance to conceive naturally! We took this hard pill to swallow and put it in Gods hands, it was not his will we thought. We went on going the nonchildren route.We bought a 80 yr old home to renovate I picked out my doctoral program. Then last June 29 2012 we found out we were pregnant, totally naturally! I was already almodt through my first trimester. We were SO highrisk for several reasons biggest being our age. What's wild is the reasons they gave for my infertility would have become worse with age! A lot of awesome details that fit in this incredible account but I'm not adept at typing:) So, I had a great pregnancy no major issues at all, except she went breech in 2nd trimester and would not turn! She came 3 wks early totally healthy!!!!! When we were told about our or really my infertility, we started to reevaluateb/c I have some fairly severe health issues, reason we thought it was not in Gods plan. She's here and an absolute delight (slept through the night from day 1, among the many beautiful things about her, she smiles all the time and has the sweetest disposition. I already feel my health as let her down. I am turning to you all, you too Nikki for any words of wisdom for me on ways to make her first Christmas great (people tell me she will not remember this Christmas, but that's not the point) and then come up with a fabulous first birthday basically a month later! I have surgery on December 17 on top of it all.Thanks for letting me vent and I wish everyone a fantastic blessed holiday.any words of wisdom or encouragement are welcome.I am a liensed clinical psychotherapist they say never to treat ones self:) I'm great (not to toot my own horn) at helping others and I love it! Thank you so much take care

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    1. Michelle, I'd be happy to help you out and create a board for your sweet girl. When would you need it by? My ETSY shop is www.etsy.com/shop/CallieMarieCreations, if you go there and click on custom order I would be happy to get the information necessary to make her a board. Just send me a message there and we can get one started for you! Thank you for sharing your story. Your love for your daughter will be everything she needs and more to make this a special holiday for her!

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  8. Nikki, you could start a business making these "chalkboards".You are so very extremely talented. I know especially for someone craft-challenged +all the health things I have going on, I would pay to have one made:) We send you the stats and what else we would like on the board ( With yours as a template) and you work your incredible talent! Just a thought. Tryed to free-hand a paper version of her board, oh my thank goodness for templates!:) Take care! Blessings to all !!!!!!

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  9. Hi, Nicki! I love the party and the book! I'm trying to make a similar book on Shutterfly. Did you follow any one of the photo book styles or just completely custom? I'm having trouble finding the "chalk" lettering for the month headings. Thanks! Great job!

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    1. Hey! Thank you so much! I actually went the custom route to make this book and they had some cute chalkboard options to use. Hope that helps!

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  10. Do you mind sharing a little more information on the book? Size and cover (hard presuming)? Are the fonts and backgrounds something Shutterfly provided? Thanks!

    -Becca

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  11. Beautiful job on this party! Also, thank you so much for sharing how we can make similar chalkboards for our own little ones! ;) My daughter's first birthday is coming up and I want to make her one. However, I've never heard of black foam core board before. Where would I be able to get this? Thanks in advance!

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  12. What’s up to everybody, this blog post that has posted here has in fact particular quality work.
    chalk markers

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  13. Love this post! The chalkboard art is very creative. Very cool idea to celebrate someone's birthday.

    Chalk Board Pens

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