{DIY} Vintage Circus Party

I recently blogged about my daughters vintage circus birthday party! I thought I would share some of the easy DIY things I made for the party that came out pretty cute!

I had really envisioned some glorious tiered birthday cake for the party. But that was out of my budget and also unrealistic. It was a small party with just a few people {mainly because our house just isn't that big} Everywhere I looked cakes were too expensive or not what I wanted. A sheet cake that was too much cake and an easy $20. I decided to just make cupcakes again since it was easier and cheaper like her pixie/pirate party last year. 

I didn't want to use the cupcake stand from last year. I wanted to try something different. I started looking for little cake stands. But again everything was out of my budget. I went to the Dollar Tree and got these cute glass plates and candlestick holders and some 9001 super glue at Joannes and made two very simple and inexpensive cake stands. VOILA!

 

 

From the beginning I knew I needed some kind of games. At least a couple right? It was a circus party. So I started collecting cans from dinner to make this cute bean bag toss game.

I got wrapping paper in the color scheme of the party from the dollar tree. I measured one of the labels on the wrapping paper to be an exact match. Then I just used scotch tape. One game down!

    I like using labels or signs throughout the party. It just adds a cute personal touch. I lucked out and found these little chalkboard stickers in the dollar bin at Michael's. It came with a set of 6 stickers and some chalk. They went along perfectly with the vintage theme! I got the black and gold 4x6 frames at the dollar tree and used some of my polka dot scrapbook party that I already had. Those were one of my favorite things of the party and the little gold elephants.

 

Anyone thankful for Pinterest?... I am!

I found this printable "pin the tail on the elephant" game.

All I had to do was save it to a flash drive and took it to Staples. 

I had them print an 18x14 size and it was only a couple of dollars. 

Then I taped it to a glittery gold trimmed poster board I got from Target. 

I also painted the elephant with gold metallic paint for fun.

It's always worth it to make things for these parties. It's fun and inexpensive. What types of things have you made for your parties? Leave a link in a comment I would love to see!

Vintage Circus Birthday Party

This last weekend we had Riley's 5th birthday party! I can't believe she is 5 years old already! She has such a big sassy personality and she's also the sweetest and funniest little

Girl. We love to be around her all the time  because she is so fun! 

I had been planning this theme since her 1st birthday was over. I knew 5 years was a big year and it should be a big party. After all she's a whole hand now. 

I knew when I was getting all the details ready that I wasn't a fan of the normal circus colors. Riley's signature color has always been purple! 

I like to use it in all her birthday parties. 

So of course making it hard on myself to find purple circus things we made our plans. We decided on vintage circus with black, white, purple and gold. 

I made a lot of the decorations, games etc {blog post coming soon} and she loved it. I think it came out really cute! 

Store bought items:

Michaels

Dollar tree 

Oriental trading company

Tj maxx 

PartyCity 

Family Love

While on vacation recently we got the chance to do family pictures. Finally! It had been over a year and as a photographer it's important to me that we capture our love and growth. I can't believe how big Riley is getting already and how fast the time flies by. I'm so glad that we have these photos to remember all of our special moments. I know pretty mushy right? That's what happens when you are a mom though! Family photos are so important for that very reason. I'm just glad they cooperate with my vision. But my little family are naturals in front of the camera though! Probably because I'm constantly taking their picture. We were so lucky to have our friend and fellow photographer Kristen take them. She has taken them for the last few years. Even though she is a wedding photographer now. She makes an exception! Thankfully!

I love editorial/fashion photography so I wanted to incorporate this time. I love planning our outfits and locations just like I would a styled shoot!
Here are just a few of my favorites. All photos taken by Kristen Booth Photography It was sooo hard to pick only a few too!.

{DIY} Dining Room Hutch

 It's finally done! This was by far my biggest project so far and it was a daunting task indeed!

I knew I wanted a hutch to replace my make-shift dining room hutch that I had previously. Which was really an old entertainment center. I wanted something that would fit the feel of the rest of the furniture in the house. Something older, slightly classic and vintage like. Maybe claw feet or something like that. I kept hanging around my favorite place {The Salvation Army} and I finally eyed his bad boy! I loved the caged doors, it gives it such a unique, shabby chic look to it. I don't see many hutches like this around. 

I knew from the beginning it was going to be red. I wanted something bold and rich. Red is one of my favorite colors. When we finally got it home it sat in the garage for awhile. And of course I let the months go by and let it gather dust. I always have big ideas when it comes to these projects. But sitting down and getting them done is a whole other thing. I was inspired to get it done when my parents said they were coming to visit for Thanksgiving. I wanted my dining room to look nice for the holidays! 

It wasn't easy because it was getting colder. I thought I knew what I was doing this time around. I wanted to spray paint the whole thing. There's a lot of crevices and hard to reach areas. I thought spray painting would be the way to go. 

The problem with that is. It's a HUGE piece of furniture! What was I thinking!? Not to mention spray paint doesn't go very far on something like this. I bought over a dozen cans and it still wasn't enough. Then I ran into another problem. I picked RED! Red and more specifically this shade of red isn't a very popular color choice. Meaning: Stores don't stock very much of it. I cleaned out Ace and Wal-mart and it still wasn't enough. 

There was only one thing left to do. I color matched at Ace hardware as much as I could and ended up going with brush painting. Honestly, I should've just done that in the first place and I would've saved myself a lot of time and money. So if you are going to be painting furniture just use a brush. At least when it's a big piece like this. 

Remember how I said it was getting colder? I wasn't exaggerating! I was out there freezing to death trying to get the job done. Sanding and priming.... it wasn't until I was really close to being done with the paint that we realized we could bring the pieces in and finish it inside in the nice warm house! Serious blonde moment there and I was in fact kicking myself,{once I defrosted that is}.

What I used:

KILZ Primer Spray Paint {4-6 cans}

Reusable sanding pads

{next time I would sand better if I had more time}

A gallon of color matched {Satin Burgundy} to Krylon satin burgundy

I did at least 4-5 coats. I didn't get to do a finish yet. Or get the glass cut for the shelves. 

I will post the completed dining room once everything is all finished. 

I was actually really please with the finished product. I was worried about brush strokes but it doesn't show at all. So you must get a good brush not the cheap ones! It is a must when painting furniture!

 What are some of your furniture redo's?

After  & Before