Lady A's Birthday Party Bunting

Lady A. turned three a few months back, all she wanted was Princess everything. While I couldn't do everything, there were a few fun things I could do, and that was going to require my Silhouette. Yippy!!!

We couldn't have just any princess either, it had to be Princess Sophia! Which I don't mind. She is a cut little princess and a lot closer to my daughters age, dealing with the same stuff....friends, telling the truth, etc.

Bring on the purple!

First things first....we needed the invite. Check it out over here. So easy and we found some great images to use. I also like to send cards to family, even though we know they won't be able to come since we live too far away, but we want to make sure they feel included. With a digital card, since it was so last minute, I could just email it to them.

It would be fun if I had all the time and money needed to put on one of those perfect Pinterest parties that you see everyday, but I don't, so I do the best I can with what I have. We had just moved again and most everything was still in boxes.

Instead of having the perfect Pinterest party I sat back and reminded myself that this was for Lady A., not to keep up with someone else, not for me and she turned three, she was more excited to have friends over and make a mess then posing for photos.

Now for the bunting. I was going to hang it but LadyA. wanted it close enough to touch and show her friends so we taped it to the wall ... no biggie. Happy to please her with such a simple request.

I am going to break this up into two tutorials because this can get really long and involved. This one will explain what I did and the other will cover simple techniques and tricks on how to design in Illustrator for projects that will be transferred to Silhouette Studio once it is ready to cut. O.K. maybe three. The final one will give instructions on how to transfer your project from Illustrator to Silhouette Studio. I think simple, basic tutorials are better than one monster post that becomes too much to read and follow.

*This tutorial takes into consideration that you know how to work out certain steps. It is NOT for the beginner unless you,  like me, are willing to work out things on your own to help you learn. Trial and error are sometimes the best teacher.

MATERIALS/SUPPLIES
Cardstock to fit the size of your cutting machine {two different colors}
Silver Sharpie
Adhesive for the wall

TOOLS
Silhouette Machine or other cutting machine
Exacto Knife
Glue Stick

INSTRUCTIONS
Find an image of Princess Sophia's tiara to trace. When tracing or creating designs to cut I like to use Adobe Illustrator, it is what I am familiar with, I can do so much more in it and I already have it on my computer instead of paying for the design studio.

Trace the image making sure not to double and triple your lines. Trace only where there will be a cut. Since the tiara is symmetrical I did one side then mirrored it. I thickened the line to 4 pt so you could see exactly where I traced. In your project use a line thickness of 1 pt.

Now copy the shape as many times as you need for your bunting. Lady A's name is 7 letters long but two of the letters are used twice....hence 5 tiaras.

Decide on a letter, font and size, overlay it on the shapes until you have the look you want. Change the letters to 'outlines', remove the fill color and copy and paste a second set, then place them off to the side of your 'design board' or even on a different layer {lock it or hide it}**. Offset the the out lines to be a bit larger than the actual letter, this will give the illusion of a tracing or a thicker outline for your letter. You can see that I left the original letters in place so I could get a better sense of what the letters would look like once put all together. Then cut out overlapping lines to 'merge' the two images.

**If any changes need to be made to the letters doing it once they are outlines would be the perfect time, before the copy is made and placed to the side. I did not like the 'L' in the font I chose so I manipulated it until I was satisfied.

*You can also merge the shape with the letter once in Silhouette but keep in mind it will just do an over all exterior tracing, the interior detail will be lost.

Time to create your 'pages' that will be transferred to Silhouette Studio. I fit two of the tiara letters on a page then put all the original letters {the ones we copied and moved to the side of the 'design board'} on another page since I wanted them to be a different color. The font I chose also had interior detail so I deleted all that for the tiara alphabet outline. Then left it for the white alphabet so that the background purple would pop through.

Open in Silhouette Studio {Tutorial coming soon}

Cut out accordingly, assemble, add some bling {silver Sharpie, sticker gems would work great too} and wa-la!!

I used the Exacto knife to help cut out some of this tiny little accents inside the letters.

Yes, that was involved. But I LOVE how they turned out and so does Lady A. Three months later and we still have them up because she loves them so much.

Bunny Ear Cupcake Toppers

After a Dr. visit the other day it is clear that this baby is not coming soon and we will probably have to wait another week or longer. NOT the news I wanted to get!

So I need something to get my mind off of the pain my body is in. There is a community Easter Egg Hunt this weekend and they are wanting some goodies to hand out. I am making cupcakes and going to use the same Bunny Ears printable from my Some Bunny Loves You ~ Easter Thank Yous as a template for cupcake toppers.

Update: I created another printable so you can do ears that over lap or are separate.

What you need:

Candy Melts

Squeeze Bottles

Printable {ears together or ears apart}

Shortening / Coconut Oil {optional}

Wax Paper
Tape

Cupcakes, frosted and ready to decorate

I have tried to melt these before with little success, they usually would dry out and seem to burn instead, both in the microwave or using a double boiler system. After some thought and searching around on the Internet I decided the Candy Melts needed a little something to help keep them creamy and soft as they were microwaved, hence, the shortening or coconut oil.

Tape down the printable of the ears and tape wax paper over it {wax side up}. If you are doing more than one sheet of ears I would suggest printing out as many copies as you need, it makes it easier than having to stop and move everything to place another sheet of wax paper. You are also working against the clock and don't want the candy melts to start to solidify in the squeeze bottle.

I used about half the bag of candy melts and made four dozen ears {barely}.

Place the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for a minute {the instructions on the bag suggest using 50% power, I used my normal power setting}. After the first minute add between 1/4-1/2 TBS of shortening and stir in with the candy melts. Microwave 30 seconds at a time and be sure to stir in between every 30 second burst. Spoon the liquid candy melts in to the squeeze bottle and go to town.

Tip: Do one color at a time so the candy melts do not solidify while you switch between colors.
I only had butter flavored shortening so I used coconut oil instead to mix with the white candy melts {I wanted the white to stay as white as possible} and it worked just as well.

Take the pink and trace the inside of the bunny ears. By the time you get the white candy melts ready the pink will be set up enough so you can start tracing the outside of the ears.

Note: This is my first time doing free hand cupcake toppers and my first time getting the candy melts to melt successfully. Win ~ Win!! You can tell I am not a professional but I am pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Tip: Make sure the second color over laps the first just enough to make good contact. This way when you lift them off the wax paper they won't fall apart.
If doing a silhouette {ie, the white part and leaving the inside empty} I would suggest making sure to use a nice thick line {nothing to extreme}, enough so that the ears do not snap in half when you remove them from the wax paper.

Now set up the station and get busy.

Eyes: Chocolate Chips

Ears: You just made them you connoisseur of confections

Mouth {whiskers}: Coconut Shavings

& Nose: Pink Sixlets

The Reece's Pieces Eggs are for me to snake on while busy at work!

And there you have it! You are now a professional at getting Candy Melts to melt perfectly every time and you have some fun Bunny Cupcakes to share with family and friends.

Um...I finished these pretty late last night, all I had was my kitchen lighting so these last photos are a bit yellow. Please don't hold that against me. Trying to put these together during the day with a curious and busy toddler would have been nuts.

Here is an idea of how many we made. After all the taste testing and little fingers grabbing the bunny ears, we ended up donating 40 to the community Easter Egg Hunt this morning. Can you see on some of the ears I had enough white left over to place a line down the center and help to separate the ears into two? There was not enough white to do all of them but either way works for me.

I saved three for us and so I could get some better photos of them in the day light. Not going to lie, I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. It also helps when others complement you on your work.

Can you tell I am loving my spring and Easter decor too. Some friends brought me the flowers yesterday and I still love my plate, so they made it in the photo shoot.