DIY Contact Paper Cityscape Photo Backdrop

As promised, today I'm sharing a few more photos of the contact paper cityscape I created as a photo backdrop for Knox's super hero 1st birthday party.  I have to say a big THANK YOU to my brother and his girlfriend Maggie who were my partners in crime & cutting on this project. 

 

This really couldn't be a simpler project.  I can't even call this a tutorial!  You only need 3 things -  black contact paper, yellow contact paper and a pair of scissors.  That's it! 

(p.s. Now you guys know why I had so much leftover contact paper for my Halloween decorations this year!)

Because I wanted the babies to sit in front of this scene, I decided to do one full length of just solid black contact paper across the bottom.  This allowed me to raise up the entire city scene so it would be visible above their heads.

 

The rest of this project is really just an exercise in cutting shapes and piecing them together into building-like silhouettes.  There's really no right or wrong way to do this.  Rectangles, round top buildings, small buildings, tall buildings...they all have a spot in your city!  

Here are a few tips I can offer:

--Lay the Foundation:  Working across your cityscape, start by add in rectangles of various sizes at (somewhat) regular intervals.

--Add Depth:  Now go back and pepper in another layer of buildings by overlapping some rectangles in front of your first layer.  Here you're trying to create the illusion of a background and foreground.

--Add Details:  Not every building on the skyline is flat topped so add in a few antennas, domes, etc.

--Light It Up!:  Use your yellow contact paper to add windows to your buildings.  Vary the shapes so you have different window styles on your buildings.  You can get really fancy with it and create mock architecture to your buildings like Maggie did with those columns on that one building.  I was just doing little square windows and she had to get all fancy with it.  She's awesome like that. 

--...But Leave Some Dark: Don't try to fill the entire building's silhouette with lit up windows.  Not every light has to be on! 

--Add Personality!: Don't be afraid to add in some personal touches or features to make your city unique and personal.  As we worked on this cityscape, it continually looked more and more like the Boston skyline.  See the Prudential building there all the way on the left?  And clearly that's the Zakim Bridge right?  The finishing touch was my brother's addition of the super hero light signal complete with a K for Knox!

 

Not bad for under $20 right?  I thought it was a great addition to Knox's super hero party, especially since most of his guests were pint-sizes babies who fit in perfectly with the cityscape scale!

Of course as with all my contact paper projects, the best part of this party feature was that it was 100% disposable.  After the party, I peeled the whole thing off and had my kitchen back to normal in under 3 minutes.  Can't beat that right?

Super Knox's 1st Birthday!

Before Knox turns 2 (he was 15 months last week!), I think I should finally get around to sharing photos of his first birthday party hosted back in October.  I settled on a super hero theme after looking in Knox's closet one day and realizing he had quite the assortment of super hero shirts. 

I designed two main elements that showed up throughout the party's paper goods and decor.  The little spikey haired silhouette was inspired by Knox himself who always seems to be sporting some crazy, unruly hair.

 

I loved this Anders Ruff invitation but I really wanted to get his photo on their so I designed my own and reworked things a bit to make it work.  I love the way they turned out!

I made him that little onsie using some simple iron-on transfer paper.  See the spikey hair?!

All the envelopes were addressed using this fun address label I created.  I printed them onto full label sheets and cut them out by hand.  The stamp I made on Zazzle.  I love Zazzle but boy, they are super strict about what can and can't be used on their creations.  I first tried to use the custom K super hero emblem and they rejected it because it was too close to the Super Man symbol.  Then I tried the little super hero silhouette and that too got rejected!  

I made these comic book-inspired talk bubble stickers for the return address and printed them onto the same full label sheets.

 

Our front door all decked out to welcome guests! 

 Gift bags for all of Knox's super sidekicks!

They held individual super hero shirts for all the babies from Spoil Me Rotten Gifts.

And of course, super birthday boy got a cape!

Like most new moms, I had hundreds of photos on my iPhone that I'd taken of Knox throughout his first year but I hadn't ever taken the time to print any.  Don't you hate that?  All these images but they're almost trapped on our digital devices!  I decided to print every single one and use them as simple but meaningful decor.  It was so fun to relive all those special moments as we put up this little montage. 

Don't you love my chic baby-proofed window treatments? (so embarrassing!)

Birthday cake and smash cake!

I love the way the little super hero looked in fondant!  It's so fun to see something you've designed digitally actually come to life.

Remember Knox's first year collage?  I had it printed and displayed it on an easel at the party.  I printed it as an 8"x10" for the grandparents too and they LOVED it.

I created a little Gotham-esque city scape on the side of our kitchen island using my trusty contact paper.  It made for a really cute backdrop for photos.  I'll post more pics of this project in progress tomorrow.  It was super simple.

Classic!  But doesn't everyone look adorable in their shirts?!

Everyone went home with little super hero rubber ducky bath squirters.

Some other scenes from around the party.

Someone got VERY into the smashing part of the party!  We had to strip him down after.

The first year of a child's life is so special and we had a wonderful time celebrating this big milestone with our friends and family.  It might sound crazy but as a first time mom, I felt a major sense of accomplishment for getting to the one year mark (yay, he's alive and thriving!)  Thanks for letting me share this moment with you all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you to Rebecca at Millie Holloman Photography for capturing all these wonderful images of Knox's big day.

Birthday cake, superhero silhouette fondant topper and Knox's smash cake from Sweet Memories Bakery.

"Happy Birthday" banner on mantel, big K on food table, stickers on party cups all from Anders Ruff.

Big balloons at front door, on mantel and on food table from BalloonFast.com 

Super hero shirts and Knox's cape from Spoil Me Rotten Gifts 

Yellow 1 lollipops from Vintage Confections

Fondant "K" topper on Knox's smash cake from Two Sugar Babies

Super hero K cookies and super hero silhouette cookie pops from Batches

Super hero rubber duckies from Oriental Trading

Yellow & white dot tablecloth sewn by my mom in 10 minutes before the party started (she's insane) using this fabric from JoAnn's.

Big K on food table and big super hero silhouette on front door printed at Kinko's.

Photos in "ONE" collage printed 3"x3" from ScrapbookPictures.com

Polar Express Party, Recipes & Free Printables

I hosted a little Polar Express inspired breakfast party yesterday for some moms & babies.  I had so much fun putting it all together that I thought I'd share some pictures (and printables) with you. The Polar Express is one of my favorite Christmas books so I took my queue for food and decor right from the story.

Mornings are crazy around here so I knew the only way I'd be able to pull off a morning get together was by selecting only food and decor that I could do in advance.  The last thing you want to be doing at 8 am is feeding a toddler AND hanging snowflakes!  SOOO not happening.  I was able to do everything here the day before so I could just relax and brew the coffee the morning of.

 

{DECOR}
I threaded some snowflakes from Michael's ($1.99 for a pack of 12!) onto fishing line and suspended them over our kitchen island where all the food was set up.  Ta-da!  Snowy decor!

Knox's silver train coin bank was the perfect small reference to the Polar Express theme.  I set it on one of my cake pedestals with some evergreen trimmings from our tree underneath.  The snowflakes are just printer paper that I punched my snowflake punch.

I am a tad obsessed with my glass pedestal cloches from Sur la Table and am always looking for a way to use them.  They look great filled with random ornaments at Christmas time.

{FOOD}

I had coffee with caramel sugar swizzle sticks and a yummy spinach, bacon and Swiss cheese quiche.  

In the book The Polar Express, the little boy describes how all the children on the train are enjoying nougat candies and "hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate."  I knew only the mommies would be enjoying the cocoa so super rich was just fine and I have the most incredible recipe for hot cocoa.  One cup will satisfy your sweet tooth for days, I swear! I posted the recipe for the hot chocolate here.

But what's hot cocoa without marshmallows?  I've always wanted to try making marshmallows and I figured this was the perfect occasion.  It's a little intimidating because of the exacting nature of the boiled sugar part but it came together so easily and the result was AMAZING.  I'm never eating store bought marshmallows ever again!  All the recipes for these items are listed at the end of this post.

The jingle bell is the star of The Polar Express story.  Luckily it's something even a small child can enjoy.  Plus don't you love the sweet sound of jingle bells this time of year?  I threaded some jumbo sized bells onto white ribbon and sent all the babies home with one.

Moms got a coconut cupcake iced with cream cheese frosting with a dusting of "snowy" coconut on top.  I finished each cupcake with the MOST ADORABLE sugar jingle bell from Parker's Flour Patch.  Each cupcake went into a cellophane bag with a cupcake insert that I got from Garnish.  I tied them off with a cute tag (see printables) and a small jingle bell.  Sadly I forgot to snap a picture of this adorable little package before my friends left with them! But either way it was a really fun, low stress get together.  Babies were running around in their pjs while moms enjoyed some yummy treats and celebrated the season. What could be better?!

I created a bunch of signs/flags/favor tags for the party in a festive plaid pattern.  You can download the complete set here or by clicking the image below.

RECIPES:

Coconut Cupcakes

Spinach & Bacon Quiche (tip:  to keep your quiche crust from getting soggy, blind bake it, then add your filling)

Polar Express Nougat Bars

Vanilla Marshmallows

Frameworthy Vintage Kid's Books

As much as I love unique art for a child's room, I like LOW COST, unique art even more! I shared my idea for framing cute wrapping paper here.  Today I'm sharing another favorite trick for low cost and personalized art - framing pages from a favorite book.

 

Framed pages from classic Shel Silverstein poems via Amy Meier Design

Kid's books are so beautifully illustrated, they really are art unto themselves!  I have a serious weakness for vintage children's books, especially foreign ones.  These are some of my absolute favorites.  Many are out of print but still available thru Etsy, eBay and through Amazon's used book service.  

If you don't want to tear pages out of these beautiful books (I don't blame you!) have colored photocopies of your favorite pages printed on card-stock and frame that instead.

 

1. Miroslav Sasek "This Is New York":  Truthfully I love all of Sasek's books.  See his full collection here.  If you can find one that's meaningful to your family, even better!  The images are gorgeous and just begging to be framed.

2. Bruno Munari's ABC:  First published in Italy in 1961, the striking imagery is just as gorgeous and relevant today.  

3. Cuore di mamma:  I actually have the original Portuguese version (pictured above) but it's been translated into many, many languages.  The story is a simple one of a boy's love for his mother and the illustrations are bold and happy.

4.  A child's picture Hebrew dictionary:  The Hebrew alphabet depicted through all sorts of objects, animals and places. 

5.  When I Was Born:  Another gorgeous piece of work from Isabel Minhós Martins.  I love the bold colors and the story is so sweet it kills me.

6.  Wild Animals by Rop Van Mierlo:  I am more than a little obsessed with this book.  Originally printed in the Netherlands, it features big ink drop paintings of various animals.  Every page is gorgeous.   See a quick video of the gorgeous pages here.