Laelia’s Second Birthday!

Laelia’s Second Birthday!

Firstly, I hope all my fellow Americans had a happy 4th of July! Secondly, my hugest apologies for the delay in this post. It has been a whole two months since I posted the sneak peek, and a certain awesome pinterest follower reminded me of that! (Yes, I’m calling you out Carla! xoxo). Things have just gotten away from me since then; I hope I can find balance here again and get into a nice rhythm soon. In the meantime, I’m writing this while all the cupboard doors are off and being ignored in my kitchen, and there are piles of Tupperware on my couch and cleaning supplies overflowing in my sink, and, well, you get the picture, right? I just started reading the book Mom, Inc. which I have already found helpful!So, when we last left off, I was trying to recover photos from our corrupted files, and despite the purchase of multiple softwares, and back and forth emails with tech support, we were not able to recover those files. I’m definitely okay with it now, just as I’ve accepted the loss of my camera. After taking a break from looking at these photos, I can see it with fresh eyes and vividly remember the smell of my house, and the energy of the crowd, and how everything did turn out just fine. :) I had to improvise a lot, and my emotions were high, but I think everyone had a great time. I definitely enjoyed the day, and I think the birthday girl did too! 
I was extremely nervous about hosting a party in our small apartment for 30 people (including kiddos), but if it wasn’t the first 95° day of the year (seriously, in April?!), we might have been able to handle more! Ha, and we had planned on prepping all of the pizzas before the party, but that got pushed because of the camera drama, and we had the stove on THE WHOLE time! The seat next to the air conditioner became the “hot seat”! Despite all of the heat and small space, things were jovial and merry. Pink champagne and pink lemonade flowed; we had a slide show of Laelia’s first 2 years going on our projector and pandora playing non-stop. We made pizzas and chinese chicken salad from scratch, and had a wide array of fruits and cheeses for appetizers.

For decor, we wrote “Happy 2nd Birthday Laelia!” on her chalkboard and put it at our front door. We then tied some balloons to it; this helped anyone who has never been to our apartment actually find the right unit. Also, our neighbors enjoyed seeing it and it helped them understand what all the commotion was about, and gave them a chance to wish Laelia a happy birthday too! Inside, I covered the exposed part of my bookcases with foam core to create a pretty neutral backdrop for my streamers and shape garlands (I’m thinking about doing a tutorial on the shapes garland, would anyone be interested in one?). I made the cake topper by cutting shapes out and painting them in the same fashion as the garlands, and then gluing them to a bamboo skewer covered in gold glitter. I topped them off with a little streamer fringe! Then we moved my desk and the armless chairs in front of the bookcases, which opened the room up and created the perfect space for our little party.
I remember feeling overwhelmed for Laelia’s birthday last year, and then extremely grateful for the way my family and friends came together to make her birthday happen; I feel even more grateful this year. My mom helped me clean the house from top to bottom, my sister (who is an excellent baker) made the cake batter, and my cousin helped me paint the garlands. When everyone found out that our camera was gone, they were there for me with offers to lend cameras (thanks Luke and Becky!) and lend their talents (thanks Andy!!).

*Over half of the above photos are courtesy of Andy Richards. Thanks so much for saving the day! xoxo

Sources: *many sources are listed on Laelia’s Second Birthday Board, but I’ll list them here, too. If anything you’d like to know about is not listed, please leave a request in the comments!

  • Chalk Board: IKEA
  • Balloons: Ziggos
  • Laelia’s Dress & Headband: Baby Gap
  • Laelia’s Shoes: Old Navy
  • Jesyka’s Dress: LysaBo via Etsy
  • Jesyka’s Earrings: H&M
  • Paper Straws: Heyyoyo
  • Gold Table Skirt: Ziggos
  • Shapes for the Shape Garlands: creatology paper shapes from Michaels (they do not have them listed on their website)
  • Cake Topper: Made by myself.
  • Candles on Cake: pink ombre hanukkah taper candles
  • Small Gold Frame on Stand: IKEA (10 yrs ago)
  • Invitations: Myself
  • Star Puzzles: Gifted by the WonderCraft, painted by myself. Buy them here.
  • Gold Water Jug: Vintage (my grandmother’s)
  • Cake Stands: Martha Stewart
  • Pink Bowls: Target
  • Pink Beverage Bin: Target

Laelia’s Second Birthday Series:
4/17/12 – Laelia’s Second Birthday Board
4/24/12 – My Camera was Stolen
4/25/12 – A Laelia Outfit #32; Happy 2nd Birthday!
4/26/12 – Laelia Turns 2; Invites
5/02/12 – Laelia’s Second Birthday Sneak Peek 

17 Responses to Laelia’s Second Birthday!

  1. Amber says:

    AMAZING! Beyond amazing! You have gone above and beyond!

  2. carla says:

    love. it. all. thanks for the post :)
    i want to know where you found the black and white striped paper! so hard to find

  3. @ Carla I printed it at home!! So easy! I can email you a pdf of plain black and white stripes, if need be… :)

  4. Please come and throw me a party! This is so cute. LOVE pink & gold. My goodness!

  5. Thanks Lexy! I could certainly help with an inspiration board if you ever need one. ~.^ And tutorials! I’m willing to make any tutorial, if anyone asks!

  6. carla says:

    a pdf would be awesome! i think you have my email :) thanks!!
    also, i was wondering where you got the gold 2’s from? they are lovely and girly with the bold b&w. um can you tell i’m getting tons of inspiration from you for my daughter’s birthday?!

  7. For the number 2s I just hand sketched a 2 on some card stock and then cut them out, and glued glitter paper to them! SO easy! :)

  8. Kim says:

    I love everything about your daughters birthday!! I’m planning my daughters 2nd birthday – the color scheme is pinks & gold, but I love the idea of b&w. Can you please, please, please email me the PDF for the b&w stripe?? Zemikim@hotmail.com Thanks a million!!!!

  9. Jennifer Robinson says:

    Hi there! Absolutely loving this party theme it’s just the cutest! My little girls 1st birthday is coming up and I’m doing a pink and gold theme too just wondering if you could do a tutorial for the shapes garland :-) Thanks so much :-)

  10. […] resolved to have both Laelia’s and Tyler’s birthday parties at our apartment, exactly two weeks apart. Looking back, I […]

  11. Brittany says:

    Hello! I am in love with this theme!! I was wondering if you could send me a tutorial for the shape garland. My faughter LOVES shapes. Thank you!
    Brittany.blevins@okstate.edu

    • Hi! Unfortunately I do not have a tutorial made for this garland quite yet, but I’d love to make one! I can probably get to it in the next couple of weeks. In case you do not have that much time, I can tell you this:

      -I bought the shapes from Michaels.
      -I painted them with Martha Stewart craft paints, and the glitter and stripes are covered with paper.
      -I added a tissue tassel to the bottom; see my tissue tassel garland tutorial to see how to make a tissue tassel.
      -I punched holes at the top and bottom of every shape, and connected via fishing line.

      That’s the gist of it! :)

  12. […] Other posts regarding Laelia’s First Birthday: – (2/09/11) 1st Birthday Fete – location, location location! – (2/21/11) First Birthday Inspiration Board – (2/28/11) A Name for a Chair – (3/38/11) Pinwheels and Balloons – (4/06/11) High Chair Reveal – (4/21/11) Pinwheel and Balloon Invitations – (4/22/11) A Laelia Outfit #4: Birthday Dress – (4/28/11) Pinwheel Tutorial: Materials – (4/29/11) Jesyka’s Pinwheel Tutorial – f you like Laelia’s first birthday, please check out Laelia’s Second Birthday! […]

  13. heather sadleir says:

    were you ever able to make a shapes garland tutorial? I am in love with your daughters party and want to make one of those garlands myself!!! Too cute!!!!

  14. Leilani Sayre says:

    Hello! love this post, really wanting to make the garland and streamer backdrop for my daughters birthday. Just wondering how many rolls of streamers did it take to make this?!

Leave a Reply

Welcome

Welcome to Visual Vocabularie! My name is Jesyka, and I am a designer, artist, mom to Laelia and Luca, wife to software engineer and UX designer Tyler, coffee lover, and all around enthused person. This is my blog; here I share my personal projects, whether it's a furniture makeover, a new painting, a birthday party, an invitation I designed, or a favorite outfit for my little. You’ll also catch a glimpse into our family life in Los Angeles.

Popular Tutorials

  • Pinwheel Tutorial

  • Tissue Tassel Garland

  • Triple Pinch Pleat Curtains

  • Ikea Mini Kitchen Makeover

 

Link with Love

You are free to pin to pinterest, or post my photos on your blog, but please give proper credit to my full name Jesyka D’Itri Marés (I know, I know, it's not the easiest name!), and you link back either the home page of this website, or the permalink of the original post (although, I'm sure your followers will thank you for the permalink!). I would LOVE to know if you enjoy my work enough to share it, so please don’t be shy and drop me an email!