DIY Baby Strawberry Costume

Can't believe its my little one's second Halloween already. Last October I was surfing internet to find a comfortable strawberry costume for my then 6 months old and was highly disappointed to see that all of the store bought costumes are thick and bulgy for a little baby. So I decided to make one at home. This costume from amazon was my inspiration. I loved how cute my homemade strawberry costume turned out.

I started with a red onesie that I bought on amazon and felt squares of different colors that I had in my craft supplies.

I drew a simple seed design on little cardboard piece and cut it out with a pair of scissors. Using that cardboard seed as template I cut a lot of seeds out of black felt piece and stuck them in polka dot pattern on onesie using hot glue gun. You can use fabric glue if you have or if you prefer to wash your costume. I didn't have time to go out and shop so I went ahead with what I had on hand.

Similarly I made a leaf cardboard template and cut leaves out of two shades of green felt pieces that I had on hand. I was satisfied with how dark green looked so I went ahead and stuck it under neck ruffle of the onesie.

I just added a small white flower (from my craft stash) in between leaves to add little more detail.

I just loved how cute and adorable my baby looked in this strawberry costume. Ofcourse the fact that its handmade by me added to my happiness. Thanks for stopping by. Have a Happy Halloween.

Sreemantham Decoration (South Indian Baby Shower Decor)

Hi there, its been more than a year and I am finally getting back to my blog. Life is busy with baby, I am glad I had my family and a loving husband all through the though times. Okay life aside lets get back to the Sreemantham decor I did for my own Sreemantham a year and half ago. Sreemantham is a traditional South Indain Baby Shower.

       Here is a detailed video I made recently with clear explanation.

                                    

I planned this backdrop way ahead. I wanted something traditional, simple and definitely have a god idol or symbol on the backdrop. I wanted to take it easy and go with age old maroon and cream color combination. This flower Ganesha from a wedding picture that I saw long back on Pinternet was my inspiration. However I didn't want to use fresh flowers because it can be overwhelming to do things on the celebration day. So I went ahead and ordered these fabric flowers from this etsy store they took around 15-20 days to reach me.

I used dollar store foam board and started roughly drawing outline of Ganesha. I kept everything (hands, legs of the idol) connected unlike my inspiration image to make it easy for hanging on backdrop. I would recommend using thick cardboard instead of foam board if you have patience and energy to cut it. As foam board wears out easily once painted. Foam board will survive for one time use though.

When I felt satisfied with the outline I used an exacto knife to cut along the outline.

I painted it with red acrylic paint to match the flowers so that the white board won't peek through red flowers.

Using hot glue gun I stuck fabric flowers as close as possible to each other all along the cut foam board. I had to cut the plastic stalks under the flowers to make them stick properly.

Using a piece of yarn I hung it on the backdrop stand. I reinforced the back of Ganesha cutout with few more foam pieces and hot glue to make it little strong at joints.

For the backdrop, I bought satin cloth and backdrop stand on amazon. I stitched a huge curtain using cream color cloth with pocket at top to insert rod. I followed this video from youtube to put up my backdrop stand and fabric. I tied a rope from top left corner to top right corner of backdrop stand to add the bead strings that my mom got from India. For top center I used artificial flower thoran I had on hand.

For Sreemantham table its a tradition to fill 5 or 9 plates with variety of fruits, nuts, sweets and savories. I borrowed the steel plates and diya stands from my friend. My sister in law is so sweet, she took all the pain to bring my favorite sweets all the way from Atlanta to Tucson. And my mom made few at home. We added a simple 2 tier cake to the table though its not Indian custom.

Bangles and flowers are the important things on Sreemantham table. Every guest adorns mom to be with bangles and blesses mom and baby. I chose pink and green bangles to match my saree.

For return gifts I shopped these pretty bangles from India. I roughly estimated hand size of each friend and wrote names on the bangle cover to make it easy to give them in party.

We wrapped bangles and tambulam (beetle leaves, beetle nuts, fruits, pasupu, kumkum and blouse piece) together in a decorative plate. 

For the return gift bags I added a thank you note and a little bling using my Cricut.

Overall the party looked perfectly like how I wanted it to be and the best part was everyone loved home cooked food by mom and sister in law. 

Note: Websites referred are for only reader's information. I am not paid for any of the referral links.
Additional Info: If you are in USA and are looking for fresh flowers, beetle leaves, mango leaves or any pooja items there are websites that deliver them overnight to anywhere in USA. I did not know this before my sreemantham. Thought a word might help someone.

Here is a picture of me and my husband from Sreemantham (South Indian Baby Shower Party). Hope you enjoyed the party too. Thank you for stopping by.