Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts

Thursday, May 1, 2014

First Communion Day + DIY Decor | SVGCuts

Hello Everyone!

This past weekend, my daughter Maia celebrated her First Holy Communion Day. A big deal in the Catholic Religion! 

As you all may already know I'm a huge DIY'er, if that is such a thing, lol! So as you can imagine I did do it ALL... a bit stressful as I had a bit of a sinus infection last week, but thank goodness I had a lot of the preparations done ahead of time :) 

For those that want to attempt DIY'ing things for an event like this, I would highly recommend you buy yourself an electronic cutting machine. My go-to machine is the Silhouette Cameo, but there are many others out there! My poor Cameo was very useful over the last few months in preparation for the big day.

WARNING: this post is picture HEAVY! But hey, who doesn't like pictures!

Let's start with the cake table :) 
As you can see other than the cake, treats, and roses, most of my table decor was made out of paper! All the files that I used come from SVGCuts, love that their files are so versatile! For those of you interested in the exact files I used, they will be listed throughout and at the end of this post :)

First Communion Day + DIY Decor

Here is my sweet and simple, yet elegant banner!

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Banner

Here is a closer look at the details.

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Banner

How do you like my ceiling decor? Tule, a few balloons, and a tissue ball... Oh, and a few flowers I stuck randomly on the tissue ball. That's it, SO easy!!! I just used push pins to hold the ends of the tule up on the ceiling (when the ceiling is textured you can barely see any holes). I had this up on Monday night and the party was on Sunday, almost a whole week... even the balloons! Keep reading and I'll even tell you my secret on how to keep them from deflating!

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Ceiling Decotation

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Decor

How cool is this Chalice? For those of you that are SVG Cuts Fans, you may recognize the top as the teacup from Tea For You and Me SVG Kit and the bottom is the lamp base from Maison de Madeline SVG Kit! Clever, I know 😏

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Decor

and what about this beautiful cross! 
(K, just ignore the little pearl that fell off... didn't catch that when I took the photo, dang it!) Anyways, back to the Cross... It's actually the letter "T" from the 3D Letters SVG Kit plus the iron Cross from the Christian Elements SVG Collection. Cool, eh? Yup, I am Canadian!

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Decor

Flowers were used everywhere! I first used them on this cute Topiary Tree, then walls, and finally as little accents throughout... they kind of became weeds, lol. Same flower different sizes, various layers!

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Decor

This perfect little book is where my daughter stored her keepsakes from the day... it's already jammed full! Kind of wished I had made it a little bigger! 

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Paper Book Keepsake

The invitations I made below, I think have to be one of my favorite projects from the event. Simple and easy to make especially when you have a bunch to make! Aren't those the cutest pearl grapes ever?! 

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, treat boxes

Here is a peek at the inside, done by using the Print n Cut on the Silhouette Cameo.

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Invitations

How darling are these little favor boxes?!? They are the perfect size for a little Thank-you for your guests to take home.

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, treat boxes

See, I told you those flowers were everywhere! Weeds, I tell you!!! They even made it to every single pew down the center aisle of the Church (not one picture of them did I get... "OUCH"... that was me kicking myself!)

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Set Up and Decor

and some more weeds, lol! But, look how they pretty up the vases ;)

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Decor

O, o, and here is the cake! Isn't it purty!?! SO delicious too! I tried to make it somewhat look like my daughter's dress... well to the best of my abilities! 

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Table Decor, Communion Cake

First Communion Day + DIY Decor

OK! Are you ready for the SECRET to keeping balloons from deflating (well at least 1 week!) Scotch quick dry glue!!!

While I was experimenting with how to cover a balloon with tule, I had a light bulb moment! I knew that the balloons that you get filled up at the party places get some type of liquid squirted inside them to make them last longer, so I thought to myself why not squirt a little bit of glue at the end of the balloon (where you tie your knot). Well, my idea worked and a few days later the balloons were still the same size except for the one balloon I didn't do my glue trick to, which was all shriveled up!

First Communion Day + DIY Decor, Balloons

As promised for those of you that want to know how to recreate these paper projects, here is the recipe! Most files I used were not altered, only changed in size.

Favor Boxes - Playful Parlour SVG Kit
Invitations - (card) Enchanted Autumn SVG Kit
(bread and chalice) Christian Elements SVG Collection,



Here is a pic of my little Princess Maia, cause that's what she felt like and acted like all day! She was even doing the royal wave... SO funny!

First Communion Day + DIY Decor

I hope this blog post has been helpful in providing you with a few ideas for planning your special day! Not only for a Communion but there are so many other religious type events that these projects could be adapted to!

For more Communion ideas, check out my son's Communion Day or if you are looking for Confirmation day ideas, Click HERE!


Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Crafting and Party Planning  :)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

First Communion Cake Pops | Plus Tips I Learned From the Process


And the baking begins... 

So the first time I made cake pops it was kind of a disaster, I had watched you-tube videos but still, it was a mess. They kept falling apart because they were so heavy and dense and it was really frustrating! This time was much better, like anything else you learn from your mistakes!


First Communion Cake Pops | Plus Tips I Learned From the Process by ilovedoingallthingscrafty.com





I ended up using a cake pop maker this go around. So much easier and the cake balls were not as heavy so they didn't fall off the sticks. (I do have to admit that the baked cake pops don't taste as good as the dense cake pops that are made with cake batter and icing)

First Communion Cake Pops | Plus Tips I Learned From the Process by ilovedoingallthingscrafty.com

Something else I learned from last time was that the balls kept rolling around and staining the sticks with wet chocolate. This time I used an old Styrofoam egg carton. It worked wonderfully and made it easy to transport to the fridge as well!

First Communion Cake Pops | Plus Tips I Learned From the Process by ilovedoingallthingscrafty.com

I don't have a fancy cake pop stand, so I used floral foam to support the cake pops while they dried. All I did was take a sharp knife and poke holes all around the foam, piercing the plastic wrap that the foam came in. That way it kept all the foam flakes inside the plastic and made it easy to wipe off so I can reuse next time (you could also use cling wrap or tin foil to wrap up the foam)

First Communion Cake Pops | Plus Tips I Learned From the Process by ilovedoingallthingscrafty.com

Having the cake pop on the foam also made it easy to pick up and rotate the position of the pops as I decorated the top!

More tips... 

  • when melting your chocolate if you find the consistency too thick, add a tiny bit of shortening until you find it easy enough to coat the pops. (Thanks to my sister In-law Rozana for that one, made a huge difference!)
  • The other thing I did was melt my chocolate in microwave in a deep bowl.  Placed a smaller bowl underneath the chocolate bowl with boiling water, this kept the chocolate from solidifying once I started dipping the cold cake pops.


Hope these tips help future cake pop makers... if you have any more tips I would love to hear from you as well!

Well gotta run and get ready for an evening shift at the Hospital. Thanks for stopping by!

Ilda :)

Up next the Communion Cake!