SeleneByMarialyn

How lucky am I that my daughter’s best friend was the pipeline to one of my best friends?

My friends and I talk about this all the time—how hard it is to find adults you genuinely like and whose kids jive with yours. Because sometimes the kids get along fantastically and you’re oil and water with the other parent. Or vice versa.

Listen, I say that not to be mean. It happens. Expecting yourself to love every adult you interact with is unrealistic, and we like to keep ish real around here.

I say all of that because I recently had the honor of creating a birthday banner for my daughter’s best friend, Aster, for her 6th birthday. And by “had the honor,” I may mean I volunteered myself. Ha!

But when you love a kid like they’re part of your own family, it’s hard not to.

When You Jump the Gun…

I was, however, a little overzealous.

I blindly designed the first banner with nothing more than butterflies and rainbows as my direction.

And, oh boy, was I way off design-wise.

Do I love the original? Yes. Very much so. Watercolor flowers and fine-line butterflies are whimsical and beautiful. But after I finally saw the party plate, my design suddenly felt very…adult.

Like less six-year-old butterfly birthday party and more bride brunch.

But really, what did I expect from jumping the gun?

I have a tendency to do that. I jump in with both feet and figure things out as I go.

Luckily, I’m also super comfortable being wrong. Hahaha. Don’t tell my husband I said that.

Redesign Time

Every banner I paint starts in Canva. It gives me a place to map out the design before I ever put paint to paper, so back to Canva I went for a complete redesign.

And wouldn’t you know it? It took me less than 30 minutes to come up with the final look.

Ironically, I struggled much more with the original design. It just never felt right.

I don’t know exactly how to describe that feeling, but I think most creatives know what I mean. Sometimes you can stare at something you’ve made and there isn’t technically anything wrong with it…but something is off.

Once I had the party plate in front of me, everything clicked.

Party Plate To The Rescue 

The plate ended up being the perfect inspiration. I was able to pull similar colors, shapes, and elements from Canva and use them to create a banner that felt cohesive with the rest of the party decor.

And, of course, I had to sneak in a little Easter egg just for Aster.

She had originally told her mom she wanted a cat party. Then, as all kids do, she proceeded to change her mind and give her mama a little party-planning whiplash.

So obviously there had to be a cat on the banner.

A tiny tribute to the ever-changing minds of our beloved littles.

Much More Aster

I absolutely love how the final banner turned out.

It feels so much more Aster and significantly less bride brunch.

Now I can’t wait to hear what Aster thinks when she sees it.

I’m grateful I get to gift  Aster a little bit of birthday joy.

And really, that might be my favorite part of making things in the first place.