Octopus Birthday Crown {free pattern}

Baby Brother turned one a couple weeks ago (and yes, he's totally still a baby). I still can't believe it. We marked his big day with a simple, low-key celebration of his first year in the big, wide world. A trip to the zoo, pancakes, and all the cheese and blueberries his little heart desired. He also got a special birthday crown (similar to the dinosaur crown I made for Big Brother's birthday) but this time the theme was... octopuses! Octopi? No. We're going with octopuses.

It was the first thing my tired brain thought of that I could make with the felt colors I had on hand. And so and octopus crown it was.

Here's how it went down: at 10pm on Birth Eve (as per usual) I sit down and I say to myself "what is the most complicated animal I could pick with the most small parts to have to sew down?" Answer = octopus. Duh. That's called a "midnight win," right there. And so I spent the night sewing down 14 little octopus legs. 14. Because my octopuses have seven legs each. Double win.

But really I love doing this kind of crown because they are pretty easy to make and the designs are SO flexible. You can really make any kind of crown you can imagine (or at least cut out of felt).

Here's all you need to make your own octopus birthday crown:

• 1/4 yard light blue felt (I like to buy from the bolt for the base of the crown so it can reach all the way around the head. If you don't have access to this you can just sew two felt sheets together to get a long enough piece.)
• 1 sheet dark blue felt
• 1 sheet felt
• 1 sheet red felt
• 1 sheet gray felt
• 1 sheet green felt
• thread (I used light blue on the bobbin the whole time so it would blend with the back of the crown and mostly because I was too lazy to change it. I switched the top thread to match whatever piece I was sewing so I used dark blue, red, yellow, gray, and green.)
• octopus pattern - print it HERE!

It's pretty simple to put together. Just start by laying out the light blue base, then build on that one layer at a time sewing down each layer as you go. So first I put on the dark blue, then the yellow circle, then the red number. It was probably 11:00 by the time I actually started sewing, which is about two hours beyond my "coherent thought limit." So it never crossed my mind to take pictures of the steps. Sorry! If you want a little more direction you can check out how I did my dinosaur crown since it's basically the same steps. After all the layers are sewn in place you can sew the ends of the base together. I like to measure my little fella's head to make sure my crown ends up the right size. Then I add 1" to the length so I can overlap the ends 1" when I sew them together. Boom. Done. Put it on and sing Happy Birthday or the Hallelujah chorus. You can base this decision on what hour of night it is when you finish. It's also acceptable to just cry happy sleepy tears.

Oh, and did I mention he turned ONE? So, naturally, the birthday crown spent most of it's big day doing this:

At this point I'm pretty sure he didn't notice he had it on. Because it's still on.

Speaking of the birthday boy... here are a few more pics from his big day.

"I'll take that pancake candle, please."

Big Brother helping out because "Him too little. Him not know how-ta do it."

And a birthday nap in the cozy coupe. Complete with sleepy, thumb-sucking yawn. Be still my heart.

Anyone else celebrating a summer birthday? What is your favorite birthday tradition for your kids?