First Birthday, celebrating hippo style!

Hollie asked me to make a shirt/bib set for her daughter to wear on her first birthday. Her initial email was filled with ideas -- Hollie had done tons of searching herself before contacting me. She sent links to several designs or completed shirts that she liked, but none of them were exactly what she envisioned. I did a bit more sleuthing, and discovered one thing for sure -- there aren't a lot of cute hippo designs out there! At least not full body hippos that were positioned the right direction. After some design editing and merging, here's what I came up with:

to coordinate with this Sweet Safari party decor set:

The hippo applique design is actually this Behemoth design I found on etsy. I knew nothing about the seller nor the quality of the designs, but told Hollie I was willing to give it a try. I did so much design manipulation that I can't honestly give an opinion on the original digitizing, but the seller was very prompt in communication!
I removed several elements from the behemoth, added an applique hat and little embroidered bows that I plucked off of some LP designs in my stash, as well as this free balloon design. I think it turned out pretty cute! It certainly was a fun challenge!