Archive for the ‘Crafts’ Category

Spring Into Brunch House Party

Posted on March 31st, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

My Spring Into Brunch House Party was a hit! Sponsored by Velveeta & Maxwell House coffee, the party included great coffee and yummy food.

Sponsor food recipes

Velveeta Cheesy Bacon Hash Brown Bake

Maxwell House Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Velveeta Peanut Butter Cheese Fudge & Chocolate Cheese Fudge

Decorations were kept simple and budget-friendly with Spring paper goods from Dollar Tree.

I set out crayons and an Easter coloring book to occupy the kids during breakfast.

Party Girls!

An easy spring craft we did after breakfast.

Favors for the kids were Wilton disposable icing bags filled with cheese crackers & tied with green ribbons - looks like carrots! I found this cute idea somewhere online, but I lost the link, so thank you to the creative gal that came up with this!

Adult favors were Easter tin buckets from Dollar Tree, a can of Maxwell House coffee and Velveeta spatula, recipes and coupons.

We all had a fun time just hanging out and eating yummy food!

Pink & Brown Baby Shower

Posted on March 21st, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

Recently I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for my friend Tamara. Since the baby is a girl, we chose a pink and brown color scheme.

The invitation:

The day of the shower brought lovely weather and we were able to have the party on one of the host's lanai. Since the buffet was so pretty and the outdoors were all around, we kept decorations to a minimum.

One the wall of the lanai we strung a pink clothesline held by 2 sequined butterflies. On the clothesline we used pink clothespins to hang an assortment of baby outfits, which were later given to the mother-to-be as a gift (forgot to take picture).

The buffet table was divided into savory foods, beverages & the candy and dessert buffet.

The savory menu included cheese & crackers, vegetables and dip, fruit and dip and chips & salsa.

In keeping with the color scheme, all of the candy and desserts were picked in pink or brown.

Here is pink cotton candy in customized cups. I pleated and glued pink crepe streamers to Wilton nut cups. Around the middle I glued a strip of scrapbook paper. The tags are brown cardstock circles with Martha Stewart "It's A Girl" transfers.

Hershey Bars wrapped in scrapbook paper:

An assortment of yummy candy:

These little favor boxes were used for guests to hold candy. They were purchased plain 12/$1 at Dollar Tree. They are decorated with ribbons and plastic baby carriages charms.

The water bottles were decorated with scrapbook paper, ribbon and plastic pacifier charms.

One of my favorite drinks is Sonic's Diet Cherry Limeade. I tried to recreate this with Sprite Zero, maraschino cherry flavoring (found in ice cream topping aisle of the grocery store), lime juice and lime slices for color. We also had a yummy punch made with Sprite, pineapple juice and pink sherbet.

Chinet cups were rimmed with lime juice and pink sanding sugar.

We played 3 games at the shower. One was the traditional "How Big is Mother's Belly." A second game played was "The Price Is Right."

Guests had to guess the price of 8 baby items. The guest with the most correct won a prize and all of the baby items were given to the Mother-To-Be.

The third game was "Bun In The Oven." I made felt dresses with a small slit cut into the back which allowed a cotton ball to be inserted into the dress (looks like a baby bump!). Guests were asked to take one dress. When everyone had a dress, they pulled out the cotton ball looking for the "bun" (made from my daughter's playdough and painted with white icing and glitter). The person who found the bun won a prize.

These favors were these little paper Mary Janes (find pattern here) filled with Dove chocolate eggs. The extra shoes were filled with raffia grass and flowers and used as decorations on the buffet table.

Here is the Mother-To-Be opening her gifts:

It was a wonderful shower spent with good friends!

Spring Topiary

Posted on March 17th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

I stumbled upon these little beauties while surfing the web today. I want to incorporate a craft into the Mom's Spring Into Brunch House Party I am hosting next week and these are going to be just perfect!

You can find complete instructions over at Stitched Together With Love. They seem pretty easy to make and the estimated cost for each is under $1.50! Cute AND budget-friendly...LOVE IT!

Movie Party ~ Decorations & Party Time!

Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

For my son's 10th birthday, we had a movie party. To keep costs down, the party was held at our house, the decorations were kept simple and I used lots of coupons to buy the food and goodies.

The front door was decorated with C7 Christmas lights to resemble a movie theater and a sign I made using 1/2 a foam board from Dollar Tree, scrap cardstock, paint & ribbon from my craft stash & the Cricut die-cut machine. The only cost was $1.07 for the foam board.

I painted a scalloped border with red craft paint and used Cricut cartridge Cuttin' Up for lettering and Mickey & Friends for the filmstrips.

Borrowed camp chairs made for the perfect theater seating - they were comfy, portable & each had their own cup holder.

My son cut a plastic tablecloth in half and hung it on either side of the TV to look like a theater.

The kitchen table became the theater's concession stand.

The other half of the foam board was used for the concession sign (Cricut Cuttin' Up cartridge lettering). The kids had a ball ordering all of the different foods.

The local GFS Supermarket has tons of empty boxes they let you take. Nathan & I found the right shaped boxes for the Popcorn Concession and Candy Counter.

I used a utility knife to cut "windows" from the four sides. Here is the Popcorn Concession box before:

I spray painted the box grey, taped clear cellophane to the cut-outs, leaving the back window open. I glued extra popcorn bags (from Michael's) to the front, added lettering and striped paper to the bottom. The plastic popcorn containers were 2/$1 from Dollar Tree.

The candy concession stand was made the same way as the popcorn, but I hot glued a cardboard shelf to the middle of the box.

The candy box was spray painted a glossy black and placed on an empty box wrapped in extra black tablecloth. The clear cellophane gave the appearance of glass and kept the boys from grabbing the candy. The only cost for the boxes was $1.07 for a roll of clear cellophane at Dollar Tree and $2.14 for 2 cans of spray paint from WalMart.

More party treats were placed on the desk in the kitchen. To get that fresh popped tasty popcorn, I purchased a few bags from the Publix deli.

Instead of cake, I served popcorn cupcakes. These were the hit of the party and so easy to make. The popcorn is actually mini marshmallows with the tops cut into an "X" with kitchen scissors. The frosting holds the marshmallows in place. A little Wilton yellow color spray gives the look of butter.

The holders are Wilton large nut cups colored with a red Sharpie and a popcorn label cut from extra popcorn bags.

The food was served in shirt-sized gift boxes. The boxes became lap trays for the kids to hold their food.

The happy movie watchers.

There wasn't much fancy about this party, but the kids had a great time! You can see the Movie Party invitations here and the favors here.

Dr. Seuss Hats

Posted on March 2nd, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, I made some Cat in the Hat-style hats for my daughter's kindergarten class.

Materials Needed:

red poster board
white poster board
2 x 9" white paper plates
scissors, stapler, glue gun

Cut red poster board in half, set aside. Put 2 plates together, fold in half & cut out center along "bumpy" edge leaving just a "bumpy" brim.

2. Separate plates. Roll 1/2 sheet red poster board into a cylinder & place cylinder through center of 1 plate. Let cylinder expand to fit the center of the plate and staple poster board at top and bottom. Cut several slits at bottom of poster board, fold slits upward and glue to the bottom of the paper plate. Glue the 2nd paper plate to the underside of the 1st plate to hide the slits (this will give you a white brim on top & bottom).

Here is the hat before stripes are added:

3. Cut 2 x 2" strips from the white poster board & glue to red poster board.

In just a few minutes you have a fun Cat in the Hat - hat!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Fairy Party ~ Welcome to Emma’s Pixie Hollow!

Posted on February 16th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

After days of rain, the day of the party brought cloudy skies, slightly chilly weather and a super muddy backyard. The party that was supposed to be outdoors was brought inside. Seventeen excited fairies and some of their parents made for quite a cramped, yet cozy party.

As each guest arrived, they were asked to pick a Tinkerbell foam puzzle piece out of a bag. I found the foam puzzles at Dollar Tree and was able to color-coordinate the pieces to match the fairy tutus & wings. This made it easy to split the girls into 3 different groups for crafts.

A blue puzzle piece meant your talent was a Water Fairy with a blue ensemble, a pink puzzle piece meant your talent was a Garden Fairy with a pink ensemble and purple meant your talent was Fast-Flying.

After the girls were dressed, they were taken to the "Pretty Pixie Salon." Here the grandmothers did nails, light glittery make-up, press-on earrings & glittery hair spray. Each girl also received a fairy crown. The crowns were easy to make with decorative wire garland from Dollar Tree formed into a crown and lots of curling ribbon tied to the back.

Once the girls were made-up, they had their pictures taken in the "Fairy Forest." We included a picture of each girl with the thank you notes.

While waiting to visit the Pretty Pixie Salon or after the photo, they decorated colorful handle bags with pictures of Tinkerbell, crayons, markers & stickers. The girls used the bags throughout the party to collect their crafts and treasures.

To be official fairies, everyone had to recite the Fairy Pledge and spin 3 times while saying "I believe in fairies!"

Each fairy received a magical flower fairy wand. The wands were made with wooden dowels from the Walmart craft section painted gold. I hot glued ribbon, tulle, a flower and jingle bell to the top of the dowel.

Following the Fairy Ceremony, the fairies were divided into 3 groups according to their talent (and color wings!). Since my daughter absolutely loves do do crafts, I created 3 different craft stations for groups rotate through.

Station #1 - Make Pixie Dust

Each fairy was given a plastic container to mix her very own pixie dust. The lidded containers were purchased 6/$1 at Dollar Tree and I hot glued a flower and leaf to the lid for decoration. The Pixie Dust ingredients included colored sand, iridescent glitter and special Tinkerbell confetti found only at the Disney theme parks.

Since this station didn't take very long, the girls listened to a Tinkerbell story until it was time to rotate.

Station #2 - Fairy Gardens

Before the party I glued small bamboo skewers into the bottom of unpainted wooden drawer knobs (from craft store). The knobs were painted red with white polka dots to resemble mushrooms and the lids of the baby food jars were also painted red. Directions for the mini terrariums can be found here.

Station #3 - Fairy Dolls

At this craft stop the girls assembled fairy dolls from clothespins. Instead of using wax paper wings, we used tie-dyed small coffee filters (color coffee filters with markers, lightly spray with water & let dry). All of the components were cut & painted prior to the party, so the girls just had to put them together.

After crafts, it was time for a Fairy Picnic. The menu consisted of Fairy Juice (Sprite mixed with a little maraschino cherry syrup) and Fairy Salad (a last-minute mix of mini goldfish crackers, mini colored marshmallows and Tinkerbell fruit snacks). Believe it or not, the Fairy Salad was a huge hit!

Following snacks we sang "Happy Birthday" and gave out cake & ice cream. Instead of 1 large cake, I made small individual flower cakes for each guest. Each little cake had a Tinkerbell topper (made by Wilton & purchased at Michaels) and sat on a plastic plate (Dollar Tree) that I had hot glued silk flower petals to the bottom.

The last activity for the party was "Tinkerbell's Treasure Hunt." The girls were each given a list of items to find in the backyard. The items included 7 colored Easter eggs, a bottle of fairy kisses (miniature bottle of bubbles from Dollar Tree wedding section with a fairy sticker & bow) and a magical bird (feather bird from craft store).

The treasures inside the eggs included tiny glittered sea shells, plastic bird eggs, colorful feathers, Tinkerbell candy, Tinkerbell stickers, a blue moonstone (glass decorative pebble) and butterfly hair clips.

Each fairy left with her wings, tutu, crown, wand, crafts and treasures. Emma also handed out star lollipops that I made from pink candy melts and colorful sprinkles.

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time! Most importantly, my daughter said it was her favorite party ever!

See more Fairy Party posts - invitations and decorations.

Fairy Party ~ Decorations

Posted on February 11th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

Emma celebrated her 6th birthday with a fairy party. Here is Emma posing at the front door:

The tissue flowers lining the walkway are from Oriental Trading Company. The garland framing the door was easy to make with tulle, pink lights & decorations from Dollar Tree. All of the signs were made using the Cricut Tinkerbell cartridge.
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Wings and tutus all lined up and waiting for the fairies to arrive. The outfits were ordered from Halo Heaven - great quality & customer service with low prices.
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Martha pompoms and tissue flowers from OTC hung from the ceiling. The table was set up for the girls to decorate handle bags.

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The Pixie Dust station where the girls could mix up their very own fairy dust. The pixie dust ingredients were colored sand, Tinkerbell glitter and iridescent crystal glitter. The little plastic containers were from Dollar Tree (6/$1) and I hot glued a flower to the lid.

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The Fairy Garden station where the girls made little terrariums using recycled baby food jars. Get instructions here.

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Slider doors decorated with paper butterflies and a custom banner.
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More Martha pompoms.
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Glittery Tinkerbell tied to children's folding chairs (rented from local party supplier).
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The pictures just don't do justice to the centerpieces my mom made - they were so glittery & sparkly!

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To keep things fairy-sized, each place setting had a small petal placemat and mini tea set from Home Goods. I had tasting spoons, but they just weren't practical for the girls to eat with, so I opted for the regular-sized party spoons.

More fairy party pictures tomorrow!

Fairy Party ~ Invitations

Posted on January 10th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

I really wanted the invitations to Emma's Fairy Party to be fun and whimsical. When I saw Whimsy Love's Tiny Party envelopes, I was completely inspired!

Since the smallest envelope would determine the size of the invitation, as well as the sizes of the larger envelopes, my first step was to find tiny envelopes. I lucked out in the Martha Stewart craft aisle at Michaels.

The smallest envelopes measure approximately 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches and are just too cute! To get the size just right, I made the rest of envelopes using clearanced scrapbook paper from Michaels and the Cricut Plantin School Book cartridge. I alternated plain & patterned cardstock and increased each envelope size by 1 inch.

From there, I created a tiny invitation in Word by printing in the smallest font size possible (font is A770-Roman) and printed directly on my cardstock.

I cut out the invitations & stamped a flower background using white pearlized ink. The purple scallop is cut using the Cricut A Child's Year cartridge and the Tink silhouette was punched from white glitter paper (punch purchased at Walt Disney World). The corners of the invitations were punched with a corner rounder & lightly inked in purple.

Since everyone knows just how tiny fairies write, I included plastic magnifying glasses tied with ribbon in each invitation. The magnifying glasses were found in the party section of Dollar Tree.

The invitation reads:

Please join us in Pixie Hollow

For a Fairy Celebration

In honor of Emma's 6th Birthday!

Saturday, October 17th

2 o'clock in the afternoon

(address)

Tinkerbell awaits your reply: (phone number)

Wear your fairy best, a leotard will do.

Your fairy wings & tutus will be given to you!

Each invitation was sealed with a Tinkerbell sticker and hand-delivered. I had so many mothers tell me how much the girls giggled as they opened one envelope only to find a smaller envelope inside - just the reaction I hoped for!

Fairy Party ~ Placemats

Posted on September 28th, 2009 by Brenda | Comments Off

My Mom & I have been working like mad trying to get everything done for Emma's Fairy Birthday Party. Even though the party isn't for a few more weeks, I have so much going on in October that I really just wanted to at least have the fairy party prep complete.

I absolutely fell in love with these artificial grass & flower placemats from Butterfly Craze. The $6.99 price tag? I didn't love so much!

So, I then considered astro turf placemats. Astro Turf is reasonably priced, available at Home Depot and I could make 20 placemats for under $5.00 (you can find a tutorial here for making them). While budget friendly, the astro turf just didn't have the look I wanted.

Then I remembered these pretty petal placemats I saw from Party Wishes...

and Design Dazzle...

I searched for these online & locally, but turned up zilch. So, I thought, "I can make these!" I cut out the size placemat I wanted from cardboard gift boxes I had, purchased 4 bags of pink rose petals from the local Dollar Tree & got out my trusty hot glue gun.

Starting at the bottom of the placemat, I ran a single line of hot glue horizontally across the cardboard. Then, I just put down petals one by one, overlapping slightly. I continued this method until the entire cardboard was covered.

I'm thrilled with the way they turned out! Would I like the grass placemats instead? Ofcourse! But $5.00 for 20 placemats for a 6 year old's party makes so much more sense to me (& my wallet!) than $140! And besides, what would I do with all those grass placemats after the party?