Archive for the ‘Cricut’ Category

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.

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!
 

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