Rainbow Fairy Birthday Party

For my daughters 5th birthday, she wanted to have a rainbow fairy party. So, off to Pinterest I went for inspiration! Alyssa and I made the invitations (with help from my friend Lisa, who cut all the fairies and grass with her Silhouette). Alyssa glued the rainbow part around the edges of all of them.

In my research, I found an AMAZING website. http://www.haloheaven.com/, where I found fairy outfits in every color of the rainbow. So, I bought 7 outfits (for less than $50!!), that would also serve as party favors. This was the starting point for everything to come.

I also found some really cute ideas for ‘Pixie Dust’ party favors all over Pinterest. As much as I wanted to make the beautiful glass jar ones, I did realize that this was a party for 4-5 year olds. Even as a keepsake, glitter in a glass jar isn’t such a great idea. I ended up finding little plastic bottle necklaces that you would usually put colored sand in (4 for $1!) and I put my own ‘rainbow’ twist to the ‘Pixie Dust’ idea.
I filled the bottles with super sparkly and matching colored glitter, hot glued the tops on (yes…be sure to glue the tops on! To a 5 year old, what do you think they want to do with pixie dust?!) and decorated them a bit with flowers and ribbon.

Now the girls outfits were ready!

She also wanted to invite some boys, so I had to decide how to dress them up. Elves? Princes? Wizards? She decided on princes. I ordered some colored crowns from Halo Heaven, but wanted capes in matching colors too, so I made capes from old tee-shirts (super easy! See tutorial on my Party Ideas Pinterest Board link below). Since the girls had so many accessories, I needed one more thing for the boys and decided on scepters. The thing was, I couldn’t find any for less than $7 a piece (I needed 4). I also couldn’t find any ideas for making them that I liked.
One day, while shopping, I saw these colorful Poof balls (like Nerf balls) and ‘BAM’, I knew how I would make the Scepters!

Materials Needed:

Paper towel tubes
Silver metallic paint
Silver metallic cardstock
Poof or Nerf balls
Hot glue
Exacto knife
Large Brads
Stickles or gems

First, I painted paper towel tubes with metallic silver paint.

Then I traced the tube end onto the Poof ball and cut it a little with an exacto knife. This is to slide the tube onto the ball a bit. I was hoping to make them more sturdy, being for 4-5 year old boys! I knew they wouldn’t last long, but hoping they would at least last through the party…

I then hot glued the ball to the end of the tubes, used metallic silver paper to make the decorative top. Stuck and glued a large brad to the top (this also helped keep the paper stuck to the top), and decorated with Stickles (for the gem stone look)













Now it was PARTY TIME!

I made a rainbow streamer door and a rainbow tissue paper ball (no picture) for decorations. As well as lots of balloons in all the colors of the rainbow! I also had empty gift bags that matched the outfits for a surprise near the end of the party.







When the kids showed up, they picked a colored bead out of a jar. The color of the bead would be the color fairy or prince outfit they would get. (to minimize the fighting over colors). Thankfully parents stayed to help get them dressed.






Their next stop was face painting. While they waited, they could decorate their gift bags with foam stickers. (they had no idea why they had empty bags or why they needed to decorate them, lol!)

Once everyone was all fancied up, we played Pin the Wings on the Fairy.
I printed out a fairy picture and made the wings from colored card stock. (their wings matched their outfits, so we didn’t have to write names on the wings)

We attempted to get a group picture! Haha

Then headed outside to the ‘Treasure Hunt!’ I had purchased a ton of little things; necklaces, bubbles, pencils…the usual party favor stuff, and threw/hid them all over the back yard. It was so fun watching all the colorful little fairies and princes running all around.





After all the excitement of the treasure hunt, it was time for cupcakes and the birthday song.

I also made a very yummy rainbow slushie made from popsicles, from this site: http://wendyinflorida.blogspot.com/2011/03/rainbow-slush.html
I forgot to take a picture!

It was very popular! The kids loved it!

We ended the party with the opening of presents and let the kids play for a bit.

It was a great party and so different from all the Pump It Up, Jump Man Jump, and Chuckie Cheese parties that are so popular these days. (and for good reason!!!). But, I did spend a lot less (with ALL the stuff I bought) then I have in the past, for her last 2 birthday parties.

All of the kids had a blast and loved their costumes! The parents also said it was a lot of fun. My biggest compliment was from the sweetest little 4 year old boy you will ever meet…he asked his Mommy if he could have his birthday party at Alyssa’s Mommy’s house. <3

It was a lot of work, but so worth it. I love doing things like this. I wish I could be a professional kid party planner! haha

I had a lot of requests to post everything on my blog. I hope I have captured everything, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask away.

Also, here's my party idea board if you need more than you found here: http://pinterest.com/tawn85/birthday-party-ideas/

Thanks for stopping by!

Dr Suess Diaper Cake

So...I know I haven't posted in forever. But, thought this was Blog worthy.

I currently know 20+ people that are pregnant or recently had their babies! (including me) What is in the water!?  

Thankfully only a handful of them are close friends of mine because I would go broke making diaper cakes. Between April and October of this year, I will have made 5 diaper cakes. This one is for a friend of mine whose Sister in Law is decorating her nursery in Dr Seuss. Too cute!! 

So, of course...I just had to make a Cat in the Hat hat diaper cake! The top represents Thing 1 and Thing 2's hair. I thought it turned out pretty darn cute! 

The tiers are wrapped in cloth diapers and the red ribbon is covering where the tiers are stacked, for a cleaner look for the hat. But there really are around 100 diapers in there...

Happy New Year!!

I knew I would be a terrible Blogger...not posting anything since August! Not that I have many followers anyway. :-)

But, since August I have packed, moved to a new home across town, unpacked, went to a funeral (for my grandmother), survived the holidays and made a TON of crafty things and Christmas gifts including:

- Participating in a craft fair, selling homemade greeting cards. (so, I had to make a bunch, here's just a couple cute ones I sold)

- Decorated 23 puzzle pieces for a puzzle swap (can't post a picture yet)

- 50+ Christmas Cards

I make about 50 of the same cards for family and friends

- Four 12x12 calendars for my Mom, Dad, Sister and me

- Four 12x12 scrapbook pages that I give to my Mom, sister, MIL (and me) each year, for frames I gave to them 3 years ago. I also gave an album the second year for them to put the page from the year before in each time.

- Five card kits that included 6 cards and a holder. (only took pictures of 3 of them)

- Four book marks with a cover (forgot to take a picture!)

- Help my daughter paint and decorate 11 picture frames for family, friends and teachers

- 14 wine charms, 8 for me and 6 for a friend

- Made sugar cookies with my sweet daughter and gingerbread houses with friends
 

Made gingerbread houses with friend Janice and her Mom

So, I guess there's no wonder I didn't keep up on my Blog!

Now, I am finally able to scrapbook again and do things for me! I only have about 6 more LO's to do to finish my 2010 album and then I can start on 2011! Last weekend I did a great page, that I had been wanting to scraplift for over a year!

Hopefully I will update this more often this year, so my posts are insanely long like this one. 
Happy crafting!

What I have been up to this week....

This has been a very eventful week in my scrapbook life.

It was the last week for Alyssa in her 'Tigers' preschool class. She will be a 'Panda' on Monday. So, I made her 4 Tiger teachers 'goodbye/thank you' gifts. I made clipboards with matching cards. This was my very first attempt at this sort of project, but they turned out alright. Alyssa was SO excited to hand them to her teachers this morning and they loved them.

Front of the clipboards with matching cards

I used the Grade School Stack from DCWV to cover the clipboards. I used spray adhesive to glue the paper to the clipboard and then Mod Podged them to seal it. I was very worried that I had ruined them at that point, because the paper bubbled up. They dried fine, but I think I might use less Mod Podge, or look for a paper specific kind next time.
(One thing I learned and regret, is that I put cute ribbon across the front of 2 of the clipboards, thinking it looked nice...not thinking about the fact that it makes the clipboard unusable!)

Close up of one of the clipboards and card

Close up of the back with Miss Sarah's name

Back of the clipboards with Teachers names

Close up of the ribbon detail

 
I also decided to spread the word at work this week, that I would start selling my cards and taking requests.
I got 5 requests this week! First was for 3 thank you cards from another Mother, for her child's teachers. I made her personalized gift card holder cards, with the teachers initials.

All three cards, with the teachers Initials

 

 

 

Close up of Miss Mary's card

Close up with card holder pulled out

I used BG Eva and used my Cricut to cut the letters. Then I used foam tape on 3 sides for the pocket to hold the gift card. I just folded a colored piece of cardstock to slip in and hold the gift card and attached ribbon to it, so they could pull it out.


The second request was for a congratulations card with a frog on it.
This was the first time I made a card without stamps or using my Cricut. I drew all the pieces and cut everything out by hand. I seriously LOVE this card!

I used a fuzzy ribbon for the cattails and added Stickle to the letters, water and tadpoles for some 'bling'

That was more than enough to keep me busy this week, having a full time job and a 3 year old! I stayed up late all week, but loved doing them!

My next 2 orders are for a card with a rooster and another with a flamingo. I plan to do those this weekend, if I find time. I also need to start packing...since we are moving sometime before the end of October!

The last order I received this week was for 3 sets of 6 cards, for Christmas gifts, like this one I made a couple weeks ago as my submission for the Crop Chocolate Focus Group.

Front of the Card holder

 

 

Card holder open with Cards on one side and envelopes on the other

(Sorry for the sideways picture!)

 

 

Cards - I will make 6 in future sets (this was an example to show customers)

 I got the tutorial for the card holder and pockets here: http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/note-card-holder-tutorial.html
 
I am doing a bunch for myself as Christmas gifts, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get done. Plus, I have a lot of time to do them. I am attending a Crop Camp for 3 days in October, so I plan to get about 9 card sets done, along with four 2012 calendars for family members and maybe my Christmas cards, all during that retreat. (Um....yeah, I better be organized and prepared, huh?)

I am so glad I decided to start this little card making business on the side! Crazy for me to decide to do it the week I was making 4 teacher gifts and in the middle of us getting approved for our new house and moving soon...but hey...I am up for the challenge!

Thanks again for stopping by!
Tawn

Confectioners Challenge #1

As part of a Focus Group for Crop Chocolate.com, we will be presented a Challenge once a month. This month was to take inspiration from this collage and create whatever came to mind (using mostly Crop Chocolate items).

The first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful black and white butterflies that reminded me of my favorite BG line - Ambrosia. So, I created a card:

I will be scrapping this weekend and making gifts and cards for my Alyssa's day care teachers...so I will have more fun stuff to post tomorrow or Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hot August Nights - 50's dress up!

Hello and Happy Friday!

Today was 50's dress up day at Alyssa's school, in celebration of Hot August Nights.
(every year, Reno hosts a very fun event with cars from the 50's and 60's).

This year, a friend of mine and I decided to be ambitious and make Poodle Skirts for our daughters. 
We found directions on this awesome blog: http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/10/last-minute-costume-easy-poodle-skirt.html

So, I took a 36x36 piece of bright pink felt and cut it in a circle. I also cut a smaller circle in the middle for the waist. The blog has a template for the Poodle, which I cut out of white felt.

I glued the Poodle (and her rhinestone collar and leash) on with Tacky Glue and added cotton balls to give the Poodle some dimension. (I am not counting on the cotton to be intact by the end of the day, with a 3 year old, but it was a cute idea)

I cut a slit in the fabric (to make it a wrap around) and used iron on velcro to close it and make it adjustable (so she can wear it again next year and for dress up) - Sorry, no picture of the velcro. (I am still learning when to take pictures for my blog!)

I ended up having enough fabric to make 2 skirts...so I made one for one of Alyssa's friends too!
(another picture we didn't get was one of them together, because we didn't get to school at the same time this morning. Maybe we will have some luck this afternoon and I can update my blog?)

...and here's a picture of Alyssa and my friends daughter Izzi in her purple Poodle Skirt!

It sure was fun venturing out of my normal paper projects! maybe I will think about doing it more often!

Thanks for stopping by. I am off to go camping this weekend! But, next weekend I will be at a crop, so I hope to get a lot done and have something to share.