A "Favorite" Party

Have a kid that has so many "favorite" things that you just can't decide on a party theme??  Well, we did!!  ;)  After going back & forth from one theme to the other. . . I decided to keep it "simple" and pick them all!!!  :)  It was a super-simple, small party, but the kids had a great time!!  I can add a few projects to my "tried it" board on Pinterest, because I actually made a few things that I've pinned!!  ;)

For starters, I made a super easy banner.  I found the idea HERE, but I didn't want to involve my sewing machine, so I simplified it!!  :)
  

Materials:  I used a comic book that had some torn pages (in other words, not a "valuable" one ;), I made some color copies from a few books, and I also included pictures that I had printed from home.   I also used green gardening jute/twine (Wal-Mart), tape & ribbon.

 I cut my pictures to the size I wanted them, then simply taped them over the twine.  I tied a knot in the twine, before & after each picture, so they wouldn't slide around.  Lastly, I tied a few strips of ribbon onto the twine!

 Super simple & quick!!  ;)  (Bummed I forgot to take a picture of them hanging - - they looked cute with balloons tied to each end!!  ;)


This is what the invitations said:
 

Seven

Come celebrate

Hunter’s 7^th birthday!

We’ll be doing lots of

Hunter’s favorite things

& he wants his favorite

 people to join him!

The party was only 2 hours long, but we managed to squeeze in a few fun things!!  :)

Hunter's favorite superhero is Spiderman, so we rented this bouncer!  We could have EASILY gotten away only having this as our entertainment, but of course, that would be too easy!!  ;)

Hunter wanted to paint, so I made a little "canvas" (out of foam core - cut 2 large pieces into 12!) for each kid, then used my Cricut to cut out their names from Contact Paper.  I stuck the names on, we painted over the letters & took the letters off once the paint dried!!  (This is my other son's picture, but again, thanks for the idea, Pinterest!! ;)



I made mini bow & arrows for each kid (one bow w/ 5 arrows each)!  They were kinda time consuming - - you have to soak the sticks in water (the longer the better. . . like overnight!), then cut little notches on each side - top & bottom - then while bending the sticks (carefully), tie (I used embroidery floss) the string on both ends!!  They were worth it, because they were actually quite awesome!!  They shot pretty far!!  We had a contest to see who could hit the target & the kids were so serious!!  ;)  Again. . . Pinterest!!!  ;)
 Our menu was full of Hunter's favorite foods: Hamburgers (and hot dogs), his favorite chips, his favorite veggies & dip, pasta salad, and his favorite drink - 7Up (mini Halloween cans). . . perfect for a 7th birthday!! ;)  I also had water bottles that I removed the labels from & wrapped a strip of cool duct tape around!!  (Pinterest!!;) 

Simple goodie bags - red lunch sacks!!

 I filled the bag with superhero candy (Dollar Tree), "Wallace & Gromit's modeling clay", sidewalk chalk, a few little trinkets & a coloring book that I made!!  :)

 Hunter LOVES clay & LOVES Wallace & Gromit, so we had to put the 2 together!!  ;)



A simple party that was lots of fun!!!!  :)  (I guess I should call it our "Pinterest Party"!!  ;)

Disney-Bound!

California, here we come!!  :)  We're going to Disneyland & 2 of my 4 kids had Mickey shirts that they wanted to wear!  Well. . . that left 2 without shirts, so . . . I had to get creative!!!  ;)  Both shirts were super simple (like all my projects ;) - but my son's was the easiest!!!

For his shirt, we used:
* a black shirt
* contact paper (I'm sure freezer paper would have worked MUCH better - but used what I had!! ;)
* bleach (and bleach pen if desired)
* spray bottle

 First, cut a Mickey shape (I used a pattern of course!) out of Contact Paper.  Remove paper backing & attach to shirt.  Make sure it's completely stuck to shirt (technical, I know! ;).

 Put bleach in spray bottle & spray shirt as desired!!!  Make sure to cover edges of contact paper  to leave the shape outline.  *** Like I said above - freezer paper would probably work much better, because the bleach went under the Contact Paper :( - - however, we still liked the end result!!

 We were not expecting the red when we sprayed bleach!!  It was kind of a cool surprise!!  (After it was washed & dried, it faded to a rust color - so neat!!)

  I used a bleach pen to trace the Mickey outline, to try & make it stand out a little more!  I left it on for about 10 minutes, then washed & dried the shirt.

  The final product!!  It's unique to say the least!!!  ;)  My husband said it looks like flames -  - could just be the firefighter in him!!!  ;)









For my daughter's shirt - - it looks simple (which it actually was), but was kinda time consuming!!  She loves zebra print, so we did a simple black Minnie head with a zebra bow!!

I used the same pattern as above - and cut a black head out of felt.  I sewed it onto the shirt, made a simple bow out of zebra fabric & hand sewed it on!!  Easy peasy!!  ;)

Bathroom Clock

I'm getting there!! Almost done with the bathroom - woo hoo!! :) I finished the clock that has taken me forever!! It was super simple - -once I figured out what I wanted to do with it!! I tried a few different paints, a few different lettering styles, and a few different ways to hang the clock!! I finally settled on Rust-Oleum's "Hammered" spray paint, white Contact paper letters, and hanging the clock with a tack!! :) Let me explain. . .

I found this frame

& being that it was only $1.41 - at none other than Fry's- I just HAD to buy it!! (I knew I'd find something to do with it!! :) Then, I found this clock:

a whopping $1.98 @ Target!!! (Not my color, but for the price, I knew I could make it my color!!) Sooooo. . . I decided to combine the two!! At our house, we have a little issue with taking long showers!! (Well, kind of one child in particular - - but I won't say HER name!! ;) Anywho - we're always putting a little clock on the counter so she can check the time & get out within 10 minutes!! I figured a big clock on the wall would be much better!!

For the clock: First, I carefully took the clear cover off the clock, (not as easy as I'd hoped!), removed the hands & then placed a piece of paper I cut, on top of the clock numbers. Then I sprayed it with Wal-Mart's red spray paint! :)


For the frame: after realizing that the frame was actually plastic, (boo!), I tried some paints I had, but they just wiped right off!! :( Then, I used some Rust-Oleum primer (don't know if I needed it, but used it anyway!), then followed with some Rust-Oleum "Hammered" spray paint! (Used this brand because my mom gave them to me to try & FREE is always nice!!) :) After the paint was dry, & got out the fabulous Cricut machine & cut some letters out of white Contact paper & stuck 'em on!! After trying for a while to screw the clock on, I tried to put one screw at the top & slide the clock over the screw!!

Well, I had to start the hole with a tack & then couldn't get the tack out!! .... hence the lovely tack-clock-hanger idea!!! :) What ever works - right!!??

Finished Wall Art - FINALLY!!

Ok, so I FINALLY got around to finishing my wall art!! I needed a big piece of wood to make the top piece, and finally realized I could use something I already had!! I had a piece of wood that had 3 peg-hooks - - - didn't need the hooks, so I just sawed them off!! :) Added a coat of paint & then repeated the same lettering process as I did in step 1 & hung them all up!!! I made some cute Contact Paper flowers with the Cricut to fill in the emptiness around the words. No, the words on the top board didn't get centered perfectly, but all-in-all, I'm quite happy with it!! :) (Not exactly the "shabby" PB look, but still cute!!) ;)

I think the Contact flowers added a lot!!!

Back To School!

Well, we don't officially go back to school for 9 more days (who's counting :), but we did a fun project today to get ready!! Since Madelyn's going into FOURTH grade this year, she needed a HUGE 3 inch binder!! Being that they're kinda pricey, (like $10!), we used one that we had & "jazzed" it up! ;) Using the Cricut and some white contact paper, we came up with this:

Cute, huh?? I guarantee no one else with have a cuter 3 in. binder!!! :)

Lovin The Cricut!!

I know that the Cricut has been out for a long time, and there are even bigger & fancier Cricuts than the one I have (well, I should say, that my mom has, since I'm using hers!!) - however... I just love it!! I just wanted to show you my spin on the whole vinyl lettering craze!! I've never priced it, so I have no clue how much it can run, but I guarantee that my way is cheaper!! ;) It's all about Contact paper!! You can do just about anything with it & it's pretty cheap! I have a big roll of black Contact paper that was given to me, and I'm thinking that it was purchased at Teaching Tools or Lakeshore (or some other teacher supply store)! I also purchased a roll of white from Target & spent around $4. Here are a few things I've done with the Cricut & Contact paper:

Made my own "vinyl lettering" in the kids' rooms! I made a sword stencil, freehand, and then cut 2 out of Contact paper!! The crowns were from a Cricut cartridge! I have little jewels on the crowns, but they're too small, so I'm going to replace them with ones you can actually see!! :) (And there will be more stuff added to the top of her plant shelf!) ;)