Apr 30, 2011

Purr-fect Birthday Party Banner

Here's the banner I used for the kitty birthday party.

Apr 29, 2011

Purr-fect Birthday Party

For my daughter's 2nd birthday party I planned a kitty party. She just loves cats!For food, I got Chex Mix (Meow Mix)......and Swedish fish. I also had just a veggie and fruit platter. I'm just kicking myself because I had such a hard time coming up with good food ideas...until the day before the party! While I was at the store I started thinking of all the things I could have done but didn't have time for anymore. Making individual fruit pizzas with a cat face cookie cutter, creating a cat out of cut up veggies, popcorn ball cat faces! I could have done so much!The first thing we did when the kids arrived was make collars out of Fruit Loops. The "kitties" had to put a name tag on their collar and decide what they wanted their cat name to be. After we made those, I gathered the kids in a circle and we took turns practicing our meowing. I asked them all what a happy, sad, mad, tired cat would sound like and they had to meow the way a cat would if it were feeling those emotions.After all that meowing I figured our kitties throats would be sore and they might need a drink!We played Thirsty Cat and had a race to see who could drink all the water out of their bowl the fastest!Then we played Yarn Toss! We sat in a circle again and passed around a ball of yarn while some music was playing. Whoever was holding the yarn when the music stopped won a prize!These were our prizes! I used a stiff felt to make them so I think they were a little more difficult to make than if I had just used a regular felt but I think they kept their shape much better.Here's the template that I found. I have to say, the yarn game didn't work that well with younger kids. They had too much fun unravelling the yarn instead of passing it to the next person!After everyone won a prize, I discovered a mouse in the kitchen! Then, we all looked outside and what did we see?? The whole backyard was overrun with mice! Our kitties rallied together to form a mouse hunting party and ran outside. They searched high and low and found every single one!I made the mice with Easter eggs, yarn for the tails, stiff felt for the ears, 7mm googly eyes, and 1/4" black pompoms. I just hot-glued everything on. I think they turned out really cute!After the mouse hunt, we went back inside for cupcakes and presents. I made these fondant cutouts for half of the cupcakes......and just used sprinkles to decorate the other half.I made a mini cake for my daughter with a larger cutout to put on top of it. I'm still learning how to work with my Cricut Cake and fondant. It's a work in progress!I don't think she minded though. She didn't care what it looked like, just what it tasted like!

Apr 24, 2011

Mini Banner

I just love making banners! (I don't know if that was apparent...)Here's a mini banner I made for my husband. That's my 5 year old's hand in the picture.

Apr 19, 2011

Happy Easter Banner



Could these chicks be any cuter?

Apr 15, 2011

Chick Day Playgroup

My kids just love chicks! My 2 year old doesn't say too much, but she says "chick" and "peep" if that is any indication. So, it was about time that we did something for playgroup to spread the love!We started things off with the "Chicken Dance." It was a great version of the song and the kids loved it! Heck, I loved it, too! It was "Hear Me Sing, Watch Me Dance" performed by Mar.The song and dance got everyones attention, so while they were listening we quickly herded them over the the table to do the craft for the day. Pom-pom chicks in a paper bag nest! All you do is scrunch the sides of the paper bag down, glue some twigs on it, and then glue the chicks inside. The chicks are as easy to make as they look. A triangle of orange felt and two googly eyes on a 2" pom-pom.Then, while the glue dried, we read a couple of our favorite chick stories and sang some songs. The two songs that I found were: Five and five eggs (Hold up hands)That makes ten Sitting on top is mother hen (Fold one hand over the other) Crackle crackle crackle (Clap hands three times) What do I see (Fingers around eyes) Ten fluffy chickens (Hold up ten fingers) As yellow as can be! Said the first little chick with a wiggly little squirm, "I wish I could find A fat little worm." Said the second little chick, with an odd little shrug, "I wish I could find A fat little bug." Said the third little chick, With a sharp little squeal, "I wish I could find Some nice corn meal." Said the fourth little chick with a sigh of grief, "I wish I could find A little green leaf." Said the fifth little chick, With a faint little moan, "I wish I could find A wee gravel stone." "See here,” said mother hen, In a little garden patch, "If you want any breakfast, Just come here and scratch!" After that, we moved back over to the table to help our chicks scratch for their food! I made cupcakes with chocolate icing and green coconut for our grass.Then, the kids put sprinkles on their cupcakes and helped their chicks scratch for food in the grass! We ended things with a coloring page of a chick hatching out of an egg. All in all, a good day!

Apr 11, 2011

St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt

My son talked for weeks about wanting to do a "clover hunt" on St. Patrick's Day. (I'm pretty sure it had something to do with last year's playgroup.)So, when he got home from school, there was a clue waiting for him right by the coat closet. He ran all over the house finding clue after clue until he came to......the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! He's actually allergic to milk so he couldn't have the gold coins, so he got Skittles instead (taste the rainbow). I don't think he minded at all. He was just sad that the hunt was over!And, our St. Patrick's Day Banner!I did something a little different and really liked how it turned out!

Apr 7, 2011

Eclipse Girls Night

Wow, neglected much?? March was a pretty wild month for our family, but I promise to do a better job of updating more frequently! (For my one faithful reader...not even one? Oh well...) At the beginning of March I hosted an Eclipse girls night. Pretty much just an excuse to get people together to watch the movie!"Love Is Forever" is actually one of the songs on the soundtrack for the movie so that's why I used it for the banner.Of course, a heart broken in two for the ends of the ribbon. Which team would you choose?Then, for wall decorations, I took movie quotes and put them on paper from the paper stack "Immortal Love." (Found it at Joanns.)For decorations around the rest of the room, I used black, red, and white. I found big fake diamonds at Hobby Lobby that were scattered all over the room along with red glass gems.The first thing the guests had to to when they walked in the door was decide what team they were going to be on. I made name tags that everyone had to wear.These were the prizes for our games. I wrapped black and red tulle around little bottles of lotion and tied them with white ribbon. I chose scents like Twilight Woods, Enchanted Orchid, Dark Kiss, and Sensual Amber.Our first game was a trivia game that I found online. It was from the books, not the movie. If I had the time, I would have made my own but it worked fine! Our other game was Twilight Pictionary. My friend put it together and chose scenes, people, or terms from all three movies for the clues. It was awesome! Then, everyone on the winning team won a prize!The food!I made gourmet caramel apples (you know, the forbidden fruit) and, if it's okay for me to say this, they turned out delicious!My friend who put together the pictionary game also made these fabulous red velvet cupcakes! Notice how Jacob's cupcake wrapper has wolf prints and Edward's has something akin to the Cullen crest? Genius!Veggie platter with a quote that says "...we call ourselves vegetarians, our little inside joke."Another genius detail from the above friend; we had Italian Creme sodas to drink and instead of just having boring cherry and strawberry, we were able to taste the blood from a grizzly bear and a mountain lion. I favored the mountain lion.