Crocheted Farm Playmat

For my sis-in-law's baby shower I made this cute farm playmat (FREE pattern from Lionbrand).  I followed the pattern to a T and it came out a bit longer than I wanted it to, but I'm still very happy with it.  My favorite part is the field with the carrots you can "plant"!

Crochet Minnie Mouse Hat

This ain't the best photo, but I made this cute hat for a friend who is going on a Disney cruise next month.  The buttons go all the way around and are on both sides of the bow.  Original pattern by Repeat Crafter Me.  I used her modifications for 6-9 month sizing.

Minion Birthday Part 3!

We just got back from H's first birthday party bash and we had a wonderful time!  If you need a reminder of what I've been working on, visit Part 1 and Part 2 of this Minion Birthday Party Series.

Here are some pictures of the final decorations!

My version of Miss Hattie's cookies!  I served them in a dog bowl (remember this scene?) and used the labels I mention in my last post (dang, I forgot to get color copies after all that work!  Ha!).

The birthday boy loves his balloons!

Minion bowling - I saved toilet paper rolls and painted them with acrylic art paint (the cheap stuff that's like 75 cents a bottle).  I used yellow and blue for the body; white, grey, and black for the eyes and goggles.  I got the ball at a local dollar store.

More into eating the minions than actually bowling...

The bunting I created!  Get a blank template as a pdf ,

add your own letters, print, and cut out!

Minion cupcakes made by Stacie's Sweet Tooth Cakes!

She cut a twinkie in half for the heads and piped on the faces.

I gave each kid their own goodie bag with a ball shooter from the dollar store.  I wrote "Piranha Gun" on the sides with a Sharpie and drew little piranha faces on all the balls.  The kids went CRAZY over them, and the good news is these don't shoot very far so us adults didn't have to worry :)

The girls got these tutus from Amazon and the boys got minion goggles I found at a dollar store (here are similar ones on Amazon),  but the kids were more interested in the guns, ha!

I also decided to put stickers and markers on a table so the kids could decorate their goodie bags.  All the stickers were from the dollar store.  They LOVED it!  

Minion Birthday Part 2!

I am well into the throes of planning H's first birthday party, so here is what I have been doing!

We're gonna have dog bowls filled with the cookies the girls are sellin' in the first movie (Caramel Clumpies, Minty Mints, Choco Swirlies, Coconutties, Toffee Totes).  I've decided to hit our local grocery store for brand name cookies that are similar.

Despicable Me name       Brand name*

Caramel Clumpies           Chips Ahoy! Sweet 'n Salty Salted Caramel Chunks

Minty Mints                     GIANT foodstores brand Fudge Mint Cookies**
Choco Swirlies                Keebler Fudge Stripes Dark Chocolate
Coconutties                      GIANT foodstores brand Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies**
Toffee Totes***              Keebler Sandies Toffee

*I have not been paid by any of these companies, I'm just posting these so you don't have to spend as much time scouring the shelves as I did.  Cheers!
**I went the inexpensive route with these, but there are some name brands that make the same sort of thing.
***Technically, they're supposed to be covered in chocolate, but I couldn't find any other cookie in stores that included toffee.  If you find something, let me know!

If you are inclined to bake, this lovely blog shares the recipes from the DVD extras menu and also provided the inspiration for my own cookie labels.

Download the free printable from Google drive!

Just cut and fold in half!

And what about Father/Son Minion hats? Oh yeeeah!

Free crochet pattern on Ravelry!

Finally, I found small reusable bags in blue and yellow at the dollar store to use as favor bags (for the kids only).  I'll fill them with tutus for the girls (check out these for less than $1 each on Amazon!), Gru scarves for the boys (I crocheted them myself, just sc alternating black and grey yarn until it was as wide and long as I wanted), and blaster guns with balls for everyone.  We'll use these suckers to play the "shoot the spaceship" carnival game from the movie.  I got the idea from here!

So here is my Dollar Store list so far:

• Blaster guns
• Small "canvas" bags
• Blue dog bowls
• Medium sized ball for "minion bowling" (stay tuned for a how-to!)
• Yellow table cloths
• Blue and yellow crepe paper (2/$1!!)

I did briefly consider getting fluffy unicorns as prizes for the kids, but I'll probably skip this to save a bit of cash.  However, I found this great deal on bulk plush unicorns that would do the job on the Birthday Express website!

Minion Birthday Part 1!

We're planning our son's first birthday and I will post templates as I come up with them.  Feel free to save these images by right clicking on 'em.

Our theme is Despicable Me, which means MINIONS!!!

What's a party without bunting?  Here's a template I will print out for each letter in "Happy 1st Birthday".  Free printable!

Stay tuned for more minion fun!!

S'mores thank you gift

We recently had a friend in the hospital and we decided to send the nursing staff at his doc's office and the rehab center a thank you gift for their tremendous care! 

 I decided to make these S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies.  My apologies for not having a picture of the ones I baked, but they turned out looking just like this pic!  I ended up just putting marshmallows into my usual chocolate chip cookie batter and followed their assembly instructions.

We had some leftover bakery containers from the grocery store, so I just washed 'em and packed the cookies with parchment paper separating the layers.

After searching the interwebs for a label idea, I decided to make my own.  I found this Vintage One font (doesn't it sort of remind you of Napoleon Dynamite?) and got the quote from Pinterest.  I printed it out and taped one to each of the bakery boxes.  Easy peasy!

Feel free to use it!  Right click to Save and edit to your heart's content!

The packages were a big hit with the staff!

Happy crafting!

Fort Kit

My nephew's birthday is in just a couple of weeks and I wanted to get him something special.  He has a million toys, so I decided to search on Pinterest.   When I babysit we always make a fort out of whatever blankets and pillows are laying around, so I was so excited to find the idea of making a fort kit for kids.  PERFECT!!

I gathered all the supplies and the whole thing cost me a whopping $15!!  Yay!!

• 2 flat sheets (twin) - $10 total
• Glowing things (sword and bracelets) - $2 total
• Men's t-shirt to make loops and ties for the sheets - $3 (I love the sale rack!!)
• Zippered plastic bag (left over from a baby gift, could also be one of those reusable grocery bags, or you could make your own drawstring bag.  I chose to use whatever was laying around).
• Card stock (whatever I had)
• Stencils from the decorate-a-onesie craft at my baby shower
• Marker (I used a blue fine point Sharpie)

And here are some pictures...

Glowing things!

Sheets!

 Bag!

Label!

To make the label, I used regular 12x12 card stock that I had hanging around and cut it to the size of my bag (see previous picture).  I used blue and green (they're a lot brighter than in this pic, sorry about that!), then used stencils and a blue fine-point Sharpie to personalize it.  

Shirt!

This one was labeled a men's Small, but it seemed a bit large to me... 

To make the strips for the ties and loops, cut the collar and sleeves off (and a little more) until you have a rectangle (I use the "no measure" method, hence the rough edges):

Rectangle!

Cut the rectangle longwise into at least 14 "equal" strips about 24" long (depends on the size of the shirt) (my strips are about 1/2" to 1" wide, and I only had to use one side of the t-shirt)

Strips!

This fort tutorial shows another way to cut the strips and has a great diagram showing where to sew on the strips.  My sewing machine is buried, so I will post a picture of the finished project soon!!