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!!

Celtic Baptism Theme Part II

So I will probably change my original plan to use Hershey's Kisses as a favor since our baptism luncheon will be outside - in June!  NOT a good plan!

I found this really cute idea to make celtic knot cookies using a shortbread recipe.

Pictures WILL be posted, I promise!!

Celtic Baptism Theme

Our boy is being baptized in a few months and I have been playing around with ideas for a theme.  I finally concluded that I wanted to stick with a Trinity theme rather than the standard cross theme.  Tapping into our Celtic roots, I came up with the idea of using a celtic trinity knot as the main decoration.  So I came up with a cheap favor idea: Hershey's kisses with customized labels!

My plan is to print these circles on sticky paper, cut them out, and stick on the kisses.  I'll then put a couple in organza bags from the dollar store with a little "thank you" card attached.

Here are my labels (I didn't make them perfectly, but it doesn't matter because I'll be cutting around the edge of the circle):

A brief how-to:

• Download the 3/4" round label template found on the Avery website.  Open in your word processor.
• Download this trinity knot image.  
• Using a photo editor, change the background color to match your theme.  I used this online photo editor.
• Purchase Avery Sticker Project Paper (8.5" x 11").  Print your circles on the paper.
• Cut out the circles.  Remove protective backing and stick onto Hershey's Kisses.
• Put a couple of kisses in organza bags.
• Customize and print out business cards using Avery business card template.
• Create hole using hole punch and attach to organza bag using choice of ribbon.

I also plan to have trinity knot fondant pieces on cupcakes for our guests.  Stay tuned for pictures after the special day!

Little Treasures

So this isn't a craft per se, but I have a fascination with Montessori type activities for kids.  I would love to see my little boy grow up with an active imagination.  I don't want to see him walking around with a screen in front of himself all the time!

Since H is still little, I decided to start with a simple treasure basket.  Here's where I found the original idea for H's basket.

Using stuff around the home, I found a baby brush (mine is plastic, as opposed to a natural material as Montessori teachers would recommend) and a red kerchief.  The idea is to find objects that will engage all the senses.  As he gets older and is able to handle more without my assistance, I'll add more items and group them in categories like specific shapes, materials, textures, etc., or items that teach a different skill like twisting or transferring.  For now, we're keeping it simple!

Here is H exploring his basket:

Yum!

This kept him entertained for about 15 minutes, and then it was nap time.  I call that a success!

Owl Granny Square Afghan

I don't usually crochet for myself, but I figured now is the time since we're expecting our own Babe to arrive shortly!

I found this totally cute owl granny square pattern and used it as a jumping off point.  I made 24 of these guys, but I crocheted the eyes rather than using buttons (magic circle to start, 6-8 single crochets in white, then using black I made about 4 -5 slip stitches in the SCs to make the pupils). I then made 24 granny squares using coordinating colors and sewed them together with a tapestry needle using the red. Here is my finished product (note, this is only half the afghan, since it's hanging over our rocker right now).

And here's a closeup of one of the owls!