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!!

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!