Thursday, March 28, 2013

Jumping on the (Birthday) Bandwagon

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I somehow convinced my boys to have a combined birthday party this year....thank God! After much discussion we decided to have the party at an indoor trampoline facility called Sky Zone that just opened a few weeks ago.

When I booked the party I was given a stack of pre-printed invitations as a part of the package. Normally the craft-snob in me would scoff at these invitations, but I waited so late that I felt forced to use them. Or so I thought. When I pitched the idea to my kids, my oldest looked at me and said (cue the sad music) "but Mom, you always make our invitations". Ouch. I desperately tried to come up with valid reasons that a soon-to-be 9 year old would buy as to why I would not be making the invitations this year, but to no avail.

I had just started putting a design together when my youngest son declared that he would really love to have a pop-up card. Really? I only had 3 days to design and construct these invitations, so a pop-up card (that I've never made before) might be a stretch. And then my son gave me "the look". Needless to say, I made the invitations. Here is the outside of the card...


...and here is the inside - my kids are "jumping" out of the invitation. Please note that the enormous heads were my husband's idea - apparently it has something to do with sports.


Here's how the pop-up effect works - I found directions for this here.


I didn't care for the design on the cake that was included with the party package, so I decided to make a cake topper instead. I made a trampoline with the boys (again with big heads) jumping on it.


The trampoline was made out of foam paper and popsicle sticks...


Now that I had created custom invitations and a custom cake topper, I decided to complete the trifecta and create custom banners for the party. Each banner had my kid's name...


...and a birthday boy jumping on a trampoline.


According to my guys the party was a big success, so Birthday 2013 is officially a wrap!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Over the Ribbon Rainbow

I don't consider myself to be a cocky person, but the other day I found myself walking down the aisles of Hobby Lobby thinking "I can make that" to everything I saw. But I started a project last week that made me eat those very words! I absolutely love ribbon wreaths - here's one that made me smile. So, with me being crafty and all, I figured I could make one with no problem - I mean it's just ribbon!

I decided to make a St. Patrick's Day-inspired wreath...



...and it took FOREVER! After cutting and gluing each little strand of ribbon I thought I was going to have a breakdown!



Much respect to all of you ribbon wreath makers out there - you all are a patient lot! Thanks for the inspiration, but I'm sticking with foam paper as my go-to choice of craft material!




Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentine's Day Already?

I know it happens every year, but I was completely unprepared for Valentine's Day this time. Last week I kind of acknowledged that I should start preparing things when the V-Day class lists came home from school. However it wasn't until yesterday morning when my youngest son asked me what he was handing out that I really started to panic. Thank God for all of the crafty people out there who graciously share their creative ideas on the net! I did a quick search and stumbled upon an adorable idea for a V-Day card here.

So, here is my attempt at what I'm calling a Cupid Ninja Tootsie Pop Card.
I used the following materials - Tootsie Pops, white tissue paper, tape and red raffia ribbon.


I found a free image of a flying ninja on the internet and printed it on cardstock paper (I modified the image to remove the head). I then folded the paper in half and punched a 3/4" hole along the crease where the head would be...


Finally I printed out some eyes on label paper and put the whole ninja together. Here's the result...


Oh wait, did I mention that I started constructing these at 9pm last night and that I had to make 40 of them? And yes, it took forever!

I hope you were more prepared for this day than I was. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!


Thursday, January 3, 2013

2012 Top Ten List



Okay I know we're already 5 days into the New Year, but I thought it would be fun to see which posts made the top 10 list for 2012. So please bear with me as I take a quick stroll down memory lane.

#10 - Patriotic Wreath



#9 - Easter Egg Magnets



#8 - Tulip Bouquet



#7 - Blumebox Design



#6 - V-Day Card Design



#5 - March Birthday Invitations



#4 - St. Patrick's Day Decor



#3 - Easter Chick Lantern



#2 - I Heart Rice Krispy Treats



#1 - Graduation Pops



Thanks - hope you're having a fantastic 2013 so far!

 

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