Birthday Party Gift Idea

Hi Sweet Friends!  I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  We had a weekend full of craftiness and family!  Kason was invited to an art themed birthday party this weekend and he had a ton of fun!

We were asked to bring art supplies for gifts rather than the "usual" gifts like toys and clothes.  Of course, me being the crafty gal I am, LOVED this idea and I ran with it!  This is what I came up with:

I filled a tackle box with all the artsy craftsy stuff a little girl could ask for:  watercolors and brushes, various sizes and colors of pom poms, pipe cleaners, construction paper, foam stamps, glittered foam stickers, crayons, sidewalk chalk, various stickers, and alphabet post it notes. :)

I found the tackle box at Wal-Mart for just over $5.00 and managed to fill it with lots of crafty goodies.  The whole kit cost less than $20.00.

You could also rummage through your craft stash to add items like scrap paper, stickers, etc. and save a few dollars! :)
 

I personalized the gift by cutting some vinyl with my Cricut.  I love that the apostrophe is an artist's pallet.

I finished it off with a polka dot bow and a handmade artist's pallet gift tag and paint brush.

Because the kiddos were going to be "gettin' artsy," it was requested they come in clothes they could get dirty.  I took this as an opportunity to make something new.  :)  Makes total sense, right?  Kason and I made an artist's pallet t-shirt just for getting dirty.  His hand print is the pallet and his thumb prints became the paints.  The hubs came up with the "handmade" slogan. :)

The monkey's favorite station was the painting station.  He stood in front of this easel for at least 30 minutes! Professional artist in the making if you ask me.  :)

Here is his t-shirt after the party. While the paints used at the party are washable, I love the "new" look of his handmade shirt.

I might have to borrow this idea for the monkey's second birthday! :)  He is definitely a creative little fellow!

I'll be linking this up to some of my favorite parties.  See you all tomorrow for a double dose of Sutch an Inspiration!




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A Sweet Necklace

Hey, Everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing weekend!  I thought I would hop on while the little man is napping to show you a necklace that I made with the help of my friend, Kristyn.  Did you know that I make jewelry?  I know.  You would never know because I haven't made anything in a very long time.

Anywho, Kristyn wanted a unique and personal gift for a friend's birthday.  She picked out all of the components and helped with the design.  I think it is absolutely perfect.  I love that it is casual, but could easily be dressed up for an evening out and I especially love how the pendants are tied together in the center with a bow.  So sweet!  What do you think?  :)  Would you like to see some more jewels?

I hope to see you all back on Monday for EEK Weeks!  I have to tell you Monday's project is the best by far (to me anyways) and it's a double feature...not one, but two fantastically fall projects!  :)  Have a great rest of your weekend!

Linking up to all of my favorite parties HERE!

ONE Out of this World Birthday Party

I cannot believe my little guy is ONE! This year has just flown by. We celebrated this past weekend with an Out of this World birthday party!

I started party planning by researching space themed parties on the Internet to get some ideas I could run with.  I found some great ideas here and here.

Invitation:  These super cute invitations that I made over at Picnik set the fun and spacey tone for the party!

 

Decorations:   I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot software to create a few banners.  This one is a countdown banner with a NASA rocket blasting off at the end. 

 This banner hung across another window in our living room.  It said, "Happy Birthday Kason!"

We bedecked the mantle with more NASA rockets.  Those are actually design your own shields that I found at Michael's Craft Store but I decided that when I flipped them over, they became rockets.  I covered them in aluminum foil and glued on a NASA symbol that I printed off of the Internet.  My husband's claim to fame are the flames! :)  

The rocket on the mantle is made from two formula canisters stacked on top of each other and wrapped in foil.  I cut the top and the fins (not sure of the technical term LOL) from craft foam and glued on an image of Kason looking out of the port hole.  :)  

The poster was such a deal!  I ordered it from PosterBrain.com for $14.99!  You read that right!  They are having a sale right now, and a 24"x36" poster print is only $14.99!  The quality was outstanding and I got this baby ordered and delivered in three days!

Four dozen balloons covered the ceiling to replicate a starry sky and we stapled stars onto the streamers and let them hang down into the room.

Kason's highchair was dressed up with some spacey bunting and a giant number one balloon.  The triangles are decorated with a UFO, a planet, stars, and the word ONE.  His party hat (which he didn't ever wear) is wrapped with ribbon and topped off with a big, brown pom pom.

Food:  His party was at three in the afternoon, so I thought a choice of desserts was the best way to go.  The treats were displayed in aluminum foil pans (easy clean up) and silver bowls.

We had Crater Cupcakes!  Little cakes that were dressed up to look like the top of the moon.  Each one had a Teddy Graham astronaut and an American flag on it. 

Moon Rock Rice Crispy Treats were topped off with a craft foam moon buggy that I found at Michael's on clearance.  Black Hole Banana Pudding had one chocolate chip stuck in the middle and the person who found the chip won a spacey prize.

Cosmic cookies were store bought and time friendly! :)

Beverages included Liquid Hydrogen lemonade and Rocket Fuel tea.

Kason's birthday cake was inspired from this Lunar Cake I found at Kraft.  I put my own spin on it and made it silver with crunchy moon rooks (silver sprinkles) on top.

No space party is complete without some starry-like bubbles dancing around the sky!  I found a small bubble machine at Wal-Mart for $6.00!  :)  The kids loved it, but we could only leave it on for a little while.  It started making the play mat super slick! :)

Planet Goody Balls:  Each kiddo got a planet goody ball filled with...well, goodies! :)  The big kids got squishy alien-like balls, blast off bubbles, a party horn, an asteroid ball, alien stickers, a flying saucer, starry headbands (for girls), and Starburst candy.

We sat them by the door with each kiddos party hat on top.  The party hats were too much fun.  They had shiny pipe cleaners with googly eyes glued on to them stuck in the top of each hat.  :) Very alien-like!

Kason's party was a spacey success and everyone had an amazing time!  We are so very blessed to have  friends and family love us the way they do!

I hope you are inspired to have an Out of This World party for you kiddo too! :)

Linking up to these super great parties and

3, 2, ONE!

I simply cannot believe my little guy will be one next month!  Where has the time gone?  Well, of course being the uber planner that I am, I've already decided on a theme, designed the invites, and started buying some of the decorations.  :)  I'll be posting each stage of the prep, and then a finale post after the big day.  :)

Here are the invites that I made at picnik.com.  If you haven't checked it out, it is too much fun, and FREE!  It's got all of your basic photo editing features and some extra fun little tidbits to make super cute birthday invites, buttons for your blogs, etc.  

The theme for the party is an outer space/rocket/3, 2, ONE blastoff theme!  :)  I set the dimensions for the invite to be 5"x7" so I can have them printed up at Wal-Mart.  Easy peasy with a professional twist! :)

Here is the invite:

(click on the image to see it up close and personal)

What do you think?  :)  I found the invite lingo all over the web so if you helped to contribute, a big, giant thank you to you!

P.S.  These invites are going to be sent out in brown paper envelopes with "Top Secret" stamps on them.  :)  I'll post a pic when they are ready.

Butterfly Birthday Beach Bucket

Hello!  Happy Wednesday! :)

My friend's little girl is having a birthday party this weekend, and Kason will be bringing Miss Ryleigh a super cute beach bucket filled with beach/pool goodies!

I got inspiration from Yesterday on Tuesday.  She made these adorable, personalized beach buckets.

I already bought the goodies to fill the bucket, and one of the items was a butterfly beach towel.  It was instant inspiration for my chalkboard.

I drew out a butterfly on contact paper.

Folded it in half, and cut out around the image.

I then affixed the contact paper to the bucket and sprayed it with chalkboard paint.

 Tada!  :)  I outlined the butterfly and added some polka dots with paint pen.

Personal, affordable, and easy...always a good recipe!  This gift came in under $10.00! 

Have a wonderful rest of your week!  Come back tomorrow for a giveaway announcement!