Archive for the ‘make it’ Category

The party invitations went out this week for my girls’ 8th birthday party.  I wanted to make them homemade…. and I wanted to keep them simple.

A bowl was my best friend for this project.  I used it to trace the toadstool cap.  Then I drew the bottom of the toadstool free hand.  Once I had one template, I used it to trace the rest.

I used inexpensive red, kraft and white colored cardstock.  I used my 7/8 inch circle punch for the white dots, but white round price tag stickers from the grocery store would have worked just as well.  The girls punched and glued all the dots on the red mushroom tops.  I try to get them involved in my project whenever possible, especially when it’s for them.

I wanted to print the invitation directly onto the kraft cardstock.  But guess what?  My printer must hate cardstock.  The pieces came out streaked.

So I printed on vellum…. which was one more piece to trace and cut, but at least it wasn’t streaked.

I love “Little Days Font.”  It’s my “go to” font for many invitations.

I love little red brads too.  Which is what I use in the corner of the mushroom to attach it all together.

And last but not least, I purchased wonderful green American Crafts envelopes (on a 40% off coupon at Roberts of course.)  And in the end, these invitations were very inexpensive.

I tried to use these sweet little Martha Stewart stickers on the cards… but they just didn’t look right.  Darn, I guess I’ll have to find some other use for them….

Now it’s time for creating the rest of the party…  I’ve got some fun projects in the works.  I can hardly wait.

Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to around our house.   A little Bird House for Emma’s Valentines.  We made it out of an old box.  Emma painted and punched and glued to her heart’s content.

And a tree for Lily to “squirrel” her Valentines away.  Do you recognize the container for oatmeal?  How many of my childhood Valentine’s boxes were made out of oatmeal boxes?  Many.  We did our best to make it look like a tree…. Lily loved cutting and counting leaves.  We cut up bamboo skewers and painted them brown for the stems.  And when it was done, she decided the tree should have heart fruit.

And I loved that the ideas for the girl’s boxes were their own.  I was just there to help them figure out how to create them.

Ben wanted to say something sweet to his Valentines….  not.

The dynamite was made from Rollo’s candy rolled with red paper.  The wick is a bit of black licorice and we tied up the bundle with some black pipe cleaner (because that’s what I had on hand.)  This Valentine could have read, “You’re Dynamite!” or “You’re a Blast”…. but Ben wanted it to read “You’re the Bomb.”

Can you tell Lily is in to squirrels right now?  I tried to talk Lily into giving nuts… just a little healthier than chocolate.  But in the end she picked M & M Peanuts… which still have nuts, Mom…. and chocolate.

And here’s Emma’s.  We are still working on the card a bit…  She’s just happy to use glitter.  And love the saying, “You’re so Tweet.”

Lots and lots of Valentine’s creations.  And none of it’s perfect…   just lot’s of fun for the kids.  And in the end, that’s what it’s all about.