I recently completed yet another kid birthday invitation… this theme was Fancy Nancy. This one was fun to create because I got to put in all the “that’s fancy for…” statements like in the books. My favorite was RSVP, that’s fancy for email my mommy. The final printed version will be matted with a sparkly purple cardstock. The finished invitation is 5×7 inches.
It is about time I posted about my daughter’s Harry Potter birthday party. The party was about 9 months ago! We had the party at home and through some creativity and planning had an amazing party that will be hard to beat for birthdays to come. I have posted the invite on here before, but here it is again. I created it in Photoshop Elements with a cool frame and owl from Graphics Fairy and fonts from DaFont.com.
The idea of the party is that the young witches in training were invited to participate in a magic workshop covering the topics of Ancient Runes, Divination, Potions, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and ending with a Field Trip to Honeydukes Sweets Shop. As mentioned in the invitation this all took place at Hogwarts Castle, which was disguised as a muggle home.
As the guests arrived they were given an Ancient Rune parchment puzzle. They used a rune code to decode the secret messages. They were also given a real magic wand. My father made these wands the same way a woodworker would make a staircase spindle. (I don’t know much more than that!) Each one was different just like in the books and movies. I stained the wands with a water based polyurethane/stain.
We set up my daughter’s room as the Divination classroom. She has a tent that worked perfect for our palm reading. The girls came in one at a time and had their palms read in the tent set up with dim lighting. I am no expert in palm reading! I looked up a few charts online and went from there. I think towards the end they were all getting the same fortune.
Potions class was set up in the kitchen. We combined glue and Borax to make slime. (There are a lot of slime recipes out on the Internet.) We also colored it with neon food coloring. To get their slime home we just put the finished “potions” in a zip lock baggie.
Herbology was outside on the back deck. No one was really operating this station because it was just a Venus Fly Trap with some facts written out about this carnivorous plant. No action required, just a stop on the way out to the back yard.
The flow of Ancient Runes, Divination, Potions, and Herbology lead everyone into the back yard. While those lessons were come and go as you please, Defense Against the Dark Arts was a group activity. We had a super scary black dragon pinata that the witches had to defeat. Once the evil dragon was slain Harry Potter stickers, glow sticks, and bookmarks came out of its belly.
While everyone was outside in the Defense Against The Dark Arts lesson, the Transfiguration wizard was inside setting up his show. We found a great magician for hire that even wore a full wizard costume. Every little witch-in-training had some part in the show. Obviously this was the main event and was well-loved by all the little girls and parents alike. This fantastic wizard, Tim Balaster, even made each of the witches a balloon animal during cake time.
While Transfiguration was taking place I snuck outside to the back yard to set up the cake table. We had a great Gryffindor cake created by our local bakery. I also made up some pumpkin juice which wasn’t bad; quite good in fact. (Search for pumpkin juice and you will find many recipes. I chose one that was juice-based and had some pumpkin puree in it.) After cake, the witches got to raid the Honeydukes candy bar before going home.
Like I said, it took a lot of preplanning but it really was one of the coolest parties we have ever done! I still hear about it from friends 9 months later.
Late last night I needed a quick Valentine goody bag for the little things I got my daughters and also for the gift cards we got the teachers. I did a quick search on Pinterest and found this free printable: http://bethproudfoot.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-poster-with-multiple-uses.html
I had on hand some small 3.5×6 white paper bags and I decided to print the graphic onto them. However first I opened the graphic in Photoshop Elements and added names to the bottom. I printed each bag one at a time.
For the teacher bags I decided to go in a different direction. I picked up a great heart graphic from The Graphics Fairy, a really cool site full of free vintage graphics. I opened it in Photoshop Elements and added the text. Again I printed them one at a time.
After I filled the bags, I needed a way to seal them. As I mentioned before I was doing this late at night and I needed something quick. I knew I wanted something soft like fabric. My first idea of die cutting a fabric heart and adhering it to felt quickly went out the window when I looked at the clock. So I came up with ribbon; stapled ribbon at that. I have an addiction to Hobby Lobby 2″ wide printed ribbons. So I chose a few and cut pieces just a little longer than the bag’s 3.5″ width. I folded it in half length-wise and stapled it. Super fast!
Valentine’s Day was saved from disgrace and lack of goody bags at last! All is well.
My dear friend and photographer, Angela Schlater, takes our family photos each summer. She likes to include some shots with tilted angles, like so:
I decided to play with the photo tilt on this layout. I chose a patterned paper with a right angle diamond pattern. I physically turned my photo 45 degrees to line up with the diamond, therefore placing the photo subject vertical. The effect was different from anything I have tried before and it is eye-catching. Try it with your photos. If you don’t have a photo like that, take your camera and tilt it 45 degrees and snap away!
This layout uses Therm O Web Sticky Strip Runner (general paper to paper adhering), Super Tape (1/4″ tape for ribbon, sheets cut into 2″ circle for flower), Super Stik glue stick (tiny pink photo border), and Zots (die cuts and chipboard alpha sticker reinforcement).
I love the color red! Any splash of red can brighten my day. So of course, Valentine’s decor is a must. I created this felt garland in only about an hour using Heat N Bond Lite and Heat N Bond Ultrahold adhesives.
Supplies: Heat N Bond Lite Adhesive, Heat N Bond Ultrahold Hem Tape, Heat N Bond Ultrahold Adhesive, Felt, Patterned Fabric, Ribbon
1. Cut out felt hearts. Mine are about 4.5 x 4.5 inches and I have 10 of them.. I just hand cut mine from a template.
2. Cut a 2 – 8 x 11 rectangles of Heat N Bond Lite. Iron onto 2 different patterned fabrics. Trim fabric close to the edge of the Heat N Bond Lite.
3. This step is specific to those who have a digital craft cutter. If you don’t have a digital craft cutter you can always create your smaller fabric hearts with a manual die cutter or even hand cutting. These hearts are smaller than the felt hearts. They should layer with a nice felt border. Peel off the backing on the Heat N Bond Lite/Fabric. Place onto a cutting mat designed for thick mediums. Run through the digital craft cutter as you would a thick paper. I was able to cut 6 fabric hearts per sheet. In a few places I had to trim some remaining threads that didn’t cut but overall this process works just like paper. Tip: Use an old, used cutting mat. If the cutting mat adhesive is new and strong it may pull off the Heat N Bond Lite from the fabric.
4. Iron on the fabric hearts onto the larger felt hearts. Sew along the edge of the fabric hearts.
5. Next we make 6 flowers out of gathered ribbon. The ribbons I used were about 1/2″ to 7/8″ wide, unwired, and about 6-8″ long. The quickest way to gather the ribbon to make the flowers is to machine baste stitch along the edge of the ribbon. Set your sewing machine to make about 6 stitches per inch. Don’t back-stitch at either end and leave long thread tails on both ends. Then pull on thread to gather up the ribbon. It will naturally begin to form a circle shape. Trim any extra ribbon and form into a flower shape. Punch or cut a circle of Heat N Bond Ultrahold; it should be a circle slightly smaller than your flower shape. My circles were 1 1/4″ diameter. Flip your flower so the wrong side is up, create the final shape adjustments and iron the Ultrahold circle onto the back of the flower.
6. To make the little leaves, I ironed a circle of Ultrahold onto the felt and then hand cut a small leaf.
7. Arrange the flowers and leaves onto a felt heart. Iron in place.
8. Measure the distance across the top of the hearts. Mine were about 4.5″ wide. Cut the Heat N Bond Ultrahold Hem Tape slightly narrower than your heart. My hem tape pieces were 4″. Cut one piece of hem tape for every heart.
9. Arrange your hearts in the correct order and flip over. Start with the heart that will be in the middle of the garland. Place a piece of hem tape across the top of the felt heart backside, then place your ribbon string on top of the hem tape. Iron all 3 pieces together at one time. Space the next heart 1/2″ from the first one and iron onto the ribbon using the hem tape. Repeat the process until all the hearts are attached to the garland.
Call them resolutions, call them goals, call them what you will… It is good to document what you hope to accomplish over the next year. What better way to document than with a scrapbook page! Below is the 2-page layout I created for my family album detailing out the 12 goals my family and I would like to accomplish in 2012 (12 in 12 on a 12×12 ha ha!).
I attached the hand-cut banners with randomized 3D Foam Squares to make it look like the banner was actually moving. Some pennants are raised and some are flat to the paper. The pennants that are flat to the paper were adhered with Small Zots.
I attached the ribbon with Super Tape, which is my absolute favorite way to attach ribbon. The super sticky surface grabs the fibers of even the most stubborn ribbon and holds it in place. I put down the Super Tape where I want the ribbon then attach the ribbon, folding it back a tiny bit every so often to get the waving effect.
All the photos and paper mats and strips are adhered with the Sticky Strip Runner.
Take the time this week to come up with some family goals and get them on a layout! You won’t regret it. Here’s to a great and prosperous 2012!
This year for Christmas I gave my husband this tin filled with 12 envelopes. Each envelope contains a unique date for us to do without the children. Most of them are fully or partially paid for which makes this a really special gift. I would have loved to post this idea before Christmas but couldn’t risk him seeing it to early. He is such a great guy; he will even read my blog from time to time. Love you J!
First I will take you through how to decorate a tin to hold all the dates (really, a decorated tin can be used for an infinite number of uses). Then if you are interested, I will give you some of my date ideas.
Supplies:
1. Grad a tin box and get crafty. Mine in the photos is plain but because we are covering it with paper, you could use old outdated Christmas tins, cookie tins, or even search the clearance racks. It doesn’t matter what the printed design is. Measure the length and width of the box lid surface. Cut your patterned paper to fit and round the corners if necessary.
2. Measure the height of the box sides. Measure the perimeter of the box as well. Cut your patterned paper. Most likely your perimeter will be longer than 12″, the width of most scrapbook patterned paper, so cut several 12″ strips to fit the height of the box. Combining the strips will cover all the sides.
3. Apply Therm O Web Super Tape to the back of the cut patterned paper. Get as close to the edges as you can. If it is a large rectangle, you may want to add Super Tape to the middle as well.
4. Peel off the Super Tape red backing and adhere the paper to the tin. When adding paper to the perimeter, overlap the strips of paper at the joints just slightly.
5. Embellish! I added a 1/4″ ribbon around the perimeter of the lid using Super Tape as well.
You could alter these directions by using Therm O Web PeelnStick Adhesive sheets instead of Super Tape. With PeelnStick Adhesive you would have the option to seal your patterned paper with gel medium or Mod Podge without the paper wrinkling.
Ok, so onto the dates. Like I mentioned, I came up with 12 date ideas, one for each month of 2012. I decided to do this for my husband because we have young kids and it is hard to get out and do something by ourselves. With this we will be forced to make time for one another. Most of the dates are just gift certificates at this point because it is hard to schedule an exact day and time so far in advance. We will have to look at our calendar month by month to make the final arrangements.
Just for fun, here are my date ideas along with the teasers I put on the outside of the envelope. A search through Pinterest.com will give you further ideas for this “A Year of Dates” concept.
Check out my recent Therm O Web blog post to see how I used Therm O Web Iron-On Vinyl to create my own spray masks: http://thermoweb.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/create-a-mask-with-iron-on-vinyl/
My children are both school-aged and yet I haven’t finished their baby scrapbooks. Sound familiar? Every once in a while I will get motivation to dig out the soft pinks and baby photos and create a page. Below is a layout I did for Rachel’s baby book. I used the baby pinks but I added a soft turquoise color and old-fashioned flowers to give it a sophisticated look. I don’t tend to overdo the baby-theme. I like to keep it soft and subtle.
As any parent of a scout knows, patches fall off uniforms constantly! As a Girl Scout Brownie troop leader, I recommend my girls use Therm O Web HeatNBond Ultrahold to help attach their patches to their uniforms. To help my troop I created a quick tutorial that I would be happy to share here:
Use Therm O Web HeatNBond Ultrahold to apply patches so they actually stay on all year long and beyond! HeatNBond provides extra strong adhesive to keep the patches stuck to the sash. See the directions below for how to use – no sewing necessary!
1. Draw an outline of the patch onto the shiny side of the HeatNBond with a pen.
2. Cut the shapes out with scissors. They don’t need to be perfect.
3. Turn the patch upside down and place the HeatNBond on top of it shiny side down. Iron with medium heat for 30 seconds or until set.
4. When cool, peel off the backing.
5. Arrange the patch on the sash. Cover with a press cloth or scrap cloth, iron with medium heat for 30 seconds or until set.
6. Turn sash over and iron the backside where the patch is for 30 seconds. Let cool completely.
I love scrapbooking, graphic design, photography, and many other fun things. I take care of and adore two daughters, a husband, and a basset hound. I strive for a creative life amongst errands, chores, and the daily grind.
