Mehndi Inspired Embroidery

I've been trying to learning about mehndi design- it is amazing!  I'd love to learn how to do actual henna decoration for my daughters someday.  This is a shirt I embroidered for D (she will not wear it, of course) with a Mehndi-ish design.  Mehndi is much more intricate, and I obviously took liberties with the color.

 

Cars Party 2.0

M is crazy obsessed with Cars, so when it came time for his 2nd birthday a "Pa-Chow" (Lightning McQueen) and "May-May" (Mater) party was a given.  Fortunately I was able to reuse a lot of things I had used for I's two previous Cars parties. 

Even though I swore I wouldn't do it again, I made a Lightning cake using a molded cake pan.  It went a lot faster the second time around.  Apple cars with blueberry wheels (thank you Pinterest) were a hit. "Dipsticks" - chocolate dipped pretzel sticks were another Pinterest find...

I reused the checkered flag birthday sign, but replaced I's name with M's.  Though they were a little tedious to put together, I really liked how the Lightning and Mater printables turned out.  Find them here and here from Spoonful.com.  From the table I decorated with a yard of checkered flag fabric, orange cones (that we use for soccer practice,) and a movable road I made by cutting up a piece of black poster board and white tape for middle of the road dashes.  We pulled out ALL of our Cars cars for the kids to play with M's new twisty track.

  

The kids have all requested pinatas this year, so I am learning how to make pinatas!  This checkered flag was my first attempt.  I was inspired by this paper bag tutorial for my checkered flag pinata.  Unfortunately I doubled up on the bags because I used small lunch bags that I thought where too thin to handle a pinata beating.  We ended up having to cut into the pinata to get the candy out after the kids  beat on it for quite awhile.  My next pinata was more successful, but that's a different post.

Cars fun was had by all!  Dad-gum!

Alphabet Bean Bag Sets

I made these alphabet bean bag sets last spring to use up some fabric scraps- I just can't bring myself to throw away any little bit of fabric, but it's hard to find ways to use all my leftovers.  Someday I will attempt quilting, but until then I'm still in search of fun projects that use up scraps.

 

I made a girl set and a boy set and used flocked iron-on letters I had on hand.  I think the buckets came from Wal-mart around Easter. 

Little Guys Christmas Ties

These are the ties that I made for I and M last year.  I'm thinking they might still fit and they can wear them again this year.  I think this is the pattern I used, but it's been so long I could be mistaken.  For M's tie I remember cutting the pattern down just a little bit to fit him better.  My oldest had just turned six and M was almost 1.5 at the time.  M might have worn his for Easter, too, but I's looks very Christmas-y.  Maybe you could use something like this if your little guy has a formal date for Valentine's Day!

 

 

Cathcing Up & Felt Tea Set

I'm trying to catch up on a year of craftiness now that my computer is "well" again.  It's been so long since I've posted here that I've forgotten about projects I've done- like this one.  I made this felt tea set for my niece for Christmas last year.  Four little teas cookies, a couple of lemon slices, and four tea bags.  Yummy!

 

 

The gift included this plastic tea set made from recycled milk jugs.

Felt Christmas Stockings

I've been a busy little elf working on products to sell at Sprout this season.  I just dropped off more Christmas stockings.  If you are a Durango local stop by to check it out!

Lego Birthday Party

 This might be my favorite kids' party to date- Lego Party!  I was thrilled when my oldest requested a Lego party for his sixth birthday.  I love all things Lego so I don't know who had more fun- me making the party or my six year old experiencing it.  The result was super fun.  I think everyone had a great time!

 Invites- I designed these to look like a box of Legos and printed them out at home, but I found several super cute ones you can buy on Etsy...

  Decorations- Lego head banners made with paint chips and Sharpies, bricks also made from paint chips, lots of crepe paper streamers in primary colors, center piece from XL Lego blocks, and lots of little Legos here and there... 

Food: I had a hard time thinking of Lego inspired food- cheese slices to look like bricks were my only thought.  For the cake I did cupcakes with chocolate Lego guys using this mold...

Gift Bags:  Lego head marshmallow pops (how-to found here), stickers, and a mystery Lego mini figure pack...

Games:  The kids mostly just wanted to run around outside, but some of them did spend some time playing Legos set out on the kids' old train table.  I also printed out coloring and dot-to-dot pages from the Lego sight...

Instead of cleaning up after the kids left I sat around building with all of I's new Legos.  Hooray!  Maybe He'll want another Lego party next year...