Star Wars Birthday Party

Come to the Dark Side. We have cake!

Hey, all!
May the fourth be with you! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

My daughter turned eight a couple of months ago and wanted a Star Wars party. (Yaaasssss!!! That's my girl!)

I had a lot of fun with this theme, but honestly there's only a few things I made myself. I did the photo backdrop, designed her invitations, and I made light sabers.

I bought a black plastic table cloth from the Dollar Tree, printed off about a million and a half yellow stars and the Star Wars logo. I just used tape to adhere the stars and logo. I bought the props from a party store.

My husband inserted a photo of Zara roller skating into this photo. I then tweaked it a bit and created the invitation using The Gimp using downloaded Star Wars fonts.

The lightsabers were easy to construct, but they took a bit of time to do. I finished them over two evenings and had twenty total. They're made from a pool noodle cut in half, some duct tape, and some electrical tape. The kids loved these. As a party game I blew up some balloons and had intended the children to try to keep the balloons up in the air as long as possible using the lightsabers and to have them pass the balloons back and forth. In reality, they pounded the balloons into the ground had burst all of them within thirty seconds. No exaggeration.

Zara has always wanted a pinata at her party, but we tend to rent places for her parties. This is the first one we've had at home since she was two. She really, really, REALLY loved destroying that pinata.

The cake and cupcakes were made by Traci's Cakery, the cookies were by Artistic Cookie Creations, and the entertainment was provided by Greg Goode.

We really enjoyed putting together this party. It's up there as one of my faves. What have been your favorite party themes over the years?

Love,

Hooked on Crochet

Patterns Used - Hat :: Mittens

Hi, all!
Sorry about the title. I couldn't resist!

I've been crocheting up a storm lately. My daughter, Zara, is a very busy girl, so I spend a ton of time in waiting rooms. There's usually too much going on for me to read, I get bored with games after a while, so I started crocheting.

For Zara's hat above, I stuck to the pattern. I did tweak the mittens quite a bit. I left off the cuffs, started with a chain ring, and didn't decrease the thumbs. Instead I just sewed the tops of the thumbs. Zara wanted a Z on her hat. I tried to crochet one, but as you can see below, it ended up being larger than the hat itself. That was my first lesson on scale. I ended up chaining 24 or so stitches and then tacking them down in a Z shape.

Z Pattern (video)

You may recognize the yarn below from the first scarf I ever made Zara. To be honest, she hated it, but she was very polite about it. She just said, "I prefer long scarves." So, I disassembled the old scarf and made her a new one. She's much happier now.

My husband didn't want to be left out. He requested a couple of hats and a scarf. I plan on adding more to the scarf to make it longer. I'm still learning to figure out how much yarn a project will need. (Hint: Always buy more than you think you'll need.)

Hat Pattern

 I stuck to the hat pattern with a few additional increases just for comfort.

Hat Pattern

And now we're down to something I made for myself. I posted previously about how I wanted a slouchy beanie to match my scarf I made last spring. The first attempt was horrible. Well, sort of horrible. It turned into a cute doll purse. The second attempt worked out fine. I didn't use a pattern. I made the headband using ten double stitches per row and kept going until it fit my head. I then sewed the edges together and single stitched in a spiral until it got as big as I wanted. I sewed the hole together to finish.

I have one more project that I've finished, but that's getting a post all to itself. It's adorable. No hints, though.

If you have any handy tips or tricks, leave them in the comments below. I definitely have a lot to learn.

Love,

Super Simple Memo Board Makeover

Hi, all!

I haven't had a lot of time for crafting lately, but I did get the chance to revisit my Makeover Monday: Easy Memo Board Re-Do post from 2011. Yes, 2011! Can you believe it? This one was much easier. The frame was already white. Score!

I was in desperate need of a cute memo board for my office. but I'm cheap. You know how that goes. I picked up the VÄGGIS Noticeboard from IKEA and covered it with the same fabric remnant I used with the quick envelope pillow cases I whipped up this winter.

As with the first memo board, I used a case knife to tuck the fabric into the frame. Just cut the fabric slightly larger than the inside cork area. There's no need for adhesive. It's Super Simple!

Love,

Snowy Day Crafting: Pillow Cases and Embellished Slippers

Hi, all!
We have had some seriously gross weather here in West Virginia. There's been snow, ice, floods, and sleet. That means I don't leave my house for long stretches of time. Loooooong stretches of time. So that leaves time for crafting...and cleaning. But mostly crafting.

The throw pillows on my sofa were sad, sad ratty things, so I decided to conquer my fear of my sewing machine. I'm convinced it wants to eat my fingers. I dragged the horrid thing out of the laundry room, set it up, cut out my fabric, sat down to start, and...nothing. Literally nothing. I could hear the motor trying to go, but it wouldn't move. Fan-freakin'-tastic! So these pillow cases are hand sewn. I just did a basic envelope case. The fabric is a remnant from Ikea, which coordinates fabulously with my EIVOR curtains, also from Ikea. Maybe next time I'm at Ikea I should pick up a new sewing machine. Mine resents me.

While I had my sewing kit out, I decided to trick out my Ikea slippers. This post is not sponsored by Ikea, I swear. We just shop there a lot. lol

I had these old slippers I was hanging onto just because the doggies on them are adorable. They never really fit me. I bought them in Ireland and I'm never really certain about my shoe size there. Well, these were soooooo big on me I'd have to shuffle to walk. Nevertheless, I wore them so much I wore literal holes in them. They were falling apart...

...so I helped them along by cutting them to pieces.

I used a contrasting thread to patch them onto my plain purple slippers. I also placed them randomly just for a bit of weirdness.

Look at those faces! Just look at them!

I have a post coming up dedicated to crocheting. I just finished up my scarf and this week will be in the mid 60's. Worst timing ever.

What do you do to pass the time when you can't get out?

Love,

Super Simple Easy Bow

Umm...so this is kind of late. Remember our costumes for Halloween? Well, this is how I made Sean's bow tie, which can be repurposed. Stick around for that.

I cut two pieces of felt. One was 10 inches by 2.5 inches. The second one was 1.25 inches by 3.25 inches. Still with me?

I folded the large strip in half, overlapping it a bit. Using a needle and thread, I sewed the ends together and created the pinched look. I then wrapped the small strip around the center and sewed the ends of that together, but not attaching it to the large strip. For the bow tie, I slipped a large safety pin into the back.

Once Sean was finished with it, I then slipped it onto a headband. Adorable! You could also use a clip.

This whole project took me less than ten minutes. And I'm awful at sewing. I'm thinking of making these in several different colors to match my daughter's wardrobe.

Love,

Last Minute Ugly Sweater DIY

Pretty happy face for a kid who's wearing an ugly sweater!

So guess who got the news at, oh, around 9 o'clock last night that this morning is ugly sweater day at school? Yeah, that would be me. So after I stopped panicking, I came up with a pretty decent plan. I took Zara's most embellished sweater (dress) and added my own bits.

A closer look at all its glory.

I had some craft felt so I cut out a shape that's vaguely tree-shaped. I used more felt to do the ornaments, tinsel, and star. I then used a white glue to stick it all together. When that dried, I used a bunch of safety pins to attach the monstrosity to the sweater. My favorite part of this project? It's only temporary! If I had had more energy, I would have added more bits all over, but for a last minute thing, I was happy with it. More or less.

Love,

Decorated Baby Wipes Box

So, I lost my crafting mojo a while back, but I think I can feel it slowly returning. Woohoo!!! I really missed it! Even though my daughter has been out of diapers for many years now, I still carry wipes around with me. I have a box in my purse, in my desk at work, and on my vanity to clean my brushes. They're awesome and how did I get through so many years (decades!) without them? I dunno.

I needed a new wipes box. My old one finally fell apart. I found this one at Gabriel Brothers for ¢90. They also had blue and yellow. It had a sticker on it that was easily removed, leaving a blank canvas for my own stickers. I made the stripe using printed tape. It's like Scotch tape. I then used a bunch of scrapbooking stickers that I had lying around to decorate the case.

Even if you don't carry around wipes yourself, this could be a cute idea for someone you know who's expecting.

And speaking of expecting, expect more crafty things out of me in the future. Did I mention how much I missed it? ;-)

Love,

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Zara's tooth is loose!!! That kid needed a pillow ready for when that finally happens, so I whipped this up out of felt. I used felt so I wouldn't have to deal with fraying and interfacing. 

The tooth is a pocket to hold the tooth and Zara's money from the Tooth Fairy. Zara picked out all of the colors. I think it turned out really cute. 

What are your Tooth Fairy traditions? Also, I can post the templates if you want. Let me know in the comments below. 

Thanks for reading!

Tabitha