The Chalkboard Fad

I love this fad...I really do. I think the chalkboard thing is so cute and adorable. I only wish I would have done a lot of this when my son was younger - but that's how it goes right? So anyways, I really wanted to create some fun things for my son's bday (which I will post about later) and his first day of pre-school. So anyways, I was able to create some fun chalkboard art. I luckily found this great blog to help me: Where the Smiles Have Been.

Now she uses Photoshop and I would probably recommend that, but for some reason, I haven't gotten into Photoshop, so I just use PowerPoint and it seems to do the trick (probably not the highest quality though).

Here is the cool poster that Christine from WTSHB created:

THANKS Where The Smiles Have Been

So after taking her advice and downloading some free fonts, I was able to create this one for my son's Car's themed bday party,  I think in regards to advice - I would just stick with a few colors and fonts so it doesn't get overwhelming. The best part, is that I was able to print it out at Staples for $3...in color and poster sized...I just printed it via the color engineer prints like I did for his super hero party.

Then I saw this image on pinterest:

from Personalization Mall

I love this because you can reuse this every year since it's dry erase and can take an excellent picture on the first and last day of school! Again - that cool chalkboard. It's about $25 on Personalization Mall and I totally think it's worth it. But I tried my hand at making it...My plan is to re-make every year and put in a frame so it's a little different than the dry erase feature. Again, I made this on PowerPoint. 

Spidey Strawberries

When I was looking for things for my son's Spiderman Bday, I came across this gem.

The link once again is just a picture with no instructions so I thought I would share how I made them.

Materials:
Strawberries
Sturdy straw
White Chocolate
Milk Chocolate
Piping bag and tools
Mini Cup Cake Wrappers

So I did buy two containers of strawberries and only used about 1/4 of a bag of each kind of chocolate. I also liked this because the chocolate wasn't overpowering the strawberries as in a traditional chocolate covered strawberry.

1. Wash the strawberries
2. De-stem them. I used the straw method.
3. Put one strawberry on it's side in each cup cake wrapper

 4. Melt the milk chocolate and put in a piping bag with a narrow tip.
5. Pipe the eyes of spiderman. Almost like a "D" and backwards "D"

5. Melt the white chocolate and put in piping bags. Pipe a smaller "D" so you can still see the milk chocolate for an outline.

On display

He's Three - Spiderman Style

So my little baby is three. I probably shouldn't call him a baby anymore huh? Well we had a fantastic time at his party - with everything under the sun linked to superhero's or spiderman! He was so excited.

I started with the invitations. In the past, I have spent a little more money and have gotten them printed on nicer paper - Best Value Copy is my go-to for this! They are pretty affordable, fast and good quality. But I actually tried creating the file as a .jpg and printed them at Walgreens and they turned out just fine. I think it's a personal preference, but I am not sure who keeps the invites anyways anymore and so I went with a very cheap option.

Here's how they turned out. I printed them as 4x6 pictures. The thank-you cards are similar.

After the invites were sent out, I then did a little photo shoot. I know I enjoyed it more than my little buddy. I printed these pictures as engineer prints at Staples for $2 each. Awesome decorations.

Then all that was left was to get supplies which I found at the Dollar Store! I also looked at C's toys. He had plenty of superhero toys to use around as centerpieces too. I also asked guests to dress up - a lot of inexpensive superhero shirts are all over the place lately and a few people followed suit. 

Similarly to last year I wanted to make the food match the theme of the party. 

Here's what we had: 

Appetizers

Popcorn - POP!

Pizza Bread - Gwen Stacey's Pizza Bread

Taco Dip - Spidey Senses Taco Dip

Main Dish

Chicken - Aunt May's Chicken

Pasta - Uncle Ben's Pasta

Beef Sandwiches - Super HERO Sandwiches

Salad - Green Goblins' Greens

Desserts

Lemon Knot Cookies - Amazing Knot Cookies

Strawberries - Spidey Strawberries

I did a really basic Super Hero Training Camp too.

 

The events included:

* Hide Your Secret Identity (Photo booth with various masks)

* Jump over Hot Lava (red plastic tablecloth)

* Web the Bad Guys (silly string)

There are plenty more ideas on pinterest. 

I think overall, the b-day boy had a fantastic time. 

Our Family Travels

So this is a craft I have wanted to do since I saw it on Pinterest. We don't travel A LOT with C, but I think a pretty decent amount since he's only 2...He's been to 5 states (including the one he was born in). And I know we want to go to more so this is the perfect way to capture it all in one place.

Anyways here is where I got the inspiration. I want to give credit where credit is due, but the link only leads to a picture...no directions or anything.

Just the picture



I am not sure about you, but that's the only part of pinning things that frustrates me sometimes. I love finding a pin where there is a lot of content and directions on how to make something instead of just an awesome picture. So that's what I am hoping to provide here.

Ok so the picture above served as the inspiration and I pretty much had to come up with the rest on my own.

Materials
* US Map (more details about the map below) at least 16 x 20 in.
* pictures from various states (more details below)
* tape
* glue
* tracing paper or velum
* pencil
* scissors

Map Info
So I searched the internet high and low for a map I wanted to buy. I really didn't find anything that "spoke" to me online plus the maps were either HUGE or they were really colorful and I just didn't really want that for this project. I decided to make my own. I used a popular chalkboard font for the words "Our Travels" and just really decided the gray would not take away from the pictures that would eventually be on the map.

Map printed 16 x 20

The best part is that I was able to send this to Staples and pick it up in store. The 16 x 20 print only cost $10 which was either comparable or cheaper to the maps I saw online that I would have bought. 

Picture Info
This is the part that took a little bit of time. From the example, the person may have used a bigger map and so this part may not apply, but for the 16 x 20 in. map, some of the states are really small (luckily we haven't visited those yet and so I will figure out to do with those, once I get to that point). The hardest part was finding pictures where my family "fits" in the states. So I tried to measure the states and then formatted my pictures to fit the measurements. For example, Michigan was about 2 in. x 2 in. so I shrunk the picture of us to fit that. I ended up printing the pictures with as high quality as possible from my computer onto regular printer paper. If you are looking for the photo quality pictures, I would recommend trying wallet sized photos or printing a 4 x 6 photo where you haven't zoomed in a lot/there is a lot of background.

Re-size pictures so they fit in the states

Directions
Ok so now that you have all of your supplies, you want to start tracing the states where you have been on tracing paper. I used vellum (more expensive, but I had it at the house).

Trace the state

 The flip it over so it's backwards. Tape it to the back of the picture. Hold the picture up to the light to make sure it's centered how you would like it (having the picture on printer paper made this step easier).

Flip state over so it's backwards and tape or even glue to the back side of the picture

Then all you have to do is cut it out, flip it over so the picture side is up and glue it onto the map. There were a few pictures that didn't turn out as "small" as I needed them to so I just improvised (like the picture I chose for Michigan). The husband was supposed to be included in the picture, but that wouldn't have worked, but he's in the picture for Florida without me so that's fair....right?

Here's how it has turned out thus far.

I think this is a great keepsake for our family. It also just inspires us to travel more and make great memories as a family.

Spaghetti Squash - a tasty side turned main course

I love Spaghetti Squash. It's such a fun food and pretty delicious too. Plus it's a nice change from mashed potatoes. So I was looking for some different recipes for it and came across this fun one from Half Baked Harvest, The pictures make you want to make this too, right?




I made a few modifications. I did not make the sauce listed in the recipe. I used my own homemade sauce. Plus, I only had 1 larger squash. I did use the full recipe for that large squash though and it seemed to work just fine. Note the time it will take to make this dish. You have to cook the squash first and then layer it up, finally, baking it again. It does take time. Overall, I liked it, but because of the time it took, I don't know how often I would make it. It did serve up nicely for leftovers too.

Have a Bee-Doo Halloween

So my son calls Minions "Bee-Doos" because of the sound one of them makes in the movie Despicable Me 2. He told me that's what he wanted to be for Halloween and so I went on a mission to find a good costume. We couldn't really find what we were looking for so I thought I could make it. Pictures to come later (hopefully). What I did want to post about was what all of his little friends at daycare are going to walk away with on Halloween...their very own twinkie minion. Pinterest is full of cute ones and the ones that sit on cupcakes are ADORABLE! But honestly, 'aint no one got time for that. So I am doing the next best thing (or at least I think so).

Here is an example of the cupcakes for you adventurous folks from mylitter.com



I found a printable for cupcakes on pinterest at tonyastaab.

I added my own message to the end of it and taped it around the twinkie.Way easier than the cupcakes :).

Here's how mine turned out:

Hope they enjoy eating these "Bee-Doos"

Celebrating Elmo's Way

Well...we did it! We celebrated Charlie's bday and it was a huge success. I probably did go overboard just a bit, but really, who wouldn't when you look at this face all the time :)

At the zoo

 

So I thought I would share some of the stuff we did.

 

 

First was Pin the Nose on Elmo. This I did find on Pinterest...from Stell and Livi

 

And this is how mine turned out.

I used foam for all of the letters, background, and Elmo's face. It really wasn't too hard to create. I was able to find a printable template for Elmo's face online which I also used as my stencil for the t-shirt I made.

 

Charlie loved the game

ingnore the rusty shed :)

with Elmo's nose

 

I also found a cookie toss game from Smile Like you Mean it

 

And here's how mine turned out

 

 

Again, I made the letters out of the foam - I bought 5 pieces of foam and used them throughout for decorating...super inexpensive. I also bought tan felt and cut out circles. I stuffed them with rice and hot glued them together - I only made 3 cookies. Don't forget the chocolate chips made with black puff paint.

 

I then found a great idea for a guest book. This photo was found on Catch My Party. I was able to find a Sesame Street customizable book on Shutterfly. Everybody LOVED it! Here's how it looked displayed.

 

 

 

Here are the centerpieces and photo booth

There are foot steps leading up to the characters

 

 

Using the same technique to make the envelopes, I also made this banner. It turned out quite cute!

 

 

 

I was trying to find different ways to incorporate the Elmo/Sesame Street Theme. My suggestions would be to use what you have...if you have an Elmo toy, use it as part of the decorations! I also was able to make our food Elmo themed including:

 

Appetizers -

Gold Fish -  Elmo Loves His Goldfish

Spinach Dip - Oscar's Sloppy Spinach Dip

Taco Dip - Rosita's Raging Taco Dip

 

Main Course -

Chicken - Clucky Luciano's Chicken

Pasta - Mr. Noodle's Noodles

Beef Sandwhiches - Gladys' Beef Sandwhiches

Salad - Count's 5 Ingredient Salad

Fruit Salad - Zoe's Rainbow Fruit Salad

 

Dessert -

Cake - C is for Cake

Cookies - Cookie Monster's Cookies

Brownies - Abby Cadabby's Brownies

 

 

 

Thank you to all of our friends and family that were able to celebrate with us! He had such a great time!