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!

 

It's a Sesame Street kind of Day

My little monkey is turning 2! I know...I can't believe it either. Our Carnival themed birthday from last year was a huge success so I needed to find a theme that was just as fun. Now, of course, I did ask my little man and even with his limited vocabulary, we were able to settle on Elmo!

I am so excited about the Elmo theme and there is so much on Pinterest to help me with this that I couldn't contain myself. So my next few posts will certainly be Elmo-rific.

So let's start with the invitations. Now normally, I would just use normal envelopes, maybe color coordinating, but look at these. How precious, right!
You can buy these on Etsy from the Mom2Aiden store. I didn't know how much time I would have to get these ordered and delivered so I tried my hand at making them.

So first, I tried to find red envelopes and realized that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be (or inexpensive). So I found cheap white ones at Michaels...plus used my 40% off coupon (don't leave home without it). I also bought a pack of the primary color cardstock since I knew I was going to be using the paper for other projects.

So here's what you need for this project:
* Red Cardstock
* White envelopes
* White Cardstock
* Orange Cardstock
* Black Cardstock
* 2 circle punches (one bigger than the other)

So since I am using white envelopes, I still wanted to add red for Elmo's face. So I measured the envelope flap and cut it out with red cardstock.

 

I was using 5x7 envelopes and was able to get 4 of these shapes from 1 8x11 piece of paper.

Once I cut out enough of those, I moved on to making Elmo's eyes. For this, I was lucky enough to have a circle punch. I used a 1" circle punch for the white of the eyes and a 1/2" circle punch for the pupils.

 

Then based on the size of the eyes, I cut out an oval in orange paper. I didn't have a punch for that.

Now, glue them all together for this fun piece.

It really didn't take too much time and it was pretty inexpensive.

Then I was able to insert these cute invitations.

  I was able to create these and then printed them at Best Value Copy. If I haven't bragged about them before, then shame on me. These guys print super fast and super cheap. I would highly recommend using them if you need to print anything in color.

Sunshiny Day

Happy Mother's day to all of you Motha's out there. My day was wonderful, but I actually liked the days leading up to it better because that's when my creative juices were flowin.' As I was brainstorming what to get my mother for the big day, it hit me...she is so thoughtful to create a play space for C in her house...that I thought I could make her something for that room. It's styled right now in Yellow and Gray (very hip...my mom...very hip).

Anyways, so I began searching Pinterest and found some great printables that fit the theme I was looking at...You are my Sunshine - a song that my mom always sang to me.

I found these at Alderberryhill.com
http://www.alderberryhill.com/you-are-my-sunshine-free-printables-its-overflowing-guest-post/




I was feeling creative and thought that I could paint something. So I got out my supplies.

Supplies include:
* Paint - yellow, red, orange, gray, white
* Scissors
* Paint brushes (the thinner the better)
* Print out of the outlines of the words
* Chalk - yes chalk


I was curious if there was any better way to paint the words onto the canvas versus just free-styling the words. I found this blog that had some great tips. http://www.discountqueens.com/paint-text-canvas/

And this is where the chalk comes in. Once you print the outline of the words on the computer, you rub chalk on the back of it.

 

Then you put the chalk face down on the canvas where you want to have the word. I tried to use yellow chalk and it didn't show up on the canvas. Use a pen and trace the letter. The chalk comes off onto the canvas.

 

 

Can you see the outline?

 

Then you can go ahead and paint it. I would recommend not painting on the inside of the lines, but the outside of the lines to make sure it's all covered. 

 

After doing a bit of this, I wasn't sure if it was the best way since I could still see some of the chalk on the parts I wasn't going to paint. I then tried to use pencil...paint doesn't totally cover the gray of the pencil. So honestly, I free-painted the rest, but I think if I had more patience...this would have been a good method.

 

Here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Fishy Fishy

I have been searching and searching for quiet books and quiet activities for C to start playing with when we are out. Quiet books are online for $50. I am not spending that much on something that I could make. But I continue to struggle to find the exact activities that I want as well as ones that don't require a sewing machine. I may be crafty...but I have limited sewing skills.

Anyways, I found this adorable activity on Doodle Craft

So I went to work...and here's what I came up with. Honestly, it probably cost $5 to make 1 whole game. Make sure to use your crafting coupons :). My one suggestion would be to pick felt pieces that are a little darker in shade because you can see the magnets through the yellow and light orange felt.

Materials needed:
* Felt - Various colors
* Magnets (enough for two magnets per fish, plus some for the fishing pole)
* Scissors
* Glue gun
* Dowel rods
* String
* Glitter Glue (optional)

 Cut out 2 fish per color and glue the magnets in the head and tail of the fish. Glue the other side of the fish to make little fishy magnets.

 Add some glitter glue to add some scales to your fish.

I then took string and attached it to the dowel rod and glued the magnets to the end of the string and ta-da...a cute little game. I showed it to him today and he loved it. Now, I have to tuck it away for our trips so that he doesn't get bored with it.

Let's Catch Up

So since I just posted about Valentine's day, let's just keep the ball rollin since who knows when the next time I will post will be. December was full of baking yummy things and experimenting with all of the fun ideas found on Pinterest like these from Not So Idle Hands

They were actually pretty easy to make.

I actually bought the mini candy canes (which were on sale). Put them on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet in the heart shape and then just piped in some melted chocolate. Sprinkle with any colored surgar you have hanging around. Let it set. And ta-da, you have a cute little gift.


Here's how mine turned out:

I also had some chocolate left over and so I also piped some trees on the paper and used them as decoration on a chocolate cake (my Nana's famous chocolate cake).

I got lots of compliments. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Healthy Treat

First, I realize that it is now March, but let's be real, I have an 18 month old and literally this is first time that I have downloaded my pictures since February.

Now, I was a bad mom last year and sent my kid to day care without Valentine treats for his little friends. He came home with all sorts of snacks and treats which of course mommy enjoyed. Well I would not make the same mistake this year. But of course everything is sugary candy...which of course, I love, but I also want to teach little C a little better eating habits. So I thought and searched for cute valentines on Pinterest.

I found some pretty cute ones. But realized that I liked these the best from

Tutto Bella Blog

It also helped that I had Cuties on hand and baby C loves them. I think he would eat 20 of them in one sitting if he could.

So based on these little cuties, I came up with this:

I had the bags left over from my wedding stuff and used a little bit of scrap paper. But really any little baggie could do.

Huge hit with the kiddies at the daycare. I even brought the extras to work with me and people seemed to like to change from the candy.