Batman Birthday Party

My baby is turning 3 today... I have mixed feelings. He is such a big boy... yet, he's still my baby. He LOVES Batman. So, we decided to do a Batman birthday party. Being the cheap person that I am (there's no way I'm paying $4 for a package of batman plates from the party store) and the fact that I love a craft project, I decided to make a lot of his party supplies.

I purchased the Batman Cricut cartridge from Ebay. Great purchase... only $14. With that, I started on the banner first. I also made a really cute invitation, but forgot to take a picture. I actually did splurge and buy helium balloons.
I made these cute treat boxes and water bottle labels with the Cricut as well. His birthday is Sunday, but we had the party on Saturday. So, I'm saving the cake for his birthday, but I thought it would be fun to make cookies for his party. I had an oval cookie cutter for the outside of the Bat symbol. Luckily, Michael's had started putting out their Halloween stuff, so I found a mini set of Halloween cookie cutters... bat included. I made chocolate fondant and dyed it black and cut out the bats.
And I refused to pay $20 for the Batman piñata at the party store (it's bad enough having to buy the candy). We just simply paper machéd a balloon with newspaper and spray painted it yellow. I cut the cute bat shield out on the Cricut and taped some curling ribbon to the back, then hot glued the shield to the balloon.
For the activities, we had the kids decorate their own masks with glitter glue and jewels.
I was quite surprised that even the boys really got into it.
We did face painting (not really a batman thing, but my kids just love face painting).
Luckily, my party store did have a few batman games on clearance. We bought a pin the bat symbol on batman and a joker target shooting game. (I forgot to take pics). We also made cotton candy... totally unbatman, but kids love that too.

And I couldn't have a batman party without Batman capes. Luckily, my mom has an awesome fabric stash, so it was free to make these. I kind of used this tutorial from Puking Pastilles. She has a pattern for sale as well. I just used the idea and made my own pattern out of newspaper. I cut the bottom out like a bat shape. Then I just serged the edges of the capes. I sewed velcro on the tabs to close them in the front. I downloaded a free Batman font off the internet and printed out the monograms. Then I appliquéd them onto the capes. My "T" already had a Batman cape, of course, so I made him a Robin cape.
And last, but not least, after the party was all over, I stayed up late to make my fondant covered birthday cake... for his Sunday family party. It looks so simple, but really was a bit of a pain.
Happy Birthday Big T!!!

Okay, what's my next project... bring it on:)

A few sewing projects for my Boys

I just thought I'd share a few sewing projects I did this summer for my boys.
I thought it would be a good idea to make a Car Organizer. We travel a lot and I thought it would be a great idea to have a place for my boys to keep things to keep them busy. The two older boys loved them. They could put their DS's in there, colored pencils, coloring books, toys and even their trash. My two year old just took everything out of his and threw it on the floor.
My boys love going to the library and we go once a week. I got tired of holding all of their books, so I took them fabric shopping and let them pick out their own fabric. My 7 year old picked the flames. My 5 year old picked Green Lantern. And my 3 year old is obsessed with Batman right now. I didn't follow a tutorial, but I just made a simple lined bag with handles. I punched a hole in their library card and clipped it to a handle with a carabiner. They love their bags and it makes it so we can keep their library books all in once place.

Happy Sewing!

Anisa

Re-do on a Dime Presentation

This past week, my ward asked me if I would do a little presentation on "Re-do on a Dime." It was fun to do the class and it made me get caught up on a few projects that I needed to finish.

This is the display table that I set up. I then went though each item and talked about the technique used to create the item.

• I talked about how to make a simple valance.
• I talked about how to make silhouettes.
• I talked about making art by paper piecing.
• I talked about glazing.
• I talked about spraypainting.
• I talked about making a throw pillow and freezer paper stencil.

One of the big thing that I suggested was decorating the big, expensive things in neutral tones... like your couch, carpet, etc. Then, add the color with paint, accents, throw pillows, curtains, etc. Neutral toned furniture tends to not go out of style as fast. I learned that the hard way by purchasing a few plaid couches that were outdated in just a few years but in very good condition.

-Anisa

Tire Swing Tutorial

In my efforts to keep my kids out of the house... I decided to build a tire swing. My little boy's preschool teacher had one a few years ago and it seemed like a hit at his preschool. We saw a hard plastic one at Home Depot a few weeks ago, but they wanted $65 for it! We decided that we could build one ourselves.
The first thing I did was head to my nearest tire store. I asked them if they had any old tires that I could have (for free). They took me out back and I picked a fairly large one. The 2nd step was to paint it. The nice lady at Home Depot seemed to think that any type of paint would work on rubber. I like the Behr paint that has primer. I wanted something bright. A quart would be plenty for sure. I had a couple of reasons why I wanted to paint it... first, I didn't want the kids turning black from the dirty tire and 2nd I was hoping it would keep it a little bit cooler. (Now, I don't know if the paint will last forever, but that's okay)
The next thing we did was measured the tire's circumference and divide by three. That way we knew where to play our three chains.
We bought 3 U bolts. We drilled holes in the tire to put the bolts through. We cut our 3 chains about 5 feet long. (One thing that I have learned is that the nice employees at Home Depot will cut your chains to length for you). We put the chain through the bolt then secured it to the tire with the nuts on the inside. The bolt comes with a bracket on the back, but we added washers for more strength.

Now, you have a tire with 3 chains coming from it... the top is the tricky part. We wanted our tired to be able to swivel.. that way our kids can make themselves sick spinning in circles. The nice employee at Home Depot was no help. So, my crafty dad came to the rescue and welded me a swivel. Now, if you don't have a super crafty dad, you can visit this site to purchase a ball bearing swivel... or google it and find another site. Or maybe the employees at your Home Depot will be more helpful.



We hung our tire swing from our existing swing set. You could hang it from a large tree or be creative!!! All 3 boys fit on it perfectly and they have created several games that they can play on it. It's been a huge success.... but they still don't like playing on it in 103 degree weather.... please cool down:)

My only concern is that I may need to drill holes in the bottom of the tire for drainage... the sprinklers fill the tire up with water.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Anisa