Book Themed Bridal Shower

Before my cousin's wedding, we had a bridal shower.  It made complete sense to use the decorations I had been working on for the wedding to decorate for the shower.

Here is an overall view.  We hung the fabric garland and one of the banners on the window.

We used one of the table center piece groupings on the table.

 And we used one of the table runners we had made out of music book pages.

We just had a variety of sweets for dessert and for party favors, we put a few chocolates in a small cellophane bag topped with a doily and some ribbon.

 It was really quite convenient to use the same decor for both:)

Look up! Stake Relief Society Women's Conference {hot air balloon theme}

This past weekend I had the opportunity to decorate for our Stake Women's Conference.  I was told that the theme was "Look Up" and that I needed to decorate for 28 tables. 

When people walked into the building, I had a display table in the doorway with clouds hanging above it, a hot air balloon on the table...

and this printable that I bought from Paper Canoe Printables on Etsy.  

I changed the colors of the printable to match the color scheme I had picked out for the conference and I changed the text on the picture.

When you walked into the gym and "looked up" you saw over 100 tissue paper pompom clouds hanging from the ceiling.... actually, they weren't hanging from the ceiling.  The ceilings in our church are really high.  In order to hang them, I had to string fishing line across the gym from the ledge.  Then, we hung the clouds from the fishing line.  The pompoms were made using a tutorial similar to this one.

In the center of each table was a hot air balloon.

To make these, I started with strawberry baskets from Orchard Valley Supply Co.  (no specific reason why I bought them from there... they were cheap and I didn't have to order more than 50.  However, the shipping cost more than the baskets and I wasn't thrilled with that.) I hot glued 18" wooden dowels in the corners of the basket.  Then I tied baker's twine from Pick Your Plum to the top of the wooden dowels.  The first row of twine was tight to hold the lantern in place.  The 2nd and 3rd rows were draping.  Then I embellished with ribbon, paper flowers, etc.  I also put some sort of trim around the basket.  My amazing mother in law made the flower arrangements in the baskets (all flowers were purchased from The Dollar Tree).  To top them off, we put 12" paper lanterns from the Paper Lantern Store.  I did not glue the lanterns on so that they would come apart easily for storage.

This is what the tables looked like all set.

Here are a couple of pictures of the overall look of the gym.

I couldn't not have a banner... I just have to have banners.  So, we put a corkboard behind the podium to attach the banner to.

And here is a close-up view of the simple banner I made using my Silhouette Cameo.

This was a big project... but a lot of fun.  I had some awesome friends that helped me.  My mother-in-law was the biggest help!  And she is super talented!!!

Pinewood Derby

I realized that I never posted the Pinewood Derby last year, so I thought I would post a little of both years.

We basically used a checkerboard theme for our derby.  We were able to find a few things at the dollar store and the rest of the stuff I made.

We hung a few flags on the doors coming into the gym.  These larger flags were found at the dollar store.

Around the track, we set up a barricade.  We didn't want the kids getting near the track.  We got small cones.  We actually taped them to the ground. Then, we taped the flags all along the track.  To make them, I just found a checkerboard clipart and made b/w copies on cardstock.

 For centerpieces, I made a few fans/pinwheels.  I had made the blue and gold ones for a blue/gold banquet a few years ago... they come in really handy for all cub scout functions.  For the pinewood derby, I added a checkerboard one.

We used a few of them on the food table along with the larger banner from the dollar store.

 I made these trophies last year.  I spray-painted a car gold, silver and bronze.  I painted a 2x4 block blue.  The plaque in the front I just made in photoshop.  I got it laminated and nailed it on there with small nails to make it look more like a real trophy plaque.

 I put our pack # and the year on the trophy.

 I had a good time making signs and awards.  These are all items I made last year.  I made a wide variety of awards so that every boy could get one.  (I am so sorry, but I can not find my list of awards... there were some really creative ones.)

 I did not get pictures of these, but we had a weigh-in table.  This table had a scale, graphite, tools to fix cars, etc.  The boys checked in their cars...

...Then the placed them on the checked-in table.  On this table, I had black paper plates to put their cars on.

I also had a name card for the boys to write the name of their car.

 We had all the boys and family members vote for "best of show" at this table.

Then, the races began....

I hope you find some of this stuff helpful.  Everything I made was in Photoshop Elements, please feel free to email me if you would like any of the files.  anisascholes at gmail dot com

Neon Laser Tag {Birthday Party}

My crazy little wild child turned 8!  He is my most spirited child... always wants to play... always wants to be outside.  He loves color and he really wanted a laser tag party.  So I decided to do a Neon Target theme for his party.

The invitations were designed in Photoshop Elements.  I found a target png online and used that for everything.

We began the party by handing out glow bracelets and necklaces to all of the kids.  Then, we loaded them in the car and had my hubby take them to Laser Mania (Our local laser tag place).

While they were gone, I had time to get the house all cleaned up, decorated and ready for the rest of the party.

They came home to a house that looked like this...

I bought a black light at Home Depot and made all of the decorations out of neon paper.  I also bought balloons at Walmart that had LED lights in them.

This is what it looked like with the lights on.  The center of the banner was designed in Photoshop Elements and then printed at Costco photo.  I then cut two layers of neon circles for the outside and strung it up with neon ribbon.  I had jars of glow sticks on the dresser along with the cake and the party favors.

I also made this cute target centerpiece.  The pinwheels are easy to make.   You just accordion fold the paper and hook it to itself.  Then you glue a circle in the center to hold it all together.  My hubby had just given me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas, so I got to use that to cut out the targets in the middle.

I made a pizza shaped like a target for dinner.

And after dinner, they had cake...

and the birthday boy got to blow out his candles...

Here's a cheesy picture with the cake...

After cake and ice cream, he opened presents... and I sent the kids home with party favors...

Inside the favor boxes were neon gummy worms, a neon slinky and...

neon target charms that I made from Fizzy Pops.  The kit includes the bottle cap charms and the clear bubble stickers that you put over the top.  I designed the targets and got them printed on photo paper at Costco.

Priesthood Preview

My calling in my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is in the Primary.  I work with the kids from age 3-12.  At the end of the year, we are asked to hold a special night for the boys who will be turning 12.  It is called the Priesthood Preview.  The boys listened to talks about the importance of the priesthood.  We had a musical number and then had refreshments.

I had seen ideas (and talked to people) about doing a "tie" theme.  So, I found an idea on Little Birdie Secrets for a shirt and tie invitation.  

Then I got to work on the decor.  I wanted to make a tie banner.  I was debating on making it out of paper ties.  But, when I got on Pinterest and did a little searching, I came across this tie wreath... and I had to make it!  I asked friends for ties and got WAY more than I needed.  

To make the wreath, I simply cut a circle out of a cardboard box... I'm cheap.  Then, I cut the tied and hot-glued them around the wreath (overlapping slightly).  I tied one tie in a boy and glued it on.  Then glued a string on the back to hang it. 

To make the banner, I used the left over tied and cut them in half.  I cut the cut off tie back into a point and hot-glued the layers together.  Then, I folded over the top half and sewed it so that I could easily slip the ties onto a ribbon.

We thought it would be a great idea to just serve donuts and hot chocolate for refreshments.  I wanted the Oath and Covenant of the priesthood displayed but couldn't find a poster.  So, I wrote it on the chalk board!

 I also had some left-over Halloween candy that I put in glass jars... with a small child's tie around one of the jars.

We have a great group of boys!!!

Map Mania... going global {parties}

I love maps... it's kind of the "in" thing right now.... or at least one of the "in" things.  I decorated my classroom with globes and map paper and I am always finding ways to use my maps.

Well, I saw this adorable Airplane party on Pinterest awhile back.  My cousin, Libby, was applying for flight attendant jobs... and I wanted to do a party like this for her when she got her job.  Well, she got the job!  So I got to plan a party...  However, in the mean time, I also wanted to have a dinner for all of the people who had helped babysit, drive carpool, etc. for my preschooler while I worked.  I loved the map stuff so much that I thought I'd find a way to incorporate it for both parties.

I came up with the "extra mile" idea.  This is the invitation I designed.

For the party we had foods that were from different countries around the world.  I used my super cute Pick Your Plum chalk board labels to label the country the food was from.  We put the (American) hot dog and hamburger buns in a vintage suit case.

I cut map paper into 12x12 squares and laminated them for placemats.  I used my cute paper bags from Pick Your Plum to hold the utensils.  The center pieces were either suitcases, globes or brown paper packages wrapped with twine.

For games, I found games from around the world.  I have included printables of the games HERE.  The favorite was "pass the parcel."  In the parcel, I wrapped tiny squirt guns from the dollar store for each kid.  They had a blast!

Then it was time for Libby's party.  We love to have family bbq's in Kanarraville.  In fact, we are renting our grandma's home as a vacation rental.  If interested, visit this site.

Libby found out she was going to be stationed in Chicago and would be moving there.  So, instead of doing a "global" theme, we had Chicago style hot dogs and potluck.

We had the same games and centerpieces, and decor.... despite the gale force winds that kept blowing things off the tables.

 My cousin's garage is the perfect backdrop for parties.

And it works great for pictures of me with my girl cousins:)

 And, of course, I had to serve peanuts... and peanut butter cookies.

thanks for stopping by:)