Project Handmade Christmas Presents: Avengers Hand Puppets

Ridiculous.

It is ridiculous, how much I am in love with these puppets.

If you have been around here for a bit, you know I am a mom to all boys. Boys who are kind of obsessed with superheros.

I had the idea for these puppets over a year ago. Confession time...The Hulk and Ironman have actually been sitting on my sewing table waiting to be sewn for that year. No excuse, I just didn't follow through with my brain child.

Until now that is...

I finally got a set of Avengers Hand Puppets designed and sewn for this year's Project Handmade Christmas Presents.

I chose to make the main four Avengers.

Everyone's favorite soldier- Captain America

An Almighty God of Thunder- Thor

A genius billionaire turned superhero- Ironman

A gamma ray rage monster- The Hulk

I love each and every one of them. I just couldn't pick a favorite.

Okay maybe I can. These two might make me clap-my-hands-giggle kind of happy.

Thor and that cape. That hat. Goosh.

Captain America and those head wings. Those stars and stripes.

Okay, so here is the part where you can't be mad at me. I am not offering a free pattern for these puppets. My goal is to make this into a pattern to sell in the future.

So I am sorry for the little tease.

But look for a pattern soonish.

But I hope just seeing these makes you as happy as it does me.

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A Pinteresting Wednesday: Avengers Tee

Don't forget to go and enter the Flirt Earring GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to another A Pinteresting Wednesday  where I share a project or tip I have recently done and crossed off one of my Pinterest boards.

This Avengers Tee idea from Cheri and I am Momma has been sitting on my Projects to Do board for almost a year. I can't believe it sat there for so long.

This is why I started A Pinteresting Wednesday people! There are so many great ideas that are sitting there waiting to be tried and accomplished.

I am so happy that this is the pin that got crossed off this week.

So is he.

Middle LOVES the Avengers. He was even partied it up for his birthday Avenger style.

In her tutorial she provides the image. I just had to save it to my computer. She used her Silhouette to cut out a stencil on freezer paper. I used my Silhouette to cut the image out of flocked t-shirt vinvyl (which I get from Expressions Vinyl).

I had to manipulate and change the images slightly to get them to cut out cleanly. Now I have the saved image and can make Avengers shirts for my other Little Men, who of course requested them upon sight of Middle's.

It is pretty rockin'.

Perfect for my own fierce little superhero.

Thanks Cheri for the image and the idea!

One pin down and only 2,857 left...hahaha until I pin something else in two minutes.

HULK Smash: Avengers Birthday Party

This was the favorite game at our Avengers party. The HULK Smash.

The game's existence was rumored and anticipated by several of the boys. When they came in and saw the cardboard buildings, they knew what was coming.

Even in the presence of eminent danger, we had to hold our Hulks off until the other games had been played.

Thank heavens the city-taking-over little monsters didn't do too much damage while our Hulks played other games.

Then it was time for our Hulks to avenge the city.

Since we aren't crazy and didn't want complete chaos, we had one Hulk smash one building at a time. To make it fair we had numbered the boxes buildings. Each Hulk got his own building to smash. He was cheered on by the other Hulks.

They punched, kicked, and jumped on those buildings until they were a squashed heap on the floor.

Not only was this the most enjoyed game, but it was a pretty easy one to put together.

I gathered boxes for months. Closer to the party I painted all the boxes with a cheap house paint. I also cut rectangles from black and yellow paper for windows. I very haphazardly taped them on. Somewhat instant buildings.

Then in a matter of minutes they were happily pummeled.

Nothing like 7 boys smashing buildings!

Ahh, good times.

Avenger Assemble: Birthday Party

First, for all my American readers today is the day. GO AND GET YOUR VOTE ON.

Avengers Assemble.

Totally.

Assemble they did. Birthday party it up they did.

This was a fun, if not slightly stressful party to throw. I had ideas about what I wanted to do right away. Middle totally approved and was only too helpful to come up with more ideas.

Party ideas, check.

Party colors picked, check.

Now, like the Avengers, I just had to assemble. Whew! Everything got done, and Captain America had a successful birthday party.

Here is a little run down of our Supertastic Avengers Birthday Party.

                        

The main table was decorated with Marvel Avenger comic fabric. I made a simple banner from paint cards. I chose the colors I wanted. Then I simply ran them through my machine and sewed them together.

I chose to buy gumballs and Sixletes in the main party colors: green, blue, red, and gray.

One of my favorite things is the cardboard box buildings in the background. I made the ones on the table and several more for one of the party games...which I will talk about in just a sec...

The cardboard boxes were gathered over weeks and just stored happily in my garage. I bought a low-end cheap house paint from The Mart in a stone gray color. I covered the boxes with a couple of coats. I also cut out windows in yellow and black paper. Then with the help of little hands, I taped on all of the windows.

Besides the store bought candy, I also made Rice Crispie Treat Pops.

One of the highlights of the party were these Avenger felt masks.

I got the idea for these masks HERE. I didn't follow her template, I just kind of winged it. For me that worked out just peachy. I did have to stare at the picture of the Thor mask quite a bit. I am surprised I didn't go blind.

The potential loss of eye sight was totally worth it, because the boys loved the masks.

These Thor Pez dispensers were also quite a hit.

Besides the main treat table, there was another treat station.

I brought up the red dresser from my boys' room. I continued with the color theme, of course. I pretty much have a problem!

I displayed the comic book letters. 

I opted out of doing a cake. In years past I have gone nuts making big old creative cakes. However, we always have way to much cake left over. So I made a simple vanilla flavored cupcake, frosted it with a light and fluffy buttercream frosting, and topped it with Sixlets.

Easy peasy and totally cute.

I decorated the room we played all our games in with hand painted posters totally copied from these postcard prints I LOVED.

The party games were rowdy and fun. 

The boys flew around our cardboard buildings in a timed obstacle course like Iron Man.

They also armed themselves with their cardboard Captain America shield and protected themselves from the enemy.

Next was the Thor hammer toss.

They each got their own hammer thanks to toilet paper tubes, small boxes, and lots and lots of duct tape.

They really enjoyed throwing their hammer (one at a time of course) at a running Loki (Hubby).

BUT, the best game...

The game that they all loved...The game that caused the most rowdiness...The game that they had a hard time coming down from...

...well that was the game that involved our cardboard buildings, some green gloves, and a little bit of unbridled anger...

HULK smash.

Nothing like embracing your inner HULK. I will share a little bit more about the favorite party game tomorrow.

We certainly had an Avenger-tastic afternoon.

The best part of the party was the birthday boy's smile.

That is all I needed for this party to be a success.

Rice Crispie Treat Pops

We just had an Avengers party over here.

I am hoping to have all my photo edited and ready to show you by Monday. Costumes are done and Halloween is over, so the chances are a lot better now.

Today I am sharing just one little bit of the party. I am showing you these Rice Crispie Treat Pops.

Cake pops are all the rage. Unfortunately, I seem slightly inept at making the oh-so-awesome cake pops. I can't roll them smooth enough. The sticks never stay put. Then the chocolate goes on haphazardly. Hours later I am nothing short of miffed. How does the famous Bakerella do it? I bow down to her awesomeness.

So from cake pop frustration, these Rice Crispie Treat Pops were born.

So easy. So pretty. So yummy!

For about 20 pops, here is what you will need:

6 cups rice cereal
1 bag mini marshmallows
4 Tablespoons butter
2 bags candy melt chocolate
food coloring
straws

Melt the marshmallows with the butter for 1 minute at 50 percent power. Stir. Repeat for 30 seconds at a time until melted.

Have cereal in a bowl set aside waiting for it's dear friend melted mallow.

Pour that melted mallow over the cereal.

Mix well. Press the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.

The rice cereal mallow mixture needs to set up for 20-30 minutes. Long enough to be set up, but short enough to still be soft and pliable.

While you are waiting, gather some extra lovely and especially awesome straws.

Cut them in half.

Now that the cereal treat is ready, take a small palm full. Please feel free to ignore my E.T. hand. Just focus on the yummy cereal goodness.

Place a straw in the center of your palm full of treat. Mold the cereal around the straw into a ball shape. Press firmly so that the cereal/mallow adheres to the straw.

Place them on a sheet of waxed paper to set up for several hours.

Forgive me for not having pictures for the next couple of steps. I was half out of my mind trying to get all the party stuff ready and seemed to forget I needed pictures.

So just picture it with me...

Melt your chocolate according to the package. I did one bag at a time. When one bag of chocolate was completely melted, I divided it into two bowls.

I used Wilton food coloring with the best results. Simply add some into the chocolate and stir.

Once the color was right, I dipped the bottom of the Rice Crispie Treat Pop into the chocolate. I used a spatula to help cover the pop a little more and to help smooth the surface out better.

Repeat with the other bag of chocolate and the other colors (that is if you are a nut bar like me and did four colors).

Let set up for a few hours.

Now they are ready.

Lovely.

They keep for about 24 hours uncovered. In an air tight container they keep for several more days.

Look for more Avengers fun next week.

A Pinteresting Wednesday: Comic Book Letters and An Eye Update

Welcome to another A Pinteresting Wednesday!

T minus three days.

Then we are going to be getting our party on, Avengers style.

My to-do list is about one third done, but a couple of late nights and we'll git er' done.

When I saw this etsy shop, I knew I wanted to add this idea to my Avengers Party Pinterest Board.

                              

via HERE

I loved the idea making letters decoupaged with comic book pages.

However, it was quite a bit harder to find comic book pages than I had anticipated. Short of buying new comic books, I realized using actual comic book pages might not be possible.

With one last effort I decided to look at JoAnn Fabric.

BAM! Found what I wanted.
 

Fabric that looked like comic book pages. PLUS I am pretty sure I spent less money on the fabric than I would have on an actual comic.

Love it when I save money.

I loved how the letters turned out.

 

Using some handy dandy Mod Podge, I glued on scraps of the material on to paper mache letters.

I actually think that the fabric was easier to work with than paper.

After the party, Middle is excited to use these letters in his room.

I am freaking a little bit about how much more I still have to do to make this party happen, but what will be will be.

Now a little update on my sweet cross-eyed Little.

His glasses came, and it is official...

He is the cutest Smarty Pants ever.

These new glasses will be a pretty permanent fixture in his life. For who knows how long he will have to wear these all day long. For two hours of those days he will also have to wear a patch over his good eye under the glasses.

So far he has been a trooper. He wears his patch happily. See-

Wearing his itty bitty glasses I know will be hard for him, but I am sure soon enough they will be such a fixture that he probably won't even notice them.

Thanks for all of your kind words and well wishes for Little in his new adventure.