Movie Theme Birthday Present-Girl Version

When it comes to giving birthday presents for my boys' friends, well I kind of freak out.

I always get a little over wrought with what to get. Do I buy? Do I make? Should I match the gift to the theme of the party (yes, yes I do that sometimes)? What does he or she really like?

Now that my children are getting older and their friends are older, it is even harder to buy for them. Ugh. The worries go on and on.

Then all the time occasionally,  I leave getting the present until the last minute. Gasp. I know, you are all horrified.

This is what happened just this last weekend.

I had put off getting the present. I had no clue what to get our sweet neighbor girl...I mean when is the last time I had to buy anything for a little girl.

Then a couple of hours before the party I had a craft epiphany.

Gotta love getting those.

I would do a movie themed gift based on the theme of her party...a Smurfday Birthday.

I rushed to The Mart.

Miracles of miracles, they not only had the fabric I wanted BUT they also had a little movie that would go with it.

I rushed home with my fabric, the movie, and some popcorn with an hour to spare before the party started.

I ran in the house, breezing swiftly past Hubby. At his look of confusion, I shouted over my shoulder while hustling to my sewing table, "I am going to sew a pillow case for her present!"

I decided to ignore his "of course ya are" with accompanying laughter.

Before I knew it, I had one very Smurftastic pillow case.

Isn't it lovely?

Pillow cases are one of the easiest things to sew. Trust me, they really are.

Don't have time to make one. Well, you could even buy an already made character themed pillow case and match that with a movie.

Seriously all you need is a pillow case, a coordinating movie, and some bags of microwave popcorn.

Put it all together in a basic bag. Add some ribbon and maybe even some scraps of left over character fabric and you have an instantly cute gift.

Easy Peasy gift that is super fun to get.

Stay tuned for the boy version later today...

Father's Day Kid's Art T-Shirts

Father's Day is um...yeah, tomorrow. Sharing a last minute idea with you...trust me it is easy enough to pull off today if you need a last minute gift. It has been a last minute kind of week around here.

Hubby has been warned not to ruin his surprise and read this post. All of you who are not Hubby...

READ ON.

I am still working on a gift or two...however, my kids stepped up their game and got their presents all done. Okay, so maybe I helped a little. Still don't think that counts as my gift though. Don't worry I have got myself some cool ideas. Now I just need to try and find the time. Bean might make that hard.

So I came across this method of transferring a drawing onto a t-shirt and I was pretty excited to try it. The secret...

SANDPAPER.

Say what?!?

Yup sandpaper.

Here is what you will need to gather:

t-shirts (white does show the drawing the best)
fine grit sandpaper
good crayons
parchment paper
iron

Have your kiddos draw a picture on the gritty side of the sandpaper. Make sure to tell them to press super hard. For little hands I would go over their drawings after they are done.

Let them draw what they want...

Balloons. People.

Master of the Dark Side.

Or even a famous phrase said by dear old dad.

Remember that the drawing or words will need to be transposed if you want them to show up the right way. My boys' drawings were fine as drawn except for the words on Middle's which I helped him right backwards.

Once the kids are done with their drawings, place the sandpaper with the drawing side down on the shirt where you want the image to be.

Place a piece of parchment paper over the sandpaper and then run an iron firmly over the sandpaper, with the iron on the cotton setting. Make sure to iron thoroughly in order for the drawing to transfer over completely.

After the image is transferred over, place a paper towel over the image and run an iron over it again to remove extra wax. Then run it in the dryer for 20 minutes to set.

When you wash it for the first time, was alone.

Hope this last minute idea helps you out.

Ron Swanson T-shirt Tutorial

We just had a pretty rockin' Ron Swanson Birthday party in these parts.

One of the presents was this Ron Swanson T-shirt.

It was SO easy to make, and it complemented the party perfectly. This isn't the first time I have given personalized t-shirts as gifts. I love making them! They are so much fun and can be a really unique gift for that special person in your life.

SO if you know a Ron Swanson fan...gather up some supplies and whip out this fast and easy Ron Swanson t-shirt.

You will need:

freezer paper for stenciling
exacto knife
Ron Swanson print-off

I used this image found here.

Download the image on to your computer. Insert into a word document. Then print off.

fabric paint

craft brush

t-shirt
iron
hair dryer

First, place the Ron Swanson print-off underneath a piece of freezer paper. Trace the outline.

Cut out with an exacto knife. Remember, slow and steady is the best way to be precise.

Once your image is cut out, lay the t-shirt out flat on an ironing board. Pick where you want the image to be. Iron the freezer paper stencil in place...yes it will stay. AHMAZING.

Place a piece of cardboard between the layers of the shirt so that the paint doesn't bleed through.

Slowly apply paint to the t-shirt. Apply lightly at first, then go back an apply more. Make sure to be careful around edges to avoid bleeding.

You can let it set for 4 hrs...but who wants to do that??

Plug in your handy dandy blow dryer and speed up that process.

Once it is completely dry, peel away the freezer paper.

Bam! You now have a pretty awesome Ron Swanson t-shirt.

Wear it OR fold it up, wrap it up, and give it away as the most awesome gift ever.

Harry Potter Firebolt Tutorial

Another Harry Potter Party installment today.

One of the classes we had at Hogwarts was our flying class. Of course to be a legit Wizard or Witch one must have a broom and know how to fly that broom.

So I made up a broom for each party guest. They were really easy to make and fairly inexpensive. I was glad I made them when I saw seven excited wizards flying excitedly around my house.

So do you want to make your own?

Easy peasy.

Here is what you need to gather up-

5/8" dowels (found mine at The Mart)
brown spray paint
packing brown paper or brown paper bags
heavy duty tape...either duct or packing tape
yellow felt
hot glue

I had originally planned on using brown paper bags, which are free at a lot of grocery stores. Then I remembered we had tons of this brown packing paper left over from moving so I used that instead.

I gathered my dowels and spray painted them. You will have to do it in shifts in order to get each side of the dowel and also complete coverage.

I cut strips out of the brown paper.

Since I used the packing paper I had really long strips, so I cut them into shorter strips about 12-14".

I started about 3-4" up from the bottom of my broom. Then I layered several strips all the way around the stick twice. I taped the top of the strips securely in place.

Then I went up just a little and repeated the layering paper process all over again until it was full enough. Then I taped that layer in place. Make sure all the strips are completely secure. It can be hard to catch all the strips.

Repeat with all the brooms.

Plug in your hot glue gun and git 'er warmin' up.

Then cut out strips of yellow felt 2" wide and however long. It won't really matter because you will wrap and cut as you go.

Wrap and glue the felt in place making sure to cover the tape.

Repeat with all the brooms.

There ya have it. You have a firebolt for each of your guests.

Get ready for some flying and wizarding fun!

Have a great Tuesday Friends!!

10 Points to Gryffindor

I have just over a week until Oldest's Harry Potter party. Yikes! I am slowly plugging along with some small projects for the Wizarding fest we will be having. SLOWLY. Like S-L-O-W-L-Y.

This weeks agenda had the gathering of supplies, the final lists, the making of robes (which have turned out more like vests...I will show you later and explain), and the making of these patches for the front of the robe/vest...aka robest or vestobe is you prefer.

This is a WAY simplified version of the actual patch that was on the robes, but let's face it these were WAY easier to make and cheaper than ordering patches. So with that being said, I am thrilled with how they turned out AND I only lost some of my hair and eye sight cutting out and sewing on the tiny lions!

Now all I have to do is finish the rest of the robes (I only have 3 completely done...there might be a few more) and attach the Gryffindor patches.

Did I say that was all I had to do? Hahaha...wishful thinking I guess!

Continue the Harry Potter mania by heading over to Blue Cricket Design. I have a contributing post over there today for a how-to on this fun invite.

See ya tomorrow everyone for another Pinteresting Saturday!

Canvas and Fabric Decorating-Baby's Room

8 weeks until our newest Little Man should make his debut. That might seem like a long time...believe me there are days/minutes/seconds where I feel that. THEN I start looking at my legen....wait for it...dary to-do list and I realize 8 weeks is not  that long.

This week I got a couple things accomplished for his new room. I painted canvases and made embroidery hoops cute by  adding coordinating fabric.

Both of these projects were super easy and fairly fast.

Of course once I found all the fabric, the planning could begin. I was so happy when I finally went to a store here in town that was rumored to sell home fabric...you know the kind on the giant rolls...for super cheap.

Jackpot!

Can you just imagine, home fabric for anywhere from 4.99-9.99 a yard? Say what? Yeah it is true.

Isn't it all so lovely.

This is the curtain material. I got 6 yards of this cute print for just over 30 bucks. Again, I must say it...

JACKPOT!

The curtain material is where I started coordinating all the other fabric.

Some of the fabric is going in hoops. I am adding more sizes of hoops to these soon.

This is one of my favorite fabrics and is inspiring the accessories of white elephants.

I also decided to use my handy dandy, always in stock, canvases to make some more wall art.

I simply gathered my canvases and taped off the edges with painters tape.

I picked out some coordinating craft paint.

I painted my canvases with 2 coats. Then I removed the painters tape.

Next I used white vinyl and my Silhouette and cut out a chevron pattern for one. The first letter of new baby's name for another...

and then of course a white elephant on the biggest canvas.

I LOVE the colors together.

I am getting so excited. Middle and Littlest's room is all done. Oldest's is SO close. Newest's room is on its way.

This room is going to be so sweet and hopefully ready just in time for our sweet new Little Man.