Gio's Birthday Invites (Nightmare Before Christmas)

Giovanni is turning 4 next month :)

And this made me jump a little! Jeez, I need to get going on his party supplies!
This year, he decided on the theme "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Remembering how the film made a HUGE comeback during my high school years (Hot Topic was basically a Tim Burton tribute store), I figured, "No problem!" Well... it's been almost 10 years since high school, and apparently TNBC isn't as popular as it once was.

Not that I have a shortage of online stores to find merchandise.. everything from beanies to keychains to bobbleheads. And even the same shoelaces I wore during my freshman year of high school.

BUT NO PARTY SUPPLIES. The only ones I can find have been on eBay, going for ridiculous prices. Really? I don't think I want to pay more than $50 on cake plates that will be smeared with frosting and tossed in the trash. No thanks.

Instead, I have slowly but surely been accumulating pieces for his party. I decided to stick with a black and white (and somewhat purple) striped theme, using the characters as accents for the party. The showpiece will be the cake.

My first purchases were from The TomKat Studio. I went with the black and white striped theme, purchasing the cups, party favor bags, plates, straws, and baking cups for the kids invited. These will not serve as cupcake wrappers but as cups for little hands to store crackers, pretzels, and popcorn. I purchased plain black and white napkins, balloons, and streamers as well as extra plates and napkins. I decided on purple tablecloths and extra balloons for a little color, albeit a very Tim Burton "color."

I handmade Gio's invitations, because I couldn't really find anything I liked online. I wanted to do something kind of grandiose as this theme is somewhat gothic. I chose to do a tri-fold invitation. I first used a textured black paper found at Michael's, cutting them in half "hamburger" style. then I measured and folded them over twice so as to create flaps. I then used a black and white striped scrapbooking paper I found at Joann's. I measured out the middle space of the invites, and used double-sided tape (one of my FAVORITE inventions, along with hot glue) to secure the paper onto the invite. I then printed an image I found and modified in Photoshop of Jack Skellington. I liked how his pose is very inviting! I again measured it out, and secured it on top of the black and white paper. My last step was downloading The Nightmare Before Christmas font. I used this to type up the details of the party and printed it on vellum purchased at Joann's. After cutting those, I used the same double-sided tape to secure it to the picture of Jack. I folded over the flaps and used a black, glittery adhesive shape (I went with round but they have all kinds of shapes) purchased at Michael's to close the invite.

I am posting a picture of the finished invitations. Check back often as I will be posting other TNBC supplies I am handcrafting for the party!

Stepping Stone- Mother's Day Gift

 I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day :)

This year, I didn't have the resources to hand make something for every mother in my family. So instead, I purchased a lemon tree for my mom (something she's always talking about and has always wanted). I did decide to make a little something for my husband's grandmother, the matriarch of his family.

We went to Michael's and purchased one of those "make your own stepping stone" type box deals. It came with letters and numbers to press into the cement once it was drying, and some random brightly colored mosaic pieces of glass. I didn't care for the mosaic that came with the package, so I purchased 2 bags of the square glass tiles that Michael's carries separately (in the same section.. pretty much just look for a "mosaic" section).

We decided to do a hand print of our son Gio into the middle, with mosaic glass tiles around the edges. Gio, being very much opinionated at this age, took it upon himself to choose a footprint instead. This is, after all, a "stepping" stone. Smart kid.

We decided to make the stepping stone with Kevin's grandma, to make it a sort of group effort. She likes crafty things as well, so it was fun. After carefully following the directions, we mixed the concrete, poured it into the provided mold, and let it sit for 30 minutes before pressing the tiles around the edges and Gio's foot into the middle. There was a lot of water on the surface, even after letting it set, and after blotting it with paper towels (multiple times.. over multiple hours). We assume the weather affected the cement and would have had better, faster results if we had used less water. Oh well, we let it dry almost overnight before pressing the numbers and letters, and the tiles and footprint held up just fine.

The cement at the bottom started to separate from the tiles, due to moving it and checking on it many times. If it had dried quicker, we wouldn't have had to keep moving the dang thing around! But alas. Once it was dry enough the next day, I used a brass brush to clean the tiles. Brass bristles will not scratch glass, so this was a good option. It also seemed to smooth out the actual top of the cement, which created a nice clean looking surface.

We left before it had sit for 48 hours and we could remove it from the mold. I did, however get a good picture of the finished product. I may update once it is removed and placed in gravel in the yard. This was a fun project to do because everyone could get involved, including Gio (he even helped press the tiles in).

Summer Backyard Lanterns (Recycled Materials)

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a "conservative hoarder." I have not crossed over into the territories of the hit television show, but if I think I can use something again- I'm saving it.

Hence, my giant box full of old scrap clothing and materials. I have found everything from my 5th grade graduation skirt to an entire hoodie jacket made of mesh (oh, glorious goth days of yore!)

Well, it was time to really put these puppies to use. I was sick of having idea after idea, yet no actual finished product to prove to my husband that he is putting up with boxes of old crap for all these years for a reason :)

I stumbled across a picture of a string of "lanterns", made entirely of clear plastic cups and recycled fabric. Finally, I found my inspiration! (Well, finally I had the time to follow through on something!) All I needed were the plastic cups, everything else I had. After hitting the 99 Cent store, I was ready to go.

I started by cutting a plastic cup down one side and removing the bottom. This allowed me to flatten out the sides of the cup and trace it along a piece of regular white printer paper. I had my template. I then placed the template on each piece of fabric I chose to use for the lanterns. I tried to find "bohemian" styled clothing I had collected through the years. This reminds me of summer, and I wanted to go with an outdoor lantern string as opposed to an indoor lantern string as was my original inspiration.

After cutting enough pieces to cover each plastic cup, I then placed hot glue along one side of each cup. This part you must be careful with, because if you get the tip of the glue gun too close to the cup it will melt the plastic. Also, the hot glue makes the plastic hot on the inside too, and pressing the fabric over it can make the fabric hot. In general, be careful not to burn yourself and do not let small children help with this part.

Easy as pie! Now, I realized you just cut an "X" on the bottom of each cup to push a light through after I had already cut off all of the bottoms. Oops. I then had to hot glue the string of lights to each individual lantern (with the much appreciated help of Holly). Learn from my mistake. Do NOT cut off the bottoms of the cups!! A simple cut across each way would have saved us almost 2 hours.

Et, voila! My lanterns, successfully hanging across Holly's back patio space. There will be more outdoor summer patio crafts to come. This was my kick-start. The pictures don't do justice to how cool these really look in person, but you get the picture. The first photo is the original inspiration, the last is my finished product.