A Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday

 Wow, sorry that I have been a little non-existent on the blog here for the last couple of weeks.  I had my daughter's 3rd birthday over this last weekend and I had invitations, party favors, craft projects, and a cake to make for it...all at the last minute of course!  Seriously, I saved most of it till the week of for some reason....no idea why!  But now that it is over, I need to get back into some normal crafting...although I promised some graduation announcements for my nephew...so I better not procrastinate on those!!


So I thought I would share with you today all that I have been doing...all to make a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party as special as my sweet little girl!  This is a long post, so grab a cup of coffee (at least that is what I need right now!) and enjoy.  First I made the invitations.  Since I was running way later than I would prefer, I kept them very simple. Most of it was designed on the computer and then I added the stamped/embossed/colored Mickey Mouse on top.  Again nothing spectacular but I thought they turned out cute.


Then came the party favors.  See I follow Jessica Witty's blog (she is the amazing former Go-To Gal for Paper Crafts magazine whom I have actually chatted with via FB...my brush with fame! hehe!) and she did this adorable project during a Papertrey Ink release of a paper mache hot air balloon.  Well when I decided to do Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as the theme for my daughter's party, I immediately thought back to that project and how I could transform it into the Mickey Glove Balloon from the show.  Yah....fantastic idea...one I definitely should have started weeks before the party...one that I started the week of the party.  I blew up some latex gloves, taped down the pinky finger (Mickey only has 4 fingers), taped on a paper ring on the bottom, and paper mached it with tissue paper and gluey water.  Near the end I was sort of cursing Miss Jessica's name (really I still love her) as paper mache is a very time consuming process for 7 party favors!  After I paper mached them, I paint them white and added the black marks like Mickey's glove.  All of this would have been fine and dandy really until I decided to pop one of the "balloons" too early (i.e. before it was completely dry) and it imploded!  Mind you I only had exactly 7 gloves to work with!  Thankfully my husband was smart enough to think about blowing up a small regular balloon inside to get it to blow back up, we re-glued it, and let it dry for days...just to be sure!  Again all during the week of the party.


I then built a paper basket and glued it all together with some cookie pop sticks.  I printed all of the kids names out and attached them to the basket.  Then I filled the basket with the silly little trinket toys that kids love and parents hate!  My kids have loved them...they put animals and figures in the basket and fly them around.


Next up was the cake.  Of course I had to make the cake into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!  I did my typical research online when thinking up a cake...to see what others have done.  No sense in re-creating the wheel!  But alas, as I have often found, a lot of others use Fondant to create a lot of cool stuff.  I do not know how to use fondant nor do I like the taste of it.  So I took some of the ideas and came up with my cake.  The base is two 9 x 13 cakes and the Clubhouse body is a cake made in a bowl that was the roundest one I had.  The shoe, head and ears, and the slide are all made from Rice Krispie Treats.  This is where the challenge was.  One, the ears did not want to stay on the head.  Two, warmth makes the ears not want to stay on the head even more.  So there was 4 toothpicks in each ear holding them in place and I frosted quickly and threw them in the fridge so they wouldn't fall off...again!  I got a little smarter with the slide and stuck it in the freezer for a little bit before I tried to frost it.  

 

 I normally would have tried to smooth out all of my frosting, but due to the warmth / things falling off issue, I decided against it cuz I didn't want to mess with them anymore than I had to!  I kind of like the look though...kind of artsy looking...or am I just making myself feel better?!  The circles around the sides of the base were to mimic the circles on the invitation.  That Mickey Mouse head was heavy...didn't really think a big ball of Rice Krispie treats would be that heavy, but it was!  I had to walk very, very slowly when carrying the cake around because the head was kind of teetering on there a little bit.  I was so nervous it was going to fall off!  But all worked out, and my daughter loved it! 


I will leave you with my big 3 year old girl!  Just now noticed that she has a lovely snotty nose in this picture...ah well, kind of goes with the girl...and I do LOVE the girl!

Wipeout Birthday Cake

So do you watch the television show Wipeout? It is one of our favorites mainly because our son thinks that it is hilarious...well we do too! Basically a bunch of ridiculous obstacles in which you expect the contestants to "wipeout" on and commentators that make it even funnier! One of my son's favorite things to do is to make-up "Wipeout" courses for his Fischer Price Little People including replays, screams, and even some of the witty commentating! He has been doing this ever since this show started...something like 2 years or more. So why not make a "Wipeout" cake for his birthday! So first I asked him what obstacles were some of his favorites and then decided from there what I thought I might be able to actually make. My husband even helped me make one of the obstacles. So without further ado, here are the Wipeout obstacles!

This is the Starting line for the course...where the contestants let out their Wiepout cries! I learned of a technique to mash cake crumbs with some frosting to make a "meatloaf" type consistency and then use that to make into shapes. That is how I made the ramp.

Next up is an obstacle that I cannot remember the name of, but basically the checkered wall has doors that open as the contestants are trying to run past them and then the sweepers are there to make it that much harder (and that much funnier when they wipeout!). My son later told me this was suppose to be a mud obstacle...whoops!

The Banana Hammocks! A fun mud obstacle made from Laffy Taffy formed to make the shape and set on Tootsie roll posts.

The Big Balls...gotta have the Big Balls! I made the big balls with that "meatloaf" combo I mentioned above and coated them in red chocolate. I did not coat the bottoms of the balls though so they kind of sank down on their posts.

The Giant Swings...they have done many combinations of the giant swings on the show, but we just went for the basic one. This is the obstacle my husband put together. The sticks of Pringles Honey Sticks and it is held together with white chocolate.

Here is the top view of the cake. The Starbursts mark the path between the obstacles. I also tried to add some little grass accents around the course and around the bottom of the cake.

It ended up being a lot of cake for us and the little mini party we had for my son, so my husband had to take a huge chunk of it into work. Again a very time-consuming cake, but I will admit it was a lot of fun to make! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Super Mario Cupcakes

I'm back! Last week was a rough week like I anticipated...well actually a little rougher than I thought. I knew I was going to have late nights with the decorating that I was planning, but I didn't realize that my daughter would be sick (and hence not sleeping well) at the same time. So it was fun dealing with a cranky, tired, feverish little girl when I was pretty tired and cranky myself (no fever for me!). But it is done and the cupcakes and cake turned out great! First I will show you the cupcakes I made for my son's classroom...the cake will be in a separate post.

My son loves to watch his Daddy play Super Mario Galaxy. For some reason he refuses to try and play the game himself (anyone else have a child like this...I swear he can be very odd sometimes!), but he LOVES to watch Daddy play, talk about the different Mario worlds, and even draw new Mario worlds. So I thought it would be fitting to make him some Mario themed cupcakes to take into school.

Obviously the Mario and Yoshi ones were the hardest, but since so many colors were used, it was a long night of decorating! I need a couple more of the same decorating tip or something to avoid having to constantly wash the tip everytime I want to change colors. I was smart enough to buy a couple extra decorating bags though which brought me to 4....probably could use some more since I still had to wash bags too while decorating! You can see individual images of the designs below. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Happy Rainbow

Happy St. Patty's Day all! I have my green on today...do you? My son went to school this morning hoping that one of the Kindergarten Leprechaun traps (which was definitely a more parent intensive project!) caught a Leprechaun! Excited to hear what he finds at school when I pick him up. We made some cute little shamrock treats for dessert last night cuz tonight the kids and I eat early due to my son's gymnastics.

Anyway, I am not one to send St. Patty day cards, but I thought this rainbow theme went well with today! Personally I like the cupcake better than the card, so I am showing it first! I made these last year for a Rainbow Party at my son's preschool class. Isn't it awesome! I found the directions in a couple of spots: Family Fun and The Idea Room (she did a Rainbow cake). It was time consuming, but to bite into one of these is so fun with all of those colors!!

The card I made last year as well (obviously forgot to post everything) for a submission to Paper Crafts magazine. A fun card, but I think there is too many clouds or something! And since it was so long ago, no supply list for that one, but I think you can pretty much figure it out.

Well here's hoping for a lucky day (in other words my daughter's cold magically disappears, I somehow get a nap, and my cupcake and cake decorating goes well tonight...oh and that my son caught a Leprechaun...hehe)! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Itching Yet?

Odd title I know...don't worry I will get to it. I normally use the first part of my posts for my "therapy sessions", but knowing it could get a little lengthy with this post, I thought I best put it towards the bottom. So if you want me to make you itch with two little words, read on below!

So leaves can make you itchy...like when you play in the leaves and get them stuck in your bra or underwear...seriously how do they find there way in there?! Imagine hiding in a pile because you were about to turn another year older. That is what I see little Leif doing here....only he isn't so good at it because his tail and horns are sticking out! So cute! Leif along with a sentiment and three leaves is one of the newly released images from Paper Makeup Stamps. For this card I decided to try my hand at a Clean and Simple (CAS) card based on Clean and Simple Challenge #89 on SCS. Basically it was a sketch challenge (which I turned upside down). I colored the stamp directly with markers and used a couple alphabet sets to create my own custom greeting. The inside reads "from your birthday". I gotta tell you that one reason I hate white CAS cards...I can't not get smudges on them...ugh...hopefully you can't seem them too much in the pictures.

So now, let's sit down on the couch and have a chat. Getting back to my title and one of the reasons I have been a little absent in the last week or so. So I bet I can make you instantly itch with two words! Let's give it a try...Head Lice! Yup you probably scratched your head just now. My kids were the lucky receipents of the little bugs...thankfully my husband and I didn't get them too (how I don't know), but we were both convinced that we were infested based on how itchy our heads felt! I am itching again just typing this! We treated them, did what feels like a million loads of laundry, and picked through their heads like gorillas on a nightly basis...but I think we got rid of them without too much trouble.

Then in addition to the head lice, my entire family seems to be in various stages of a cold...my husband actually was determined to have bronchitis. My daughter has sensitive lungs, so as soon as she starts a cold, we immediately need to start breathing treatments to get everything under control. So she was not sleeping well at all last week...like waking up for a couple hours at night...not so good for Mommy and Daddy!

But by the end of the week I finally got to have a little fun. One of my good friend's asked me to decorate a cake for her daughter's 2nd birthday. She bought a white frosted cake from a store and I decorated it with Curious George. I was so very pleased by how it turned out. I was so nervous when I started working on the George part because that was going to either make it or break it...but I think I did good.

Alright, I guess my couch time is up...thanks for listening (reading). Check back soon for the next Makeup 4 The Weekend Challenge and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering.

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Leif Monster (Paper Makeup Stamps), Random Alphabet Stamps (unkown); Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Soft Suede Marker, Real Red Marker, Pumpkin Pie Marker, More Mustard Marker, Brilliant Blue Marker (SU!); Accessories - scissors, dimensionals, ruler

A Bridal Shower

So excited to share with you what I put together for my cousin-in-law's bridal shower over the weekend. It was a fun event honoring a very special woman and I really thought it went so very well. I signed up to do the invitations, party favor boxes, and a marital advice tree. And of course, knowing me I can't keep things simple, so I have a lot of late nights getting it all done, but it was worth it for her!

So because I was so excited by the party favor boxes, I will start off with those. I found the patterns for a three-tiered paper box cake that Stampin' Up! had shown in the demonstrator magazine and another version of the cake-shaped boxes that had a base and a lid. Well of course, I liked the three-tiered cake look, but the actual box that had a base and a lid. So I had to create a pattern for the base and lid for each layer of the cake which was based on the overall dimensions that Stampin' Up! did. Like I said, I can never keep things easy! So anyway so Bazzill Basics paper in Pomegranate Splash made up teh base and Basic Grey Bittersweet raspberry cream made up the lids. I scalloped all of the sides of the lid to make it a little prettier.

I knew I wanted to put flowers on somehow and I had seen a couple tutorials for making paper roses, so I gave a couple a try. Of course, my friends (hey girls!) all picked the more time consuming one...I picked it to, but that meant a lot of cutting and gluing for many nights! Anyway, the paper roses in a shimmer white cardstock (tutorial HERE that I used) looked beautiful and added a touch of elegance to it. Then I found to keep the boxes together nicely, I did have to tie a ribbon around each layer...was hoping to avoid this at first, but I think I like the look now.

The invitation was a CASE of a bunch of bride silhouette cards that I had found on Splitcoast. Seriously, I love that site so much when you are in need of ideas...always helps me out! I hand drew a template for the silhouette and then cut out all of them by hand. I embossed the top portion (the bodice) of the dress with the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder and put a ribbon around the "waist". Then added a couple of punch out (and crumbled) flowers with a sparkle white brad. The "You're Invited" was printed on the cardstock prior to cutting out the silhouette. I loved how these turned out and then I realized that not everyone got that it was a bride silhouette on the front...maybe I should have drew my silhouette differently or something! I am really not sure if anyone got it without me telling them.

Then the last project for the shower was a marital advice tree. We had everyone write a piece of advice for the couple on a card and hang it on a tree I put together. Then when their present was opened, I read off the piece of advice they gave the bride. I thought it was a nice touch. Anyway, the "tree" was a couple of branches that I hot glued together to make a fuller "tree" and then my husband cut some holes in some wood to help me stabilize it in the planter. I spray painted it a solid brown and then added some gold sparkle paint to it to jazz it up a smidge. I wanted to leave it very plain so that if she wanted she could keep it and decorate for each season or holiday or something. The cards were actually kept simple...amazing, I actually kept something simple!

Well there you have it! What do you think? Let me know if there are any questions or anything! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Ninja Warrior Birthday

I think it is ok (and not too arrogant) to admit that I am pretty proud of the events that I have organized for my family. I take great joy in planning and executing parties for my kids. I think the ultimate compliment can come from a 5 year old, when they say they had a great time and the party was so much fun! I think I may have outdone myself with my son's latest birthday party. One of his favorite things right now is Ninja Warrior (and Wipeout). Ever hear of it...or are we the only ones that know of this show? Both shows are competition shows that involve obstacle courses...Ninja Warrior has some pretty incredible obstacles (especially in the final stages), but I think my son loves the first stage where they show tons of people wiping out. He even creates his own "courses" out of blocks and has his "Little People" run the course...full commentary and everything. Most of the time I am just required to watch, but sometimes I have to act as one of the commentators. So with fascination in mind, I plan a Birthday Ninja Warrior Party.

First came the invitation...obviously no stamps around to use to make an invitation with this theme. So I tried my hand at some Photoshop work. Basically I stumbled around until I got what I wanted. I "borrowed" the Ninja Warrior logo (don't send the copyright police after me please!) and copied the little Ninja dude and the red slash and placed them on a black circle. Then I found a font that was close to the Ninja Warrior font...not exact, but pretty close. Then I made some red explosion marks...really not sure what to call those. Then I took the tone of the opening of the Ninja Warrior show and changed it to give the information inside the invitation. I was really quite please with how this turned out.

Since I made this fabulous logo, I decided that I need to use it to the fullest extent. I changed it to read "Future Ninja Warrior" and printed it on T-shirt transfers. I got cheap undershirt t-shirts and ironed them on for each kid (see group photo below). I gave a "Japanese-sounding" ending to each of their names and printed out name tags for each kid and presented them with their new name for the party (they thought that was pretty funny!). I also printed out their names on some other name tags (with the logo of course) and put them on their goodie bags filled with a little bit of candy, so little ninja dudes from Oriental Trading, and some ninja related tattoos also from Oriental Trading. Then of course I used the logo for the basis of my cake...check it out! I am very proud of this cake...turned out better than I thought it would!

For activities during the party, I started them painting some wood boards...they had no idea why yet, but painted happily. Then as they tried, we had them run an obstacle course in our house. Yeah I am sure the other parents hate me, because we basically had them climbing all of the furniture as they were part of the obstacles! We had them run in one at a time first and then it was a free-for-all. They went around and around. Too funny. Then we brought them back to the "craft table" and the created ball mazes with the boards. The boards had nails hammered into them (thank you to my wonderful husband) and they strung rubber bands around the nails to create a maze for some bouncy balls. This was an idea I found in the Family Fun magazine.

A group shot (getting 12 kids to look all in one direction just doesn't happen...and for some reason my son was the worst one about not looking!), pizza, cake, and presents finished off the party!

The free-for-all of the obstacle course!

The kids making their ball mazes

Attempting a group shot of 12 four and five year olds...good luck!

Can't believe he is 5 already!

Well I hope that you enjoyed seeing the pics from his party! It really was a blast even if it was what I would call controlled chaos! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!