Cars Party Favors- Tow Mater and Lightening McQueen

A few weeks ago I posted the proto-type for our party planned party favors to Liam's 4th birthday party.  It's time to see a the final product and get the details on how to make a car.  Many of the pieces are just cut free hand and I did not really create a template.  If you needed one, I could probably create something and email it to you.  I'll include lots of photos of the finished product and some of the "building blocks" as well.

This approach/technique can be easily adapted for any of your favorite Cars characters depending on the colors you select.  The car top is the same for any of the cars, it is just the personal details that change.
First things first, start with a match box cut using the Big Shot and Match Box die.  Assemble per the normal instructions.  For Lightening, use Real Red.  For Mater, use Soft Suede or another suitable brown hue. 

For the car top/cab, you need to cut a 2 x 2 1/2 inch piece of card stock.  Score at 1/4", 3/4", 1 1/2" and 2 1/4".  Crease each score so that you have two 1/4 inch tabs on each end.  The tabs will be glued to the top of the matchbox to create the roof.   This step is the same for both characters.

I cut the "whites" of the eyes free hand with my paper snips, starting with a piece of Whisper White card stock that matched the dimensions of the car front. I punched two black dots uing a Standard Sized Hole Punch (retired), but you could also use the Crop-A-Dile. For the wheels, use the 3/4 inch Circle Punch and then the standard size punch to add a Whisper White circle to the center. I cut a free hand shape for head lights and tail lights on McQueen.  I added some detail, including the 95 using my Dusty Durango In Color Marker.  I also downloaded free clipart to create a lightening bolt logo for the side and a Rust-eze logo for the back.

For McQueen's spoiler, you need a 1 x 2 inch piece of card stock.  Score at 1/4 inch and fold such that the larger part is going up.  Glue the 1/4 inch tab onto the car.

For Mater's headlights, I used the standard size holes and cut the tow hook/support and teeth free hand. Use the Stampin' Write Basic Black marker to draw a mouth on on both characters.  For Mater, you'll need to add the teeth after you draw the mouth.
The best way to figure out how to add the details and pieces to create your characters is to study any pictures you have from the web, coloring books, stickers and other books.  I think I've also watched the movie a few dozen times with Liam. 

For Liam's party, I'll only be making Tow Mater and Lightening McQueen.  However, someone at work has requested a set so I may try to make some of the other characters as well to fill out her set.  Plus, I think I like the challenge.

Here are some more photos to help show the details:

Now to find some cars and stickers to fit inside.  I'm looking forward to his party and sharing pictures of his cake and decorations.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Rock and Roll Birthday

You've seen the invitations for Phoebe's Rock and Roll Birthday Party, now it is time to see the party!  This party is a great example of how keeping your craft supply closet well stocked can allow you to pull off a great party.  Other than a few additions for party favors, like temporary tattoos, most of the party items were things I had at home.

As each guest arrived, they were given a back stage pass that I made using Extreme Guitar and my marbled card stock from the invitations and some additional marbled card stock made using Bermuda Bay, Dusty Durango and Crushed Curry re-inkers.  On the back, I printed off "VIP, ALL ACCESS PASS TO PHOEBE'S 9TH BIRTHDAY.''  Each girl wrote her name on a pass.  This helped everyone know who they were talking to since we had school, soccer and church friends.

Next the favor "bags."  I made each guest a faux alligator purse using my matchbox die cut, using instructions from another demonstrator, Francine Yee.  This is a pretty fun technique and we will be making a similar project for our March class.  It is actually quite simple.  Once your pieces are cut, apply Versamark all over your card stock.  Sprinkle the clear embossing powder over the surface and shake.  Then, use a stylus to make random lines on the card stock creating the appearance of alligator skin.  I also added an extra "flap" and a Basic Black satin ribbon.  All the purses were made using Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo. I loaded each one with a tattoo, gel bracelet and a necklace made from a guitar pick.  I made the guitar picks myself using picks provided by our neighbor (he's in a band).  I punched each one with my Crop-A-Dile.

For activities, the kids got to do three craft items.  First, they made their own body glitter by mixing aloe gel and plain glitter.  We used old bubble containers for their body glitter.  Their next activity was a foam guitar that we found at a local craft store.  Simple craft foam in the shape of a guitar with plenty of stickers.  For their final craft, I let them make their own CD covers.  They decorated using the Extreme Guitar stamp set and Classic Stars jumbo wheel.  I also gave them some Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, and Dusty Durango pages to use as the CD covers.  In addition, I had some of my marbled paper left from the invitations that they could use.  Once loaded in their CD jewel case, they can add a photo for a fun scrapbook page.  After crafts, they had fun singing and dancing with our Boogie game for Wii.

And, last the cake.  I used a template I found on line.  I enlarged it for use with my sheet cake pan.  I made my own butter cream frosting and fondant.  The fondant is made using marshmallow and it had much better taste than the traditional fondant I've tried in the past.  I originally intended to achieve a purple color for the body but it didn't mix too well resulting in a cool tie dye look so I went with it.  Turned out great.  All he kids loved it.

For foods, I served homemade pizza and nachos.  Tim made mocktails for them.  We renamed kids drinks like Shirley Temple to Hannah Montana.  The kids all got a kick out of ordering their drinks from our bartender.  For decorations, we had pink and black streamers around the house and a disco ball.

The kids had a great time, I hope you enjoyed our party ideas!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Tropical Luau Birthday Bash

As promised, I'm going to share the details of Isabel's Tropical Luau Birthday Bash. First, this is not all original inspiration on my part. When I'm planning a party, the first thing I do is head to the internet and do a search on my theme. I love reading through the ideas and picking what I want to use. So, if you are reading this and see one of your ideas, thank you very much for posting your ideas so I can find them.

For decorations, I played off the original invitation and recreated the scene on our wall complete with beach chair to hold all the presents. We also purchased some Hawaiian beach scenes that you hang in a window so it looks like you are looking out at the beach. Almost made us forget the cold December weather!

As previously mentioned, Isabel's party was in December. On a nice cold day in December. By the end of the party, we had some light snow falling. Given the cold temperatures, we decided to forego leis in favor of lei scarves. I used some fun orange/pink tie dye type fleece fabric that I cut 5x50 inches. I cut fringe on the ends. As the girls arrived, they tied the fringe in knots. After, we found their Hawaiian name on the computer using a name transator online. They put these on a note card that they got to color.

After, I split them into three groups. One group was learning to hula by watching You Tube videos, the next group was making a felt flower barrette (flowers cuts using Big Shot dies), and the third group was working on the Hula Bears I shared with you in an earlier post. As they finished their projects, they went to the next stations.

After the activities, we had some cake. For the cake, I made a volcano using my bundt pan and the Pampered Chef batter bowl. To get the exploding lava effect, I made hard candy into the spurting shape and when it was cool, inserted it into the cake. The kids loved it!

After cake, we did presents and a few games involving hula hoops. The kids had lots of fun. Throughout the party, the kids were able to munch on a variety of foods- chicken kabobs, Hawaiian pizza kabobs (ham, mozzerella cheese and pineapple on a toothpick), fruit kabobs, chips and juice boxes. Very easy foods.

And of course, it wouldn't be a party in the Lawson household without some stamps! For the favor bags I used my Fancy Favor die cut from Stampin' Up!TM. I've used this die for other parties recently and I'm sure I've more than made my money back on this one. I wanted the bags to look like beach bags. I stamped the flower from Wings of Friendship (hostess set) on the bags. I then added handles and used the Modern Label punch to create a closure tab. I closed it with double sided tape. The felt flip flops are just some stickers I found at a party supply store. All the bags were made using Stampin' Up! papers- mostly Bold Brights with a few Rich Regals, Earth Elements and Soft Subtles mixed in. For party favors, they got a glow stick, flip flop key chain and a mini notepad. Since they were also getting their bears, barrettes, and scarves, I didn't put too much in the goodie bags. If you have lots of birthday parties throughout the year, this Fancy Favor die is a great investment.

The kids all had a great time, and I had fun pulling the party together. I hope these ideas inspire you to throw your own tropical bash, even in the dead of winter.

And, if you are looking to expand your collection of Big Shot Dies, now is the time! Through the 22nd, Stampin' Up! is having a huge sale on some of our favorite dies! Visit my promotion page for more details.

God Bless and Happy Stampin!

Happy Birthday Isabel

Isabel's Birthday is today! In a few days, she'll celebrate with her friends with a fun luau party. Now is the time to share the invitation.

Before I give the recipe for this card, I have to give credit to the many ladies who inspired me. I CASEd this card head to toe!

Pure Genius over at SplitCoast was a big inspiration.
Julie Masse
Lorri Heiling
Jennifer Einholf
Kim Gasper



Thank you for your inspiration and blogs detailing your cards. I loved that I was able to create Isabel's invitation without even ordering a new stamp set and I love using a stamp set in a non-traditional way.

On to the recipe for Isabel's invitation. The main stamp set is Pick A Petal. I used two of the petal designs to stamp surf boards in Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay (stamped onto Whisper White and then cut out). The sun was stamped in YoYo Yellow using one of the flower centers. I typically do invitations in the traditional invitation size of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches, which is what I used here. I cut Melon Mambo into this size to create the invitations. I let Isabel stamp the small Hawaiian flower onto both sides of invitation. For the front, I layered a smaller piece of Bashful Blue card stock onto the card. To create the water, I sent pieces of Tempting Turquoise card stock through the Big Shot to emboss using the Stampin' Up!™ Backgrounds 1 (the panel with the swirls). I then sponged some Shimmer White Paint onto the raised areas to give the impression of foaming waves. I cut the wave shape by freehand using my paper snips. For the sandy beach, I tore the paper edges and then layered two pieces, gluing the surfboards and palm tree trunk down before adding the final layer of sand. The sand is made using Kraft card stock. For the palm tree, I cut the trunk from Soft Suede using paper snips. The palm branches are more petals stamped onto Glorious Green with little sections cut out and the stamped side glued against the invitation. I finished things off by stamping a large Hawaiian flower using Eastern Blooms stamp set and Rich Razzleberry.

For the back, I printed the details of the invitation onto Whisper White card stock and then glued it to the back of the card.

I'll post more details about her party, party favors and other fun later.

God Bless and Happy Stamping!

Golf Party Part 3

Now for the golf course. Most of the holes were constructed using boxes with holes cut in them because I didn't think it would be a good idea to dig holes in our front yard. As I mentioned before, Tessa selected themes for each hole and I then decorated the boxes to represent the theme. I cut holes in the side of each box and then put a cup into the hole so it was easy to retrieve the ball after they sunk their shot. I don't have pictures of all the holes, but I'll post the ones I have.

Our first hole was a sand trap. Here, they just had to dig in a box of sand to find a colored ping pong ball which would become their golf ball. The box was cut and decorated as a sand castle and I put some sea shells around the box. We wrote each child's name on their ball.

The second hole was a music theme hole. I decorated the box with music notes and Hannah Montana pictures that I printed from the Disney website. I cut a hole in one of the music notes and the tee was a drum set that belongs to my son.

Hole three was the soccer themed hole. I used a retired Stampin' Up!™ set (I Love Soccer) to decorate the box and made the front look like a goal net. I cut the hole in the front of the box. Before the hole, I lined up some small orange cones which I use during soccer practice and they had to weave in and out of the cones before hitting it into the box.

The fourth hole was the kitty hole. I wrapped fuzzy yellowish fabric around the box, added a tail and face. The hole was the mouth of the cat.

The fifth hole was the birthday cake hole. I painted this box to resemble the cake I had made, including a candle and little golfer.

The sixth hole was a rock climbing wall. I made a fake rock wall out of some thick Styrofoam and cut hole toward the bottom. Then they just had to hit the ball through the hole and go to the next one.
The seventh hole was the dog hole. For this hole, I made the box look like a dog house. For fun, I added some croquet wickets in front of the hole.

The eighth hole was our water hazard. I used a plastic pan and I cut a frog lily pad out of craft foam and cut a hole in the foam to allow for a small cup. I also floated some plastic frogs in the water.

The final hole was also a birthday theme. I used a giant gift bag on this hole. I put a small box in the bottom of the bag for stability. I cut a hole in the side of the bag as well as the box.

After a round or two of golf, we headed to the 19th Hole (our dining room) for some food- tacos, pulled pork sandwiches, chips, veggies, and popcorn. After supper, we had some cake and opened presents. Before leaving, each party goer got to select a party favor bag from our Pro Shop. They also got to take home their golf club, ball and visors.

I made a map of the golf course using power point. I used this both on the score cards and I posted it at the start of the course.

There you have it, a wonderful and fun golf party, easy to adapt for any child based on their age and personality. Feel free to email me with any questions!

Golf Party Part 2

You've seen the invitation and cake, now for the party favor. This favor was made using the Fancy Favors Bigz Die as well as the Pennant Die for the Big Shot. I punched several boxes using Pumpkin Pie card stock and then several of the small pennants using some pattern felt.

Using my Crop-A-Dile, I punched holes along the side of the pennants to that I could attach them to a pencil like a flag for a golf hole. I filled the Fancy Favor bags with the party loot (I'll describe shortly) and added some shredded green for paper grass on top and then stuck the pencil in. All the favor flags have a 5 since it was Tessa's 5th birthday. I simply used puffy fabric paint to put the 5 on each flag.

For party favors, I bought notepads, the pencils used for the flags and some star shaped stickers. I also bought orange and green pony beads along with golf ball shaped beads. With these beads I made bracelets and zipper pulls to include in the party bags. These types of things are pretty standard party favors in our family. The note pads are always fun for the kids and can easily be customized to fit any party theme. I often use my stamps to make an image that I can add to the notepads to allow for customization.

For activity, we actually played miniature golf in the front yard, course designed by Tessa. I sent them out on the course in foursomes, each with a golf pro (one of my two older daughters). This helped keep the kids moving and not fighting over who got to go next. I made score cards with photos of my daughter and these also served as Thank You notes. They had crayons to take along with them for scoring purposes. The par for each hole was of course, five.

For the clubs, we cut PVC pipe to sizes suitable for the kids' ages. Each piece of pipe had a small slit in one end. I cut a golf club head shape out of a corrugated plastic sign and inserted it into the small slit. I then used orange duct tape to wrap the top to be the handle. Each kid got to take their club home. Before hitting the green, I had each child make a golf visor using foam visors I ordered from an online party supply source. They also were able to practice their swing on our make shift putting green- hula hoops in our side yard and a bucket of wiffle golf balls. These two activities helped kill some time as we waited for enough kids to arrive to start the first foursome.

Using powerpoint, I made a map of our course and added that to the score sheet. I also posted it near the first hole. The map was simple and I relied mostly on clip art available through power point or free on the web. Tessa selected the following holes for her course:

• Hole 1: Sand Trap, a Sand Castle
• Hole 2: Hannah Montana Music
• Hole 3: I Love Soccer
• Hole 4: Meow! - Cat Hole
• Hole 5: I Smell Cake- Birthday Cake Hole
• Hole 6: Rock Climbing
• Hole 7: Fetch! - Dog Hole
• Hole 8: Froggie - Water Hazard
• Hole 9: Birthday Presents
  

In my next post, I will share photos of each hole along with more detailed descriptions.

God Bless and Happy Stamping!

Tessa's Golf Party - Part 1

For Tessa's 5th birthday, she decided that she wanted to have a golf theme so I put together a party complete with a 9 hole mini golf course. Sounds like a big endeavour, but was actually quite easy, especially when you add a few die cuts from Stampin' Up!™


First the invitation. I used Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Glorious Green, Whisper White, and Bermuda Bay card stock. The text is printed using my computer and then punched with the Modern Label punch. You'll see the adorable little girl from All in the Family. Since I do not yet own the Accessories for this stamp set, I did not have a golf club so I used the feet from the All in the Family to make one, I just added a handle at the top of of the leg. I will confess that the cake thought bubble and golf bag are not from Stampin' Up!, only because I did not have a set with those images from Stampin' Up! I colored everything using the Water Color pencils from Stampin' Up! The putting green was cut free form by hand.

On the back, I printed the party details onto the Glorious Green and cut it in the shape of a putting green. Using the Backgrounds 1 Texturz plates, I made golf balls from the Whisper White. I first embossed the card stock with the polka dot plate and then punched the circles. When I glued them to the Bermuda Bay, I made sure the bumpy side was down. I was sure to use golf phrases like "play through," "tee time," and "golf pro" to go along with our theme. If you use this idea for a four year old, change all the "fours" to "fore."


For the party itself, I made a golf themed cake. Very simple to make- a sheet cake frosted green with three areas cut out to be sand traps and a water hazard. The water hazard was filled with blue frosting and the sand traps were filled with crushed graham crackers. For the putting green, I created a template of the shape and laid it over the cake while I sprinkled green decorator sugar onto the cake. The trees are made from candies- gum drops and flavored tootsie rolls. The small golfer is a little mini Polly Pocket toy and the golf club was made from a toothpick and part of a gum drop. The golf ball is a Tic Tac. Along the sides of the cake, I added green colored coconut to be the rough.





Check back tomorrow for Part II, Party Favors and the Golf Holes.


God Bless and Happy Stamping!