DIY Dinosaur Invitations

 I helped out a pal with a dinosaur themed party project.  I added the additional task of doing it on the cheap just to see what I could do....and because she was game.  I wanted to go back to basics of how things used to be before people rented ballrooms and cotton candy machines for their kid's 2nd birthday.  No cutting machines or fancy scrapbook paper.  Don't get me wrong-I'm a girl that even owns a little cotton candy machine, BUT.....my challenge was to try to pull from my stash and not go purchase.

 I started by finding a free outline of a dinosaur.  I pasted it to word and then typed the invitation info so that it fit in the dino.  I then cut out along the outline.  It would be cute on green paper, but what I had was white copy paper, so white is what I went with.  I did glue it to some orange construction paper and make a border just to make it pop a bit.

 I then cut out two egg shapes (big enough to cover the size of the dino.  I cut the one of them in half in a zig zag (like a cracking egg).  I embellished and layered it a bit to give it some fun colors, but the gist is I took the bottom half, some tacky glue, and glued it down.

 When it dried it made this pocket (where I slipped my dinosaur).

 I did NOT glue the top half on.  I punch a hole in the side of the bottom half with the glued pocket, and the side of the top half and pushed a brad through.  Again, I had some (they sell them at craft stores and office supply stores-you can even get fun colors).  If you don't have brads-you could use ribbons.

This allows the top half to tilt out and then you pull the dino out of the pocket with the invite information.
Lots more DIY dino to come....

Mouse Inspired Invites

One of our coworkers was having a baby and she didn't not know the gender.  She also loves all things Disney.  We decided to do a Mickey or Minnie themed shower.  I downloaded some free fonts that are inspired by Disney fonts and I found an invitation the other hostesses and I thought looked easy, but cute.  We came up with a little poem and then I found a free outline of a onside and printed it on the invite too.  

We just needed the lines to follow the shape to keep it centered, but we cut away the black outline.  I looked for washi to jazz up the onsie a little, but failed on that after two stores (I know it's out there, but I was out of time), so we glued some red scrapbook paper to the bottom.  Since it's a work shower, we made these for each grade level team, and then attached a card with each members name on it so they could RSVP individually by the work mail boxes.  I used some more mouse inspired gloves etc to make the RSVPs.  More details to come soon.  :O)

*Update:  This little mousekateer made HIS entrance into the world early!  It's a Mickey, and he also made his appearance before the shower, so....same shower theme (ish), but with a few changes since we know the gender!!  BUT...this was how the invites went out, but we are adapting a little to shower mama and baby in a month or so when they are feeling up to traveling!

Gingerbread Brunch Invitation

 When I found out that my family was coming into town for the holidays for the first time in 4 years....I went a little nuts.  And the base in which I measure 'nuts' is already pretty far off the scale.  One of the 7,564 things I did in the 6 days they were hear was throw a gingerbread brunch...mostly for Blythe and Jonathan, but I let others attend...they just didn't get the shirts.  Blythe is all about the party as well.  A few years ago when she came I threw a princess party and when she came over that evening and I asked her what she had been doing all day she said she had colored and 'waited for the princess party.'  I knew I had to send an 'invitation' and some fun stuff to get her and Jonathan (as much as a two year old can be...) excited about the brunch...and more importantly the gingerbread crafts we would be doing.
I typed up a little invitation to mail....watch out Dr. Seuss....

 ...and then I made some party shirts to wear.  I hunted down some cute shirts I liked, then designed my own in paint using some free clipart.  I used some tshirt transfers to print them on and then iron them down to some shirts I grabbed at the craft store.  The thing I ALWAYS forget is to flip the rotation so it's the mirror image you press down so the name is written correctly on the shirt.

 Ta da.

 I also bought a book so that they would be familiar with the story when we put together our cookies and crafts.....though I was a little disturbed when I reread this book, but.....I think they can look past the morbid details towards the end for a few more years.

 I tied together my shirts, books, invite and some cut outs and sent them at the beginning on December.

Party details to come....lots and lots of party details.  

Sixty Invitation

This past weekend I hosted a lunch for my Mom in honor of her sixtieth birthday (tomorrow)...which is tomorrow.  I hunted around for awhile for the 'perfect' invite.  I was going with the pink and black theme.  I found this chalkboard card from tinyprints.  I get nothing for saying this, but I like the way they turned out.  I went through my aunt's old photos and found a photo from when my Mom was in second grade.  I blew it up and added it to the invite.  Lot's more details to come celebrating my Mom.  :O)

Spa Party

 Each year, in the spring, things get a little tense in Texas elementary schools as the STAAR test arrives.  The day of testing everything is in shut down mode.  Teacher's 'actively' monitoring groups testing....which means staring at students with two little breaks via an administrator to escape.  This year the Leadership Team brainstormed something fun for the teachers to be able to swing by and 'do' during their short break....and the school spa was born.  My teammate and I put together some invitations that were in the form of water bottles with little spa girls and fun phrases I printed on paper and cut down, then we taped onto the bottles.
We also attached trail mix packs to get them through until their break-pretzels, almonds, and bliss candy (hence the name).

It always starts with a fun invite for me.  I've seen lots of fun spa themed party ideas, but since this was for a massive group (and on a teacher's budget)....this was as good as it got this go 'round!

 We put lotions and chocolates in a basket...provided music, a fountain, little massage things.  We also rolled up little towels, got them wet and added some mint and then put a crockpot on warm (still had to watch them b/c they got hot after a few hours, but it was fun).

 The principals brought some massage chairs....which my teammate and I tried out to make sure they worked when we were setting up ;o)....they worked.

 We also provided semi healthy snacks....

Mini Pull Tab Pinata Palooza

I saw the idea for mini pinata's over at loveandcupcakes and I knew I had to add this to this year's teacher themed testing week o' fun.  This year some of the gals on the leadership team got together to try to create some fun 'snack options' during breaks from the state testing for the teachers to looking forward to/enjoy.  Invites are always important, as is candy.  So....we made these little pinata's for everyone administering the state test to great them the morning of testing in their office mail box.

For the pull, I attached a little piece of wrapped candy to a string with tape.  

I taped it inside as well.  

 I covered the bottom of a toilet paper tube with tissue paper, making a small hole to pull the string through with scissors.

I cut little pieces of folded strips of tissue paper so there was a fringe...

...and (called in reinforcement) and we glued these to the body of the tube.  

 

Fill it with candy (you can fill it before you wrap it all the way up and close the top off too, or I just left the tops open.  

We added a little 'pull me in case of emergency tag' and a string (via two holes on the side) to hang these in all the boxes.   

Coffee: Starbuck's Coffee Shower Invitation

 My friend Amber is getting married.  We hosted a shower for her last week.  Her fiance and her had their first date at Starbucks.  She's going to honor this meeting at her wedding, but we wanted to use this theme for her shower as well.  She is using the phrase, "The Perfect Blend".....so....I tried to go a little different with "Love is Brewing."  My pal, Sarah, bought coffee at Starbucks and was asked, and granted access to cups we could use for the shower, and the invitation delivery.  I used the sleeves to figure out what size the invitation wording needed to be, and I mounted it on some dark green scrapbook paper, then taped it to the cup.  I fill each invitation cup with coffee bean shaped cookies. Heather wrote the names of each guest on the side of the cups like they do at the coffee shop when you order.  A week of details to come! 

 I used this recipe for sugar cookies.  I like it b/c the cookie holds it's shape.  I used a small round cookie cutter, and just pinched the center to make them look more bean shaped.   For the icing, I just used a canned icing, and I added about 4 T of karo syrup b/c it's much softer than the usual white butter/almond flavored icing recipe I use with these cookies.  The karo syrup helps the cookies not smudge when packaged. 

 I melted some milk chocolate in a ziplock, snipped the edge, and piped on the design of a bean. 

 Bagged them up, added some brown crinkle paper to the cups, and then slipped them inside. 

 Ready to be shipped out. 

 Invitation close up.

Linking To:  A Crafty Soiree

Paris Shower Invitations

My friend Sarah is getting married this June.  She loooooves Paris, and pink and blank, and so....we merged those all along with her love for the man she is marrying, and came up with a suitable theme.  I've been looking forward to this shower for awhile, and I can't wait to see how all the details come together.  I'll be blogging about it all in just a few short weeks, but here is a sneak peak....the invitations.  I can't wait to share the favors.....it's something new I've never seen/done before.  :O)!!!! 

For the invitations I just googled 'free pillow box printable.'  I found one, enlarged it as big as it would go on a regular size sheet of card stock, and used it as my template for the hot pink card stock. 

I only folded one side (and glued it with hot glue to make it REALLY stick).  The chocolate and invitation were a little too long to fold both sides.  I added a 3.5 inch band of scrapbook paper to the outside as well to give it some color.  I used double sided tape to get it to stay. 

 I printed off a little invitation to slip inside, and made some pink chocolate eiffle towers in a mold I bought (you can find them on Amazon). 

 I used some bags (you can find this size in the jewelry section of most craft stores) and slipped them inside along with the invitation. 

 I punched a hole in the top and added a tag to the top.  These are for gals at work, so we decided to give these out by the grade level.  I inked the edges of the tag, then added ribbon.

 This is the mold I used.  I had to make one special eiffle tower (after I finished up the chocolate version).  You see, Sarah....:gasp:, doesn't like chocolate.  It's taken years of therapy, but I think our friendship will survive.  So....this will be the last of any chocolate you will see related to this shower, and she never had to see it.  We have a different eating plan for Paris themed menu.  For the inside of her favor I used a cube from melting soap and added a drop of scent and a drop of pink coloring to make her a soap.  I used the steps I always use for making soap, and it popped right out. 

 I made an extra one to toss next to the sink in the house during her shower.