Buggy Birthday Party

This party was lots of fun-- the invites are baby food jars. I spray painted the lids, poked "air holes" in them, and then added gummy worms shredded paper and the party details inside. The stamps used on all of the projects shown are from Stampin' UP! Instead of party hats, all of the kids had antennae, and since they were all three years old or younger, we kept the activites simple. We put large plastic bugs in the back yard and they all hunted for them and put them in their bug houses.

Cooking Up A Mini Chef's Birthday Party

Don't you feel like this is the time of year that every weekend is booked with a different kid's birthday party?? I thought this would be a good time to share my oldest's party invitation from last year. Last year it was all about pretend cooking! He even dressed as a chef for Halloween-- so it was only appropriate that we "cook up" something chef themed for his party. I made cupcake picks from a chef's hat die I have and he has on a birthday button featuring the same chef's hat. Each child received a real spatula and fabric chef's hat with their name embroidered on it as a party favor. Each favor had a tag with a die cut apron, spatula and spoon on it. The Happy Birthday banner had the same aprons and spatulas on each letter. All of the snacks were served out of my kitchen gadgets, pots and pans. I put ice and yogurt tubes in the mixing bowl of my stand mixer, the cupcakes were on my baking racks, carrot sticks and dip in a muffin tin, party favors in a big pot, etc.

This supply list is for all of the projects combined:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! (Voila)

Dies: Sizzix (Chef's Hat), Cuttlebug (Numbers), Quickutz (Apron, Tools)

Paper: Stampin' Up! (Whisper White, Basic Black, Barely Banana, Green Galore, Sahara Sand)

Target Dollar Spot (patterned paper used for the number 5)

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Blush Blossom)

Ribbons: Michael's (Black & White Plaid), PaperMart (White with Black Dots), Stampin' Up! (Black Grosgrain)

Big Giant Bean Cans

What can you do with a big giant bean can you ask? Check, check, check, check it out....

So the ladies in the cafeteria at my son's school saved these cans for me, and it only took 4 days for them to collect 22 of them. Oh, the possibilities, right? They are the size of large coffee cans and just dying to be altered! I covered these with designer paper. I used two strips for each one, measuring 6-3/4" x 12" (there was plenty of overlap). The names were cut out via Cricut using the matching scraps. Then I Xyron'd the letters, matted them and attached them to the cans using regular ole ATG adhesive. Then the cans were decoupaged. After they dried, I used the Crop-o-dile to punch holes in the sides, and added ribbon for a handle on each one! So easy!!! The kids are using these as their Easter Baskets during their egg hunt in a couple of weeks. Then we are going to reuse them by adding rocks and planting grass seeds for an Earth Day project. REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE! I'm already thinking up more ideas for these things-- craft & play room organization, turn them into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween... I could use these things for every holiday!