Thursday, May 24, 2012

Birthdays. Lego Birthday Party.

A few years ago before I discovered blogging, Logan was REALLY into Lego's, so it only made sense to have a Lego themed birthday party!  I searched high and low for ideas and my party is a compilation of all the things I found. 

This was by no means a way-out-there party or anything, but my first attempt at an At Home Party and although it was no less than 94 degrees that day (with 200% humidity - I'm not kidding!!) I think it went over well!  I hope you find inspiration here!

First, I free handed the number 7 on a large cardboard box that I had broken down.  I then glued one-inch square tissue paper unto the number, using a pencil as my applicator.
Next was my homemade lego pinata. 
I took two cereal boxes, cut out a large rectangular hole in the front of both
 and glued them together (so that the candy will go into both boxes). 
Then I cut a hand-sized hole at the top (for filling the candy). 
At this time, I also added a handing apparatus - a thick plastic cord.
Then I paper machied the whole thing with newspaper and watered-down glue.
I took little candy cups from Michael's and painted them red then covered the whole thing with red crepe paper and glue the candy cups in place.  Voila - lego!  (Apologize again for no instructional photos - as I said, it was before I discovered blogging!) 
I had a "Guess the number of Lego's" in a jar with cards to complete. 
The winner kept the jar. 
That was sitting on a table of lego scenes that Logan had put together.
The snack table was just a few munchies.  I attempted the Lego pops mentioned here.  Mine turned out NOTHING like hers but the kids like them anyway ;-)  I stuck those in cups filled with Legos.

I setup "Construction" tables, where the guests could build. To have enough legos, I purchased a bulk of Legos from ebay for the party.

The eating area had various "homemade" legos on it for decor.  Capri sun boxes, shoes boxes, all shapes and sizes - wrapped with wrapping paper, and small milk jug caps spray painted and glued on.
The cake topper I made with one of Logan's lego gifts.  I found candy lego's at a local bulk store so I used those as decorations around the bottom. 
They were also added to small bags for the take-home treats.
I downloaded pictures of Lego men from lego.com and printed them on sticker and magnet paper, as well as printed coloring pages for all the kids to do before the party started.  
Everyone got to take a few home. 
I also made an iron-on transfer of the number 7 and created a t-shirt for Logan to wear on his big day.
I downloaded various lego men fonts and used them for the invite envelopes and made this sign for the house with one of the Lego fonts.
I used this photo as my invitation and mounted it to cardstock.

The giveaways were homemade lego keychains, a small lego set, lego candy, and a photo thank you card with a picture of life-size Buzz and Woody lego men.

I hope this gives you some ideas for your next Lego birthday party!!

Good Lego Birthday party sites:

Enjoy! 
p.s.  Bowling Party posting soon!!

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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Craft. Vintage Glass Recycle by Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

My Mom....what can I say...she's beautiful AND crafty!!
She made these beautiful Art Glass Garden decorations for family this Christmas. 
I wonder where my need for crafting comes from?  HA!
She scoured Goodwill and garage sales for old or interesting glass, used her trusty E6000 (that stuff is amazing) and start assembling.  She said the hardest part was finding the right glass for the bottom - that's what is going to go on the pole in the ground.  She ended up using vases!
But of course, she added a special touch to our gifts - the teardrops at the top of our gifts were from a chandelier in a house that we grew up in.  Gotta love those special touches!
My Art Glass sit proudly in my garden.  Thanks Mom!!  Love you tons XOXO.
Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there!

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Monday, May 7, 2012

Seen & Heard. Martha Stewart Lists. Cleaning, Organizing, etc.

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966
That's how I've always approached cleaning with two small boys in the house.  Yes, this is clean.
However, there are the occasional days where the miraculous three happen: 
  1. I have time to clean
  2. I want to clean
  3. I have the energy to clean. 
Those are the days where I get on a roll and then there's no stopping me!  Granted, those days are FEW and FAR between, but they do exist - I promise!

There are some cleaning things that I do everyday no matter what, and those are based on the Martha Stewart "Six Things To Do Every Day " cleaning list that I found some time ago.  They are:
  1. Make the Bed.
  2. Manage Clutter.
  3. Sort the Mail.
  4. Clean as you Cook.
  5. Wipe up Spills while they're Fresh.
  6. Sweep the Kitchen Floor.
These lists are fabulous and a great place to start if you need some organization (like I do!).  There are weekly and monthly cleaning checklists, as well as seasonal cleaning checklists.

Martha has more lists that you may find helpful.  She has Celebrations checklists (which cover parties) as well as Holiday checklists (which are for Holiday entertaining).  There are also Moving checklists and another one of my favorite the Home keeping checklists, which show how to organize a linen closet, and Spring Home Maintenance.  I also like her Stocking Up checklists for cleaning, home essentials and safety.

You can find all those lists and download them in pdf's here.  Check them out and tell me what you think!!

p.s.  I am working on the posts for my son's Bowling Party!  It was a hit!  Stay tuned...
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Debbie Doo's Newbie Party
It's Overflowing linky party
Tip Junkie handmade projects linky party
Printabelle Wonderful Wednesday linky party
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