Layla's Lego Friends Birthday

I really cannot believe it's been almost a year since Layla's 8th birthday and that I never blogged about it. Since Morgan's just passed and Layla's is next month, I thought I'd go ahead & get this out of the way.

Layla loves Lego's, so last year she requested a Lego Friends themed party. They are pretty new, so there isn't a lot of pre-made stuff available. For her invitations, I decided to make them myself. I blogged about that here.

This picture is so horrible I almost hate to post it, but it's all I managed to get. There isn't really any where else I can put our table for the party, than in front of this window. That makes pictures really hard. Those colored rectangles in the back were meant to be Lego bricks. I made them from thin sheets of foam, but it was too hard to cut the circles out. So I just pressed some circles in to the foam. You can't see it in the photo though. For some reason, these pictures didn't post well, if you click on them, they are much clearer.

Party fail. If I had gotten them finished sooner than the day of the party, I could have tried something else. Oh well I guess.

I had trouble deciding on a cake, she ended up liking the Lego bricks. I made the cake board a little too large. Oops. I used some of her Lego Friends toys to help decorate.

These are chocolate covered vanilla wafers. After they were covered & dry, I went back over each one and piped on the tops of the bricks.

These are solid chocolates made using a mold. Super easy & you can pretty much find a mold for any theme!

My second try with cake pops. I was so happy when I was dipping them and they were turning out smooth! And then they started cracking. :( So many of the tutorials I have read say to freeze them before coating. I did them the same both times but they only cracked this time. What went wrong?

The colored sticks were purchased from Cakes & Kids, Too.

The Fill-A-Bowl made an appearance again, this time filled with Lego bricks from the kids stash.

I also made minifigure head marshmallow pops. Not perfect, but I thought they were still cute.

I used pink Kool-Aid for the drink dispenser.

And we also had matching sodas.

Out on the porch, I set up a station for the kids to make Lego jewelry. I had hearts for the girls and solid rectangle pieces for the boys.

I punched out solid cardstock circles to make the goody bags look like Lego bricks.

Of course her presents from us had to match!

To keep the kids entertained they swam and played in the yard.

Layla with her cake.

And of course I had to make another version of the Rainbow Slush.

And I always pre-scoop the ice cream. It's so much faster & easier!

For fun, I dyed each cake to match the color Lego brick it was.

My kiddos enjoying their cake & ice cream.

It was a great party, I just really wish I had been able to get better photos.

Stay tuned because we just had Morgan's birthday last weekend, that should be posted soon. Plus I have several more giveaways coming, including Purex, a $25 Publix gift card, Carmex & more!

Linked to: Catch-as-Catch-Can at My Repurposed Life, Friday Favs at Nap Time Crafters, Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now, Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home, Delicately Constructed Friday at delicateCONSTRUCTION, Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime

Hello Kitty Party Planning

 It's that time of year again... birthday parties! Morgan's birthday was yesterday and Layla's is next month. Morgie's party is next Sunday, a week from today. And I have nothing ready. Nothing. Baseball and soccer started this week and I've been busy with school. So that mean's now I have to get everything done this week. Yikes! This is most of what I have so far, but I still need more. She LOVES Hello Kitty so it was a pretty easy decision in choosing her theme this year. 

 I'm doing pink & red as her colors, so these Valentine's M&M's were perfect. Plus the fact that I got two of them for $.09 each didn't hurt!

 The Target clearance section has been good to me this year. Everything here except the Hello Kitty rings & bracelets were 90% off post Valentine's Day. The red glittery bags will be her goody bags, I just need to Hello Kitty them up a bit. The two boxes of Valentine's I bought for their contents. The one on the left has squishy hearts and the Hello Kitty one has notepads. I'm going to take them out & put in the bags.

 These wooden Hello Kitties came from Hobby Lobby & Joann. I'm going to color them and use them somehow for decoration. 

 This wreath is another Target Valentine's clearance bargain. I'm going to make it Hello Kitty, too. And the heart picks came from the Dollar Tree.

 I raided my party stash for whatever I had that might match, and this is what I found. Not sure if it will be used or not. The gingham thing above is a table cloth.

 Even more Target clearance goodies. Tissue papers for pom poms & wrapping paper for her gifts.

Now I know these napkins don't really match the red, pink & hearts theme we have going on, but they were on clearance at Party City for $.50 each. The straws I found at Michaels, the Hello Kitties are from her collection, the plates from Target and the bone cookie cutter will become a Hello Kitty bow cookie. 

Ugh, so much to do! We have two baseball games this week and I have a big test in Anatomy Tuesday. I hope I can get it all done. 

Linked to: Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Tulle Pom Poms

I can't believe it's July and I haven't gotten around to posting about Morgan's or Layla's birthday parties. Heck, it's almost time to start planning Blake's! All I've managed so far is one post about planning the party and one about the cookie invitations. Honestly, these parties were so rushed (too much procrastinating between work & school), that I didn't get many pictures of things step by step. I did manage to get these, though. So I'm going to show you how to make tulle pom poms.

For the tulle poms you need tulle, cardboard and twine or yarn. 

 

Make two donuts out of cardboard, and tie a loose knot of twine around the donut.

Place the second donut on top, making sure to keep your twine inside (this can be tricky!)

I cut strips of tulle (I think I bought a half yard of each color and just cut them across width-wise, I didn't measure these). Wrap tightly until well covered (the thicker the tulle, the puffier these will be). Make sure when you are wrapping that the tail of you knot is hanging out.

  

This is not thick enough. I wrapped until you couldn't really see the cardboard anymore.

 

 Now this part was kind of tricky, too. Separate the tulle next to your knot so you can get your scissors in.

Cut the tulle all the way around, making sure that the cardboard doesn't totally come apart. I had to hold it with my knees as I cut. 

Once it's all cut, pull your strings tight. You will see the tulle gather up. 

Pull the cardboard aside and tie your twine tightly. Trim any stray pieces so it looks nice & round.

They are so cute when they are done! I made these in aqua and orange for her party. And the best thing about these, unlike tissue poms, they can be saved & reused over & over again.

Linked to: Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage, I'm Crafty Party at So You Think You're Crafty, Hookin Up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Catch as Catch Can at My Repurposed Life, Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots & Jello, Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home, Delicately Constructed Friday at delicateCONSTRUCTION, Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now, Friday Favs at Nap Time Crafters, Creative Bloggers Party & Hop at Homemaker On a Dime, Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff