Mario Birthday Party!!

Well, Mario Galaxy to be exact.

On Wednesday, we picked the boys up after special needs preschool and took them to the mall for a special lunch and to play. They were so excited!

At preschool on the morning of their birthday, they had special cupcakes. I frosted/sprinkled them to look like the 1-up mushrooms.

Then today we had a big birthday party for them at Magic Mountain. They have been playing Mario Galaxy with David on the Wii and are slowly working their way through, and so they knew immediately they wanted to have a Mario themed party. Pinterest has become my best and worst friend, as there were tons of great ideas on there I wanted to try. First I brainstormed a cake. I found inspiration here, but needed something a bit more manageable. I like to make cakes for the boys, but with Truman knew it would be hard this year. So I made a sketch and took it to my local Kroger. I hunted and found sprinkles, a Mario and Luma cake topper, and then I made the remaining characters from sculpey.

We made some mushroom favor bags, David made Mario mustache straws, and I made a boo balloon for the table. I wanted to make more and hang them from the ceiling, but we couldn't.

And we went from this:

To this:

They had an awesome time. I cannot believe that they are 5!

She's Crafty...

I saw a picture on Jan's blog and I actually gasped audibly. I was in love. Not only that, I was inspired. So I headed on over to Lindsay's blog to see exactly how to make one. And make one I did, this afternoon. (I was able to do the whole thing while the boys napped!) I still love it, and know exactly where it will go in my house.

My version.



Her original picture that caused the gasp. (still does!)



How did I make it mine? I bought dictionaries for my pages. (found at the dollar store, of course!) Maybe it's the scrapbooker in me, but I love definitions, and the idea of using dictionary pages made me happy. I'd love to make one using sheet music someday...

I used some lovely walnut distressed ink from my scrapbooking supplies to tint my pages. I also added a cream colored grosgrain ribbon to hang it with, and let the ends hang down below the wreath.

As soon as it is hanging, I will take more pictures. I just need the perfect shabby table and a few framed pictures. I plan to hang it year round. I am proud of myself and love how it turned out!

I also purchased this banner today from etsy seller funkyshique



I saw her banners and was immediately in love. I cannot wait to see it hanging in my house!

How to make a homemade Oswald costume, step by step.

For Halloween I decided to make an Oswald costume for Jack since you can't buy one. (Or any sort of good octopus costume, for that matter.)



To start, I bought a hooded navy blue sweatshirt in a size up, and a pair of plain navy sweatpants. I took the sweatshirt to Target and found a package of socks that matched in the same color navy. There were 2 pair in the package.

Supplies:

-navy hooded sweatshirt
-navy sweatpants
-navy socks (Adult, 2 pair)
-wrapped, heavy duty floral wire
-batting/stuffing
-navy thread
-navy felt
-white felt
-black felt
-Styrofoam bowl (I got mine from the school cafe)
-Velcro (optional)

Step 1: to make the "body" a little rounder, I hand sewed with a quick running stitched panels of navy fabric. I cut 3: one for the back, and one for each side of the front. I stuffed them with batting and sewed them up to give him the "plump" look.

Step 2: I took each sock and put one wire of the wrapped floral wire (I got heavy duty, thicker gauge at Jo.anns) and stuffed each sock, leaving the wire in the middle. I tucked the sock edges inside and sewed them onto the sweatshirt with a running stitch. Octopuses have 8 legs, so I counted the pant legs and 2 arms of the sweatshirt for 4 of the arms, and the socks made up the other 4 arms. I sewed 2 to the back, and 2 to the front just behind the arms.






Step 3: I cut out circles of felt bigger white and smaller black for the suction cups. I sewed these on, 3 per arm, and 3 on each leg.





Step 4: I sewed 2 eyes, bigger oval white and smaller circle black on the hood.

Step 5: To make the hat, I used a black sharpie and colored a Styrofoam bowl black from our school cafeteria. I sewed a small black felt pillow and glued it inside. I pinned it to the hood via the pillow. I originally tried to make the bowlers hat out of felt, but it ended up looking silly, so I used the bowl instead.



Voila! Instant Oswald!