Mickey Party Planning - Take 3

After reading this post I am certian I will be nominated for crazy mom of the year award. I mean, it has to be as fun as the Curious George Party last year, the kids just have so much fun & our pictures and memories are completly worth it.

With that said, what would a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party be without Mickey and Minnie Mouse? Oh, and a Mickey Mouse bounce house too?

Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes will be coming from Colossal Imaginations and will be costing $268.15. To have someone play the character was much more! I opted not to have that and will be having Uncle Tim play Mickey Mouse and my mom's old ETI student Cat (ETI - where high school students come and help teach in the classroom) playing Minnie. Here are pictures of the characters and a picture of them in action.





The bouncer is coming from a place called afford a bounce. I found the same bouncer with other companies for delivery and only like 4-6 hours of usage for like almost $300. Now granted with Afford-A-Bounce we are going to have to go pick it up, but we will get it Friday and return it on Sunday morning for $195.00. I just couldn't beat that deal. It was awesome. It has a slide, a basket ball hoop and a big bounce area. It is just pretty neat! Here it is.





Ok, so I know I am crazy and going to be spending almost $500.00 on entertainment stuff, but really its ok. Everything else will pretty much be DIY. I am still looking and trying to come up with games to play. Any ideas are certianly welcomed!

TTFN~

Laci's Dance Class

Laci's Dance Class
Originally uploaded by lawson381

This video was shot last night. Laci is the one on the far left (the shortest). This is the beginning of the routine for the recital in May. Isn't it just super cute! It is to the song "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra.

Mickey Party Planning - Take 2

For the food items I want each food item to be named and have a card with the character/food name & a picture of the character by each food item on a place card holder. So far this is what we have come up with...

* Mickey's Marshmallow Munchies (Rice Krispie Treats in the shape of Mickey's head)
* Minnie's Mix (Trail Mix)
* Toodles Tea (Apricot Tea)
* Pete's Pretzels (picture below)
* Pluto's Popcorn (from Popcorn Papa)
* Goofy's Gumdrops (store bought multi colors)
* Donald's Delicious Dogs (Hot Dogs)
* Daisy's Donuts (Donut Holes)
* Clarabelle's Candy (MnM's - originally I thought her name was Clarabelle <- glad I checked!)
* Chip's Cupcakes
* Dale's Dip
* Laci's Lolly pops (I am thinking about doing the Oreo pops below)

Most of these food items are going to be super easy. We are going to do crock pots for the hot dogs, and the sweets (rice krispie treats, cupcakes & apples) will be done the day before. So that day there will be no grill involved (last year we had a very windy experience with the grill and are cutting that one out). That morning we will just have to have donuts for breakfast to pick up a TON of donut holes, and then pick up fresh popcorn from Popcorn Papa (I don't want my house smelling like popcorn).

I found this cookie cutter online at the Disney Store which is what I am using for the rice krispie treat shape. It was only $5.95 plus shipping! I was so excited!

For Pete's Pretzels I found the cutest dipped pretzels online (I am going to DIY them) at Dipped and Delicious, but even though I am going all out... I am too cheep to pay that much for a couple dozen, and all I still need to get is the mickey sprinkles online.

For Laci's Lolly pops I was also looking at something on Dipped and Delicious. They have Oreo lolly pops... I can totally do these and decorate them. What do you think? I will have to try these before hand because I want to make sure that I can get the stick to stay in the Oreo and not come off during dipping. That might be a challenge. I think they layed them in little bead sprinkles to dry, which looks pretty easy.

I am still looking for the place card holder stands, but I don't want to buy 30 quantity and that is what I am finding online.

I still need to come up with a couple games for the kids to play, but I haven't decided what to do. Last year we made tambourines and had a parade. I will have to relive her party soon and share it with you. It was awesome! If you have any ideas for a Mickey game for the kiddo's let me know. I was thinking pin (tape) the bow on Minnie, and maybe cutting out a billion dog bones and which ever kiddo picks up the most... I am VERY open to ideas. Let me know!

59 days folks, I can't wait! I just got the names of the kiddo's in her class and am going to go ahead and put together the invites so that we can have them all ready to mail/hand out when ready.

So excited! What do you think of the food ideas so far?

TTFN~

Mickey Party Planning - Take 1

So as I have already mentioned before, Laci's turning 3 in March. For her party we are going to have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Party.

When planning her party I like to make my own invitations. For one I think writing on a store bought invitation is cheesy and just not cute (sorry to anyone that I may have just offended!), the ones that you can buy printed for you are just too darn expensive, so I settle for making my own. I always use microsoft publisher and just use the shapes layered to achieve the look I am going for. Last year the theme was Curious George and the invitation was the shape of the Man in The Yellow Hat's hat. It was super cute. So this year I wanted to make a Mickey Mouse head.

Below is the invite I came up with. I have cut out 60 of these on the outside of the black line, put a sticker on the back as a reminder to RSVP, laminated them, cut them out again and as a Julie signature item... put a magnet on it so that they can put it on the fridge and not misplace it.



The sticker on the back says....

Put this magnet on the fridge
and SAVE THE DATE!

Don’t forget to RSVP so
that Mickey and Minnie
know you are coming!

We will have a bounce house,
crafts, food, cake and lots of FUN!
Can’t wait to see you there!

I can't wait to have the party! It is going to be so much fun! What do you think of the invite? Sorry for the blank outs, but the hubby might be mad if I gave the address and phone numbers away. If you would like to see a closer picture go to flickr and my username is Lawson381. I tried to do the link but it was giving me problems.

I have so much to share, this is only the beginning and I still have 60 days until the party! Woo Hoo! Now just waiting for the dress I ordered to arrive so that I can take a million pictures of Laci to go with her invitation. I just got an e-mail showing it has been shipped! I am so excited!

TTFN~

Challenging myself!

For the last month and a half I have put back on the 15 pounds I have worked SO hard to loose by just eating right. Meaning I took a crash course in junk food the past month and a half. Although it was a delicious ride I am hating my brand new jeans and 4 other pair of pants that are snug. So I am challenging myself. I am joining bootcamp.... no not the Army, just an excercise bootcamp. It is Hard Corps Boot Camp for Women and is a 5 week session 3 days a week from 5-6 am. Yes I just said AM. It is one hour 3 times a week Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I know that after an hour of sweating it out I am NOT going to want to put junk food into my body!

This adventure starts on February 8th and is a month and a half before Laci's party. I am hoping that by the summer I will be comfortable enough in a swimsuit again. My happy weight is 129, my body's happy weight is 135. So I have 20 ish pounds to go and am ready to take the challenge. What is it about having kids that changes your body so much. And if you are going to ask me when I am going to have another... the new answer is "The 12th of Never!" I love my one, but want to get back in shape and um.... my kiddo although I wouldn't trade anything for the world... um destroyed what figure I had left.

So heres goes nothing. I am usually the one behind the camera, but Christmas morning my mom took a picture of me before I got changed or ready... I look terrible, my skin, my glasses, my sports bra, my pajamas... ok, it is tradition to wear your pj's you got the night before for Christmas morning, but I look awful. Truthfully this is the picture that broke the straw for me. I keep thinking about this and know that that is NOT the true me. The true me, does like to look presentable, does like makeup and my hair down (ignoring the fact it is in a ponytail today), does like my contacts in vs. glasses. Anyways, here is the picture of Christmas morning where I am holding my adorable little one Laci and my cute hubby Jake behind me. I am the only one looking like I just rolled out of bed!



If you would like to leave me words of encouragement they are all welcomed as I know I will need it to get my tush out of bed around 4:15am yikes!

TTFN~

Feature Friday - Pillow Case Dress & Bows

Laci's party is only 64 days away, and I know that sounds like a lot, but when your list keeps growing to more than you can handle... why not pass off some of the stress right?!? So Laci's outfit for the picture to send with the invites and for the party haven't been done yet, I had no idea what I was going to do, and to be honnest I really wasn't in the sewing mood after all the holiday sewing I did.

I searched Etsy high and low and found this ADORABLE & AFFORDABLE pillowcase dress from Booger Bear & Pun-kin Pooh Boutique. The dress was $15.00 and the embroidery of her name was only $5. What do you think? Super cute right!!!

Could I have done her name and made the dress... yeah, but really it would have cost me that much in materials, because when I get material I always get way too much. Anyways, I am excited about this because it will be perfect for the day, plus I have the same exact red with polka dot fabric and black fabric at the bottom, so if I have the chance I will make some jeans to match or something. But, if not she can wear it as a dress or I can put her in pants to match. YEAH!!!

Ok, so onto something I don't make... bows! I love my bow lady and have talked about her before on here. Her korkers are aweseome! You can wash them inthe washing machine to get them clean. Every so often you may have to pull out the hot glue gun to secure one part, but it is worth it because we use her bows every single day. Laci wakes up and one of the first things she says is, "I need a bow". The site is QT Bows by Missy she is just fantastic! So, I ask you what you think will match the dress best? I have a small white, red & black korker, but I think that the dress needs one with yellow. What do you think about black & red with a little yellow? Let me know what you think? Below is one of her fantastic korkers.

Hope everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

TTFN~

Baby Shower Gifts - Attn: Courtney - Picture Spoiler

As a warning to Courtney incase you are going to read this click off or you will see your present.

Ok, so now that the warning is over with... so this weekeend I am going to a baby shower for a girl I went to school with (Courtney). Aside from the fact that I am out of shape I am kind of excited to go. I mean really it has been interesting getting to know her and other people from school on Facebook. It is almost 10 years after getting out of high school (ok, only 9...) and I for one am more mature and looking for more friends to be social with. I decided that I wanted to make and take everything personalized or made from scratch. The baby's name is going to be Presley Michelle ______.

So... I still have the diaper wipe holder to make (I loved mine and have to make her one to match), but it won't take but 30 minutes or so. Here is what I have done. I went and got a diaper bag and took off the binding, embroidered the name on, binded it back up (sans the piece of cardboard inside - not sure why it was there). I did feel like it was kind of cheating by buying a bag, but I just didn't have the 8 hours to make one stashed anywhere. I then did the two burp cloths with her name on it, and last did the blanket with the name on it. Needless to say she probably won't get anything like this from anyone else, and to be honnest it only cost like $30.00 and a little time. The bag was $15.00, the fabric for the burp cloths & diaper wipe holder was $11 (it was upholstery fabric) and the embroidery thread was a couple bucks. I would rather spend $30 and time so that she will never forget who gave it to her than $30.00 and this time next month be like... who got that for me? Here are the goods, sorry only time this morning for one picture of everything so far.



What do you think of the goods so far?

TTFN~

Mickey Apple Attempt – Take 2

So I have come to the conclusion that it is going to take a couple tries to get the apples to work right (if you missed Take 1 check it out here). But with that said, I was successful with the chocolate and not doing the caramel. For starters the caramel was just so expensive, and although I know I could get it to work now, I think I am still going to not do it just to cut down on the cost. Plus, I think the apple will taste just fine with only chocolate and sprinkles.

So Take 2 involved a different type of chocolate, almond bark chocolate to be exact. This chocolate is great for dipping things and decorating (when thinned enough - 4 tablespoons of the shortening it calls for – but I did use three packages so that’s about right). So what did I do to get the ears to stay? I broke down and used toothpicks. Not to leave in, but just to dip let the chocolate harden and then after I pulled the tooth picks out and covered the hole.

So my first 4 attempts did not use the tooth picks and I just tried the ears right on the apple. Here is the third attempt of the night when I was putting it in the fridge to harden, the ears fell off seconds before I could snap the shot. My sister and I laughed until we turned a pretty shade of red it was so funny.

Here it is after we pulled it out of the fridge… looks great upside down, except the part where it looks like Mickey ran his head into a wall.

So after one more unsuccessful attempt I broke down and did the toothpicks. Here are the pictures of them. They look pretty good without doing anything else.

So next weekend I will attempt Take 3 and I think that the 3rd time will be the charm. I sent a couple of the Take 2 trials to Laci’s school today since the teacher said “I am willing to test your attempts.” No problem… not like I need 6 covered apples anyways!

What do you think? This attempt was much more successful than last weekend, and I am so ready to make this perfect and be a great addition to her party!

TTFN~

The attempt at ballet positions via a 2 1/2 year old!

So as I posted before, my tyke started ballet last week. Wednesday was her second time and she did great compared to last week. I just had to share the ballet positions she is learning. Here is what she was trying to do.

Laci is right in front of the teacher and you can see her reflection in the mirror to the right of the teacher. I was able to get a snapshot of each position.

Position 1

Position 2

Position 3

Position 4

Position 5

The Twirl up on her tippy toes

Sweet Little Ella who gave Laci a hug when she was upset that I wasn’t in the room.

I really want to show you what I am going to start doing to pay off some student loans, but that will wait until Monday (maybe Tuesday - we are moving cubes at work and I might be busy on Monday arranging my desk). Let’s just say it is a family tradition passed down from generation to generation and after long thought I am going to start selling them, in addition to giving them as gifts.

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

TTFN~

Creative Itch - Homemade Valentines!

I love Misty's blog Creative Itch, she always has cute ideas, and I think I am going to totally have to steal her Pixie Stix valentine idea for Laci's valentines/party and make it with a twist. So here is her version of a pixie stix valentine...

So I was thinking to go with the valentine's that we store bought for Laci to hand out (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ones to prelude to her party) that for the candy that I include with the Valentine... I could totally include this pixie stix idea and instead of the circle on the top do a Mickey Mouse head from the Mickey Mouse cricut font cartridge. Then do a smaller circle with a heart in the middle for Valentines. Then for the bottom part include something about the birthday party and Mickey can't wait to see you...

For her birthday party I could have the middle part say "Laci is 3!" or "Have a Happy Day!"

Oh Misty... you are the best!

I now have another thing to add to my to-do list that is growing fiercely as Valentines Day and Laci's party gets closer... I mean these next 71 days are going to go by fast!

TTFN~

Things that make me happy!

There are a lot of things that make me happy, but these are just too good not to share...

Laci is what makes me the happiest. She is a bundle full of energy, but truly a blessing! Tell me she isn't just so cute on the playground, this wasn't posed, she was just having fun and took a GREAT picture!



Ok so this morning on the way in at the crack of dawn to the office I saw this car that had it's headlights on and I just started busting out laughing. This car seriously looks pissed. I mean it was saying I mean business and get out of my way. What do you think? Doesn't it just make you want to laugh? I tried to look for the car make and model, but when I got out of it's way it went to fast and it was too dark for me to see. I just loved it though!



Hope everyone is having a great day!

TTFN~

Denium Rag Quilt

Do you have one of those people that is just really a pain hard to shop for? My mom is probably one of the hardest people to get things for. Much like me, if she sees something she wants, and she just gets it. So I asked her what she wanted for Christmas. Mind you she did open it Christmas Day, I just hadn't had a chance to share with you yet.

When I asked her what she wanted she asked about the denium rag quilt that she had seen me making for me. I thought about it and figured I could do it quickly, fairly cheep and have a great gift for her. So I made the Denium Rag Quilt for her that is pictured below. I took her out to get the fabric, I chose the denium and the finished result was enormous! It is 81 squares of beautiful! Each square (not including the seams) was 9 1/2 inches, so that makes 8 1/2 squares with seams x 9 squares across equals a little over 6 feet by 6 feet. She loves it and I am very happy with the result.

To get the layers tacked together I have the hearts with denium on every other square and a heart without denium on the opposite squares. It turned out great, she loves it, and when I get the motivation to make about another 5000 + cuts with the scissors, sew the rest together, oh and then sit in the laundry mat for a couple more hours... I don't want to jack up my washer and dryer have a washer and dryer big enough. *cough* Although if I thought moms was akward to sew together then I have a problem because mine is going to be 121 squares or just over 7 1/2 fet by 7 1/2 feet. When I get a chance I will start working on it. AGAIN...





Anyways I have tons to do today, including posting on Craft Fail for my Mickey apple attempt - Take 1. Hopefully when I try again next weekend it will go better!

Have a great day!

TTFN~

Happy New Year! I am back!

Ok, so for those of you that stop by and wonder where I have been... no worries. I have just been gathering up my sanity from how busy the holidays were! I sadly took down my decorations Saturday and Sunday, now my house looks like we recently moved in. It is so pretty for the holidays and then NOTHING... I told the hubby I was going to go fishing in my moms garage for decorations. His response was "How long should I worry about you before I come looking?" Yes, her garage is that bad, but because she no longer gets around like she used to there are tons of decorations sitting sadly in her garage untouched for years that are ADORABLE & CUTE! So next weekend I will be on a mission. For now the house looks clean and empty and luckly the bins of decorations are up in our ATTIC (thanks to a couple special people laying the boards down during Thanksgiving) out of the garage and my crafting space.

Ok, so on to better things! What have I been doing. Well I have lots to show you so I will start with a couple things so that I can share for longer. Laci started ballet and tap this past week and I gave my hand at making her an outfit. So it is really the first piece of clothing I have made from scratch (I know it should be easy) and it turned out OK. I would alter the pattern next time, raise the neckline (it is too low cut), and lower the hip lines as they are too high. Otherwise the arms turned out great, I have some work to do at making them look good, but I will get there!As for the tutu... um..... a little puffy! What do you think?

So, I broke down and bought her an outfit. She is pretty stinkin cute!

So even though Laci's birthday party isn't until March 27th... I like to plan in advance! Let's just say this will be posted on craft fail because for my first attempt it was horrid! But I am going to keep trying as these are tooooo cute not to have. Oh, the theme is going to be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I will slowly share all the things I am doing for this as I am extreemly excited about it already! So with out further ado, here is what I was trying to do...



Here is what I did...

Lets just say I was so mad about how it turned out I didn't even get to the fun part with the sprinkles.... I am thinking about sansing the caramel and just doing chocolate (do you know how expensive caramel is? Dude it is just sugar?!?!?!). So I am going to change to almond bark to do them and see if they work better. The ears kept sliding and it just wasn't working out very well. We ended up calling them ear muffs... My mother in law had a better first attempt, but I didn't get the ok to reveal hers, plus lets just say, there is a lot of work to go for perfection and perfection is key. We have however, decided to do the small apples, and use big marshmallows with just a tiny bit cut off instead of 1/2. My favorite attempt was this one, but it still looks awful!

Anyways, for now that is going to be my challenge... make cute ones in the next two months. I have the time and determination! Have a great week!

TTFN~