Tangled Birthday Party

Alright, the moment I promised, my Tangled birthday party details! We had so much fun and I had so much fun making everything for the party!

I made this great bunting. You can’t tell but there are little pieces of tulle tied between each triangle. I found the sun symbol online here. I just printed her bunting template and cut the sun out to make my own. I didn’t want to use all my ink to print bunting so I made some instead.

I made these “paper lanterns” that I hung all over the house. Super easy. I just cut a piece of 12x12 paper in half and folded it in quarters and glue the ends together.

Rapunzel loved to paint all over her walls. I had my husband bring home some butcher paper from work. On each of those pieces of yarn are tied crayons. The kids had fun coloring all over it.

I also went here and printed off these templates to make your own 3D Pascal. The kids had lots of fun coloring them while their parents cut and glued them together.

This braid took me a lot longer to make than I thought it would! If we had a second story it would have been fun to have it come from there but as we didn’t we just had it come from the roof.

These are the party hats. For each of the girls they got one with a braid coming from it. The boys’ were just the purple without the braid.

I got the template for this bookmark on the same site as the Pascals (they also have tons of other activities and crafts!). I put a bookmark in each party bag.

And finally…

The princess herself! I put together this little outfit for her to wear. I made the tutu (it’s sparkly) and then used ribbon and liquid stitch to turn a plain pink onesie into this!

We had so much fun! Have you done a Tangled birthday party? I would love to see how yours turned out!

Brittany

Tangled Activity Mat

So this past week my baby girl officially turned 2. Where did the time go??? I can hardly believe it. At any rate we threw her a rocking Tangled party. Don’t worry, all the party details will be arriving in your local feeder this Thursday. In the meantime I thought I’d share a little semi-tutorial on her actual birthday present. We had already gotten Mackenzie a couple smaller presents so this was meant to be the big one. I think it turned out fabulous! So here is how you can make your own Tangled activity mat:

Supplies Needed:

• Felt. Lots of it.
• Hot Glue. Lots of it.
• A large piece of green felt (I think I had mine cut at 1 1/8 yard)
• Scissors, marker, etc.

Note: If you are going to make one of these make sure you read the instructions all the way through first so you can see placement and such at the end.

Step 1: Ok, well there aren’t necessarily specific steps but I’ll walk you through what I did. I decided it would be easiest to focus on each of the different places I wanted to make for the mat. These were: Rapunzel’s Tower, the Castle, The lake (which has a river flowing to it), the Cave that Rapunzel and Flynn wash out of (where the river begins), the Snuggly Duckling, a road to connect everything, and a couple of houses (these were more for kicks and fillers). So Tower first. Basically I looked at a picture of the tower and tried to duplicate it as much as possible. The key I found was the details, like the vines and flowers. Also since in the movie her tower is hidden I chose to have a huge line of trees blocking it from the rest of the mat.

Step 2: Next I focused on the castle. It was in a different part of the mat but I did it next since it was the other largest piece. Again, I semi went by a picture and again the embellishments are what make it.

Step 3: The lake and lanterns. The lake is directly across the street from the castle so there are lanterns with each. There is a river connecting the lake to the cave, but you can worry about that with finishing touches.

Step 4: The road. This was the point I added the road. Obviously the order in which you add all the elements can totally vary. Make sure to leave enough room on the left side for a couple houses and at the top for the Snuggly Duckling. Really all that goes on the inside of road loop is the castle and the cave. After gluing it down you can draw on it with a sharpie to make it look cobblestone-esque.

Step 5: Cave and River. If you remember Rapunzel and Flynn wash out of a cave after their near-death experience after the Snuggly Duckling. I situated the cave directly across the street from the pub and then connected the river around the castle.

Step 6: The Snuggly Duckling. This is the pub Flynn and Rapunzel go to. Once again, I referenced a picture I found online (there are dozens). Instead of making a sign like they have though I chose to put the lettering on the building itself.

Step 7: Houses and other fillers. This includes bridges, trees (I made a little grove) and anything else you want to add. I also made a flag (you can see it in the castle picture). I just printed the sun symbol and then traced and cut it out.

Now to reveal the finished product: Drumroll please…..

Ta Da!!

 

I am very pleased with how it turned out. What do you think? Are you going to make one for yourself or not? What if I told you that one of these may be up for grabs in a couple weeks as I celebrate my blogiversary? Better stay tuned!

Binky Clips {tutorial}

I promise I haven’t disappeared. Even though I still had my scheduled posts last week I feel like I hardly ever got on the computer. No tweeting, no Facebook, not even any linky parties! if you read my Thursday Thoughts last week you know that I worked really hard on my yard and that explains my absence. My absence this week can be explained by two factors: my mother-in-law is in town (don’t worry, it’s a good thing!) and Mackenzie’s birthday party is this Saturday! As you can imagine I have been super busy making stuff for that. I promise to have a blog post all about it next week.

Anyway, onto today’s tutorial. A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Austin to visit my best friend and her family for the blessing of her baby. when I had asked her what she still needed she mentioned binky clips. Well of course I was up to that task! Oh and don’t worry, these clips can literally be used with any binky (passy, pacifier, nuk) that has a hole.

Supplies Needed:

• 3/4”-1” ribbon (if you can get double sided even better)
• badge clips (I got these at Walmart in the office section)
• embellishments
• lighter
• hot glue gun
• sewing machine (though you could hand sew, it’s just a little line)

Step 1: Cut your ribbon to the length you want it. You will be folding over one end about 2” so keep that in mind. Then use your light to slightly melt the ends to seal them together to prevent fraying. Make sure you don’t light the ribbon on fire!

Step 2: Pull the plastic off the badge clips so you just have the clip left. Hot glue the clip to your ribbon (if your ribbon is one sided then glue it to the back side).

Step 3: Hot glue your embellishments on the other side of the ribbon from your clip. I just used little buttons but there are lots of things you could use. If you were making them for girls you could even make little ribbon rosettes and use those.

Step 4: On the other side of your ribbon fold over the end. You need to leave enough room for your embellishment to pass through. Pin in place.

Step 5: Sew your ribbon in place. And you’re done!

What I’ve Been Doing

You may or may not have noticed an absence on my part. Granted, I still had my weekly tutorial, but I took a notable absence from Twitter (ok not so notable in that regards), Facebook, and even blog commenting. I haven’t even linked up my latest project to my favorite link parties! But never fear! I have a good reason! This week has been spring break for my husband (ah the life of a teacher’s wife!) and we’ve been doing……yard work! Yep, that’s right. If you recall we bought our first house back in December. This is what our front yard looked like when we moved in:

Notice how you can hardly see the front of the house? Can you believe there are actually windows behind those overgrown bushes?? Well there are and we love natural light. So after lots of digging and pulling and sweating and maybe even a little bleeding, we have a final product! Drumroll please………

Ta Da!

You can hardly tell it’s the same house! Those bushes are azaleas that bloom three different times! We have 2 more for the backyard. In the middle we planted lily bulbs (just like we had in our wedding!) and some bulbs we actually found all over our yard (the previous owner loved gardening but no one has lived in the house in awhile). We think they are tulips or something similar. My husband added the stones and I think they look awesome! Our yard looks so much bigger! We also added grass seed to all that dirt in front of the stones.

We’ve been working on the backyard but it’s going to be a lot more work! Here is what it looked like before:

Stay tuned for the after pictures!

Brittany

Guest Posting

Hey all my LDS friends (or anyone who loves a spiritually uplifting read) I'm guest posting today over at Pearls for Latter-Day Saint Women. This is a newer blog and I'm sure they'd love more followers! My post is on some important lessons I learned while at Girls Camp!

Block Bag

For Christmas this year Santa brought the little one some building blocks. They’re just simple ones with the alphabet, but she adores them. The only problem was that they came in this dinky plastic bag that didn’t even last a day. Well in an effort to keep toys semi-organized (really how organized can toys get right?) I decided to whip up a little bag for the blocks.

Supplies Needed:

• Fabric
• Sewing Machine
• String

Step 1: Ok, now I based my bag off the original bag the blocks came in. If you don’t have the bag, that’s ok! Measure a square large enough to fit 4 blocks on it. Even if your blocks aren’t square like mine, that’s ok! It’ll still work, you’ll just have to make yours big enough to fit them all. Ok, so after you’ve cut the square, you’ll need a piece for the sides. Figure out how tall you want it for the height. For the length, Measure the perimeter of your square. Make sure you leave a little bit on each side for sewing and hemming.

Step 2: Take your side piece. Fold the length in half with the right sides facing in. Sew together.

Step 3: Carefully sew the side piece to your square bottom. I would sew one side at a time, lift the foot (with the needle holding the fabric in place) and rotate the fabric for the next side. I’m also not the best seamstress so…

Step 4: Sew a hem on the top of the bag. So I had totally forgotten to leave a hole for the string when I sewed my hem so I actually cut a slit and then hemmed the edges with liquid stitch. But if you’re awesome, you can sew in your slit first and then hem :).

Step 5: Thread your string into the hem. Tie the ends together.

Step 6: Fill with blocks and you’re good to go! Mackenzie loves putting her blocks away in her new bag!

Brittany

Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans {Book Review}

The year is 2085 and we are at war.

Sammy, a 14-year-old fugitive, accidently discovers he has the powers of a Psion. Plucked off the streets, he is thrust into the disciplined environment of Psion Beta headquarters. As a new “Beta,” Sammy must hone his newfound abilities using holographic fighting simulations, stealth training missions, and complex war games. His fellow trainees are other kids struggling to prove their worth so they can graduate and contribute to the war effort. But the stifling competition at headquarters isolates Sammy from his peers.

Learning to use his incredible powers is difficult enough, but when things go horribly wrong on a routine training mission, he must rely on the other Betas to stay alive.

The Silent War is at a tipping point; even one boy can be the difference.

But to do so, he must survive.

My Thoughts

When I first got this book in the mail I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not. I’m not very into science fiction.  But I really enjoyed it! I do enjoy The Hunger Games and I felt like Psion Beta was along similar lines.

One of the things I really liked was that everything was explained. He had an explanation for the sci-fi aspects of the story. I always have a hard time when characters have certain ‘powers’ (and yet I’m able to accept when they break into song and dance…) but the author was able to give explanations that made it all a little more feasible.

Though the writing was a little choppy at times, I found the story engaging and compelling enough that I was never pulled out of the story. The author was really skilled at presenting questions in the story that you had to have answered. And just when you thought you had all the questions answered another one would come up. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted my questions answered. And even then not even all of them are answered because the author leaves us in a cliffhanger!

One of the reasons I was able to read it so quickly was because it was fairly easy to read. I don’t enjoy sci-fi books that feel the need to use lots of big words and jargon that the average person won’t understand. Or when they are introducing a new technology (because it is the future) they have to explain to the tiniest minute detail. This always pulls me out of the story. In Psion Beta the author describes things just so we can get an idea but then lets us use our imagination when it comes to the details.

I was thoroughly impressed with this book. The book is self-published by the author, which can make it seem iffy, but I honestly liked this book. I liked also that it was for both teenagers and adults. Most of the book takes place in training and it was fun to glimpse into a teenager’s mind. And yet it wasn’t too young that I got bored. I’m actually really hoping I get to read the sequels so I can find out what happens to Sammy.

Want to know where you can get your hands on a copy? For paperback you can head here and order your copy today. But if you don’t want to wait for the mail and you have a Kindle you can get your copy for only $.99 here! I also highly recommend checking out the book’s website so you can learn more about both the book and it’s author!

Just some fun stats for you: Psion Beta for Kindle is:

• #4 in Children’s Literature Action/Adventure
• #19 in Children’s Fiction
• #197 in all books

So what do you think? Is this a book you think you’d like?

Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of Psion Beta to read. All opinions are 100% my own. I was not compensated in any other way.

Nutella Party

Growing up I don’t remember having a lot of Nutella around the house. I actually don’t think I had my first taste until college! And I loved it! So naturally when I was asked to host a Nutella Party I jumped at the chance. I also am fairly new to the area and I thought this would be a great way to get to know the other moms in play group better- by hosting play group at my house and eating delicious food.

For our party  we decided to have a crepe bar. We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and Nutella is a great addition to any breakfast. Though we had tons of possibilities to choose from, we decided to focus on one dish. I provided the crepes and Nutella and the other moms brought ingredients to go with them.

What a success! The kids absolutely loved the Nutella (my 2 year old refers to it as chocolate and is so excited that it’s chocolate I’ll let her eat at breakfast time!) and so did the moms! They were so excited to get their own samples of Nutella in their goodie bags. I think my favorite combo was Nutella, strawberries, and blueberries. You could even add a little squirt of whipped cream. Some other ingredients moms brought were bananas and powdered sugar. Think of all the possibilities! Yum!

The party was definitely a success. Though I had always been a fan of Nutella, I would say we are now Nutella converts (ok maybe addict is a better word) and will be buying it much more often!

Brittany