Wild Kratts Birthday Party

Party-goers in their Creature Power Suits

My 6 year old son is a HUGE fan of the Kratt Brothers.  Chris and Martin Kratt are brothers who created a television program aimed at educating children in biology and ecology. They have a show on PBS called Wild Kratts.  My son often speaks of the Kratt brothers and he brings home writing assignments sharing how he wants to be an animal biologist and work with the Kratt brothers some day.

I made Wild Kratts the theme for Boogie's 6th birthday. I was having trouble coming up with some ideas until I looked on Pinterest. Are you on Pinterest? It's become my #1 "go-to" for birthday party ideas. Thank goodness! Piecing ideas from various websites and blogs I created a Wild Kratt party that Boogie and his friends went wild over.

Boogie modeling a creature power suit

I dusted off my mom's old Kenmore sewing machine about a week and a half ago and committed to making 10 Wild Kratt t-shirts. I wanted to make vests, but the price of the felt was way more than I was willing to spend. Fortunately, a local crafts store was having a sale on t-shirts and I was able to make the "creature power suits" for a lot less than I originally thought. Now, my sewing isn't great, but it doesn't seem like anyone noticed. I made the design using felt I found at the craft store. I was able to make two t-shirts worth of designs out of one piece of felt. Awesome!

Polar Bear Creature Power Disc

After making the trademark paw on the t-shirts, I glued a bit of velcro to the main paw and made creature power discs that I could velcro on the front front of the shirt depending which animal we were featuring.  With a bit of card stock,  clear contact paper (left over from all that elementary school teaching I did back in the day!), and a printer I was able to print out creature power discs.  And to give credit where credit is due, this is the site where I was able to get the creature power discs.

I made cheetah tails using leopard print duct tape from the craft's store. I just doubled up the tape and we had the kids place the top part of their cheetah tail in a back pocket to play a little cheetah tail tag. Think flag football without the football. We had kids running around trying to pull each other's tails. Loads of fun and a little bit silly.

We played "platypus egg hunt" and I hid candy filled plastic eggs in the backyard. Afterwards the kids played "platypus egg race" by putting plastic eggs on top of spoons held in their mouths. They had to race around on a course and drop their eggs in a basket without using their hands. Again, silly but a lot of fun.

We made beaver dams out of pretzel rods and chocolate frosting. No pictures, because watching my son eat like a beaver just ended up being super gross. But again, loads of fun.

The Wild Kratts "Tortuga" Base

I made a pull apart cupcake cake shaped as a turtle. My decorating needs work. It didn't help that the red gel frosting pen I used didn't set and it looked like my turtle was bleeding from it's mouth. Oh, well. Nobody noticed or were too kind to say anything and I have to stay doing the cupcake cake was totally the way to go. No cutting slices for the kiddos. They each got a cupcake and they were happy.

We ended with kids answering animal trivia questions in order to earn their next creature power disc. I loved putting this party together for my son. I was able to use my crafty side and make shirts that I never thought I would make in a million years.  Another benefit of being a stay-at-home mom. I have time to pull together my creative ideas and make them work!  It did my heart good to see Boogie's friends wearing their creature power shirts to school this week and hear them talking about creature powers and the fun they had.  Yay!  Boogie loved his party and I was so happy to pull it together for him.

Party Favors: Animal crackers with animal facts printed on them

Cheetah Tails

Hubby demonstrating how to play the Platypus Egg Race

And they're off!

Butterfly Mama

I love handmade items. I love supporting friends who make handmade items.  I have a very talented friend, Chrissy, who makes beautiful baby items. She makes them because she enjoys using her creativity. She has made gorgeous items for her husband's coworkers, for friends, and now she is expanding her creativity into making and selling beautiful handmade baby/kid items.

Check out my friend Chrissy's Facebook page at Butterfly Mama.  I was the blessed recipient of beautiful baby burp cloths and a matching giraffe onesie when my sweet Mr. Bananas was born. I have since ordered a few more burp cloths for Mr. B. With his reflux you can never have enough burp cloths.  I have also ordered for gift sets for my friends who have had or are having babies.

Her workmanship is exquisite, sturdy, and good quality.  Everything is still like new even with multiple washings.  I like having personalized burp cloths.  It means I will never have to guess which is mine when I'm at a play group. I have gotten numerous compliments on anything made by Butterfly Mama.  In need of a sweet gift set for a baby shower? Definitely check out Butterfly Mama on Facebook!

Personalized Burp Cloths 

Baby blanket, burp cloth, pacifier clip

Complete gift set

Personalized burp cloths I bought for a friend

Paw Print t-shirt

Personalized burp cloths

Pillow case

Cooperative Play

The big kids are doing so well together. It makes so much easier with Hubby's travel schedule.  For Christmas break I bought the big kids a gingerbread house to make and decorate.  We never got around to it during break and I've been looking for a time in our schedule to make it.  A week ago Hubby had to travel and I wasn't expecting him home for dinner. I decided we would have an early dinner and the kids could get to it.  Hubby surprised us by being able to get an earlier flight home.  It was nice having him home and having a relaxing night with the kids.

I "glued" the house together with the icing, split up the decorative candy and let the kids have at it. I decided that I would let them do what they wanted with the house. If they asked for help, I'd give it, but I wouldn't dictate how the house "should" look.  It made for a low-key, no stress project.  They did a great job working together and creating a beautiful gingerbread house. It was so nice to see them working together, encouraging one another, and having fun.  I love that they are playing well together and are including Mr. Bananas when they play. I'm one happy Mama.

LOVE: a cool picture display

Repainted wall with LOVE

Coming up with a good gift for either set of parents is a tough feat.  One year my husband and I put a collage of photos in frames in my parents' kitchen. The center photo is a family photo when all of us, including my brother, took a trip to Maui. It's the 7 of us in front of the helicopter from when we took a helicopter ride around the island (actually the 8 of us. Unbeknownst to all of us I was pregnant with Mr. B. in the photo!).  Surrounding the central photo are pictures of my parents with my kids, my kids together, and various family photos. They loved it. Over the years we have exchanged and updated the pictures.

This year after looking on Pinterest I found a really, really cute idea of having the kids pose with letters and spell out the word, "LOVE."  Click here on LOVE to see where I got my neat idea.

When my husband and I bought our house a few years ago, we had to peel a lot of wall paper and repaint our house.  My mom caught the redecorating bug and peeled the wall paper off one of the walls in her living room and that is as far as she got.  I decided this year that my gift to them would be to repaint that wall for them and then hang "LOVE" in pictures featuring their grandkids.  I loved the ending result and so did they.

It turned out better than I expected!

Tutu Cute!

I've been having fun making my little tutus for friends and family.  I sent one to the kids' cousin and when I called to wish her a happy birthday her father told me that she loved it and wanted to wear it right away.  That made me grin. I love when my friends and family like the gifts that I made for them. I enjoy making them and it's so nice when it's well received.

I decided to try to make another version of the tutu I had made for our little cousin. This one is a present for a friend's little girl. As you can see, Bug is my model once again. This is her in mid-jump. Unfortunately, her little puppy is in the way and you can't see the embellishments I've put around the waist.

The kids are getting a kick out of seeing all the ribbon, jewels, and flowers I am using for these projects. They love being my models throughout the various stages. Though at this point I think it's getting harder for Bug to be the model. When she found out that this one wasn't for her either she kept asking, "Where mine? Where mine?"  I might have to make the rest when she is sleeping.  I realize that I have less than a week to complete all the ones I want to do, but I think I'll be able to do it. In reality, I think I'm (amazingly!) done with all my Christmas shopping. I just need to wrap the gifts and stick them under the tree. The ones I have to make will take some time, but I'm enjoying every moment of it. At this point I can't sit still in front of the tv without having some craft project in my hand whether it's crocheting, making tutus, creating calendars, or whatever else I have in mind to do.

I pray that this last week of Advent is a peaceful one for all of you.  Merry Christmas.

A close-up view of the tutu. See the flowers around the waistband?

a little blurry, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Here is the original one I made. Still cute. I like having variety.

Crafty Projects

I was inspired by Buggy's ballet lessons and made a little tutu for one of her cousins for her birthday. I used Bugs as my model and had her try it on at different stages of my tutu making. She kept saying, "oooooh, pretty. For me?"  She understood when I said it was for one of her cousins, but she asked if I would make one for her. I'm pretty she'll find one under the Christmas tree this year.

This isn't a great picture, but I think it gets the idea across. I hope her cousin likes it and I'll be making a few more for Christmas this year for various friends and family. Bug kept shaking her hips whens she modeled it for me.

If you've been keeping up, you know that I've been crocheting baby blankets like it's going out of style. However, I took a break and attempted my first full-length afghan for an "adopt-a-nun" for Christmas gift giving. One of Hubby's co-workers decided to do this for a local convent. She also included an article that gave some information about the order.  The average age in the order is mid-70s, the nuns give away most of what they have to those who need it in the community, live on the donations of others, and somehow make it year after year.  I thought this was a neat idea and wish I can be there to hand out the gifts, but the kids are in a dance recital on Sunday and we won't be able to make it...maybe.

So of course because I always think that I can do more than is probably reasonable in any given amount of time I made an afghan. I finished last night after giving myself a goal of how much I needed to complete each night before going to bed. (I started to panic on Sunday that it wasn't going to get done in time!)   Here is the finished product. The color is autumn red and much prettier in person.  I'm pretty happy with the end product and sad to see it leave my hands so quickly after finishing. But Hubby has already washed and dried it and it is currently wrapped and at this point probably given to his coworker.  I hope Sister Charlotte likes it and I hope it keeps her warm in our currently frigid temps.

I've got a few more projects to do and I'm already itching to complete some more. If you stop by any time in the near future you'll probably find me crocheting, making tutus, making bourbon balls, or baking more Christmas cookies.  Which means I'll be knee deep in yarn, ribbon embellishments, and baking products.  In January it will be more about getting ready for baby...making freezer meals and making him his own blanket.

Merry Christmas!

Baby Blankets

When my daughter was born she received a couple of handmade crocheted blankets. They are her favorite things.  She calls them her "babies" and there is definite distinction between her "babies" and other blankets.  Fortunately we have three that we can rotate between the car, her crib, and the wash. At one point we lost one and it was tough to go just between two. Fortunately we found the missing one and my husband and I could breathe a sigh of relief.

I saw the beautiful blankets and saw how much my daughter loved them and I decided to teach myself how to crochet blankets.  I bought a couple of books, some crotchet needles and some yarn.  I have now successfully made 3 blankets. One was donated to a pregnancy center and the two others have been given to friends for their new babies.  I'm working on my fourth.

A part of me started this new project because I like using hands and making things. I also wanted to give something to pregnancy centers so that the mothers-to-be knew that someone was thinking of them and praying for them as they start the journey into motherhood.  The bonus part was that since I was using my hands, there was no more late night snacking in front of the tv and I lost some weight :)

I really enjoy making these blankets and I enjoy making them for friends who are having babies. My hope is that I will also be able to continue making them for the pregnancy centers. What better way for me to contribute to one of my favorite causes?  New life!