WIZARD OF OZ party, part 2 - The Decor (Characters)

Why a Wizard of Oz party?

When I was in Ben Franklin this summer, I saw the MOST DARLING paper. I didn't even know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I had to have it. So, I bought it, and figured the only way I would get to use it, was if I planned a Wizard of Oz party based on the paper. The paper line is called, "The Magic of Oz," and it is by, Graphic's 45. This is the first page I saw. I was immediately drawn to it, and had to have it.

You can see the whole line HERE. It is beautiful!

As I mentioned in the post about the invitation, I asked each guest to bring a food item to share in a category:

1) Dorothy, Tin man, Lion, Scarecrow
2) Munchkin Land
3) Emerald City
4) Good & Bad Witches

I pushed my furniture out of the way, and had tables stationed in different rooms on my main floor. This is the first table you saw when you walked in. This table was in my living room.

Thanks to Candy and Christine for setting this table up!

I found a canvas at Saver's for $4. I projected the silhouette from the invitations onto the canvas, and painted it with black craft paint. I love it, and plan to keep it and pull it out for Halloween every year.

I have to thank my friend Kami for her help with this table. She got the shoes, and the table cloth for me at DI, and loaned me the poppies. I am so lucky to have such great friends. Thanks again Kami!

The shoes are so perfect, and almost fit my daughter, who was very excited about them!

The paper is from the line that started it all.

Up next... Munchkin land. It was so colorful and fun! Please come back to see.

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Wizard Of Oz party, Part 1 - The Invitation

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

WIZARD OF OZ party, part 1 - The invitation

I have been dying to share my Wizard of Oz party with you. I just got the rest of the photos from a friend this week, and have been busy getting them organized. I decided in July, I was going to have a Wizard of Oz party. I have had plenty of time to collect ideas. You can see my pinterest board HERE. I love pinterest. It helped me so much to keep everything organized!

While I love the Wizard of Oz movie, I didn't want to use any characters in my decor.

I also wanted to make an original invitation. I think I achieved it. And, yes... I made it in Picasa.

Here is part one.

I always ask my guests to bring a food item to share. I like to see what they bring, and I never have the time to make much food after all the time I put into the decor.

Here is part two.

This was the look I wanted for the invitations. The majority of them ended up smaller, as I was making these late at night, and ran out of tulle. I didn't photograph a smaller invitation, but they were still just as cute. And, as you can probably see in the photos... I stapled everything. It saves so much time and money. The background paper is from Hobby Lobby, and I like to buy my tulle on a spool from Hobby Lobby as well. (But only when it's half off, which is just about every other week.)

I will be adding more highlights and tutorials from the party over the next few days. Be sure and check back!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Vintage LITTLE PEOPLE 3D wall art

I couple posts ago, I wrote about a few things I found at the local thrift store, DI, but wasn't able to finish. You can see the post HERE. Well... I finished one of them today, and it turned out SO cute, I want to squeal...EEEEEEE!

I have mentioned before, we are finishing our basement, and most of the toys are in the garage. I decided to get out to the garage, and get the Little People farm set for my baby today. I brought the whole bin of people in. (I had an obsession with them when my other kids were babies, and own pretty much every set.) So... yes, we have a whole bin just for the characters. Well, I looked through that bin 4 times in the garage a few weeks ago, looking for the vintage circus animals, that were my husband's when he was little. No luck. The kids tried to tell me I gave them away, and I knew I never would have. When I went through the bin, I found the circus animals.

I. WAS. SO. EXCITED!!!

I ran right upstairs, and got this lovely frame I bought at the DI a few weeks ago for $5. I broke the glass out, used the same mat that was already there, and turned the picture around.

I then hooked the animals on with command strips - didn't really work very well, so I moved on to large, super strength glue dots. They worked perfectly!

I attached new hooks on the back, and hung it right away!

Aren't these animals just SO DARLING?!?
They don't make them like that anymore.

The view from below, shows my husband's initial on the belly of the elephant. So sweet!


The giraffe and monkey are both missing their tails, but I don't mind, and think it adds to the character.


Thank you to my sweet mother-in-law, Margaret for saving these cute animals.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

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Halloween Cards 2011 Edition (Picnik mini tutorial)

Last year, I shared something that I try to do most years... Send out a Halloween card. You can see the post HERE. I like doing it, because it is fun and unexpected. I don't print off as many as I do Christmas cards, but it is just a fun way to show off the little cuties in their costumes. This is the 2011 edition. By the way... I have never been one to coordinate costumes. I just let the kids pick what they want to be. Con wanted to be, "The Scariest Thing Ever," this year.

Yesterday after school, I had the kids get their costumes on, and we went outside for pictures. I made all these cards using picasa. I tacked the photos I wanted to use, and clicked on collage. I then sized the photos, and changed the background color to black.

I then saved the collage, and went into picnik to add the words. I know I rave about picnik all the time, and let me say one more time, that I REALLY LOVE PICNIK!

The kids are nice to go along with this every year. The photo below is the last one I shot. If Rhett could talk, I am sure he would say, "Mom, really, why are you torturing me?" He has no idea what is in store for him through the years in the mom photo torture department :)

Do you ever wish you could freeze your kids? This was one of those days for me. I am glad I got the freeze the moments in a photo.

And one more thing... Sophie wanted bloomers under the costume. She wanted them with lace. So, I went to Saver's, and got her some sparkly black leggings for $2.50 - they were 1/2 off!!! I sewed stretchy black lace and tulle from a tulle spool (both from Hobby Lobby) on the bottom. You can't see how cute they are in the photos above, so I just had to share!



Have a Happy and Creative Day,

Risa

Baby room, and a DYI HIGH!

Last week, my friend Kristen painted the MOST DARLING canvases for her nursery. It reminded me that mine is still not finished. I decided I needed to do something about it! (Thanks for the nudge Kristen!) So, I went to DI on Monday, and spent $22. I got SO many things! I wanted to share a few with you. And, let me start by saying... Before this baby, we gave away, or loaned out 95% of our baby stuff. When we had this baby, I basically had to start from scratch. The only thing in his whole nursery that is from my other babies, is the glider.

I wanted a shelf, and was so happy to find this quilt shelf for $5 - yes $5!!! I knew all it would need is a little paint. I just happened to have a can of white spray paint in the garage. Perfect!

Then, I found these elephants for $1 each. I was having a thrifting high when I found them, because just that morning, I was at Homegoods, thinking about getting a few elephants for $10 each. That's a 90% savings, and you don't even have to pay tax at DI!!!

I decided to make book ends out of them. We are finishing our basement, and our contractor (who is fabulous, by the way) was down there working. I went down, found a few scraps, and he cut and brad nailed them together for me. Thanks Curtis! You rock!

A perfect fit!

I spray painted the wood blue to match my changing table. Do you remember my changing table? You can see it HERE.

See the "Silly Sally," book on the shelf? It is one of our favorites. When I got the baby books out, the kids were loving having a walk down memory lane, and reading all the old books. They totally LOVE, Silly Sally.

The next thing I did, was make a letter "r" to go on the shelf. I was all ready to go to Hobby Lobby to buy one, when I remembered that my AWESOME HUSBAND bought me a scroll saw a few weeks ago. It is my new favorite thing. I really love it. LOVE IT! Thanks Honey!

I went to picnic, found a font I liked, and printed and cut it out. Then I grabbed a piece of pine and traced the letter. I cut it out in two minutes.

Then I traced the letter onto some scrapbook paper I already had. I cut it out, and masking taped it onto the wood.
It was SO easy! I was on another high... not a thrifting high, but a DIY high.

By the way... here is the before picture.


Did I mention the crib was free from the classifieds? People are SO nice. I may paint it some day, but probably not. The thought of that makes me tired.

I got a few more things for the nursery at DI that day, but I haven't finished them yet. I can't find my little people vintage circus animals. (Like I say, we are finishing our basement, and all the toys and things are in bins in the garage.) When I do find them, I will post pics of the next project!

So, for $7 and some spray paint, I totally changed the room!

Have a Happy and Creative day!

Risa

All about GINGHAM, and The Littles...

I admit it... I have had a slight obsession with gingham lately... gingham ribbon, gingham fabric, gingham paper... you name it, I am drawn to it. Maybe it reminds me of my childhood? I learned how to cross stitch on gingham.

I have another obsession with using real linens at meal time. Forget about the paper stuff. I love cloth napkins, and if I can't find what I am looking for, I don't mind making them.

Part of my gingham obsession may have to do with the fun things I have found for a Wizard of Oz themed party. If you follow me on pinterest, you may have noticed my, Wizard of Oz, pins. If not, you can check out my board here.

I found this blue gingham fabric at Wal-mart for $1.50 per yard. So, of course, I bought all they had! I was home yesterday with a sick daughter, who was glued to Net Flix. She watched The Littles all day! I decided to join her, and make some napkins with my gingham.

This is how they turned out.

I put lace on only one side, because two sides is too much time and money, and no one really sees it anyway.

I like them folded this way... I think it is unexpected.

My daughter likes them this way, which is also cute. I may use them for an upcoming party for my son, and not even have the lace showing! That would be more boyish - right?

A little about, The Littles... I used to LOVE that show! I watched it every Saturday morning. I was convinced that little people lived in the walls of my bedroom. I think my kids now think The Littles live here. That's fine with me ;)

Back to the napkins. I am loving the flat lace that I got 1/2 off at Michael's.

(These are the same napkin, just folded different.)

They turned out SO cute... I think I will add them to my Pinterest board. I have never pinned anything from my blog before. There's a first time for everything - right?
Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

A few things I neglected to post... Baby Blessing.

We blessed Rhett in June, but I was so crazy busy that day, that I forgot to take any pictures of the set up :( I have to say... it was beautiful! When my brother saw it, he asked me if I was on meth, and that's how I am able to get so much done. No... no meth ;) I just like to make things pretty, and... I start FAR in advance.

Here is the invitation (made in picasa of course)

Here are the coordinating treats.

Remember my mom's sugared popcorn recipe? You can find it HERE.

I always love sugared popcorn, as it can be made in advance, and can be made to go with any decor, as you can make it any color or flavor. I decorated the bags in advance.

I got these drinks at the dollar store, 6 for $1. I did this part way in advance. I made the labels in picasa, and punched them out.

This is what the sheet looked like before I punched it out:

The drinks were really cute, and the straws were from Gygi, in Salt Lake City. I hooked them on with glue dots.

I made mini lemon cupcakes with a lemon creme, fluffy delish frosting. I made it up as I went, or I would provide the recipe. The mini papers were from Gygi as well. I baked the cupcakes in plain white papers, and put them in the fancy papers after the fact.

I had to do marshmallows on a stick. You can see the first time I did it HERE, and for the cowboy party HERE. I did these with yellow almond bark, and silver sprinkles from Gygi.

It turned out cute.

I made a darling runner, and had a banner as well, but didn't get a picture of either. I plan to use them in the next few months for an upcoming party for my daughter's dance class, so you will still get to see them. The banner is fabric with interchangeable wooden letters.

Oh, and here's the menu. I made all the food, except Rhett's Yiayia brought homemade rolls, and his Grandma brought hummus. I am kind of a control freak, and wanted everything to look and taste just the way I wanted. And, it did :)

All these were cut into labels, backed with coordination yellow or gray papers, and placed in front of the food. I did every bit of everything I could before hand, so I just had throw things together, and mix them up. I didn't want people to have to wait. I even had empty dishes sitting out and in place ready for food to be out in them. My husband thought I was nuts, but again... the control freak in me took over, and I was glad to be prepared.

Spinach Salad

With Feta,

Strawberries and

Roasted Almonds

Quinoa Salad

With Black Beans

And Cranberries,

Tossed in Cider Vinegar

Antipasto

Peppers, English Cucumbers,

Tomatoes and Mozzarella,

Tossed in Balsamic

Vinegar and Olive Oil

Chicken Pasta Salad

Bowtie Pasta, Chicken and

Shredded Parmesan, Flavored

With Olive Oil and Herbs

Hummus

Made Especially by

Grandma Baker

Rolls

Homemade by

The Yia yia

Marshmallow Pops

Adorned in Almond Bark

And sprinkles

Lemon Crème cupcakes

Mini Lemon Cupcakes Dressed

With lemon Creme

Sugared Popcorn

With Banana Essence

It was such a fun and memorable day. Thanks for letting me share!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

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