Harry Potter themed birthday party

In three months I will be throwing my son's first birthday party and I decided on a Harry Potter themed party. It is quickly getting out of hand since I'm such a huge HP fan. I started working on the party favors pretty early (think November and the party is in June). I'm glad I did cause it helped me to save a lot of money and work at a pretty slow pace. I am going to break each party favor up into its own post so this is going to be a series of posts.

First up I made house scarves. I know a scarf is out of season for a June party, but they were the easiest and I figured kids would re-use a scarf before they would a tie.

I bought fleece on sale at Joann's and iron on patches online.

Then I cut the fleece into 5" wide strips making a 5" x 42" scarf. I recommend cutting the selvages off before cutting because they caused the fleece to bunch up on the end. Or maybe that was because I bought cheap fleece.

Then I cut tassels on the ends of the scarves. My tassels are 4" long and 1/2" wide.

If your fleece is like mine then there should be a fluffier side and a not-as-fluffy side. I ironed my patches on the not-as-fluffy side by putting the patch face down (with the backing facing up) and laying the scarf on top of it. I used the lines on my ironing board to make sure the patch was centered on the scarf and I positioned the patch approx. 10" from the end. To get this measurement I put on a scarf and measured when the patch would look best.

When ironing onto fleece you can't put the iron directly onto the fleece. Get a thick cotton fabric or shirt to put on top of the fleece. If you put the iron directly onto the fleece then you will mess it up. Make sure your iron is on a steam setting then run it over the patch area for about 15-20 seconds while you have a good amount of steam coming out of the iron.

And voila!

Homemade Finger Paints

A little while ago I mentioned trying to make my own finger paints. Well, today I finally did. If you remember I was going to try two different recipes, one from TLC and one from Easie Peasie (see my previous post for the links cause I'm feeling a bit lazy right now and don't want to look them up). My final results are still pending (see my final results at the end of the post below), but I can give you some preliminary results.

First, Easie Peasie was way too thick.

 



In order to get the green mixed I had to use a spoon. It ended up being the consistency of semi-cooled wax.

Next, I didn't cook the first batch of the TLC long enough so it was a bit on the watery side. However it was very easy to mix the food coloring in.

I turned off the heat when the mixture was the consistency of glue and that was too soon. So, I tried again and I think the consistency was a bit better, but you do need a spoon to completely mix in the coloring. Or maybe just not fill the jar as full as I did so it will shake better. I am going to update this in a week or two when I can comment on the mold issue that some people mentioned on the Easie Peasie blog. Here's the recipe I used and some notes to help make it easier for you.

3 tablespoons of sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
1/4 cup dish soap
food coloring

Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and slowly add water stirring until the dry ingredients are completely dissolved. Cook on low, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Continue for another minute until the mixture resembles a whitish gel (remove from heat if mixture starts to bubble). Slowly stir in the dish soap and remove from heat. When cool enough to handle, spoon into jars and add food coloring.

Here is what my last batch looked like just after the soap went in.

I might have cooked it a few seconds too long, but it still works nicely. This recipe will make five, 3/4 full, 4 ounce baby food jars.

In my first couple batches I used 4-8 drops of food coloring. In my last batch I used 10-12 drops. I think 8-10 drops is probably best. The red and blue painting was using my last batch of finger paints. The yellow and green were from my first couple batches. Side note - Using the dish soap in the recipe makes clean up a breeze.

I hope this helps you guys. I'll make up some more colors and post pictures... Maybe..

** Update - 24 hours later ** The Easie Peasie batch is a semi-solid substance. You can paint with it, but you have to scoop it out. The first batch of TLC paints is even more watery than before. The second batch of TLC paints is perfect (the recipe I posted above). The consistency is nice (like a firm gel) and it paints nicely. I'll update again in a couple weeks.

** Update - Feb 28 ** The finger paints have no mold. Not even a spec. And the consistency has stayed constant. This is the winner recipe!

** Update - April 17th ** The finger paints still have no mold and the consistency is still perfect. I think it's pretty safe to say that this recipe will resist molding so you can make a batch or two in advance and store it for awhile.

Finger Paint Experimentation

I'm in the process of planning Axel's Harry Potter themed first birthday party (don't worry, I'll post pics when the time gets closer) and I thought finger paints would make a good "potion" for potions class. I found a few different recipes while I was researching recipes on the internet and thought I would try them out. A few people mentioned the paints molding after a week so I'm gonna follow and then tweak a few recipes til I get one that's just right. If you're interested I'm starting out with these recipes:

http://easiepeasie.blogspot.com/2010/07/homemade-finger-paints.html

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/make-your-own-fingerpaint.htm

One commenter on the first link mentioned the sugar causing the mold so I will try once with the sugar and once without. I'll take pictures and post my final results in a week or so along with the recipe that worked out best for me.

Stay tuned!

Baby food container crafts

I know it's been awhile since I've posted and this post will have a part 2 that won't happen for several weeks, but I thought I would post about it anyway.

I recently acquired this:

 

I never really thought about how many of these containers I might go through until someone gave us several dozen jars of baby food. Suddenly all I could think about was emptying them out and crafting with them. I have a few ideas on what I want to do, but I'm not going to share just yet. I promise that I will post pictures of what I make as soon as I get the stuff made.

Baby Clothes on a Budget

Hi Everyone!  Sorry it's been so long since I last posted.  A lot has happened in the past few months.  I had a baby boy, (and he is steadily growing like a weed), I went back to work, and then I quit work.  I'm now a stay at home mom on a budget and it's AWESOME.  I love seeing my son's smiling face when I greet him first thing in the morning.  I love not being so exhausted that I barely have the energy to rock my son to sleep.  And most of all - I love that I am being creative again.

I just thought of, completed, and now blogged about a baby clothes project.  Awesome right??

I hate onesies.  I hate that ALL the baby clothes for infants under 12 months are always onesies.  Do you want to know why I hate them?  Aside from the fact they look ugly (who wears all their shirts tucked into their pants?).  They are a pain to change diapers in.  Especially if you have a breastfed baby that mere mortal diapers can't contain their bowel movements.  It never fails, his poo will explode out the back or front of his diaper, then when I try to get the onesie off I end up smearing poop all the way up to his ears.  I hate that.

I have a million onesies, about a dozen shorts/pants, and only two actual shirts.  I went to three different stores looking for regular shirts and apparently they don't exist.  So, on the way back from the store today I had an idea.  Why don't I turn all those onesies into shirts?  It would be easy right?

Turns out, it is.  (I apologize, since I don't work anymore I don't have access to all my photo programs so some of these pictures are awful and I can't resize them).

I started with a thin crappy onesie that I bought.  It was supposed to be for babies 3-9 months (really? That should have been a sign, I know) but it turned out to be for 3 month old babies and the fabric is thin.  So it's going to be my guinea pig.

First, you cut straight across the bottom removing the snaps and trim.

Then you fold up the bottom and sew.  I used a zigzag stitch so it would still stretch at the bottom.  I managed to spit out 5 of these puppies in about 5 minutes.  Be careful not to stretch the knit as you sew.  If you do then the fabric will ruffle.  Just let the machine pull it through.



One of the onesies I did had a plastic-y image printed on it.  My machine didn't like it.  I think the plastic was sticking to the foot so it couldn't slide it through very well.  Maybe next time I will try a quilting foot with top and bottom feeders.

And here's my angel relaxing in dad's chair sporting one of his new shirts.

I hope you enjoyed this.  I know I did.  Now my son has shirts to wear with all those shorts.