Crafts

An Artsy Big Hero 6 Birthday Party and Free Invitation Download!

April 20, 2015 by melissa

My youngest son is obsessed with Baymax from Big Hero 6. He also loves making, building, and drawing things.

Tired of yet another bounce house party, I decided an art party would be the perfect choice for my little maker.

But Big Hero 6? Combined with an art party? I didn’t really even know what that looked like myself, but I stumbled upon a cute art shop and it turned out we didn’t have to pick one of their pre-selected themes. I mentioned we wanted to do a Big Hero 6 theme and the owner immediately said “Oh we could do Baymax made out of clay!” And that’s exactly what we did (and it turned out to be the perfect little craft project for five year olds)!

Download a Free Baymax Birthday Invitation!

Before the party stuff though comes invitations. I made these for the party and I swear it was actually the easiest thing I ever designed! Isn’t Baymax just the best?

Download a free invitation printable right here! It’s a PNG file so just open in your photo editing program (Picmonkey is great!) and add type over it– the font size will seem HUGE but the image is at 300dpi which is the proper resolution to print out nice. You can get the Big Hero 6 font for FREE at this font site and use any simple font for the party details. If you use InDesign, grab the packaged template, complete with the fonts you need. There is a main InDesign file if you use CC (.indd) and another file (.idml) for older versions. By downloading this printable, you agree not to sell it as your own or offer it for download. Okay? Okay!

Cupcakes and Treat Bags

Prepping was a family affair. I made Baymax Cupcakes, which are pretty much red velvet cupcakes, topped with vanilla frosting and a marshmallow with Baymax eyes drawn on them with a Wilton Black Gel Tube. Tip: Red velvet cupcakes go perfectly with cream cheese frosting, but make sure your kid actually likes cream cheese frosting. Guess who had to put her batch of frosting in the freezer for another day? Ha! We ended up with straight up Vanilla.

I tasked my husband with drawing on the treat bags. I honestly thought he’d just do two circles and a line for Baymax’s face and be done. But his artsy side wouldn’t allow that so we got fancy Baymax treat bags instead. Show off.

And the finished products?

Cupcakes!

And the treat bags..

Daddy Roo really took his job seriously, didn’t he?

How to Make a “Clay” Baymax

The highlight of the birthday party, beside eating cupcakes, was actually making big, lovable Baymax out of clay.

Here’s what they used:

Crayola Model Magic– white for Baymax and a little black for his eyes
Fox White round cardboard cake bases
Folk Art 493 Metallic 2-Ounce Acrylic Paint, Bright Red

First they painted the base red (and added some gold stars too). Then they rolled Baymax’s body, face, arms, and legs. The instructors had to help a little with the eyes, but they sure turned out cute.

Big Hero 6 Party Supplies We Used:

Big Hero 6 18″ Mylar Balloon 3pk (though they have this one now which has a giant Baymax balloon: Big Hero 6 Mylar Balloon Bouquet!)
Disney Big Hero 6 Self-Inking stamps / Stampers Party Favors (10 Counts)

And these weren’t available at the time we did my son’s party, but they’re pretty awesome!

A Happy Little Five Year Old!

We had a blast putting together this Big Hero 6 party, and Ethan had a blast too. Can’t you tell?!

This post contains a few affiliate links, but all the awesomeness is thanks to the little guy.

Teal and Orange Baby Shower for My Sister

April 26, 2012 by melissa

It’s been a while since I got all crafty. But when I find out my baby sister Jennifer was pregnant, I knew my crafty side would come out once again (rubbing my hands together in glee).

My other sister, Jen’s sister-in-law and I threw one heck of a shower for the parents-to-be. With the three of us planning from three separate states, I’m pretty proud of how everything turned out.

The Theme

My sister picked out these adorable elephant invitations from etsy, which formed the color scheme for the shower: teal and orange. I’m in LOVE with the color combination- it made everything just pop (no pun intended for the mother-to-be). I got to break my out graphic design skills for the decor, Jen’s sister-in-law shined with her event planning skills and supplies and my other sister used her awesomeness to decorate the mailbox, puff pretty hanging puffs and helped make everything look fantastic.

The Entrance

We welcomed guests with a sign I made that I backed with cardboard. My sister added a nice touch to the mailbox… something a bit more chic than the typical tie-a-balloon-to-the-mailbox look.

The Inside

The weather was so beautiful that we ended up setting up most of the party outside, but we made sure to have decorations inside as well. I tried to keep the elephant theme throughout some of the signs I made because, well, elephants are just cute. And so are babies.

I’ve made a pennant banner before and I actually referred back to my how to make a paper banner tutorial to do this one! Luckily it turned out just as nice!

Pretty Cupcakes

These cupcakes we did NOT make but aren’t they gorgeous? The design for the cupcake toppers was from the same etsy shop, then you just print them, cut them out (I used a scalloped punch) and glue lollipop sticks onto the back using a glue gun.

Orange-themed Food

My sister’s sister-in-law had the wonderful idea to have all orange-colored food. Some of the snacks? Pimento cheese sandwiches, roasted-red pepper dip with pretzels, hummus with carrots, cheddar popcorn, cheese balls and cantaloupe.

She’s also pretty much genius at setting up the table, adding layers and all the stuff I’m clueless at. We made a great team.

And ORANGE CANDY!!!!! That’s pretty much what the kids screamed. Why yes, we made a cool candy “bar” with all types of orange candy (and actual orange fruit for good measure). We added pops of teal in there as well but orange candy was quite easier to find.

Here’s another closer look at the dips. I bought these cups for Party City, then made little circles with elephants inside them and stuck them to the cups. I chuckled just a bit when I made the “dip baby dip” sign. Oh yes, I’m a riot.

Baby Shower Games

We had such a great time hanging out at the party that we actually never got around to playing the games! But the setup did look mighty pretty. I made those labels to cover the baby food jars then noticed they would work PERFECTLY to cover the diapers for the “poopy diaper game”- you know, the game where you have to sniff diapers filled with melted candy bars? Maybe it’s better we didn’t play that one.

The Couple of Honor

I couldn’t post this without showing you the glowing parents-to-be. I’m so thrilled for them and can’t wait to meet their little munchkin next month! (By the way, in the picture on the bottom right, the first two girls are my sisters… we don’t look much alike do we?! But I promise we’re 100% sisters).

And there ya go! A bright, beautiful teal and orange themed baby shower for my baby sister. Now to meet that baby.

If you liked this crafty goodness, then check out my back-t0-back birthday party (owls and Mickey Mouse) too. While I won’t ever do two parties like that again, I can revel in the fact that I did it. Hehe.

How to Make a Paper Bunting

March 1, 2011 by melissa

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What’s bunting you ask? Well, it looks like this:

Most buntings, or pennant banners, I’ve seen use fabric. While I like that look, I don’t own a sewing machine and sadly can’t sew a thing. But I do have lots of scrapbook paper so I thought I’d make a paper one instead.

Supplies (exact supplies I used in parenthesis):

7 pieces 12×12 patterned scrapbook paper (My Mind’s Eye- Fine & Dandy)
Spool of ribbon (American Crafts ribbon)
Chipboard letters (Chip Art from Melody Ross)
Acrylic paint (Ranger Ink Paint Dabber- Espresso)
Glitter glue (Stickles Glitter Glue- Vintage Photo)
Paper trimmer (or scissors)
Paintbrush
Double-sided tape
Pencil
Glue dots (optional)
Bone folder (optional)

1. Cut your paper.

With your paper trimmer, or a pair of handy scissors, cut your paper in half into 6 x 12 strips. Once you’re done cutting your paper into strips, fold each one in half to form a 6 x 6 square. You can use a bone folder to get a nice crease.

2. Cut squares into triangles.

With the fold at the top, make a small pencil mark at the bottom center of the square. Then, cut each side from a top folded corner to the pencil mark.

You’ll end up with a nice triangle. If you want, you can use a paper scraper or even your fingernail and scrape or “distress” the sides a bit.

3. Paint & glitter the letters.

Paint your chipboard letters. Easy enough.

Once the paint dries, squeeze some glitter glue onto the letters and brush it over the letters. Let try.

4. Assemble the bunting.

Using glue dots (or double-sided tape), attach the letters to each triangle. I left one blank for the space between Happy and Birthday.

Unroll your ribbon and grab a triangle. Leaving about a foot of ribbon to hang up the banner, open the triangle and place a one-inch piece of double-sided tape under the crease.

Lay the ribbon on top of the tape and then place another strip of tape over the ribbon. Fold the triangle over the ribbon and put a small piece of tape at the bottom to keep the triangle together. Keep moving down the line until you finish your bunting!

5. Hang it up!

We put two small nails above our door frame and tied the ends to the nails. Worked perfectly!

If you like this tutorial, don’t forget to stumble, tweet or like it!

A Tale of Two Birthday Parties

February 21, 2011 by melissa

[pinit]

{wheewwwwwwwwwww}

That’s me exhaling. I did it. I planned and executed two birthday parties BACK-TO-BACK. We had no screaming babies and no tantrumy children. It was magical for the most part. I couldn’t believe it.

Seven spending-the-night guests. Over 25 people attending the parties. Wanna see what a day of two birthday parties looks like? Here are the highlights:

Little Roo’s Decorations

Remember all that craftiness I got myself into? Well, I’m SO happy with how it all turned out. I ended up putting most of it up the night before, which was a wise choice. My pendant banner (called a bunting I learned) is my absolute fave. That and the fortune cookies, which I filled with such wise fortunes as “There’s a poopy diaper in your future.” and “Good luck is the result of good crying fits.”

When Babies Attack

Apparently Little Roo wasn’t interested in a cute posed picture with the ‘rents.

Smashing the Cake

By far the best part of a baby’s first birthday party is smashing up a cake. We got a cake to match the invitation and a mini smash cake to match!

Both were from Tartlette Treats here in Raleigh and they were super tasty. We got lots of compliments on the cakes.
While the baby cake was cute as could be, the fondant wasn’t soft enough for little hands so we tore it off and let him tear into the inside. And by tear, I mean smash-grab-devour-rub-his-belly-with it.

And if that weren’t messy enough, Little Roo went wild and crazy and dropped the cake on the floor.

We finished up the cake just in time for Big Roo’s friends to arrive. I refilled the food trays while my sisters changed out a couple of decorations but for the most part we had two separate rooms decorated. I decided it would be SO much easier that way. Thank goodness I knocked some sense into myself.

Big Roo’s Decorations

I didn’t do as much for Big Roo because, well, it’s not his first birthday. I forgot to get pics of the little circles for the windows but you can get the point from these.

Long Live the Bounce House

Ah the bounce house. A friend gave this to us years ago and we break it out every so often. Unfortunately, it was DIR-TEE when I unpacked it so I spent, oh, two long hours on Friday scrubbing this thing down. I wasn’t about to come up with a way to keep 10+ four year olds entertained without it.

It was a huge hit but so was chasing around my 10 year old nephew. Go figure!

Oh and the best part about the bounce house? STATIC CRAZY HAIR!

Big Roo’s Cake

So a four year old isn’t nearly as messy as a one year old, but it’s still cute to watch.

After all the friends left, we spent some time opening up mounds of gifts. It was just too much to try and do it with all those people there.

And finally, a shot of the fam. This was actually taken BEFORE the cake, the presents, the friends and all the madness that made up the day. I’m SO exhausted you guys but it was so worth it to see two little happy faces.

Just Call Me the Crazy Crafty Mom Who Spends Too Much Time on Birthdays

February 3, 2011 by melissa

Kids’ birthdays are a big deal on my side of the family. I’m not sure why we get so into them but we do. Our spread-out families typically travel for a party and we decorate to a T.

This year is extra special for the Roo household. Little Roo turns one (ZOMG!) and Big Roo turns a very big four. If you remember, my kids have the SAME BIRTHDAY three years apart so February 23 is one very important day around here.

Being that I’m a sucker for first birthdays, I wanted Little Roo to have his own birthday party. Will he remember it? Only in pictures. And he probably won’t give a crap. But it’s important to me to throw him a bash as crafty as I did for Big Roo… at least for this year.

And how left out would Big Roo feel if I did a party for Little Roo and not for him? Probably like turd. So what’s a mama to do?

Throw them ONE party and call it a day?

That’s a great idea… but that’s not how the crafty side of me rolls. Birthdays are not only a time to get all gushy about the kids growing up, it’s also a time for me to pretend like I’m Martha Stewart and get my craft on.

There I said it.

Birthdays are for me too.

There’s something about playing with paper, glue and scissors that just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

SO, I’m throwing TWO differently themed parties ON THE SAME DAY.

BACK TO BACK, people.

Yes, I-AM-NUTS.

Each party is 1.5 hours long because everyone who will be at Little Roo’s party will stay for Big Roo’s. Then some of Big Roo’s friends from school will just show up for his party. I have family who will switch out some decorations and plates but some of the stuff will be the same (I think I’ll decorate one room for Big Roo and one for Little Roo).

On top of all this, I’m doing this on a relatively tight budget. I’ll splurge a little on the baby’s cake but for the most part, I’m making 90% of the decorations myself.

Like so. I designed their invitations and printed them at home:

And I also have a crafty mess of supplies- some new, some old- ready for me to go all Martha on them.

Crafty? Absolutely. Crazy? Um, yes. Stupid? I sure hope not. Who cares as long as I’m having craftastic fun with it?

Some people bake for those they love. I craft.

For the record… I WILL NEVER REPEAT THIS DUAL PARTY FEAT.

So that only makes me half crazy, right?