Princess Birthday Party!

Addie's 4th Birthday - A Princess Party!

 I made a Birthday Banner out of pink and purple scrap booking paper.  I cut the paper into triangles and added glittery, foam letters to spell out Happy Birthday.  Then Addie and I added sparkly princess themed foam stickers to each triangle.  I found the foam stickers at Wal-Mart.  Next, I punched holes in the corners of the triangles and strung pink ribbon through the holes. 

I made a two tiered birthday cake and frosted it with purple frosting and added pink flowers for contrast. Addie picked out her favorite tiara and wand and we added it to the cake. I cut number 4 from pink craft foam and added it to the front. This is not my best cake - but my sister and I got a good laugh out of it when we were frosting it at midnight the night before. I will forever think of this as the purple hippo cake!! :)

I made tulle princess wands for the little guests. This party had more boy guests than girl guests, so I made yellow, brown and white wands in addition to the adorable pink wands. I got this idea and directions from mydecoupagedlife She has such wonderful ideas and these tulle pom pom wands were super easy to make!!

Olympic Medals!

Olympic Medals! 
We made our own version of Olympic Medals.  I mixed up some salt dough and added blue and red glitter to the mixture.  Next, I rolled the dough into balls and flattened to make disc shapes for the medals.  Then I let the kids decorate their medals with gems, and sparkly stones!  I used a straw to make a hole in the top for the ribbon to go through.

Materials Needed:  Salt Dough recipe, yarn or ribbon, gems or sparkly stones, glitter

Olympic Torch

Olympic Torches
Roll white paper into a cone and secure with tape.  Cut pieces of red, orange and yellow tissue paper into 8 x 8 squares.  Layer the pieces of tissue paper on top of one another.  Grab the stack in the middle and hold and arrange the tissue paper like a bouquet of flowers.  Put glue on the inside of the cone and press the tissue paper bouquet in. 

Materials Needed:  white paper, tape, red, orange and yellow tissue paper, scissors, glue

Olympic Rings!

Olympic Rings: I saw this easy, cute project on makedoandfriend.com . Dip the ends of cardboard tubes into blue, black, red, yellow and green paint to form the olympic rings!  The kids had fun doing this easy Olympic themed project!

Materials Needed:  5 cardboard tubes, blue, black, red, yellow and green paint, white paper

Shell Plaque

I found the original idea for this project in the August 2012 issue of Family Fun Magazine.   We used sea shells and rocks instead of pebbles
Addie's Plaque                                                                    Ty's Plaque

Directions: Mix up the salt dough - 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 1/4 cups of water (plus up to an additional 1/4 cup as needed). Use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the ingredients together until a ball forms. If the mixture is still crumbly, add more water. Knead the dough until it's smooth. Divide the dough into three balls. Place each ball on a piece of foil and flatten it into a disk. Press shells (the magazine used pebbles) into the dough to create a design. Heat the oven to 275 degrees. Transfer the  and dough onto a baking sheet. Bake the plaques for 2 hours, then let them cool completely.
                                                               Connor's Plaque

Flying Creatures

Cover a paper cup with a piece of blue paper - secure it with a tape or glue, and trim the edges.  Use foam circles to decorate the outside of the cup.  Glue on googly eyes and draw a mouth with marker.  Cut strips of tissue paper and tape to the inside of the cup.  Tape a long loop of ribbon at the top end of the cup so you hang it up. 

Materials Needed:  paper cup, blue construction paper, foam circles, strips of tissue paper, black marker, googly eyes, ribbon, glue, tape, scissors

Craft Stick American Flag

Craft Stick American Flag:  Glue 2 red and 2 natural colored craft sticks to a piece of cardboard.  Cut 2-inch pieces from 3 red craft sticks and 2 natural craft sticks.  Cut 2 1/2-inch sections from 5 blue craft sticks and arrange and glue into an American flag.  Use a paint brush and white paint to add "stars" to the blue craft sticks.  Let dry, and trim off excess cardboard!

Materials Needed:  5 red craft sticks, 4 natural craft sticks, 5 blue craft sticks, paintbrush, white paint, craft glue, cardboard