Batman Birthday

My son's birthday isn't until June, but as usual he has his theme all picked out. That got me thinking that I should do a post about his past birthday! Hooray Birthday!

As you can tell by the post that year it was Batman! I try my hardest to do EVERYTHING pretty cheap and us things around the house to create a party. While I'm a fan of huge parties that cost a ton, I'm not a fan of being the one to shell it out! I've learned that you can do some pretty cool stuff on a shoe string budget. Plus... you have to get creative, so chances are your party will have things no other will! That being said... let me roll down the list of what I did!

Invites - $6.00 Total

I traced white envelopes on card-stock (4.00) to create black ones and then wrote the addresses on with a silver pen. Inside were stickers($2) I found at Michael's. There was over a hundred little ones in the pack so I just split them up. I got 1 pack of Batman and another of Little Ponies for the girls! I had blue card-stock on which I printed a googled Batman signal. The wording for the back said:

"Batman has requested

your help on a mission! _____ is

Turning 3, But he needs your help

to celebrate! Be at _____________

from 11:00-13:00 for hero training

on ________________. Please com

in your secret identity. Super

hero attire & fuel (lunch)

will be provided."

Bat Capes - (15.00)

I consider myself pretty handy with a sewing machine, so I bought 8 yards of black fabric for a $1 a yard, (Say $9 including tax?) I bought bought 4 rolls of black ribbon ($4.00) and yellow shirt paint ($3.00) to finish them! All I did was make a stencil with cardstock and sponge yellow bat symbols. After that dried I straight sewed the edges and put about 3/4 yard of ribbon on one end for a tie (I can't find a picture of these, but I know that did gather the top a little so the neck portion would be smaller.)

Bat Cake - $8.00

This on is pretty self explanatory. It's just a chocolate double layer circle cake ($4 for 2 boxes) with chocolate frosting($2 for 2 thingies.) and a yellow bat symbol($2 for 1 tube)!

Bat Cave - $13

Ok... this was everyones favorite part! I thew some black balloons ($4.00) and some black streamers ($3) all over their toy room and pretty much just threw a giant bag of cheap candy ($6)all over the floor. Then they ran everywhere and found the candy! Simple. Cute. Candy!

The rest of the party was simple. We ate dino chicken nuggets($10), the kids ran all over the back yard in their capes and my hubby (who is a wrestler and amateur MMA fighter.) showed them how to defender themselves.

Party Total - $52

Conference Stickies

I created this as a handout for Visiting Teaching, but it really could be used for anything. I picked quotes that stood out to me, but you could easily remove them and add your own.

For Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching this month you are to read and select a talk from conference to present to the people you visit. I choose quotes from several talk for the handout. The conference talks are available on a NEW beta website created specifically for conference! YEAH!!

To print click here to download the file I created. Then print ONLY page #1. After that center some sticky notes over the squares on page #1 and place the page back into the print. Be sure that it's facing the correct way before you hit print (You might want to do a tester.) When printing on the stickies be sure to print ONLY page #2! Voile! You are done. Easy Cheesy Punkin Kneesy.

Pajama Hair

Look how excited she is!

Everyone has a Pajama Day sometime during the school year right? Well... so did my baby! lol For some strange reason I actually asked her how she would like her hair this morning. With a "Duh" look on her face she said, "Like I was sleeping in my pajamas!" Silly me again!

We went with some Frizzed our Ratty piggies. This is way easy! I couldn't find my camera, so I had to use my cell... no step by step pics today! Sorry.

First I parted her hair and put one side in a temp piggy while I worked on the other side. With the side still down I just.... Ratted the heck out of it! I used small sections cause she wanted it "Really, really puffy!" Instead of putting the elastic right at the base of the hair near the head I put it near the middle of her hair length where the rats ended. Then I did the same thing to the other side! We weren't going for even or pretty cause she was suppose to look like she was sleeping in her jammas!

Pretty sure this is the first hair do we have done that gone less puffy as the day went by!

Unicorn Twists From Back

So... today she wanted 3 unicorn twist coming from the back! I am quickly discovering that a braided headband will do ALOT!

I started with the french braided headband.

Then pull half of the remaining hair into a side pony.

Next I made 3 Unicorn twists, as per request. Notice I twisted them up, towards the crown instead of down towards the neck like you usually would.

Next I took each unicorn twist and individually looped them through on part of the braid. After that I simply pulled all three ends together in the side pony. (I think that made sense.... Hmmm....)

Gather all the remaining hair into a side pony... My hope was that this would cover the beginnings of our twists, I should have left some of the first side pony out at the far side. I guess you could do this in the back too, but I wanted to be sure she could see the unicorn twists!

"X" Braid with Pigs

This hair came about when my little girl wanted wavy hair. It was morning and no time for french braiding and drying.... So I asked her if we could do it the next day! My plan was to make her second choice somehow able to do the wavies she wanted. I was troubled when she asked for a headband and piggies, but... it wasn't near as hard as I thought!

First I divided the hair into 4 sections. 2 in the front and 2 in the back, the part should make a nice cross through the top of her noggin! Make sure the bottom 2 sections are secured nicely... this will help to keep hair away from the headband.

I started with the front left section and french braided it near the back of the section.

When I got to the center I simply took the bottom right section and started french braiding with it!

I braided all the way down and left a loopy at the end.

Do the same with the top right to the bottom left and presto! Headband and piggies that will give wavy hair the next day!

Fortune Cookies

These are easy and fun! I found the idea after Thanksgiving and decided to modify it a little. I know I always have some pie crust left over.... This could be a good way to re-use it! I meant to post it for Chinese New Year, but... I'm blonde! We ended up doing this for a Family Home Evening Activity.

Start by making a list of teeny tiny "fortunes". I choose to put funny things inside that you would have to do.

You will need 2 pie crust and a cup or biscuit cutter to make your circles.

Cut away them circles people!

Next, place one fortune in the center of your circle.

Fold in half, but don't press it flat.

Instead do this! (Sorry about the funny photo.)

Next bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, or whatever your pie crust instructions say.

When they are done you can butter and top with cinnamon and sugar or drizzle them with chocolate and throw some sprinkles on! Whatever!

Easy Braid Headband

This is a great hair do for if you have to time and no mirror, but still want to do something pretty! I love doing this to my hair cause I have a darker color underneath so it looks like I have fake hair on top! lol

First start by taking a small section of hair approximatly behind each ear and braiding them. You can do this a little higher if you have shorter hair. It will just take playing with for your length!

You can skip this step, but for this day I teased my hair to give it volume behind the headband. I simply parted a section of hair around the crown of my hair to leave straight. Then teased away at several sections behind that.

Next I pulled it all up into a half pony, leaving the braided parts and hair surrounding them down. Next you will be making your headband!

Simply take one tiny braid and pull it across the top of your head to where the other brain begins and bobby pin into place. Do the same with the other!.

To finish this today I took the strands of hair near the crown in front of the braids and pulled the to the back, covering the beginnings of my headband and the pins! I wrapped them around the pony in the back and pinned them underneath.

See! cute and Easy! You could easily do many variations of this. Try one braid and pulling it into a ponytail. That would be even easier!

Magnifying Magnets

OK... I saw this at a friends house and had to make a tutorial!!!!! I did also find several tutorials online, but... for myself (cause I do want to print the blog one day) I decided to do one anyways!

So... You are going to need those marbles that are flat on one side that you put in fishy tanks or flower vases, magnets that are slightly smaller than those and some crafty goop! Oh... and some tiny pictures to magnify.

Grab which marble rock you are gunna use and search through your pictures to decided what you want to magnify!

Trace your picture and cut it out... It's hard to tell, but for the tutorial pictures I used big flat marbles.

These tend to NEVER be the same round shape, so make sure that after you trace your image it's the same direction when you cut and glue it!

For this magnet I decided to back it with a flower... just cause. Also... I started with smaller marbles and they were slightly smaller than my magnet, so I was looking for a way to cover the magnet... Just thought it was cute so I decided to do it with a larger one!

Also... instead of finding flowers that were the same color to match my pictures... I buy all white and color them like this! I put the flower on a scratch piece of paper and rub it with an ink pad or some scrapbooking pens.

After you have all your layers place a tiny dot of craft glue on your picture (make sure you are doing this on some good scratch paper). Next press you marble on top and watch to see that the glue squeezes evenly out to the sides of the marble. Then... do this with the rest of the layers!

Make sure that your new pretty magnets dry for a couple of hours before you use them! here are pictures of the front and back! And a few others that I made... this is a VERY addictive and super easy craft!

"Kranz" Bunz

So I ask what she would like me to do to her hair this morning and she answers, "Kranz Buns!" Hmmm.... What is that? "Mommy... It's 3 piggies here with big circles and then a bun on this side." Like I'm suppose to read her mind right? lol Well... here it is. Kranz buns. She actually said that I did it wrong. The circles are supposed to pop up like a rainbow. Ooops. What was I thinking. She said I could try it again later.

First drench that hair! Then place 3 piggies on one side. You could do them on the front, even to one side, or diagonal to one side like we did. (Or maybe they can only go diagonal. I don't know... apparently there is a method to this hair do only a 5 year old can understand.) Anyways, put all the hair that isn't in a small piggy in one big pony on the side.

Then flip the small ones through!

Next divide the middle section in half and tie a loose knot with one of the side sections.

Then keep on goin! I ended up securing mine under the big pony with bobby pins for now.

Do this to both sections and then secure everything in a nice tight bun!

Just twist, twist, twist that large section of hair until it won't twist anymore and then secure it with a clear elastic.