Captain America 4th Birthday Party

If you don't know this about me, I have two boys who are 15 months apart.  My oldest sons birthday is December 2nd.  If you don't recall reading that my sister got married January 4, 2014 so from pretty much since Thanksgiving I haven't had much time to blog.  I am catching up on things I wanted to but just never did with everything else going on.  And this is one of those blogs.

So my son turned 4 in December and it was the first time we had a party to invite some of his school friends.  He chose to do a Captain America themed bowling party.  I was pretty excited cause I love planning and making invites, favors, decor, etc. and knew Captain America would be an easy one to work with.

The birthday boy!

I started with the invitations that were so simple to customize using My Digital Studio.  If you do any sort of scrapbooking, card making, invitations, etc then you should own this program.  You can fully customize whatever you are creating within this program.  (Sorry just went sales mode on you) Check out the program at http://mydigitalstudio.net or contacting me to learn more.  Ok, moving on.  Here's the invitation postcard I created.

Front

Back

Next, I created shirts using My Digital Studio and iron on sheets.  I just created Captain America's shield with circles then printed it how the iron-on sheets told me to.  Here were the finished projects.

I did blue inspired cupcakes with white icing and red sprinkles.  Something simple but the cupcakes turned out great.

The favors were a blue bag I created Captain's shield using the circle framelits and a non Stampin' Up! heart punch (shh don't tell anyone because I rarely do this) and a thank you stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  We filled it with candy and Avenger's items we found at the dollar store.

The table was decorated with printed Captain America standing dolls and masks the kids could wear.  We brought the shield he had from his Halloween costume that became a big hit for the kids.  Here's what the table with the kids looked like.

And finally the thank you cards were simple easy with the Circle Framelits to make a shield like I used throughout the party.

I really did enjoy planning this party for my son and look forward to future birthday's to see what we can come up with!

Pittsburgh Penguins Bachelorette Party Invitations

Front

My sister got married January 4, 2014 and I threw her a bridal shower that you can see from my previous post here.  Since it took a lot of time and money to throw her the bridal shower one of the other bridesmaids took charge of the bachelorette party.  I did volunteer to make the invites since I had an idea to make it like a hockey jersey with it being a Pittsburgh Penguins themed party.

It took me a little time and playing around to figure out how I wanted it to look and open but I was so happy with the way it turned out.  I just love the tie up just like the real hockey jerseys have.  Her name is Cori so I could put the C on the front like a captain too!

Back

Her new last name is Weber so I wanted to incorporate that and with her date being 1.4.14 is why I chose the number 14.

Inside made with MDS

The inside I created with My Digital Studio which was so easy.  I downloaded a picture of the Pittsburgh Penguins logo then made it opaque enough that you can read the words and added some stars and that was it.  One of my favorite tools when it comes to customizing my creations is My Digital Studio!

Supplies needed:

Card Stock: Basic Black 4-1/4" by 11" scored at 

                    So Saffron 5-1/4" by 4" and scraps for die cutting

                    Silver Glimmer Paper scrap for die cutting

Ink: Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Pad (#126857 $10.95)

Stamp Set: Non Stampin' Up! letters

Accessories: Silver 1/8" Silver Ribbon (#132137 $4.95)

                    Scallop Trim Border Punch (#118402 $15.95)

                    Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die (#127553 $89.95)

                    Big Shot (#113439 $99.95)

                    My Digital Studio

Bridal Shower Invitations

Front

My sister got married January 4, 2014.  As matron of honor I wanted to throw her a bridal shower since she did such a lovely job when I got married.  I knew this dress was going to be perfect to use.  Her colors were black, gray with accents of silver and red.  I did this as a postcard style with the shower details on the back and a matching envelope.  Even though I had to make 64 invites, I really did enjoy creating these in honor of my sister!

Matching envelope

Supplies needed:

Card Stock: Basic Black 5-1/2" by 4-1/4"
                   Basic Gray 5-1/2" by 4-1/4"
                   Modern Medley DSP (#126926 $10.95) to cut framelit and envelope liner

                   Silver Glimmer Paper (#124005 $4.95) scraps

Ink: Real Red Pad (#126949 $5.95)

Stamp Set: Oh, Hello (clear - #130733 $18.95) (Wood - #131931 $25.95)

Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die (#113463 $21.95)
                    Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (#117335 $7.95)
                    Dress Up Framelits Dies (#130101 $24.95)
                    Envelope Liners Framelits (#132172 $26.95)
                    Big Shot (#113439 $99.95)
                    Silver 1/8" Silver Ribbon (#132137 $4.95) Tie knot in center

Spider-Man Invites

As I wrote yesterday that you can read about here, I planned my sons 3rd birthday party around Spider-Man.  These are the invites I created that were so easy to make!

Front

Inside



Supplies Needed:

Card Stock: Real Red (4-1/4 x 5-1/2), Basic Black (scrap for punching) and Whisper White (scrap for punching and 4 x 5-1/4 for inside)

Stamp Set: Retired that I can't even remember the name but saved just for these occasions.

Ink: Basic Black and Pacific Point

Accessories: Big Shot
                     Ovals Collection Framelits Dies
                     Spider Web Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
                     Bird Punch
                     Paper Snips

Directions to make the Spider Man front: Fold Real Red card stock in half so the fold is at the top.  When you run it through the Big Shot you will want to have some of the folded card stock over the edge of the framelit.  This will allow the card stock to be cut and still be folded together.  Check out this picture tutorial here.

Next, use the Spider web folder and run it through the Big Shot.  *Be sure the raised side of the Spider Web will be on the outside of the card front.*  Use the Basic Black pad to ink the raised side of the card by just rubbing it over the card.  (Make sure to cover your work surface before doing this step because it is messy.)

Using the Bird Punch, punch out the bird in Basic Black twice and the wing twice with Whisper White.  Glue the punches like this.

 

Now to make Spider-Man's eyes you will want to cut off the birds heads and tails using the Whisper White wing as your guide.  (This step sounds so mean to these cute little birds)

 

The inside is just Whisper White run with the smaller size oval from the Framelit through the Big Shot and stamping with the "You're Invited" stamp.

 

These cards will fit in to our Medium envelopes measuring 5 3/4" x 4-3/8" that allow normal postage!

 



Spider-Man 3rd Birthday Party

I can't believe that we celebrated my sons 3rd birthday on Dec 2, 2012! He is getting so big and turning in to such a neat little boy. He has become obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED with Spider-Man. We really don't even know how it happened. Before we let him watch any Spider-Man cartoons, he was asking for toys and clothes that were Spider-Man themed. Eventually I found the Ultimate Spider-Man on Disney XD that he started to watch. He could watch that all day long if I let him.

So needless to say, our theme for his birthday was going to be Spider-Man! I did a bunch of online searching for Spider-Man themed birthdays and found some cute ideas. I didn't get pictures of everything I did but I'm hoping between the guests I can track down all of the pictures. This post will just be about the party and later posts will be how I created the crafts I made.

Our happy birthday boy by his Spider-Man ice cream cake!

The first thing I did was send out these Spider-Man invitations.  Read how to make these cards here.

The next thing I created was a banner to hang. Unfortunately since we call him D.J. it didn't come out too big. My husband made fun of it cause it was so short :( I still think it's adorable. I was inspired by Mary Ross's spider man banner.  Read how I made this banner by clicking here

This will be hanging in his room probably forever!
 

I found some great ideas on Pinterest.  One of them was comic book letters by The Party Wall.  Click on the link to see a tutorial how to make these letters like I did for DJ.

We had Spider-Man balloons and created a web  using black streamers on our fan to the edge of our dining room.  I am most upset that I didn't get a picture of this to share.

Our food items were red, black and blue themed or I created names to match our food like Super Spidey Sandwiches, Green Goblin Guacamole, etc.

Pinterest also inspired me to try my hand at Spider-man cake pops.  I have never done them myself but after reading and watching videos on how to make them, I didn't think they would be that hard.  Boy was I wrong!  People make things look so easy sometimes.  I had a hard time dipping the cake pops into the chocolate without having the pop fall off the stick and into the chocolate.  I think I made mine too big which caused them to be too heavy.  So I compromised and poured the chocolate over the top instead of dipping and had them be hand held cake pops.  The best part is they tasted good and that's all that mattered.  Here's what two of my cake pops with sticks looked like.

My niece asked to help draw on the spider webs so I let her!

All of the kids went home with a Spider-Man cup and this handmade box with lots of candy and other Spider-Man themed gifts.  Learn how I made this favor box by clicking here

Lastly, I created these thank you cards to mail out.  See how to make this card here

 

I really had such a blast planning and creating this party.  I am going to try to start doing this more with my Stampin' Up! business.  Who wouldn't want a personalized birthday party like this one?!  Next up is my other sons 2nd birthday which will be car and truck themed!

*I will be updating this post when I have posts written about each craft so stay tuned for how to make each of these crafts.*