18th Century Bum Pad

I have set out on an adventure in time!  I am working on creating 18th century clothing for my family to do historical tour and interpretations with our Daughters and Children of the American Revolution organizations.

I have purchased my stays (corset) as they are too complicated for a beginner.  I have also purchased a shift (cotton short gown worn under everything).  My first project was a bum pad.  This is designed to give the petticoats volume and increase the hip and bottom silhouette.


I gained inspiration and shape ideas from these sources:
Demode Couture
The Modern Mantua-Maker
American Dutchess




I prefered the shape most on this example:
Couture Mayah

I used the "getting started" directions from a blog on making a 16th century bum roll.  While I did not want that shape or silhouette I found the details on Elizabethan Costume to be the best at getting me started.
 The Elizabethan blog suggested using tin foil to make a mold of my waist.  I got dressed in my shift and stays for the most accurate measurements of my period shape.

I found a pool noodle in my storage closet and used thick painters tape to secure it.  This was a two person job.  My mother held the noodle tightly while I wiggled out of it.  We taped the two ends together and then put the noodle on again.  She then held it to my waist to form the right oval as the noodle naturally goes completely round when off.  By hold the oval shape as I slithered out again we taped it front to back to keep the final oval shape.

 Next came the design.  I used white craft paper to trace the interior shape of the pool noodle.

I then took the suggested 5" side and 8" center back suggestion on the Elizabethan blog.  I removed 4 inches on the front center for the opening.  We then free handed the arch from the 8" to 5" marks and around to the front.
I then added a generous 5/8" hem (dashed line) around the shape.

To be sure it was mirror accurate I only drew one side of the pattern.  I then folded the paper in half and cut out the shape.  You can see my shape corrections in pencil.

We then tried the paper pattern on my hips to see how the silhouette looked.  I found that the full 5" on the side was too much for my shape so we trimmed some off.

I then found that having a hard oval shape on the inside caused the pattern to "pop up" on my hips like a shelf rather than create a gentle support for more body to the petticoat.  This was all done with just looking at the paper pattern on my hips.

We decided to modify the opening shape so that the hips would lay more sloped rather than shelf like.  You can see the end shape in the next photograph.

 The finished pattern has more of a "c" shape.

I chose an off-white light-weight linen for my fabric.  I folded it in half and cut the pattern so that the grain of the fabric ran from front to back rather than across the piece.  This I hope will keep it from stretching.




As this piece will not be seen by people, unless I'm talking about getting dressed, I decided to machine stitch this piece.  I started by stitching around the outer hem and around the ends and around the inner hem on each side leaving a 6" gap in the center for stuffing.

I reopened the points and stitched in cotton twill tape.  I hand finished the ends by rolling twice and doing a running stitch with a whip stitch on each end to be sure it is encased will not fray.

Because of the curve I notched the fabric to be sure the hem would not bunch.  I then pressed the seams open and turned the piece right-side out.

Working from the tips with the ties I stuffed poly fill into the end. After stuffing and pinning a section I tied the bum pad onto myself to see if I was happy with the thickness of the fill.  I then machine stitched a channel.  I repeated for the next section.  I was thankful to only have to pull out one channel because I found the fill not what I wanted.  For the final three sections (center, left and right) I was very careful to flare the channel points to compliment the arch in the piece and to make them even on each side.

The final inner hem 6" that was left open for stuffing was hand stitched with a blind slip stitch.

I worked the poly fill into each corner of each section and the piece lays very nicely on my natural hips and bum. I'm excited to start making my petticoats now that I have all my undergarments completed!

Notes for next time:  If I make another bum pad I would make the opening gap larger.  They touch when I lace the bum pad on so there is not enough gap to lace tighter on my undergarments.  I may pick the seam and shorten this one if I need to.  I kept my paper pattern just in case I want to make another!

Snickerdoodle Mini Apple Pie Bites

We went apple picking and I had a huge supply of pie apples to use.  This is a quick and easy recipe that has amazing flavor and texture.  I combined several recipes together to make this treat and it was a huge hit!

Makes 72 min pies

Ingredients for Crust:

• 
  
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg, plus 1 yolk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2¾ cup flour

Cinnamon Sugar

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°

1.  In a bowl blend butter and sugar together until smooth.  Add in egg, yolk, vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and flour.

2.  Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture.  Mix until smooth and fully incorporated.

3.  Take less than a tablespoon of dough and form a small ball by rolling it between your hands.  Roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place into a mini tart pan and press into a tart shape with a mini tart shaper or the back of a tablespoon measure.  Fill all spaces in pan.

4.  Bake for 10 min until dark golden brown.  Remove from oven and immediately repress with the mini tart shaper to create a cup shape.  Allow to cool 3 min in pan and remove carefully to fully cool on rack.

Apple Pie Filling:

3 Large Courtland Apples (3-4 cups)

1 TBS flour

2 tsp lemon juice

1 TBS brown sugar

2 TBS maple syrup

1.  Core, peel and dice apples very small.  

2.  Place apples in a large skillet with all ingredients.  Stir well to coat.

3.  Cook, covered on medium for 5-10 min.  Be sure to stir occasionally so your sticky syrup does not burn to the bottom of the pan.

4.  Allow to cool.  

Caramel Topping:

2 TBS butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1.  Combine in a heavy bottom, tall sided pan.  Prepare a sink or bowl of ice water.

2.  Heat slowly to melt butter.  Make sure all sugar is dissolved fully.

3.  Increase heat, bring mixture to a boil. Watch carefully.  Do not overstir.  

4.  When a golden brown remove pan from heat and place pan into the ice bath to stop cooking.

Assembly:

Take cooled cookie crusts.  Spoon in a small amount of warm pie filling (I stored mine overnight and reheated in the microwave).  Drizzle mini pies with caramel sauce.  

Enjoy!

Ob"suess"ed with Reading

To celebrate Read Across America Day and Dr. Suess' birthday our classrooms are decorating their doors and having a week's worth of fun reading-based activities.

Our Kindergarten classrooms share a small common hall that leads into a larger hall.  Our side of the Kindergarten quad went with "The Lorax" while our other Kindergarten rooms did "Cat in the Hat".

We found some wonderful Pinterest inspiration for our Lorax door.

Our truffala trees are inexpensive pipe insulation and yellow duct-tape.  The tops are 9 layers of tissue and floral wire.  We were guided by Mrs. Lodge's Library.

The Onceler door was inspired by a few birthday decorations and modified to fit our space.  He has his hook and a long piece of yarn holding the bucket.  Don't forget to pay the onceler for his tale....$0.15, a nail and a great-great grandfather snail shell are featured falling into the bucket.

In our large hallway we decorated the wall.  Here we have our beautiful rolling hills with truffala trees.  There is a lovely pool with the humming fish and our kindergartners made the Swamee Swans in the sky and the Barbaloots playing in the grass.

The Barbaloots were done by one of our classes and their teacher used Crafty Morning for directions.

The Swamee swans seemed seriously under-represented on Pinterest.  I had to get very creative with this project.

We started with:
Orange Finger Paint
8.5"x 11" card stock
Yellow construction paper
Yellow feathers
Googly eyes
glue stick
liquid craft glue

We had two staff members helping the kids to get their hand-prints just right.  We started off by using only one hand.  Painting it with orange finger paint and placing it down on the card stock.  We then rotated the card stock 180 degrees and repainted the same hand.  The placed it with the palm overlapping.  Your goal is to make the thumb of the hand-print the tail and head of your bird with the fingers extended but close together to make the wings.

These dried over-night and we completed the project the next day.  I cut beaks for each student out of yellow construction paper.  They then chose which thumb was the head and glued down the beak at the end with a glue stick.

A teacher then provided each student with a small amount of liquid glue and two small yellow feathers.  The student placed these by the beak and that created the fluffy necks of our Swamee Swans.

Finally we glued on googly eyes with liquid glue and left them to dry.  A staff member cut around the birds and we added them to our wall mural among the clouds.

Monster High Birthday Party

For my daughter's 9th birthday she asked for a Monster High theme party at our local bowling alley.  I had a lot of fun with the colors on this one.

I started with a hot pink table cloth.  I bought a roll of zebra print ribbon to use on the table and the cake.

I purchased black plates and then got the Monster High balloon, cake napkins, and table confetti.

For the cake my daughter requested a kit-kat cake.  We've seen a lot of these on Pinterest and went with colors that were like our theme decor.

For the cakes I used a white cake mix that only uses egg whites.  This creates a true white cake.
I used two boxes of cake mix total an 9" round cake pans.

The first cake box I split the batter in half.  Using neon pink food coloring I colored half the batter.  Using a 1/3 cup scoop I scooped out a scoop of white then poured a scoop of hot pink directly on top of the first.  Alternating until I used half the total amount.  I repeated this for the second pan.  Bake as directed on the package.

The second box of cake mix I split the batter in half.  Using neon teal/blue food coloring I colored half the batter.  I repeated the same steps as the first set of cakes.  I only used one of these two cakes for the final cake.  This technique gives you a zebra stripped cake when baked.

Using a high-fructose corn syrup free vanilla cake frosting I layered one pink/white zebra, then a blue/white zebra and then a second pink/white zebra.  The cake was three layers of cake total.  I covered the entire cake in vanilla frosting.

Using 10 regular sized packages (4 sticks per package) of kit-kats I pushed the kit-kats into the side of the cake all around the cake.  The ribbon is non-edible and secured with a few dabs of cake frosting.

I purchased the candy Monster High decorations and attached them with piped cake frosting.  To make the #9 candy decoration I used a tombstone cookie cutter.  I melted wilton candy melts and poured them into the cookie cutter on top of a piece of wax paper.   I froze it for 5 minutes to make the candy melts solid again.  I used clear corn syrup and painted the sides of the tombstone and dipped in blue sugar.  Again I froze it for 10 minutes to set the corn syrup.

I think made the #9 out of melted candy melts with a piping bag onto a piece of wax paper and froze to set.  After cooled I painted it with corn syrup and dipped in pink sugar.  I think used more piped wilton candy melts (white) to attach the #9 to the tombstone.  I then used pipped candy melts to attach the candy pearls.  Again I froze it to set for about 15 minutes.

I had tried "gluing" everything with corn syrup first and once I set it vertically everything fell off - it was a mess - use the candy melts.  It might be a bit more time consuming but it will set more solid.

To keep the candy melts liquid I would pinch the end of the piping bag and run it under hot water.  Do not get water on your candy melts - it HATES water.  I dried off the piping bag well before returning to my work.

The gift bags for the party were simple teal party boxes with zebra print tissue paper.  They contained a rainbow loom bracelet in Monster High colors, Monster High pencil, nailpolish and stickers and some homemade bone candy.

Candy bones are pretzel sticks with mini marshmallows on each end.  They are dipped in white wilton candy melts and set on wax-paper to harden.

We had a ghoulishly good time!

Mint Cookie Truffles

It's that time of year again!   Those cute little girls selling fabulous cookies are knocking at your door.

For a Valentine Day Chocolate bake sale I decide to make mint cookie truffles.   I used thin mints because I have a girl scout and can't resist filing the freezer.

I found some inspiration on Pinterest but decided to try something different.   I was able to make 5 dozen truffles.

2 boxes of thin mint cookies (9oz packages)
1 container of cake frosting (I prefer the brand that uses real sugar)
1 bag dark cocoa candy melts (12oz)
Wax paper
Chocolate dipping tool

In a large zip-close bag or a food processor pulverize the cookies into a fine dust.

I started by adding only 1/2 the can of frosting.   Get your hands in there and work the frosting and cookie mixture until it will hold together in a ball.   While I worked I added more frosting slowly to the mix to make sure the cookie crumbles held together.  In the end I used 3/4 of the frosting.

 Form the cookie mixture into small balls and place on a wax lined cookie tray.  Refrigerate for 30 min.

Melt candy melts according to the directions on the package.  Spread a large sheet of wax paper on your counter.   Dip each cookie ball and cover fully.   Scoop the cookie ball out of the chocolate with your dipping tool and tap the tool on the side of the bowl.   This will remove excess chocolate.   Wait until the chocolate stops running off the ball and then place it on the wax paper to set. If you don't tap off the excess you will run out of chocolate before all the balls are coated.

After the chocolate sets you can either add decorations, like a contrast color drizzle on top,  or colored sugar.  I chose to leave them plain this time.

These have just the right amount of sweetness with the dark chocolate coating.   First test the cookie mixture still had done crunch to it!   We'll have to see what they are like in a few days.
Be sure to store these in a cool location or in the refrigerator.   Enjoy!

Mini Dutch Apple Pies

 Mini Dutch Apple Pies are the perfect fall treat.  I have made these twice in the past few weeks for pot luck dinners.  They were a hit!




These will take about 1hr 45 min to make and 30 min to bake.


Crust:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 TBS sugar
6 TBS cold unsalted butter
6 TBS Crisco
3 TBS cold water

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt & sugar.  Cut in butter and shortening.  Blend with a pastry cutter or fork until the fat (butter & Crisco) resemble baby peas.  Don't overmix, your dough should still be very dry and crumbly (if it starts to get greasy looking you are mixing too much).

Sprinkle the water over the mixture 1 TBS at a time and blend with a fork.  Gather the dough together and knead for 5 min.  Again, do not over mix.  Dough should just be holding together but not greasy or shiny looking.

Split dough into two pieces.  Flatten into thick discs,wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

While your dough is chilling time to work on the apple filling.

Core, peel and cut into small pieces 5 golden delicious apples.  If the apples are very large or small adjust the quantity, you need about 5 generous cups of cut raw apples.

Place into a heavy skillet with 2 TBS unsalted butter, 2 TBS brown sugar and 2tsp. cinnamon.

Cook over medium heat until all apples are covered with the sugar and butter.  Cover and simmer for 5 minutes until soft.  Uncover and cook until all the moisture is gone.  Stir to help coat apples with thickening sauce.

While my apples were softening I made the topping for the pies.

Topping:

1/2c. old-fashioned oats
1/2c. packed brown sugar
1/4c. flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cut in 4 TBS. unsalted butter.

Mix with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly but holds together when pressed.

Back to our crust!  Take one disc of dough out of the fridge.  Roll your dough out between two pieces of plastic.  This will keep it from sticking to everything and needing more flour.  Using a 4" diameter guide cut circles in the dough.  I used the outer ring of a tuna strainer.  It worked great!.   Each disc of dough should yield 5 muffin tin crusts.

Place your cut dough into an ungreased muffin tin.  Press in with a pastry tool (the wooden tool pictured here) or your fingers.

Fill each pie crust with the apple filling.

Spoon topping over the filled pies.  I try to get some dry topping and cover with small balls of coated butter and press it down gently to make sure the pies are completely covered.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Let cool in the pan 15 minutes.  Then gently remove.  I found that by gently spinning each one I could loosen them, then I tip the pan upside down with a cooling rack against the pies.  After they come out of the pan I gently turn each one over and let cool completely.

The pie crust will be tender and flaky and very delicate.  Handle them gently.  I served these with rich vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.  They were FANTASTIC!

Disney Magic Bands

If you look in Pinterest for decorated magic bands you'll find a whole new way to express your Disney side.

For our trip to the great Mouse House I decided to use nail polish to decorate our bands and make them unique.

 If you are a huge Disney fan then you'll know just how exciting it is when these babies arrive.


For those that don't know, these are your ticket to everything.  Disney has changed over to a RF wearable wrist band.  Inside that little Mickey head is a chip that lets you into your room, has your park tickets and fast passes, photo package and even can be used as a payment method if enabled with your resort.  Basically the only thing you really need to carry to the park now is this wristband!


If you plan ahead you can choose your colors and they come with your family names on them.  I've changed ours to post here.  You can choose nicknames or the actual name of each traveler.

 To get started I found a sketch of the magic band online and stretched the dimensions to precisely match the dimensions of the magic band.  I then printed four copies and made a sketch for each band's design.  Erasing pencil is much easier than erasing nail polish.

I started with a clear coat on each band.  This was a recommendation from another band decorator that would allow you to remove the nail polish easier if you made a mistake.

Next I used a nail art pen to make the racing stripe detail on Lil' Boy's band and the swirls on Mommy's band.  I used a silver nail art pen to make the details on Lil' Girl's band.

I let them dry between each coat.  The racing stripe on Lil' boys and the color base on Mommy's eventually cracked from flexing.  Paint them in the shape of your wrist to reduce this (I used a bathroom cardboard tube).

Some other bloggers suggested using acrylic paints to avoid the cracking.  The final part was to put on a clear or sparkle top coat to seal the paint.

Here it is in process.  Lil' Girl wanted a frozen band so I had to add silver sparkles and shimmering nail polish.

Lil' Boy wanted a race car band.  His black details were done with a sharpie marker.  This does not like nail polish top coat and was left exposed.

Daddy wanted plain but I talked him into Tigger.

I went with a Tinkerbell inspired design.

 Many of the rides in Disney use black lights.  I found another great idea for using glow-in-the-dark nail polish so the bands react on the rides with black light.

Each band was decorated with "hidden magic".  Lil' Boy's checkered flag and stripe lit up.  Lil' Girl's had more swirls and dots.  Mommy's had hidden mickey's (an awesome scavenger hunt tradition in the parks).  Daddy's had stripe accents.

Besides reacting in black light (like pictured) they also glow in the dark.  This was a great distraction for Lil' Boy (5 yrs old) on the few rides where they shut out the lights completely.  He could look at his "magic" on his band and not worry about the dark.

After trip update:

How did they hold up?

I had to detail Lil' Boy's each day.  The pool erased the sharpie that was not sealed.  Thankfully I had some with us for signature books.  Mommy's band had paint cracks but held up well. Daddy and Lil' Girls were perfect the entire trip.

My two little ones are still wearing their bands as accessories some days.  It may be years before we go again but these little magic bands are still fun to look at.  Maybe eventually I'll get them back from the kids and put them in a shadow box with a family trip photo.

Valentine's Crafts and Gifts

Some fun Teacher and student Valentine gifts.


Here is the finished product for a kindergarten teacher.  I included 3 plastic bowls (dollar store) because she is always setting out supplies for the kids.  Inside I include lots of fun ideas from other valentine gifts.  The final tag says "It takes a special (heart) to shape young minds".

 Included in teacher gift.  Lip balm wrapped like candy.  All the tags were inspired by Pinterest but I created using my digital scrap-booking and paper scrap-booking supplies.

 This is a picture of all the things before wrapping.  I included some kisses and hugs (by Hershey) too.

 For the extra staff (secretary, principal, para-professionals) that we wanted to thank I got mini hand sanitizes at the Bath shop on sale.  The extra cute label was from Somewhat Simple.

This mini take-out container was for a 3rd grade male teacher.  I couldn't get too mushy so I gave him cootie cleaner, hugs and kisses.

For the kids I used my digital scrap-booking kits to make this cute little label.

"I am so glad we are in the same school!"

These are small snack size zip-bags filled with Goldfish (an approved safe snack in our school).

For my daughter we made bookmarks.  We hit the jackpot on this one.

The big blue discount store had a paint sample strip with "love" themed colors!

We used a heart-shaped hole punch to accent each color and then tied a silver ribbon on the top.

She signed the back of each one.

This one only cost me $1 for the silver ribbon!!

Countdown to Disney!

I'm not sure who is more excited, me or the kids?

We will be taking our two children to Disney World for their spring break and I just can't wait.

I have a countdown app on my phone.  I've downloaded the Disney World app.  I've read hundreds of blogs and message boards for ideas and tips.

I even have a Pinterest board dedicated to Disney Ideas!

By far the most fun we've had so far is creating our very own countdown paper chains.


Here we have 78 days until Disney.  Each Mickey Mouse theme chain is 20 days.  Each Princess chain is 14 days and the Woody theme chain is 10 days.

You can make your chains as long or as short as you need.  We had fun mixing and matching different characters to make our countdown.

To hand in the hall near the kids room I just used some clear command hooks that will come up super easy when our countdown is finished!


I found wonderful directions and templates for the Mickey Mouse countdown.

I was inspired by Making the World Cuter for my Princess chains.

I was determined to make my son's favorite character Woody and just made it up as I went.

Here's what we did:

Elsa:

All paper links were cut 1.5" wide and 8.5" long from colored construction paper.

2 Peach links for the face and neck.
12 Peach links for the dress.
White construction paper for hair.
White copy paper for accents.

Once all cut and pasted together I made white snowflakes from copy paper.

I cut one 2"x 8.5" white link into thirds.  Then with my daughters help we braided the three pieces.  With a staple at the top and the bottom to hold them we used a scrap piece of paper to glue a hair tie over the staple and embellished with a snowflake.  I then stapled the braid to the side of the top link and then glued a 1.5"x 4" white construction paper band over the top of the top link and braid to make the hair.

Anna:

All paper links were cut 1.5" wide and 8.5" long from colored construction paper.

2 Peach links for the face and neck.
4 black links for the bodice of dress.
8 green links for bottom of dress.
Glitter glue pens.
Brown construction paper for hair.
White construction paper for hair.

The second black ring of the dress we used glitter glue pens to create a decoration like the dress that Anna wore.  This needed some time to dry.

Once all cut and pasted together I made white snowflakes from copy paper.

       I cut two 2"x 8.5" brown link into thirds (discard one length).  I used a scrap of white the same size for the white stripe in Anna's braid.  Then with my daughters help we braided the three pieces into two separate braids.  With a staple at the top and the bottom of each to hold them we used a scrap piece of paper to glue a hair tie over the staple .  I then stapled the braids to the each side of the top link.  Next I took another brown link, folded over a portion of the edge and cut a fringe into it.  I glued this on for Anna's bangs and then glued a 1.5"x 4" brown construction paper band over the top of the top link and braid to make the hair.

 Woody:

All paper links were cut 1.5" wide and 8.5" long from colored construction paper.

2 Peach links for the face and neck.
2 yellow links for shirt.
1 custom cut link for shirt collar.
3 blue links for blue jeans.
2 brown links for cowboy boots.
Scrap of red construction paper.
White construction paper
Scrap of brown construction paper.


The custom cut yellow link is 1.5" x 8.5" but has two triangular tabs on it with a 1.5" gap between the tabs.  This allows the last peach link to sit between them and when folded down it looks like Woody's shirt collar.

The small scrap of red construction paper is wrapped around the second peach link to be Woody's bandanna.

The scraps of white paper are rounded to look like Woody's vest and using a black pen I colored spots on it for the cowhide look.  These were glued to the side of the custom yellow link but left unsecured at the bottoms so they hung over into the blank space for the next ring.

I made the hat by just drawing a general shape on brown paper and then folding over a brim and gluing to the first peach ring.

You could lengthen this chain by increasing the yellow, blue, and brown links but remember that Woody is tall and thin.

It's sad that we'll be taking these apart, but it's a fun way for the kids to keep track of how many days we have left.  They had a great time making them and are thrilled to have them in their hallway to remove a link each morning!

Brownie Junior Bridging cupcakes

This year our troop bridged some Brownie scouts to Junior scouts.

These were very simple to make and takes wonderful!

Materials:
   Yellow cake mix (and ingredients)
    Rainbow cupcake papers
    1 can pre-made vanilla frosting
    Rainbow Airheads
    Miniature marshmallows

Start off by baking the cupcakes according to the directions on the box.

Let cool completely.  Don't try to frost them while they are warm or you will have a mess!

Split the can of frosting in half.  Mix Hershey's baker's cocoa powder into one half to make brown frosting.  Add a small amount of powdered sugar and green food coloring to the other half to make the green frosting.  NOTE; add small amounts of powdered sugar to the frosting to make it a bit firmer.  Do it in very small amounts so you don't make the frosting crumbly.  Having that extra sugar in the frosting will help it hold the shape better after piping.

Prepare the candy.  Cut the marshmallows in half and the airhead rainbows in half.

Pipe both colors using a #21 Wilton star tip.  While the frosting is still wet gently bend the rainbow airhead and stick it down into the frosting.  Place marshmallows on either side to look like clouds.

Enjoy!!

First Day of School Survival Kit

 This year I thought we could start the year out with a little survival kit for the teachers.

Using large recycled peanut butter jars I was able to fashion cute little survival kits.

Materials:
   Large jar
   Tea (2 kinds)
   Instant coffee (4 packets)
   Chocolate bar
   Hard candy
   Hand sanitizer
   Chewing Gum
   Craft paper
   Glue
   Pens

I was inspired by several different posts in Pinterest but was concerned about sending glass mason jars on the bus with my kids.

Problem solved.  I can't bare to throw away peanut butter jars.  I use them for everything.

Using a lot of supplies from my scrapbooking supplies I was able to decorate the recycled peanut butter jars.

These are pretty simply decorated.  Most of it was pen work with colored sharpies.  I used oval cutters and long strips of cardstock.






The writing reads:

"Welcome back to school" - around the edge
"Survival Kit" - in the center

"Thank you for all you do!" - on the back

It worked out great and the teachers loved them!

Dragon Training Party

Did you see How to Train Your Dragon 2?  Wasn't it awesome!?!  My son decided he had to have a Dragon Training birthday party this summer.  Here is how we pulled it off.

  I created an invite like a movie admission ticket.  Using free wallpaper images from Dreamworks and text effects I was able to create time invite in my photo suite program.  Dreamworks also has party invites on their site that you can print out.


PARTY DECOR
  Dragon emblem and balloons on the mailbox.
  Viking Hats
  Viking Shields
   Balloon Swords
   Stuffed Toothless toy - Walmart
  How to Train your Dragon gift bag (table decor)
  Red and black table ware & paper party supplies

Viking Helmets were an easy do-at-home project with mostly all scraps that were laying around.

We had one helmet for every dragon trainer.











Next, every viking needs a shield.  First rule of Dragon training - get a shield.

I used an appliance cardboard box and duct tape to make these.  Two circles per dragon trainer.  I made loops of duct tape and threaded it through the first circle and secured it to the inside.












Then I took the matching circle and taped the edge, sealing the armbands inside and make a "metal" edge.

I then created a small duct tape circle for the center of each shield.

The first things our dragon trainers did upon arriving at their training date was decorate their shield.












Here is my Hiccup.  He even made a flame sword himself for his dragon training.


For our guest dragon trainers I got some long balloon-animal balloons and found a YouTube video on how to make a sword.  I think this was even more exciting to them than the costumes.











PARTY GAMES
  Shield Decorating
  Racing Paint
  Dragon Races
  Pinata

Racing Paint was simple and made them so happy.  I found face paint crayons (super easy to use and no mess).  I duplicated the face paint seen in the movie during the dragon racing games.

Dragon Racing

I set up an obstacle course in our back yard using just about anything I could find in my house.

Construction stakes with paper flags, old fence posts as balance beams, toddler tunnel, water balloons, and of course baskets for their sheep.

Each child ran through the obstacle course carrying their sheep and put it in these baskets at the end.  They each had four sheep to put in the basket.








Here are our fluffy little sheep.


Aren't they cute!!














Dragon Egg Pinata was a hit.  It took them forever to break it open.  They loved it!!

Party favors for a dollar at Walmart!

 Toothless birthday cake.  The cake topper was bought online.

The cake is a chocolate box cake, two layers with frosting in between.

I prefer a cream cheese frosting to other kinds.  It's got a great texture and flavor and sets up like a buttercream once chilled.











MENU

     Meatlug Treat - Grapes
     Fishleg Snacks - Goldfish
     Dragon Eggs - Cakeballs
     Dragon Teeth - Apple Slices
     Hiccup Skewers - Ham & Cheese skewers
     Astrid Crunch - Chex Mix
     Gobber Peg Legs - Chocolate dipped pretzel rods
     Nightfury Juice - (Our Journey)

 
The tags were made with images all available on the Dreamworks site.  I used wood texture, metal texture and a viking script all available free on the internet to create the food tags.

Once printed I glued them to cereal box cardboard and bent them into self-standing food tags.

The cake balls were dipped in blue candy melt then rolled in chocolate sprinkles.  They were a mess but my son loved them.

 To end the day each kid got a special Viking bag which contained their pinata candy and some dragon eggs (cake balls) to take home.

The image is a printout available on Dreamworks website.  Be sure to check out their site as they have lots of things there for your little dragon lover.

A pretty simple party that went over HUGE with the 5 yr old crowd we entertained.