Sunday, January 20, 2013

Paper bag safari vest tutorial

My Little guy will be turning 2 in February and I have planned an awesome 2 wild safari party.  So I thought it would be cute if his little guests had little safari vests to wear.  I found this idea on pinterest of course but every tutorial I found skipped way too many steps.  After trying several different methods, I decided to do it my way AND make an awesome tutorial of course!

Step 1:  Gather some paper pages and cut the handles off.  We don't need these for anything so go ahead and discard them.  My hubby found them useful for adding to the fire he was starting. :)

Step 2: Find the side with the seam up the middle and lay it flat.  Use the seam as the guide to help you sketch a tank top onto the bag.  I made these V-neck vest but it's entirely up to you, if you prefer scoop necked vest.  Just make it work! (Yes, I'm also a Project runway fanatic!)
Step 3:  Cut up the seam all the way to your neck line. And keep going along your sketch.



step 4:  At this point through several trial and error methods, I found that opening up the top and cutting straight across was the best method.  When you get to the back of your vest, round out a half circle.

Step 5: At this point the back of your vest should look something like this:
and the front looks like this:


Step 6:  Now for the side of your vest.  Go back to where you sketched the arm holes.  This part got a little tricky.  Snip a little notch where your line starts on the bottom.  Slip your scissors into it and follow your sketch up the front, across the bottom of the bag (Now your shoulder area, and around the size until you reach back to where you started.  Initially I tried to cut through both layers in one cut but it looked sloppy and odd shaped.  It really is worth the extra effort to cut all the way around.  And it gives you a better scrap to work with for the pockets.





 Step 7: Turn your vest inside out.  I glued down the flaps on the shoulder from what used to be the bottom 
of  the bag.

Step 8:  Take some of your scraps and use them to make faux pockets.  I just cut I thick strip with one rounded side and folded it into thirds.  Then I used a brad to secure it shut.



I made 2 pockets per vest.  This is what they looked like On the left is the back view and the right is the front.


Then I glued them into place on the vest front.  They are exactly what I had hoped they would look like.  I can't wait to see our guests in them!  I'm just hoping it doesn't rain on our safari!






I displayed them on a table along with a basket filled with TP roll binoculars! 



Merry Christmas 2012

I have been counting down the days till Christmas for what seems like forever! I've been pinning cute projects and yummy treats like I could possibly make them all. So for tonights big feast I made this adorable snow globe cake using an upside down ice cream cone for the tree and marshmallows for the snowman. I bought the glass bowl at the dollar store yesterday. It's smaller than I had hoped but still did the trick! I also made some yummy christmas popcorn using white wilton melts, unbuttered popcorn and christmas sprinkles. Yes, it's as yummy as it looks! Merry Christmas fellow party animals!!!



Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Ties and Tutu's party

What better theme for a little girl turning 2 that a 2 two tutu party!  We threw the ties in so the boys wouldn't be left out. Of course, because I have 4 boys, I jumped at the chance to help as much as possible with planning this shindig! Her mommy came up with some awesome ideas for the day.

This was the display at the entrance table complete with a giant N covered in feathers and beads.
20 tutu's and 16 ties for the little guests.  The ties were kind of a pain to do but we got really good at them after about 3 hours!
Snack table complete with the homemade number 2 pinata my friend made! It held up well and looked great!  So great, I'm making a similar one for my little guys second!
A closer look:
Her mommy had pics taken of her in her party outfit to display all around the party room.
The main table before the cake arrived
We used the cupcake toppers I designed as accents on the candy jars.  I think this is going to be how I use them from now on!
More ties

Dorritos because they're orange per dad's request!
We hot glued some accents from the Christmas clearance section at Michael's onto these little vases as centerpieces on the tables. Very glam!

A closer look at the feathered N


Her darling smash cake made by an amazingly talented close friend and member of team cray cray!
My little guys in their ties.  I ironed on Andrew's since he's only 1

Natalia was so happy dancing around on her big day.
Our plastic pool filled with balls made for a perfect ball pit for the little Drew's
The awesome Tutu cake!!! It was as yummy as it was pretty!
I made this welcome wreath the night before.  I wish I would have gotten a shot of it on the other side of the glass but you get the idea.