Colorful Bunting Birthday Invitations

Here's a super cute (and super simple) birthday party invitation idea...that just happens to be what I sent out for Ollie's first birthday party...

Here's what you need:
heavy white card stock (I like 110 lb for cards)
colored card stock, I used one color per letter in his name
sewing machine and thread
ink
letter rubber stamps

1. Cut your white card stock to measure 4.25 x 5.5 inches.  Fold in half.  Cut out strips of colored card stock to be 1 x 1.5 inches, cut out a notch from the bottom to form the flag. {be sure to make enough for all the invitations you plan on sending out}.  I printed out party info in a cute font onto the white card stock before cutting and folding. Play with your margins to get it right (and print out a proof just to make sure)


 2. Arrange your flags & adhere them with a little glue or double sided tape.  Make sure you only use the adhesive near the BOTTOM of each flag...you don't want to gum up your sewing machine with the stickiness :)  I had my end flags hang over the edge just a bit, then trimmed them even with the side of the card.




3. Stamp a single letter on each flag to spell out the name.  And then below the bunting stamp: "Turns 1"...or any message that you like really :)

4. Carefully (and slowly) stitch along the top of the flags to finish the bunting look.  Be sure to back-stitch to secure your stitching.  I cut the ends to about 1/3 inch or so, to look like ties for the bunting.  Using a contrasting thread (I used blue) helps it to stand out.

It's as simple as that :)

Video Game Party {the decorations}

I chose to do one focus wall, with lots of impact for this party.  The mural was really quite easy to put together & I was super happy with the results. {watch for the next post on how to make the ? mark block favor boxes}

First off I made a sketch, I wanted a general idea of how I wanted it to look on the wall.  A few changes were made here and there, but it's always good to start out with a plan :)

After I hung the blue paper up on the wall, I just started adding the elements.

  

The pipes are cut from green wrapping paper (just use a large ruler to measure & get your lines straight...a clear quilting ruler works great here).  

The clouds, grass clumps, coins and fire-power plant are free form shapes cut from card stock...as are the blocks (simple squares, with either a question mark...see favor box tutorial...or hand drawn lines to form bricks).  

For the Piranha plants & bomb, I used images from online and made a simple template, layering colors to get the right effect.

I cheated with the Mario, Goomba, and Turtle, just printing off coloring pages to size, coloring them in & cutting them out.

The "Happy Birthday!!!" took a bit more time, but I think it is well worth it.  First I printed off the message in Unibody 8 to use as a "map".  I then taped 1 inch black squares {electrical tape would work great here) above the mural to form the words.  After getting the first few letters done, it was easy going.

I always use my kids to judge my ideas/projects and this one got a big AWE-some!!! {which really makes it all worth it}

Video Game Party {the invitations}

For this party, I decided to make a classic, old school Nintendo Controller...it's the perfect shape for an invitation:)
This is a small invite, only 6.25 x 3.5 inches, that fits into a standard letter envelope.  It's simply layered card stock, with a little black hand outlining in the center. A template for you to use is below, click on the link to download or print {for non-commercial use only please!}


I printed my party info inside each card before assembly (remember to adjust your margins & print out a draft to make sure it all lines up right).  You can just as easily write or stamp the party info on the inside.  I used this great (free) video-game looking font: Unibody 8 



Invitation Template Inviation Layout

Recycled Art Birthday Party

H's party was a success! The kids all had a great time...(which most kids do at parties, right?) :D & everything went sooo smoothly, which is nice (that may have been due to the party being postponed for 2 weeks). So finally, here are some party details...

The Decorations:

The four banners/buntings hung over head were made from 4 inch triangles of fused plastic bags, sewn together by sewing machine(mine had 43 triangles each).

For the tablecloths, I taped sheets of newspapers together then flipped them over (try to avoid obits & any scary news) :D. I wanted to lighten it up some so I rolled some paper off the kids' art paper down the center & punched the edges with a scalloped border.

The centerpieces are soda bottles cut in half (more or less)...use a craft knife & remove the labels. The bottoms were filled with markers, crayons & colored pencils for the art projects. The top half of the bottles were filled with flowers made from leftover fused plastic bags & newspapers (a mini tutorial coming on that soon).

The favors were stored on the gift table is a box they fit in perfectly tied with a plastic bag "ribbon" and finished with a newspaper "pompom". The candy dishes are made from the bottom of 2-liter soda bottles.

The Cake:

Is easier than it looks...although it was HOT and Humid the day of the party (of course) so frosting it was not so easy.

First I traced the plate onto a large piece of paper...to get the general size I needed.

Next I sketched out the design I wanted...you can just as easily find an image on line and print it out in the size you need...& cut out templates.

I baked the cake in a jelly roll pan...I didn't want the layers too thick. Watch the cake closely...it will cook a lot faster than in a regular cake pan...mine were done in about 10-12 minutes. I used two boxes of cake mix (if I did it over I would use homemade cake...which is denser & less crumbly)...1 cake mix per pan.

After the cake had cooled I used the templates to cut out cake pieces. Then arranged on a cutting board & frosted. I then moved them to the plate & touched up any frosting. The green arrows & 8 are cut out of fondant, rolled out thin, with the same templates. Then just placed on top of the cakes. I didn't put candles in until just before we were getting ready to sing.

The Activity:

I invited all the kids to bring a small grocery sack of things they could use for art projects that they would otherwise throw away or recycle...and we had saved up a bunch of stuff as well. The kids had a great time making whatever they wanted (there were a lot of musical instruments) :) They actually worked on the project for about an hour of the 2 hour party.

They also decorated their newspaper hats(while waiting for everyone to arrive)...which they then wore as party hats.

Don't remember how to make a newspaper hat?

...here's how

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Recycled Birthday Party Invites

As you have read, my daughter who turns 8 next week is  having a "Recycled Art" birthday party...combining the two things she is very passionate about.  So you've seen a hint of the banner...more on that later, but here is a little mini tutorial for her invitations.  They are VERY easy (which is best right, when making a lot of invitations)...so here we go...

First gather your supplies...

*Strips of newspaper measuring a little less than 1 x 5.5 inches.

*Fused plastic bags (see tutorial here),cut into the appropriate number

*5.5 x 8.5 rectangles of heavy white cardstock

-->on a side note, wow.. my cutting mat has seen better days :)

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Second...

Score your card and fold in half.

Apply a little glue or tape to the center of 4 strips of newspaper and arrange on your card. 

Using your sewing machine (or by hand) stitch close to the edges of each strip of paper.  Trim strings.

Last...

Use glue dots to stick your fused plastic number to the corner.  See...easy :) 

I stamped mine inside so it was ready to fill with party details.

She loves them...what do you think?

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