Dream big, little one ~ Custom skate deck art

This one was a big nerve-wracking to make, it was a gift for my niece's first birthday. Firstly, we were ordered to not bring gifts (lol! like I'm going to promise that) so we decided on something that cost nothing but time and would be super special and grow with her.

So my husband and I joined forces and planned a bird and dreamcatcher design with the words "Dream Big". This is a standard full-sized wooden skate deck, painted, inked and drawn with a variety of different mediums.

DIY Birthday party stage 4 - food!

The last thing to organise was the food. Birthday cake, cupcakes, two types of biscuits, drinks and the lunch food.

Since the party was at lunch time I asked each partygoer to bring along a plate of their favourite sandwiches. I prefer to cater my own events but I was very conscious of keeping the stress low and the fun high for this party, so I enlisted help. Sandwiches are easy, inexpensive, well-received and everyone has a favourite.

I also had plain crackers, bbq crackers, carrot sticks, celery sticks and a pack of supermarket dips.

Sweets included the birthday cake - vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream and fondant - and I used the same recipes for the cupcakes. Lemon dinosaur biscuits and chocolate Transformer biscuits, both with coloured royal icing.

Top left: Food table with sandwich plates and party hats.


Top right: Optimus Prime birthday cake.
Cake recipe: Allrecipes - Best sculpted cake recipe EVER! I omitted the milk though. This recipe makes one perfect 8 inch round cake, I made two and layered my cakes with chocolate buttercream.
Fondant recipe: Allrecipes - I replaced the corn syrup with liquid glucose (easier to find in Australia) and used three tablespoons of rice bran oil instead of the oil and shortening. This recipe was SO easy, quick and inexpensive. I made it by hand, stored it in the fridge for two weeks and the fondant rolled perfectly, coloured perfectly and did not dry out as quickly as the store bought stuff.

Middle: Cupcakes with fondant Transformer cutouts.
The decorations on top are Transformer cut-outs from fondant and brushed lightly with silver edible luster dust.



Bottom left: Lemon dinosaur sugar cookies with royal icing.
Recipe: Acorn Advisors - I made the lemon version



Bottom right: Chocolate Transformer badge biscuits with royal icing.
Recipe: I altered the lemon sugar cookie recipe above, eliminating the lemon and replacing some of the flour with cocoa

All the sweets were devoured and the sandwiches were a hit! Especially with the kids :)

Please note: the Transformer badge biscuits and cupcake Transformer decorations are courtesy of the Transformers Play Doh kit. Thank you Play Doh for stepping up! I couldn't find 'real' cookie cutters anywhere but this kit saved the day!
Roll out your cookie dough and fondant using 6mm dowel rods as your spacers and the cutters work like a dream :)

DIY Birthday party stage 3 - last minute DIY

In the last few days coming up to the party I whipped up a few DIY projects to bring the whole thing together.

Top: Happy Birthday banner.
Recycled cardboard, markers, imagination

Middle left: Cake bunting.
Bamboo skewers, craft wire wrapped with yarn, scrapbooking paper, glue, paint, marker

Middle right: Photo booth sign.
Recycled cardboard, markers

Bottom left: Cake and cupcake platter.
Two pieces of scrap wood (covered temporarily with a piece of vinyl table cover and taped in place), a hollow Megabloks construction, double-sided tape (to give a little more security between the Megabloks construction and the top tier)

Bottom right (top): Finalised photo booth props.
Each image is printed onto regular copy pare and then glued onto a manila folder. When dry the maskes are cut out and an extra large paddle pop stick is glued to the back

Bottom right (bottom): Table decorations.
I raided my son's plastic dinosaurs and transformers and used them to decorate the cake table, food table an present table.

Everything here cost me a few dollars for the paddle pop sticks, colour printing - since my home printer shit itself :( - scrapbook paper and table vinyl. I have left-overs of the sticks, paper and vinyl and still have the photo props as they are really quite sturdy!

Birthday Party free printable photo booth props

And here you can access your very own Transformers and dinosaurs photo booth props! Just go to the link and download the pdf file. It's 4.5MB total so you will have nice, clear props.

Print out the props on heavy card or onto regular copy paper and then glue the pages onto cardboard. I found manila folders worked great. Cut out the props carefully (a craft knife works best) and remember the eye holes in the masks. Attach elastic or glue on a wooden rod and off you go!

Birthday Party - Photo booth

On the day of the party I set up a photo boo the corner of the room. All it needed was a well-lit corner, a blank wall, a chair and a basic point-and-shoot camera on a tripod.

A simple cardboard sign, the printed props and some childlike humour were all we needed to have a ball!

More custom party favours - Transformers, Lego and dinosaurs

As I mentioned in Custom cast lego and Transformers in resin (with sprinkles!) I went about and made some more resin figures. And then some more. And then some crayons. And then some soaps! I just can't get enough of those adorable little Lego men :D

Top left: Magnets.
Stars, puzzle pieces, lego men, random shapes

Top right: Phone charms.
Lego men, large and regular

Middle: Crayons!
Transformer badges and Lego men. I melted down the broken crayons from my son's pencil case and poured the wax into my moulds :)

Bottom left: Necklaces.
Transformer badges, Lego men, plastic dinosaurs, butterflies, random shapes

Bottom right: Badges.
Lego men, Transformer badges, stars, random shapes

Not pictured: Lego men melt and pour soaps!

Everything here came out of my craft stash and cost me nothing. Yeah, I have a BIG craft stash and yes, I know I paid for it at one time but it was so long ago that it's now basically free, lol.

All the resin pieces were cast in my handmade silicone moulds and have resin colour, glitter, embossing powder and sprinkles. The badge pins, magnets and pendant bails were glued on with epoxy glue. This did NOT work well! Next time I will drill holes instead.

The plastic dinosaurs were pierced with a hot upholstery needle and then had a jump ring threaded through.

All necklaces are offcuts of ribbon, faux leather, cord and miscellaneous bulk necklaces.

These are all so easy and customisable. Give it a go!

DIY target game tutorial

As seen in the super-duper 5th birthday party of 2012, the target game!

The shooter tutorial can be found at Come Together Kids. That is where I originally saw the idea and I won't rip of the concept by making my own tute :)

At most this project will cost you a couple of dollars. At best, it will be free! I always keep a few plastic cups and balloons in the cupboard for when I have a party.

I picked up the clear standard plastic cups and found them strong enough to support the balloons on their own. No need for doubling up the cups.

DIY Birthday party stage 2 - activities & games

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Birthday Party stage 2 involves the games. All these games are recyclable, diy, customisable and nearly free (or totally free, depending on your stash).

Top: colour in.
Easy friggin peasy guys! I found some free colour in pictures of Transformers and dinosaurs, changed the black to a medium gray (so they are nicer to colour) and printed them.

Middle: Pin the tail on the dinosaur.
Cardboard from a box, with butcher paper glued over the front, painted by hand. Add a matching cardboard tail and ta- da! Inspired by: Paper and Cake

Bottom left: Target game. (Tutorial)
Disclaimer! IF you include this in your party be prepared for it to be hijacked by the adults. Oh, and leave it till last as the kids love it too!
Cardboard from a box, softdrink box, tissue box, cracker box, white glue, tape, paint, pom poms, plastic cups, balloons. Pom pom shooter tutorial over at Come Together Kids

Bottom right: Ring toss.
Cardboard, cardboard tube from a aluminum foil pack, cheap paper plates, glue, staples, paint. NOTE: I found the single plates did not work very well, so I stapled two plates together, one upside down on the other. Inspired by A Little Learning For Two

Along with the DIY photo booth there was barely enough time for the kids to play with everything. They had a ball and a bunch of the adults got involved too. Laughter and merriment was the order of the day!

Custom cast lego and Transformers in resin (with sprinkles!)

So, as part of DIY Birthday Party stage 1 I made custom silicone moulds of Lego minifigures, a large Lego keyring figure and the Transformers badges. My plan is to cast a bunch of items in resin, soap and crayons to use as favours and prizes at my son's 5th birthday party.

Here are the Lego men, cast in black opaque resin:

 Notice the alien on the left? He's for my husband :P

 This guy is my ultimate favourite! The sprinkles with the black resin make him look spotty, lmao. He is a Transformers Kre-o man that came with one of the building sets.

 Jigsaw pieces from the Ikea silicone ice mould.

Everyone needs to display their affiliation :)

These resin pieces with become necklaces, badges and magnets. I hope the guests like them! I have more curing right now, in gray, clear and white. I'll show you when I'm done.

DIY Birthday party stage 1

Preparation is underway for my son's 5th birthday party. It's his first 'real' party where he actually gets to pick his theme and stuff so both he and I are really excited.

We are doing the party on a limited budget and the absolute focus is my son's happiness. I want the guests to have a good time but really, it's all secondary to the birthday boy enjoying his day.

So far the invites are done, the photo booth masks are designed and the flexible silicone moulds are cast for Transformers badges, lego minifigures and lego giant men. Lego have silicone moulds for the minifigures but sadly like so many of the other Lego range, they are not in Australian shops so have to be imported. So I whipped out the trusty two-part silicone casting compound and cast those suckers myself.

Here are the photo booth props:
Masks: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Autobots symbol, Decepticons symbol.
Props: Stegasaurus headpiece (this has two sides and will look like twin plates on the head), Triceratops fan headpiece, T-Rex mouth.

Once they are all finished I'll make them available for download :)

Invitations:

It's birthday crafting all round!

My absence can be explained with two words, Extraordinarily Busy!

By far my biggest (both in time and physical size) project so far this month has been my Mother-in-law's Birthday quilt. I had originally umm'd and ahh'd over whether I should do it for Christmas but I was terribly afraid of working with stretchy fabrics on a large scale again. I gave myself a mental shake instead and decided I would try the blasted thing and if it sucked, so what? But if it was good then great!


Originally she had described this quilt to me as something she had seen many years ago and had always wanted. I searched the internet for panne velvet checkerboard quilts and came up with absolutely nothing. There were heaps of quilts, some patchy velvet ones, but none in a simple checkerboard with vibrant, jewel colours. Happily, she loved the gift which is fantastic given the hours of arranging, cutting and re-placing my husband and I had to do, not to mention the sewing. This was all completed on a basic sewing machine with no special foot.

Please note, the colours are quite off in the pictures. They are ruby, emerald, sapphire, gold and violet in reality :) backed with plain chocolate brown. 2.5m x 3m of velvety goodness.

Then our contribution to the party was a strawberry and cream filled chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Yum!

Time flies, allow me to recap...

In attempting to find where the time has gone, I felt compelled to make a list. I have had 2 months free of study and swore to myself that after Christmas I would devote plenty of time to my own artwork and build a nice little library of work. While I did manage to complete 3 new pen drawings and an inked drawing, I didn't manage anywhere near what I planned. My wall is still full of post-its with ideas, plans and random names for artwork :(

In no particular order:

• Hosted Christmas dinner
• Prepared my son for his first year of school including all prerequisite uniform, stationery, backpack, lunchbox, textbook and accessory shopping. That quite frankly deserved a month all to itself
• Hosted and promoted my first blog giveaway on two blogs
• Opened an Etsy store
• Sewed a panne velvet quilt
• Baked a three tier chocolate cake, shortbread, sugar cookies, marshmallow slice, chocolate coated marshmallows and pretzels for dozens
• Sewed 7 baby dresses, 5 headbands and made a dozen hairclips
• Sewed a dinosaur pillow, wrist cuffs and made a customised dinosaur dig
• Painted 5 shirts, a golf towel and made tulle pom poms for decorations
• Put together 8 baby and child gift hampers for donation
• Did the Christmas shopping!
• Took the kids for a photo with Santa, attended a Christmas concert and a graduation
• Made a flogger and tickler
• Had a short holiday - the first as a family of four
• Painted a swan portrait
• Played with a DSLR camera for the first time
• Had a Christmas party and organised a Secret Santa
• Kept blogging AND Facebooking :)
• Participated in various Etsy treasury-making and promotion
• Watched my son ride his first big-boy bike and scooter, saw my daughter stand for the first time, cut new teeth and do a handstand
• Got my hair done, woot!
• Read at least six new books - that's right, start to finish, I feel your envy :)
• Lost weight, not quite as much as I would have liked but I haven't regained any. Don't let the door hit you in the ass, weight!
• Drew pictures, played Search and Find, built transformers and read stories with my son
• Cuddled, sang to and played with my daughter
• Spent time with my husband, we even saw at least one good dvd (though the rest were crap, thanks Hollywood)
• Took on extra page-layout work, voluntary work and I-don't-get-paid-for-this extensive promoting, networking and random business crap that's supposed to make people notice me
• Laughed, cried, was amazed and schocked
• Spent too much time anxious or depressed, but got over it
• Did all the regular stuff that helps keep the home and family going

None of this was done alone, were it not for my husband taking kid-duty while I worked or my kids being so well behaved and quiet while I converse with clients or finish artwork I never would have made a quarter of this list. I still wish I could find more time to work on my own stuff but perhaps that's something I have to work on this year.

How has your summer (or winter) been so far? Have you achieved what you wanted?

Don't forget you can always fit in those missed projects in the future!

Got time for an email?

Do you have a spare five minutes today? How about writing a quick email to wish Cole a happy birthday?

Jen over at jenbshaw is asking for nothing more than an email or posted card to make her nephew's fifth birthday special. Why is his birthday so special you might ask, it's a massive celebration because his doctor's didn't think he would make it to Christmas and here he is, on the verge of his next birthday.

Spare a moment to say hi to this brave fighter and make his day special.

Thanks to my friend Clare over at Blogginess for linking this story.

4th birthday already?!

My little X turned 4, wow.

To celebrate we had dinosaurs galore. Dinosaur cupcakes for preschool (that was a cheat since I used dinosaur sprinkles on chocolate cupcakes, lol), dinosaur balloons for his birthday BBQ, dinosaur birthday cake decorated in fondant dinosaurs.

I swear, what that kid doesn't know about dinos is not worth knowing.

Layered chocolate and strawberry cake (by request) filled with cream and fresh strawberries, covered in buttercream and fondant dinosaurs. Special thanks to Sylvia at A Baked Creation for the inspirational dino sculptures!

 

Then we needed dinosaur cookies of course...

I found Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, T-Rex and Triceratops cutters so we had them in red, yellow, green and blue royal icing. Thanks to Nigella Lawson for the cut-out cookie recipe, it was a total hit!

 I made my own royal icing for the cookies, a few tablespoons of sifted icing sugar mixed with half a tablespoon of Pavlova Magic (a cheap and easy-to-find replacement for meringue powder) and a drop of water, coloured with gel icing colours.

The BBQ was a hit! With sausages, hamburgers, salads and great company it was a bright spot for an Autumn day.

A 3rd birthday, already??

My amazing little boy is growing up. We celebrated his 3rd birthday on Wednesday with a Lightning McQueen cake (edible icing images make a time-poor mum very happy) and party at kindy and presents at home that night.

The poor little guy has been sick for the last week, first a cold and then horrible wheezy asthma that always makes me nervous. So birthday time was a relaxed family night at home where he opened his little gifts and was totally thrilled with the train/car set we got him.

I stumbled across a fantastic wooden train and car set at an op-shop complete with track, roads, vehicles, houses and boom gates. And the most amazing bit? It was five bucks. Yep, that's right. And that included the great plastic tub with wheels that it was kept in. X loves it to bits and even wanted to stay home today to play with it. Given his obsession with kindy and his desire to go every single day, that was quite a complement for the gift!

I also finished a quilt cover which you can see at the bottom of the picture. I have been meaning to make a quilt for him since he was born but I am not very experienced. I made him a quilt cover instead for a standard single doona - which will dry quicker after washing during the chilly winter - and he loves it. I will post pics asap.