Yogi Bear Picnic Birthday Party

 We spend our summers RV camping at Jellystone parks.  As a result Austin, my middle son, is a huge fan of Yogi Bear.  So I was not surprised when Austin asked for a Yogi Bear birthday party.  But creating the Yogi Bear party of his dreams would be a challenge, because party supply stores do not carry a stock of Yogi Bear products and probably have not since the ‘70s.

To add to this challenge, my work schedule was crazy busy lately and was busy raising three kids.  Needless to say I did not have a ton of time available to dedicate to party planning.

But thanks to Google, Pinterest, EBay, and Amazon I was able to create the Yogi Bear Picnic Party that Austin had in his dreams.  And it did not even cost me an arm and a leg.

The Cake

I did not want to spend a hundred dollars on a artistic sculptured birthday cake but the local bakeries did not have any Yogi Bear designs.  I was able to find this edible film on Amazon, so I ordered a plain white cake (I may be crafty but I do not bake) and applied the film myself.

 

I added some camping toy cake decorations as well.  My kids get so excited when they get the toys off the birthday cakes.  These toys were extra exciting because the tent lights up to show the silhouette of a camper inside.  My son was convinced it was Yogi Bear hiding inside the tent.

The Shirt

I always make the kids cute t-shirts for their birthday, but I was unable to find embroidery designs to fit the yogi bear theme.  And honestly, I just did not have the time to make one.  Luckily I found this yogi bear t-short on Ebay.  And Austin was very pleased to wear it.

Balloons
I found a set of 21 Yogi Bear balloons on Amazon.  We took them to our local florist the morning of the party to fill with helium.  

The Picnic
For the picnic we threw a blanket down on the kitchen floor and served a traditional camping meal: hot dogs and potatoe chips with the kids sitting around the blanket. 

To add to the festivities we put a campfire (purchased from Amazon) in the center of the picnic blanket.

The kids really seems to love the picnic, especially the fire in the middle.  Their imaginations took over and they warmed they hands over the fire and talked camping talk while sitting around the blanket.  I underestimated how much fun the kids would have pretending to be at a picnic.

We even put the cake right in the middle of the blanket when it was time to sing happy birthday.  

The Entertainment

Entertainment for the yogi bear picnic consisted of two things:  Yogi Bear books and Yogi Bear cartoon episodes.

There is an entire series of Yogi Bear Guide books.  I surprised Austin with two of these books at his party.  The kids passed these around and the big kids read to the little kids.  

During the picnic dinner we had Yogi Bear cartoons playing.  I purchased these for $1 an episode off Amazon.  These were the original cartoons from the ‘70’s.  For most of the kids it was the first time seeing these cartoons and they were a hit.

The Snack: S’mores

For the snacks I made individually wrapped s’mores with a marshmallow, chocolate bar, and graham crackers.  They could be eaten as is or popped in the microwave for 10 seconds to melt the chocolate and the marshmallow.  These went over big with both the parents and the adults.

The Party Favors

I had to get a little creative with the party favors.  I bought mini gift bags from Hobby Lobby and attached Yogi Bear cut outs that I printed off myself.  Each party favor bag had a mini coloring book, Yogi Bear stickers, and a s’more.  The birthday boy got a few extra Yogi Bear toys in his that I found on EBay.

I made the mini coloring book using half sheets of paper with craft paper for the cover.  I googled “Yogi Bear coloring pages” to print the images.  I was even lucky enough to find a coloring image with Yogi holding the number 5.

Yogi Bear Wrapping Paper

The one thing I could not find was Yogi bear wrapping paper.  So I improvised by using this yogi bear fabric.  I used the fabric to make pillows for our camper after the party was over.

Austin’s Approval

All in all, the party went great and earned Austin’s seal of approval as “the best birthday party ever”.  So I guess that means it lived up to the Yogi Bear picnic party that he had in his dreams.  

And that’s a wrap on Austin’s 5th birthday.  

Color My World Quilt — More Progress

I have been busy making progress on the Color My World quilt.  It’s come quite a way from the box of fat quarter fabric rolls.  Here’s some pictures of my progress:

 Fabric all cut and ready to start:

First set of crayons constructed:

These crayons were a little more labor some than I anticipated, but it was manageable for my novice quilting skills — 10 pieces of fabric per crayon, 7 seams, and 2 appliqués.  

Here the 40 crayons completed and ready for piecing to begin:  

The crayon construction was time consuming, but piecing the crayons into the quilt went quickly.

I have now added the border and am in progress of working on the quilting. 

 

That is all the progress for now.  Stay tuned for pictures of my completed quilt.

If feel inclined to make your own Color My World quilt you can find the free download here.  

Color My World Quilt

I have been busy working on my first quilt project of 2018.  It was actually a quilt kit that I received as a Christmas gift from my one year old daughter, Alexis.  It comes in this cute little box and is bundled to look like a big box of crayons, which is probably why Alexis refused to leave the door until Daddy bought it.

It’s Crayola Fabric Colors by Riley Blake.  It comes with 10 solid colored fat quarters in tight little rolls so it looks just like a no of crayons.  And on the back is a picture of Riley Blake’s Color My World quilt pattern, which you can download for free here.

The kit only came with the solid colors shows above.  I had to purchase separately the black background and binding fabric as well as the backing fabric.  I choose to go with this cute coordinating Riley Blake Crayola Crayon in pink for the backing.

As soon as the fabric came in ore washed it and got right to the cutting.  And there was lot of cutting — 39 crayons each made up of a tip, a serpentine, and 5 rectangles. 

Check back in a few days and check up on my progress.  And until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!

A Northwoods Outfit: Cargo Shorts, Canoe Applique Shirt, and Bucket Hat Made With Michael Miller Plaid

While browsing on line fabric stores a few months ago I came I came across this madras plaid fabric and just fell in love with it.  (It's shore thing, by Michael Miller, and you can bye it here at fabric.com).  I thought it would be the perfect fabric for an outfit to make for my 3 year old for our North woods vacation in Wisconsin.

I used McCall'sM6495 to make the cargo shorts.  I made the reversible hat with the Scout Bucket Hat pattern from youcanmakethis.com

I found this canoe applique pattern  off Etsy from Applique Cafe, and then I added Landon's name to personalize the shirt.  I purchased the navy blue shirt from Target, Circo brand.

And here's pictures of my handsome little man showing of his new outfit in Gramma's back yard.

I also made a romper for Baby Austin out of this same fabric, but I'll have to save that for another blog post.

Big Bro and Little Bro Appliqué Embroidery Shirts for My 2 Boys

Now that Baby Austin is almost a month old, I am starting to get into a normal routine and am starting to have more time for crafting and blogging.  And I am so excited to show off my two boys with today's project -- Big Bro T-shirt and matching Little Bro onesie.

I purchased the embroidery program on Etsy for $2.99 from JoyousEmbroidery and the gingham fabric came from Warehouse Fabrics.  I made big bro 5" x 7" for the toddler shirt and the lil bro 4" x 4" for the baby onesie.

And here's a picture of my two boys showing off their new shirts.  Landon is such a proud big brother and is so happy to introduce Baby Austin to everybody.  (I still need to work on the art of getting a toddler and a baby to both look at the camera at the same time)

Fire Truck Birthday Shirt Embroidered for Landon

Today I spent my birthday playing with my birthday present -- my new embroidery machine.  I wanted to try doing a combination of appliqué and embroidering on the embroidery machine, and thought a t-shirt for Landon's 3rd birthday would be the perfect opportunity.  So I searched the internet and found a reasonably priced design at Stitcheroo Designs that incorporated the number 3 into a flame with a firetruck.

Here is the T-shirt I made:

Here's a closer look at the design:

The embroidery machine program file can be purchased here.   (The purchase actually includes the design for numbers 1 - 6!)

I also found this tutorial from the blog Love from Texas that walked me step by step through the applique embroidery process.

Lesson learned from this project is that I need to use a little stiffer stabilizer (like a medium weight cutaway) in place of the tear away stabilizer that I used on this project.  This would clean up the puckering that I got at the bottom of the t-shirt.

Considering it was my first appliqué project on the embroidery machine, I am quite pleased with the results.  I can't wait to surprise Landon with this birthday surprise tomorrow morning.

Valentine's Day Tie Appliqué Shirt for Baby Boy

This weekend I welcomed the newest addition to my craft room -- a new embroidery machine.  My wonderful husband bought it as an early birthday present.  My birthday isn't until the end of the month, but he knew that with the baby coming I would have lots of opportunities to use it since I have been planning on working on burp clothes, bibs, and baby blankets.  So I spent the afternoon learning how to use the new machine.  And I even got an embroidery project done.

Here it is -- a Valentine's shirt with a tie appliqué for a baby boy.

I've been wanting to make a tie appliqué shirt, and decided to use the embroidery machine to make it a Valentine's themed shirt.  I found the template for the tie at the blog Crap I've Made.  I copied and pasted the template into a word document so I could make it a little bit bigger.

I used the embroidery machine to make the words "Be Mine" before cutting the tie shape.  Then I used paper back fusible webbing (also known as heat and bond) to adhere the tie onto the black shirt and used a zig zag stitch on my regular sewing machine to give the edges of the tie a finished look.  Here's a close up.

I think I still might add some suspenders and a few hearts to make it more festive, but considering I spent most of the day getting a feel of the new embroidery machine and figuring out how all the features worked, I am pretty happy with the product.

And here is my new addition to my craft room - the Brothers PE770.  I was very impressed with how easy it was to use.  I literally opened the box and was embroidering 20 minutes later.  

And with that, I'm going to get back to crafting.  I've got to finish dressing up this t-shirt.  Until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!

Construction Room Makeover for Landon

Since baby Michels #2 is due in a few months, we decided it was time to start thinking about upgrading Landon to a big boy room so we can move the crib and matching furniture into the baby room.  While Christmas shopping, we stumbled across a Circo Build It construction themed bed-in-a-bag on clearance for $15, and since Landon is really into heavy machinery -- dump trucks, excavators, and bull dozers especially -- we thought this would be the perfect set for his new big boy room.

So we said good-bye to his train themed toddler room, disassembled the crib, picked out paints, and went to work on creating a construction themed room fit for a big boy.

Before:

To make this room extra kid-friendly, we opted for bright bold colors.  We picked "Emergency Zone" orange for an accent wall and painted the other walls "Yucatan" blue.  Both colors are Behr Ultra paint from Home Depot.  Landon even pitched in and did a little painting himself.

After:

Here is what the finished product looked like.

Landon was very excited for his big boy bed, except it made him look so small in the big full size bed.

We still have a little work to do before the project is complete.  The rest of the furniture doesn't arrive until next week.  And adding decorations to the wall will provide plenty of crafting opportunities over the next couple of months.  So be sure to check back over the next few months and see the continued progress on the construction zone room.

A special thanks goes out to my dad for helping me paint, and my mom for occupying Landon and keeping Landon out of our hair while we painted.

The Cutest Little Pirate

Landon's favorite show lately is Jake and the Neverland Pirates -- so we decided a pirate costume would be a great Halloween costume for him (or so we thought anyway).  So I went to Joann Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby to buy a pattern (Simplicity 2561) and fabric and got to work making the fabric.

For all the time I spent running to three stores just to get the necessary fabric and then making the costume, Landon was not very appreciative.  In fact, he wanted nothing to do with the costume.  I had to bribe him with a tootsie roll sucker just to get a couple of pictures.

For a brief moment we almost were able to get a smile out of him.

But by the second house he stripped off his jacket.

And by the third house he ditched his hat.

But at least he kept his pants on for most of the night, and we were able to snap a few cute pictures.  On  a positive note, he thoroughly enjoyed trick or treating and especially loved riding in his wagon while his Nonny pulled him.

Maybe next year he'll be more in the Halloween costume spirit.

From Cookie Sheet to ABC & 123 Magnet Board

A while back I bought Landon a set of magnetic letters.  At our old house our dishwasher was magnetic, so he had a place to use them.  But in our new house, everything is stainless steel, and although it looks really nice, it is not magnetic.  But thanks to Pinterest, I got the idea to make a magnetic board from a cookie sheet.  And here is my version:

I started with a magnetic cookie sheet. This is very important, otherwise you have to use magnetic spray paint, which I haven't had much luck with.  I actually took the magnetic letters to the store with me to make sure they would stick.

The first thing I did was punch 4 holes along the top and inserted eyelets using my Big Bite hole punch and eyelet setter.  Then I applied a coat of spray paint primer followed by 2 coats of the navy blue spray paint.

Next, I added the ribbon for hanging and decorated it with the vinyl stickers.  I used my Cricut and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut the "A B C" and "1 2 3".

I haven't figured out where I am going to hang this, so far now Landon just gets to play with it on the floor, but he is enjoying it so far!

Thanks for reading my blog!  And until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!

A Seat and a Table in the Forbidden Room

Landon has pretty much been forbidden from entering my craft room since the moment he began to crawl.  His little mischievous hands are just to quick at getting into my stamps, paper, scissors, inks, markers, thread.... And now that he is napping less and less, I'm not finding time to get into my craft room.  But after reading about how my friend Kristy, over at the The No-No Room, has a little desk in her craft room for her toddler, I thought I might as well give this a try.

Landon has really been into coloring, painting, and stickers lately, so why not make him a little craft space of his own.  That way I get time to do my crafting, and Landon and I still get to spend quality time together.

So with that, we headed out to Walmart to get Landon his very own craft table.  And since we happened to stumble across a great back to school sale, we stocked up on all the things a little toddler could need for his craft space -- crayons, washable markers, water paints, notebooks, cars themed pencils, erasers, a pencil box, construction paper, and a pencil sharpener.  Landon was like a little kid in a candy store and everytime we passed another customer in the store Landon would point to his supplies and say "Look at this!  These are for me!"  (I hope he keeps this excitement up when its time to actually go school supply shopping.)

The shopping trip was so exhilarating for Landon that he fell asleep on his way home.  So while he napped, I put the "some assembly required" table and bench set together and situated it right next to my craft desk.  And then I filled his desk with all his school supplies (and stashed the duplicates and messy stuff for a later date).

So immediately after waking up, Landon asked right away where his "colors" where, so I brought him into the craft room and he immediately sat down at his craft table and spent 3 hours coloring, drawing, and scribbling.  He was enjoying it so much that he wanted to Skype Gramma & Grampa just to show them his craft table.

So far this table has been a good investment and it looks like Landon and I are going to get to do a lot of really fun crafting together in the future.  I still need to personalize his space a little -- make him a pencil holder, put up a bulletin board for his art work, and maybe even make a magnetic board so he can practice with his letters.

Thanks Kristy for the idea!  Here's a few more pictures of Landon enjoying his new craft table.  And until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!