Ghostbusters Party Ectoplasm Labels

At the request of a reader, here is a link to the Ectoplasm labels featured in our Ghostbusters Party post.  Enjoy!

Glitter Bow Place Card Holder

Glitter Bow Place Card Holder

 

 

To make these inexpensive yet elegant place card holders I purchased wire glitter ribbon.

 Cut the ribbon into lengths of approximately 11 inches.

You will use two lengths per placeholder.

 

We embellished with teal satin ribbon and rhinestones.

Fold the ends together and glue using your hot glue gun.

Next glue the satin ribbon and finally add the rhinestone.

Easy, cheap and elegant!

Mexican Themed Party Decorations

We wanted to share our design for our church fundraiser the Noche Latina, a Mexican themed party we throw every year.

 Chenille stem embellished letters

 We've had the papel picado for years.  It's the plastic kind so it holds up much better than the tissue paper kind would.  You can get a similar one from Oriental Trading.

 We only have one string of the rounded shape papel picado, but it's my fave. We bought ours at mexicansugarskull, it's more authentic looking than the Oriental Trading kind.

For table coverings, we used white cloth with a red accent cloth and then ran ruffled crepe paper down the middle of each one with a few tissue flowers going down the line.

We made the table numbers by spray painting tin cans and planting marigolds in them.  We then made paper numbers glued to skewers to stick in each pot.

We had a blast sewing crepe paper on the sewing machine, stretching a bit as we went.  They look great with two colors together, and even better with three!

This was a thank you sign in the front with names of some of our sponsors.  We embellished with extra tissue flowers and ruffled crepe paper.

Creeper Stamped Decorations

Tired of drawing it out for decoration purposes we came up with this

 quick idea for mass producing the Creeper!

We taped together three Jenga blocks,

 then used craft foam cut to the right shape,

hot glued the foam to the Jenga square and

Voila! our own Minecrafte Creeper Stamp!

So easy a kid could do it!

Flower Pots - Macetas con Tarjetas de Loteria

To make these Loteria knock-off flower pots first, I searched online for images that reflected my style. I used photo editing software to change the shape, size and color of some of the images.

Next, I printed them and cut them to the size I needed to fit the clay pots.

While they dried I painted the pots for each Loteria card.

I made an image for each of four sides of the flower pots.

That way they would look nice from every angle.

I chose mainly bold colors that would clash when brought together.

Then (after a few trial and errors) I sealed each design using contact paper.

Just trim around the edge, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Finally add a thin layer of mod podge under the image, place it in the desired location and apply more mod podge on the top, then all over the flower pot.

It's not necessary to paint the inside or apply mod podge inside. After all, it will be filled with dirt!

 

 

I made these for the teachers at my child's preschool.

It is an immersion program so these were perfect for them!

Minecraft Grass Block Shelf

You can't have a Minecraft themed bedroom without a couple of grass blocks but, mom doesn't like dirt in the bedroom. What to do?



Print out pixelated grass graphic image (search Google or comment back for a printable PDF).

 

Cut to size.

If you crease the edges it will be easier to cut the right size.

 

Don't forget the front edges.

Next, we painted the inside of the cube using Americana wood paint.

This little piggy seems safe from the Creeper!

Magnetic Letter Tiles

Insistent that our fourth child learn to read (in Spanish) ASAP (you know how it is when your toddler keeps asking what every word he sees is), I began my online search for Spanish syllable games, apps and or flash cards. I came up empty handed. What's a mom to do?

Answer: make our own.

 

If your not familiar with the Spanish language, here's a little info:

Spanish is read in syllables ex. ma, pe, si, etc. to form words such as mapa, coco, cama.

See, not so hard after all! 

Whiteboard to magnetic surface tutorial:

I already had an existing white board/ cork board that was just waiting for a new purpose.

 I had tried everything to give the white board new life and had just about given up

when I realized I could make it into a magnetic surface! Yeah!

 

At Lowes I discovered that to repaint the white board with magnetic primer and then 

whiteboard paint would cost more than a new whiteboard (NOT good indeed!)

As I was about to give up I saw sheets of stainless steel and began to wonder if it

could be used as a magnetic surface. A quick Google search proved my theory

and newly inspired, I considered the possibilities.

Thanks to a gentleman shopper that recommended I consider making my

purchase a local sheet metal shop, I saved $30+! 

 

First, I measured the dimensions of the area I wanted to cover.

Next, I took off the top and side of the frame

(thank you tía Lori for your help with this step,  I wouldn't have known what to do).

Then we slid the stainless steel inside the the frame, nailed it up and voila!

Magnetic surface for syllable tiles.

 

On to the tiles:

Spray the tiles using regular canned spray paint.

I bought these tiles at Lowes in the bathroom tile are for under $5! It has over 144 tiles!

Once dry, use enamel paint for glass (you can find it at Michaels) and a thin brush to paint 

whatever letters or syllables you'd like. I added 3D gloss enamel paint after it was dry,

just to give it something extra special.

 

Dry completely then bake at 275 degrees for about 15 min.

Allow to cool.

Using gel super glue to adhere magnets to the back.

Have fun creating silly phrases.

Here's my super student laughing at his sentence.