DIRT CUPS

Posted by Lori~

Two weekends ago, Ethne and I were together and we were busy preparing for the MOST ADORABLE baby shower ever.  The Pokey Puppy themed shower.  I promise to show photos of the entire spread, but I have one more tutorial for you.

We wanted the food to match the theme.  April whipped up this sign (straight out of the book)....

Dirt cups are perfect (complete with mini fences of course).

Making dirt cups is SUPER EASY!  The supplies needed are:  chocolate pudding, cold milk, Oreo cookies, whipped cream, and worms. 

Combine the pudding with the milk and let is set (around 5 minutes if you use the instant pudding).  Follow the portion size recommended for the milk. 

Stir in one container of whipped cream and roughly 1 cup of crushed Oreo cookies.  You will use roughly 15 cookies/batch of dirt cups.

Of course, this would not be complete without mini fences.  At first I thought I would make my own, but when I found them at Joanne's fabric (plus a 40% off coupon), it was easier to purchase them.  Ethne did the cutting.  We ended up doing four slats/cup. 

All that's left is to fill the cups with the pudding, add the remaining crushed Oreo cookies to the tops and insert your fence and worms. 

They turned out A-DOR-ABLE!

I'm Throwing a Kid Birthday Party!

Posted by Ethne~

Hey guys!

So what is your take on kid birthday parties?  I'm hosting my first one this year for the girls.  For a few various reasons they've had kids at their parties before, but never a kid-exclusive party.

I solicited my sister, Whit, and sister-in-law, Heather, to help me out with hosting it.  And I was originally thinking I'd do a party at my house, with a Frozen theme.  The girls loved the theme idea.  But then I got to talking with a few different people and did some Google searching for party destinations in our big city, MN, area, and found lots of good ideas.  Which you pay for, of course.

The two top contenders were Cheap Skate (old school roller rink - pretty reasonable prices) and Zero Gravity Trampoline Park (slightly more expensive, but still not unreasonable) up here in our north suburban area.  The trampoline park won out because I could invite my 4-year-old nephew (age limit is 3 - some places could only do ages 5+ or 7+), the price included pizza, beverages, cupcakes and t-shirts for the guests of honor, and I know my girls will have no problems jumping.  

So I'll let them expend their unbelievable energy for an hour, have snacks and gifts in our private room (which I figure I can decorate with a few Frozen things - Party City has me covered there), and then leave the clean-up for someone else!

For this year, that's the plan...we'll see how it goes over!

STRAWBERRY POMS!

Posted by Lori~

This past weekend, I was fortunate to go to Big City, MN and stay with my partner-in-crime Ethne.  Mur-Man and I were there to celebrate our friend Roxanne's baby shower!  The theme was Pokey Puppy and it turned out A-DOR-ABLE!  

I promise to show photos of the entire party very soon, but first-up I wanted to give you a QUICK tutorial on a project that Ethne and I whipped up on the evening prior to the shower.  

Remember, I did a tutorial on how to make tissue poms here.  

But, this is a spin on the traditional poms instead they are strawberry poms.

First up, fold your red tissue paper into a square.  You will want to cut your red tissue paper into the following sizes.

4 - 10 inch squares
4 - 9 inch squares
4 - 8 inch squares
4 - 7 inch squares

Next up, you want to cut the stem.  Fold the green tissue paper into thirds and cut.  Next up, fold it accordion style and cut along all the seams. 

Accordion fold the squares of red tissue paper and round the ends.  Cut a long piece of wire and fold in half.  Wrap the wire around the red tissue paper twisting in-between the pieces.

This version is wrong!  We had our tissue in the wrong order for the shape of a strawberry! 

This version is right!

Fluff your tissue!  There you have it!  A-DOR-ABLE!

CHOCO COVERED FOOTBALL STRAWBERRIES!

Posted by Lori~

I was thrilled to head to good friend and WOM-MOM follower Jen's house for Super Bowl Sunday.  Steve was sick--BOO!  So, Mur-Man and I partied hard and ate A TON OF FOOD!  

I wanted to make something with a football flair.  The chocolate covered football strawberries ARE DELICIOUS!  Considering, Ethne and I are from the mid-west (ND and MN), strawberries are WAY OUT OF SEASON...but I picked up a WONDERFUL BATCH.

The only supplies needed are strawberries, dipping chocolate, and white frosting!

First, I washed and dried the strawberries.

Next up, melt your chocolate following the instructions.  Dip your strawberries in the chocolate and let them harden on parchment paper.

Using white frosting, write football lines onto your strawberry.

TOTALLY ADORABLE!  AND DELICIOUS!  It was THAT EASY!

This provided a "healthy" option to our super bowl spread!

MUR-MAN'S LATEST COMIC BOOK ADDITION

Posted by Lori~

Every year for my son's birthday, my hubby whips up a comic book page.  I am hoping we can make it 18 years (we will have to see), and I can make a book!

This years pages are excellent and feature the monkeys from our Belize vacation.

You can view past comic book pages here (2013) and here (2012).

MIKEY MOUSE OREO POPS

Posted by Lori~

This should be the final post for Mur-Man's MICKEY MOUSE themed party (oh...except for the thank you cards), and I have one final tutorial.  

Here is my inspiration:

Inspiration here.

Honestly, you would think they would be easy; however to get a Popsicle stick into an Oreo cookie proved to be VERY DIFFICULT.  My first mistake was not buying double-stuffed Oreo cookies.  According to my girlfriend Karla, that makes the stick slide in MUCH EASIER.

Luckily, my patient husband seemed to master this step and took over.  We ended up making about 24 cookie pops and only went through one package of cookies (the broken ones worked great for snacking).

Steve discovered that it worked great to add a little melted chocolate to the inside of the cookie to make it stick!

Once on the stick, we needed to add the ears.  Initially, I had thought I would use mini Oreos, but actually the candy melt (black) worked GREAT for the ears.  I simply dipped the end in chocolate and inserted them to harden.
 

I also used red candy melt to make Mickey's shirt.  It worked great to use a Popsicle stick to paint it on.
 

For buttons I used pearl cake decorations (already in my stash)...I applied them when the red frosting was still sticky.
 

To see the "after photo" of this project, you will have to watch Mur-Man's birthday video here.  THEY TURNED OUT ADORABLE!

MUR-MAN'S FOURTH B-DAY!

Posted by Lori~

We celebrated Mur-Man's birthday on Saturday at the local movie theater.  Here's a quick birthday highlight reel.  I plan to have a tutorial this week on the Mickey Mouse Oreo-pops.

MICKEY MOUSE PARTY SWAG!

Posted by Lori~

More Mickey Mouse party plans!  Next up, the swag!  My inspiration photo is here:

Photo found here.

I picked up red gift bags (3/$1.00), tissue paper, and various stuffers (Mickey Mouse ears, Mickey Mouse tattoos, crayons, and so much more!).  Mur-man helped stuff!

He wasn't feeling too hot that day!  A little under-the-weather!

Now it's time to turn them into Mickey Mouse bags!  SO EASY!  Using a glass, I traced circles onto red and white scrapbook paper (you could use black too--more realistic)  I already had the scrapbook paper, AND IT WAS FREE!
 

I did a quick Google images search to find the perfect oval shape for Mickey's buttons.
 

I created a stencil using an Express advertisement mailer (FREE).  I traced the ovals onto white foam (already in my stash). And cut them out.
 

I used spray glue to attach the black felt (around 25 cents/sheet).  One sheet was enough for two bags.

I also used a super strong glue stick to attach the buttons and ears.  
 

Here's the finished product.  I decided to make some bags with ears and some bags without!

I can't wait to see how this Mickey Mouse party table turns out!  It will be MOUSE-TASTIC! 

Ethne and I will be taking a break from blogging for the holiday.  We will be back on Monday!  Have a wonderful THANKSGIVING!

MICKEY MOUSE PARTY DECOR...MICKEY STRAWS!

Posted by Lori~

You read about Mur-Man's party invite here and my Pinterest party-planning inspiration here.

I decided to start preparing...first up, Mickey straws.  I wanted them to look something like the photo below.

Photo found here.

I was on the hunt for paper straws at a discount.  Typically they are kind of spendy, but I have been lucky to find paper straws at TJ Max.  I found these beautiful gold chevron patterned straws for ONLY $4.99 for 40!

 

Next up, I hopped on the computer to find the perfect Mickey Mouse head pattern.  A quick search of Google Images and there were tons.  

I printed off one of the designs to create a pattern (at 25% size).

I traced them onto foam and cut them out...aren't they cute!

Using an X-Acto knife, I cut two slits in the Mickey Mouse. (I believe in the example above she glued two Mickey Mouse heads together).

 I slid it on the straw.  PERFECTION!

I also created a few signs for the party!

More Mickey Mouse party plans coming soon!