Halloween Decor and Invitations

 I had so much fun with Halloween this year. Not only did we end up having a costume party, we went all out with (my type of) Halloween decor.
I couldn't find a font I loved for the invitations so I made them by hand. Crazytown, I know. I had gotten these envelopes not knowing what we would use them for at Artco (in Rexburg). They were perfect!!!

 I had two different kinds of envelopes and ribbons.

 Food table. I borrowed some decor from Laura Black for the party.

 This painting is so perfect for Halloween. Just creepy enough. I sprayed some cattails black and they looked so great! Love the ravens always and pumpkins. Some potion bottles that Todd and Jen made.

 Love these flying bats.

 We got a little taxidermy alligator and put a fake hand inside.

 Every surface was spooky. Even in the bathroom we had some decorations.

 Front porch.

Pinata. I was so pleased with how it turned out. I like the silver and black paint. The structure was pretty difficult and we only got to hit it twice, but it looked great!!

Felix's party: Invitations and Decorations

 Felix has been obsessed with the game Candyland lately, so we decided on a Candyland themed party.

 We made these little "lollypop" invitations with a candy stick for the stick of the lollypop.

 The cake was one of my favorite parts of the party. My friend, Laura, came and helped with the decorations, which was a huge help. Besides she is super talented and brilliantly creative.

 Classic piece of candy for the pinata.

 I had saved a bunch of strawberry containers to use as goody bags. I couldn't find a candycane font anywhere, so Laura and I had to do it by hand :)

 Candy decoration was a no brainer and people pleaser!!

 Felix loved this sign. It is still up in his room.

Lego Head Pinata tutorial

So, you can buy pre-cut circles of foam. I (always on a budget) went the cheaper route and bought a huge sheet of styrofoam and cut out circles. Also buying this one item I was able to use my Joann 40 % off coupon. I traced the circles onto the foam with a Sharpie. I actually traced some plates and saucers I had.
Two doughnut shaped ones for the top piece 7(?) inches diameter, 2 pieces 8 1/4 in. diameter circles for top and bottom, one circle 8 inch diameter for the very bottom connector piece. If this is confusing look at a minifigure head and it may be more clear.

Cut out the circles and round the edges a bit. I just used a serrated kitchen knife.

I used painters tape to attached the two doughnut pieces together and set them on the "top" piece.

Tape the "bottom" piece to some posterboard. This is horrible but I have forgotten the measurement I used for the paper. Ten inches maybe? Try out different measurements until it looks right. (Hey, this is my first tutorial. I guess I am learning a lot :)

The "top" piece needs a hole cut into it, that the candy will eventually go into. Keep the piece that comes out to "cork" it back up after candy goes in. Also, if you look closely you can see that I cut some little holes for the rope to go in.

Here it is all taped together. You begin to see it taking shape. This part was really hard. The painters tape was not super sticky so the top kept falling into the paper tube. I resisted using duct tape for fear that it would be too sturdy and we wouldn't be able to get into it when it was time. Also, keeping the paper from collapsing (you can see the dent on the right side) was a challange.

The next challange was trying to get the sticky, gluey, newspaper to stick to the foam. It did not want to stick. I ended up just laying it on in places and letting it dry. The next layer wasn't so hard. But the shape was really compromised because of these sticking difficulties.

I put the rope into the holes and knotted it. It stayed in really well and it was really sturdy.

I use a 1:1 ratio of water to flour for the glue. I put on one layer of newspaper with the glue, covering the entire pinata then let it dry completely. Then do another complete layer of newspaper and let it dry. It usually takes many hours to dry. Even in the direct sun can take 3-4 hours (that is why I start making the pinata several days ahead). You could probably put a heater on in front of it to hurry the process.
After the two newspaper layers are dried I put on a layer of plain white paper. It takes less paint to paint over white, rather than newsprint.

When completely dry start painting. When the paint is totally dry, fill it will candy, then put the stopper back in. This was definitly a plus about this particular pinata. Usually with a balloon based pinata, when the second newspaper layer is dry you cut through the layers to make a little "trapdoor" in an inconspicuous spot. Also, a spot that isn't vulnerable. So, not toward the bottom and not close to where the rope is connected. Fill with candy (not chocolate if you are drying in the sun :) Then proceed with white paper layer and paint.

Then decorate. I saw somewhere on the internet someone used a scared face on their Lego Minifigure Head Pinata. I thought it was a must. I penciled it on first, then used Sharpie. For the mouth I used a piece of heavy white paper, with Sharpie then glued onto the pinata.

Look at that puffy toddler hand grabbing for the goodies inside. No wonder Lego head is so scared, a labotamy is looming.

What questions do you have? Is this rather clear? It is harder to describe than I thought it would be.

Lego Party- Pinata!

 I will add on a step by step tutorial on how to make this Lego head pinata in another post.
Have I killed the Lego theme by now? I saw this great idea for a Lego head pinata (which is what Liam requested). I liked the scared face. He is about to get his brains knocked out!

 Liam was so excited about it. Again, I got some video of the boys hitting the pinata, but they aren't very good. Note to self: next time take stills of the pinata slaughter. The funnest image would be the candy all flying through the air, but you never know when it will happen. That is why it is so fun!

The bottom broke off. Travis sporting the Lego look.

eyeball pinata

Zoe's birthday theme this year was Mad Scientist. We made an eyeball pinata. I put little chocolate eyeballs in it.

Sorcerors Stone

We went on a treasure hunt to find the Sorcerors Stone. Problably the highlight of the party. We had picture clues. I had drawn pictures of where the next clue was to be found.

Zoe's birthday pinata

Again, I love a theme. This was a straighforward shape to make. Zoe helped me paint it. You can't see really well, but there is glitter all over, too.