day 115: halloween invitations

invitation fit for a party :)

day 115 and every party needs some invitations.  there are SO many inspirational invitations on pinterest i was a tad overwhelmed!  so i have pinned many to my holiday goodness board but ended up choosing the design of the ones by parents.com.  the ribbon bats are what totally sold it to me :)

i typeset a very similar design on word and then printed it out on 160gsm card.  i loved the added matte so also went with that but used traditional halloween colours. i did attach the two cards together as i didn't use vellum and then punched the holes for the ribbon bat.  the eyes of the bat were hot glued on :)

printed invitation ready to dress!

matted in black

add ribbon bats with googly eyes and we are ready
to deliver!

outcome:  cool!  i feel really proud of myself. the bats are really cute if not totally bat like and the invitations have come out looking pretty halloweeny so hopefully the families and friends receiving these will feel festive and come dressed up .... here's hoping you lot!

my thanks to the VERY useful parents.com for this neat invite idea, its not the first time i have used them as inspiration for p365 and i am sure it won't be the last :)

day 100 ... we made it this far so lets make some halloween neighbour gift's :)

the halloween neighbour presents :)

day 100 and we have made it to the three digit milestone, only 265 days left in this adventure!  today we are making some quick and easy halloween gifts for the neighbours :)  halloween is always a busy time around here with birthday's and everything else that goes along with that time of the year.  i decided this year i would pop something in our neighbours letterboxes for fun for halloween.

i am going to use jen from a thousand words idea of giving gifts in wrapped pringles can's ... but instead of cookies i am going to give them pringles because it will mean they can be made and organised today :)  i pinned this jen's idea to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.  i would prefer to give them home baking but it can't be made in advance so that will have to wait for another occasion!

i am also using some free printables, happy halloween tags i found on eighteen25, and two halloween printables, this one from craftily ever after and this one from mrs. adventure.  all of these are pinned to my holiday goodness board :)

materials and printables needed

i went for the traditional colours of orange, black, and white for this creation.  i used scrapbooking paper to cover the cans and glued it down nice and firm.  the round halloween labels were stuck to the top and the other printables i used to adorn the sides of the canisters.  they were then wrapped in ribbon and ready to sneak into letter boxes later next month!

the covered pringles canister

the labelled and ribboned canisters

with happy halloween tags under the bows

outcome:  what's not to like, it's over a month away from halloween and i have gifts all ready to give.  actually these pringles cans are so easy to cover i will have to buy more just so i can wrap them ... they look so pretty when done :)

my thanks to a thousand words, eighteen25, craftily ever after, and mrs. adventure for all the wonderful inspiration and free printables that made my 100th creation possible :)

day eighty seven: bbq cupcakes for fathers day :)

our bbq cupcakes for a special dad :)

to my dad, my husband, my father-in-law, and all the wonderful fathers who give so much time, energy, support, and love to their children thank you from the bottom of my heart ... i hope your day is full of wonderful memories and that you realise just how special you are to me, our children, your son, and your families ...we love you unconditionally :)  have a very happy fathers day

day eighty seven and its definitely a day worthy of some celebratory cupcakes fit for the dad's in your life ... i think these bbq ones on the disney family fun website should do the trick and they are pinned to my holiday goodness board.

chocolate brownie cupcakes ... mmmmm!

i made up a mix of my brownie recipe and baked up a batch of cupcakes that looked fantastic and smelt delicious!  then the nerves took over as the kids and i hand to start decorating the tops of them to look like bbq's!

kebab maker number one

kebab maker number two

today i discovered piping straight lines of icing is a lot like sewing straight lines ... it takes A LOT of practice!

the finished product!

bbq for dessert any one?

outcome: we used a mix of gummi bears, jersey caramel chews, icing tubes, sugar, food colouring, and toothpicks to help our creations.  it was hilarious trying to make bbq food out of lollies ... there were some disasters and some wonderful successes! the overall effect was cool though and my sweet husband LOVED them ... they were a great dessert after we had finished the real bbq for dinner :)

i have loved what i have made and printed from the disney family fun website, they have such wonderful ideas, the instructions are always brilliant, and i honestly think they have something for every occasion imaginable!

day eighty six: fathers day treat jar

a jar full of goodies, perfect for our
hard working dad :)

day eighty six and its fathers day in new zealand tomorrow and we have a pretty amazing father to celebrate here so it was time to make a creation for him.  pinned to my holiday goodness board was this wonderful idea on eighteen25, inspired by one martha stewart created.

the bits and bobs you need to complete this project

i picked up a cheap square glass jar and then went through my paper scraps to find some tie quality pieces!  i couldn't find a pin stripe i liked so decided to make one with a couple of plain cardstock scraps. martha stewart has a pdf to print a tie (a nice pin stripe!) and collar if you don't feel like making your own or have no coloured card on hand.

the tie making in progress

my children's sweet and very supportive dad is a type 1 diabetic and often forgets to eat properly at work ... typical dad busy at work :)  we thought this jar would be perfect for his desk and good for quick fixes when he's having a low at work so we filled it with his favourite chocolate bars!

ready for filling with your dad's favourite
treats!

honey when you read this tomorrow fyi this is a treat jar, not a lunch jar ;)

the jar filling elves :)

outcome: well it was incredibly easy to make but really effective in terms of a cool jar for an awesome dad ... hopefully he will love it as much as the kids loved filling it with chocolate bars ... i think they are hoping to get lucky tomorrow!

i am a big lover of the projects from the sisters at eighteen25, and this is another one of their inspired beauties ... if you have a minute or two check out their blog its well worth it :)

day fifty two: lemon and blueberry bars, and a pillow for valentines

pillows for valentines :)

day fifty two and i had time to make a couple of creations today ... i LOVE time!  pinned to my recipe must do's board was a lemon and blueberry bar from the gorgeous blog for the love of cooking ... it looked so good and after the success of the lemon blueberry yoghurt cake with the family i decided this was a good thing to attempt today!  as i had time to sit and do some sewing today, i decided a pillow i have been pondering making all week would finally be made today. pinned to my holiday goodness board is a gorgeous valentines/love pillow by blueberry park.  karen at blueberry park is clearly incredibly talented and her blog is full of wonderful products and inspiration.

lemon and blueberry slice fresh out of the oven

first to the lemon and blueberry bars ... you make the crust first and bake it (if you don't like to get your hands messy, drag out the food processor and whiz the base up in that) ... then add the topping and bake again. i used frozen blueberries and plopped them on frozen too!

ready to eat ... they were so good!

lemon blueberry bar outcome:  seriously so good ... the crust has a little bit of a chew to it which works really nicely with the topping ... family was once again delighted with another pinterest recipe! thank you so much to pam from for the love of cooking, it was (yes that does mean its already completely been eaten!) a delicious slice and i definitely plan to make plenty more of it :)

the basic's for the pillow

ready to sew on the fabric strip

on to the pillow and lets remember i am not a seamstress so i need all the help i can get with pillows like this! i can't draw either so i printed off a heart shape from clipart, then traced the heart onto heat'n'bond so i could fix it to the white material before sewing!  who knew such great stuff existed, not i before pinterest (i clearly have lived a sheltered life)!  anyway i stitched in the side fabric, and then ironed on the heart into the white space before sewing around that as well.  added the backing and stuffed before hand sewing the stuffing opening.

the finished pillows for valentines day

valentines pillow outcome:  i was so stoked with the finished product i made two!  they are certainly happy pillows to look at and the heat'n'bond made it relatively simple to attach the hearts.  can't wait to put them out with the rest of the valentines decorations!  many thanks to blueberry park's karen for such an awesome idea, her blog is completely inspiring and has lots of ideas for purchasing and making!

that's if for today folks, enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

day nine: sweet carrots for easter

my little bunch of carrots!

day nine has arrived and amidst the cleaning, rearranging, and baking there was also time to create.  truth be known i was really looking forward to todays project which is from the awesome blog of clares's craftroom.  thanks clare for your generous email allowing me to use your project for my p365 one!  the carrots project was repinned from the gallery at pinterest onto my holiday goodness board.

great for easter and autumn!

these were a delight to make! they are sweet little carrots and i see more in my future!  i only used what marterials i had on hand, next time i want to try a brighter orange and a more limer green (like clare's) as they were awesome.

outcome: totally making these again, i will have them around the house for all of autumn/easter time.  they were a joy and not to onerous for someone who spent a lot of her saturday cleaning!

a massive thanks goes out to the very talented clare at clares's craftroom. she has a wonderful blog i suggest you visit and an ebay store with plenty of doable goodies.