Party Invitations

My first attempt to make party invitations didn't work out well. I had used Mod Podge to attach a pictures to cards made out of heavy scrapbooking paper, and then had covered over the cards with more Mod Podge to make them shiny. The result was cards that stuck to each other and tore when I pulled them apart.

The solution was to go with a much simpler design. I just printed out the following design on a full sheet of paper. I filled in the information by hand on one page and then ran off copies. I also stapled a map to each invitation and folded it in thirds, like a business letter.



Each folded invitation now has a child's name written on the outside and is ready for Blaze to pass out before school on Monday.



If you are having a steampunk themed party and do not want to make your own invitations, and have a slightly bigger budget then I'm working with, I found these amazing cards on Etsy:



http://www.etsy.com/listing/49880124/steampunk-invitations-set-of-10

Thanksgiving Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at DH's professor's house! There was good conversations, good food, and Dr. D always has the best toys!





He has an amazing collection of vintage toys, as well as other fun antiques, like this working 1923 record player (the very first portable).





The centerpiece on the table:


DH cooked the turkey.



Blaze's favorite things about Thanksgiving dinner were having a big furry dog to play with, and playing with all of the noise-making toys in the house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In preparation for Thanksgiving, there has not been much cooking going on, since we are going to a potluck, but there has been reading and crafting.

Every Thanksgiving, there are two books that I love to read. One is 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, by Dav Pilkey:



The other is Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende and Harry Devlin, which must, of course, be followed by baking cranberry bread using the recipe in the back of the book.




Blaze made these cute little door decorations with the younger elementary kids at school,



While I had the older elementary students write what they were thankful for, on colored construction paper leaves.



I hung the thankfulness leaves on the outside of our classroom door, so that all the parents would see them when they came to the Thanksgiving feast at school yesterday at lunch time.


At home, Blaze has added this year's "hand turkey" to the Thanksgiving tablecloth.



This has been a family tradition since 2003.





I suppose that a first attempt at learning how to play football counts as Thanksgiving Day preparation, as well.

Thanksgiving Mad Lib Round-Up

I want to do something fun with my Language Arts students tomorrow, since it is the last day before the five day Thanksgiving break. I discovered that there are a few, free, printable, Thanksgiving-themed "Mad Libs" available on-line.


A pilgrim's letter home

A new Thanksgiving tradition

The family visit

Turkey dinner

Party at the Pla Planetarium

We attended the most awesome birthday party today! It was held at the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium on the Santa Fe College campus.



Before the planetarium show began, the children were able to run off some of their energy at "The Rock Cycle" walk, next to the planetarium, which included this dinosaur footprint on the stone that held the commemorative plaque.





Then, it was into the planetarium for the show "Space Park 360", during which the viewer feels like they are on theme park rides on different planets. At the conclusion of "Space Park 360", the very entertaining planetarium operator showed what the night sky will look like on Tuesday (the birthday boy's true birthday) and what it looked like the day he was born. He also told stories about the signs of the zodiac that were prominent in that night sky.





After the show, we had cake and the birthday boy opened presents.

The dinosaur in the cake roared and moved, and the candles were also sparklers.

Just Checking In

I have not been eaten by the alligators or fallen off the face of the Earth. I have just been keeping busy, but none of it has seemed "blog worthy". Most of what I've been doing has been seen here before, such as assembling 22 of the little popcorn boxes.

My most resent project has been making checklists of everything we will need to pull off Blaze's tenth birthday party (the airship pirate party). The very limited budget, and the unconventional theme, means this is taking a lot of work, time, and imagination. That is what all those popcorn boxes are going to be used for.

One of our biggest concerns about the party had been where to have it. Our apartment is far too small. That worry has now been alleviated. The common room for our apartment complex can be reserved, free of charge, for residences, but only if there is not something already planned for that day. This means, we have been able to reserve it, but we must wait until Dec. 17th (11 days after Blaze's birthday) to have the party. The 6th, Blaze's actual birthday, falls on a Monday this year, so that day was out of the question, if we want children to show up. The weekend before, is someone else's party and the day Santa visits. From the 9th through the 13th, the room is reserved for people who need a quiet study space for exams.

Here are two examples of the lists I've been making:
These lists are for the things that are already in a cardboard file box, ready to go ( I've been referring to the box as my "party-in-a-box" kit and it is already filled to overflowing. I want this thing to be as low-stress as possible when the time comes. We will have only an hour and half to get everything set-up before guests start arriving, so this needs to be well planned out ahead of time.




I have almost a month to work on this still, so I may come up with more decorating ideas, or if anyone else sees any that would be good for a child's airship/steampunk party, please post links in the comments. It will be an evening party, so I'm hoping dim lights might improve the look of the space we are using. With the lights on, the common room has all the charm of a sparsely furnished hospital waiting room, in a not very well funded hospital.

Today we have a child's birthday party to go to that has almost the same guest list we have made, so this will be a good way to see how many people will really show up to something like this. Now, off to figure out how to wrap a toy light saber so it doesn't look like a light saber.

Gators Enjoying the Weather

It was a beautiful weekend, with temperature in the upper 70s. It was also a great time to go alligator watching around the University campus, since they all seemed to be enjoying the weather, as well.

Bowling

This afternoon, there were two hours of free bowling at the Reitz Union (on the U.F. campus) for all the children that belong to "Noah's Endeavor " .



Blaze had trouble with the 8-pound balls, which were the lightest they had.



Gutter ball after gutter ball was really starting to frustrate him,



when he came up with the idea that what he needed was "teamwork". He asked for the ramp that was being used for the players who were in wheel chairs, and gathered two college students and a boy his own age to help him. For his last 3 or 4 turns, he insisted that they all had to have a hand on the ball and push it down the ramp together.



Bowling by committee!

The London Skyline Vase

I am finally sure that we have a place to hold Blaze's birthday party next month, but it is a charmless room that will need all the decorating help it can get, so today used a glass vase and a glass candle stick, both from the Dollar Tree, to make a vase to be a center piece on one of the tables.




I found some nice silhouettes I liked on-line, printed them, and then cut them out.



I then used Mod Podge to attach them to the vase.



Next, I painted over the entire vase with the Mod Podge and sprinkled it with clear glitter. When the Mod Podge was dry, I hot glued the candle stick to the center of the bottom of the vase.



I plan to use this for flowers, but it would work well for a pillar candle, as well.

Another Lesson About Archeology

The Motel of the Mysteries is my favorite book on the subject of archeology!



It tells the story of a future archeologist, uncovering a modern-day motel and the humorous way he interprets each item he finds.



After reading this, Blaze and I each used magazines and catalogs to find pictures of what future archeologists would find if they dug up our rooms.

Blaze:



Me:

Goody Bags

I have just finished making the "goody bags" for Blaze's birthday party next month.




To make draw-string bags this size, cut out two panels of your chosen fabric, that are 10-inches by 7 1/2-inches. Measure two-inches from the top of the panels (one of the 7 1/2-inch sides) and clearly mark it.

Place the two panels together, right sides facing each other, and sew together, starting at the two-inch line and ending on the other side at the two-inch line, leaving the top unsewn.



Sew down the raw edges from the two-inch mark to the top. so that the opening there is evenly matched with the seam.



Cut two lengths of ribbon, 16-inches long. Fold the top edge of one side of the bag over, so that the edge rests along the 2-inch line. Crease to hold it in place. Place one length of the ribbon inside the fold, right along the crease. Sew the fold in place along the bottom edge, forming a casing for the ribbon.



When both sides are complete, tie the two ribbons together and turn the bag right side out.


For the design on the front of the bags, I used the artwork from the free printable airship mobile from the Girl Genius webcomic site:

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/fun/freestuff.php

I transferred the images onto a Word Document and adjusted the size until four airships fit on each page, then printed out the pages on iron-on transfer paper made for dark fabric.







We still have the mobile we made from these same designs for Blaze's birthday last year.