Homemade Christmas

Every year I like to make my nieces and nephews one homemade gift. Now that Christmas is over I can share what I did this year. Luckily this year I was able to make some homemade gifts for a few others as well. 

These were some homemade coasters for  some family friends.

The kids made personalized coffee mugs for Bama, Papa and Mima. 

My sis-in-law got this birds nest necklace. I think I want to make one for myself as well. I loved the way it turned out. Thank you Pinterest!

One of my nephew's got homemade play-doh. 

I made my niece some cute pom pom pens and a special notebook.

My nephew got a special Ninjago pillowcase. 

And my little neice got a shape stretcher game. 

I hope everyone loved their gifts. I sure loved making them.

Ninjago Costume

This year when the boys told me they wanted to be Lego Ninjago Ninjas I knew I was going to end up making them myself. Due to the fact that I didn't have alot of time and wanted going to spend alot of time and not wanting to spend a ton of money. The boys wanted to be Kai and Coal. Unfortunately Coal didn't work out when I tried dying his white karate gee black and it turned out purple. Oops. So next best thing was Jay.

These were so easy peasy to make and guess what? Total cost was $5. I already had the karate gee's and black material. All I needed was the gold martial, brown leather fabric and dye. So with sales and coupons all of it was under $5. 

I braided the leatherish fabric to make it look like rope and then hot glued to the gee's 

Wa-La! Introducing Kai & Jay. 

Ninjago Birthday Party

It was no surprise when Big Guy told me he wanted a Lego Ninjago Birthday Party. He is obsessed with it. First off I needed to come up with an invitation. I found one I liked online and then tweaked it to what I wanted. Here was the end result. Actually when I picked these up from Walmart they told me I was going to need a copyright release form. Guess they did turn out good. Ha!

 Now for the banner. I wasn't sure what I was going to do and then this idea popped in my head. Big Guy really loved the way this turned out. 

Decorations! Decorations!

I kept all those Chinese lanterns from Bear's Chinese party and thought maybe I could possibly use them again but the only problem is that they were pink and white. So I thought maybe, spray paint? Yep! It worked perfectly! After spray paint I printed out the Ninjago eyes. I had one giant lantern which I spray painted yellow and made some eyebrows and a beard to make it look like Sensei Wu.

I also found some cheap gold place mats and cut out gold ninja stars. The ninjas all over the cupboards are just dollar store paper plates covered in felt. Cheap easy decorations, I'd say!

Now for the table scape. 

This was my favorite part of the food.

And for the cake. He wanted Jay and Jay is what he got. At least the best that I could do.  

The front room I decorated only a little for where the presents would go. 

This Jay was made out of poster board, felt and puff paint.  

This table was the "What's your Ninja Name" table.  

The kids had to take the letters in their names and figure out their Ninja name. 

When the guest arrived they were welcomed by Sensei Wu and No-ku-fu-chi-mo-to. Luckily Big Guy's birthday is right by Halloween so I was able to find a Sensei hat at the Halloween store. With a homemade beard, some thrift store pants and a white shirt, Sensei Wu came alive!

After the guest were greeted the they got their personalized ninja bands that I had made each friend with scrap fabric and a sharpie. 

We let the kids play and run a muck until everyone got to the party. Then the fun began!

I printed out this Sensei Wu picture on the computer and then made a bunch of beards so that we could play "Pin the Beard on Sensei Wu."

When everyone got their beards I took a picture because I couldn't pass up on a chance to take this photo. Too funny. 

 A training session with Sensei Wu. I had made some nun chucks for the kids out of foam tubing stuff I found at Home Depot, some duct tape and yarn  Again super cheap. 

The training session begins.

When it was time for the guest to leave they each got a Ninjago Bonezai favor.

I made these from marshmallows, pretzels and chocolate covered rice krispie treats. 

Carnvival Cakes

Recently I had the chance to make some cakes for a friend of mine. Her kids were having a carnival themed birthday. She gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted. Those are the best cakes to make. These are what I came up with.

Ferris Wheel.

Merry-Go-Round. 

And the popcorn cupcakes.  

These were some of my favorite cakes I've made. 

More Lunch Bags

So remember these slipcovers I made for Bear's party? Well her friend was having a birthday and since I had all this left over fabric I decided to make her a lunch bag like Bear's.

I found this striped fabric in my fabric stash and it contrasted great.

Wa-La!

Bear actually had two parties to go to that same day and the girls happen to be neighbors so I decided to just make another one.

Lunch Bags

First day of school is quickly approaching and we have been taking car of all the odds and ends of school prep. This was the backpack that  Bear picked out this year. For the life of us we could not find a lunch bag to go with it. She wanted something that matched. After searching all over we still could not find one. So I decided to make one. 

It turned out so cute! And she loves it! 

Matches? Yep, I think so. Now we are good to go. 

Chinese Birthday Party

This year for Bear's birthday she wanted to have a Chinese Party. She loves Chinese food and so we came up with the idea of a Chinese Luncheon.

Here was the invitation. 

 

 I wasn't sure what to do about the banner but then I thought about maybe some Chinese lanterns.

Here are a few more decorations  

I forgot to mention it was kind of a "Christian" Chinese Luncheon. Instead of words like tranquility, prosperity and so forth I decided to do the fruits of the spirit. These were hung up everywhere.

The lanterns I actually bought online. The pom poms I made with fabric and dollar store balls.

The table scape. 

All I did was decorate the table with the favors that the girls were going home with.

The Cake.

Bear wore a qaipo dress on that we got in Chinatown. Actually we got a few things from Chinatown. It was super cheap.  

Now for the outside 

This was the most exciting part. Let me break it down. Looks expensive but was really cheap to put this together. The tent is just a tent that we borrowed and hung a bunch of fabric that was also borrowed. 

The pillows were all pillows I had around the house but I sewed slipcovers for them from a sheet I got at the thrift store for $1.50. I did buy Bear's pillow fabric and then made some roses to go around it. 

Luckily Joann's was having a big sale on their spring flowers for 75% off so those were all super duper cheap. Again I hung the fruits of the spirits up on the branches.  

 The place settings were just paper plates and paper napkins from the party store. The chopsticks and tea cups were from Chinatown. I think all of them totalled $5. The "bamboo" place mats were just one of those beach mats I got from the thrift store for $1. It made just the right amount to. I lined the back of it with some fabric I had and then cut them to the size I wanted. 

Each girl got a special place setting with their name in Chinese.

On the menu which  my friend's mom made was Fried Rice & Chow Mien. We also had Egg Rolls, Pot Stickers & Orange Chicken from Costco.

After the girls ate we did an origami craft. I found a pretty flower that the girls got to make.   

The finished flower. 

When the guest were leaving they each got a simple favor.  

Inside was some fortune cookies that I had put bible verses on. Then i dipped them in pink chocolate to make them look extra special.