A Minecraft birthday

So, the birthday came and went, I think it was a big success. We had a bunch of kids, and I even got some adults to wear the masks I painted. It was a lot of fun.

I made a giant creeper out of cardboard boxes that I painted green and just stacked on top of each other. The kids were able to defeat him which gave them an outlet to use their swords and pick axes without hitting each other!  

The weapons I used a foam core poster board for the core and to lend a little bit of strength and rigidity. Then covered them with 2mm foam sheets and scored them for the pixelated look. 

Then I bought a bunch of card board boxes and using a ruler and pencil drew out the squares needed for the pixelated masks. 

Then it was just a matter of painting the different masks with the multitude of colors needed to give it a realistic minecraft look (well, as realistic as I could make it)

I made a deadlox, cow, witch, 2 creepers, 2 skeletons, a Steve, a Herobrine, 2 endermens, a pig, a villager and even a zombie pig man. 

Then I brought them all outside for the kids to pick their characters and weapons. 

Oh no!  There's a creeper next to the house!  

I even had an invasion of skeletons and creepers in the house!  Yikes!

Birthday theme

This year I am determined to have a real birthday party (not family only and thrown together a couple days before)

Because I am so busy I decided to start early. He is obsessed with Minecraft, so I decided to make all things Minecraft. The invitations are done, now I am making the swords, pick axes, and axes.

These I am making out of poster board (with foam core) and covering with the 2mm foam sheets. So far I have the large diamond sword completed. Wish me luck!

Family Rules

I have seen pictures on line for a while now of house or family rules. I loved this idea, some are prints, some are painted on the wall of a room. I decided I wanted something like this in my home, but I wanted it to look a little different than what I had seen.

I decided to take advantage of my mothers Cricuit. I took some of the rules I had seen, and added a few of my own that were important to me. This is what I came up with:

Have fun
Be honest
Be real
Forgive easily
Listen carefully
Work hard
Be kind
Forgive & forget
Say please and thank you
Play fair
Laugh often
Speak kindly
Be respectful
Say I'm sorry
Share with others
Give hugs
Always do your best
Love one another

Christmas treats

What have I done this year for Christmas you ask? Well, I've already shown you the ornaments I made this year, the quilled snowflakes. Well, that isn't all I've been busy making...

I've made some exploding boxes- a great way to show case pictures you want to share with others.

I've also been baking cookies, (sugar and all natural dog treats) making chocolate covered pretzels (Wills favorite!),chocolate candy cane hearts, and Will and I put together a gingerbread house. I will say that this was the most challenging by far. It kept falling apart and when all was said and done it looked nothing like the houses on the box which was slightly disappointing although it is great to see Will planning out how he will decorate each part. So very worth it!

Also- the last picture is of the ornament Will made for his teachers and family. It's a melted snowman. He was so excited to make it as it was so simple to make.

What do you enjoy making at Christmas time?

Christmas ornaments

Every year I give my family hand made ornaments for their trees. Last year I cut out paper snowflakes (like when I was little only good ones ;~}) and laminated them.

The year before I crocheted snow mice, snowmen, Santas, penguins and Christmas trees.

This year while pondering what I would be inspired to create my professional life fell apart. I ended up being pulled from my houses and put into other houses. I ended up working with one of the most creative/crafty people I know. She introduced me to the art of quilling.

So, I am making snowflakes by quilling. I think they are very unique, delicate and beautiful. What do you think?

Artistic

I have been having a lot of fun creating lately. I have been making Christmas presents for my family and ornaments. I will post pictures of all of this soon, but for now I wanted to tell you about an app I have been using on my iPad. It is Paper 53. I have been having such a great time drawing/painting on this app. If you own an iPad and like to create I highly recommend it! Even my son got in on the action.

Lego inspired advent calendar

I wanted to make an advent calendar this year. I think it was because I haven't been very creative lately and I want to get back to my creative side.

I searched the Internet for fun calendars and came across Paper Plate and Plane blog. She came up with a template for Lego inspired boxes. I made them in red, green and yellow. It was a little time consuming and tedious, but I like how it turned out. Not all the pieces interlock as I would like, but I think that was my placement of the dots.

I'm also not sure this is an advent calendar that will be sustainable for years to come but that's ok. I just wanted something a little different for a change.

Here is the template I used with the blogs address in case you want to go over and check out her tutorial (I can't add a link from my phone :( sorry). The next picture is of the numbered boxes seperated. The last picture is of the boxes put together.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to present the the blocks. I decided that I would let my son find the numbered blocks and build the tree as he goes along.....

Do you use an advent calendar? What kind do you use?