Philippians 4:4 The Message Bible

"Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them." ~ Philippians 4:4 (Message Bible)

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Wrapping Wednesday:Making Butcher Paper Beautiful!

Good Morning! And happy Wrapping Wednesday!

Today, I'm sharing with you some great ideas on how to turn plain, old butcher paper into a beautiful gift wrap! Now, I'm a sucker for bright, shiny wrapping paper, but sometimes I just don't have the money to go buy new wrapping paper for every party. Here are some ideas to help spruce up some basic butcher paper, simply by using things you already have!

This is an example of what you can do with extra fabric and stickers! Super cute! And pretty easy to accomplish!


In this example, the crafter used old birthday/Christmas cards to spruce up the basic butcher paper! So clever! The last box on the left hand side, is ingenious! Newspaper, lace trim, button and saftey pin! Done!! So cute!

This is probably the cheapest fix for plain butcher paper! Paper Doilies! We all get them around the valentine season, but why not use them all year round? This is what I call Country Chic!!

I LOVE polka dots! So for me this idea is great! Take butcher paper, a ink stamp pad and a pencil, and start stamping away!

Now this is awesome!! Decorating with Hard ware store items!! Great for Father's Day or even Christmas gifts for the men in the family! Nuts & bolts, to tape measures & metal discs, this just goes to prove that you can use anything to decorate a gift!


I hope that you can take these tips and use them for your wrapping needs!!

Happy Wrapping Wednesday Everyone!
Many Blessings!
  

Monday, July 23, 2012

Monday Game: Feet & Even More Feet!

Happy Monday to you!!!
Today is Game Monday! Yay! The game of the day is...."Feet & Even More Feet"! This game was inspired by the wonderful Dr. Seuss!
Growing up, I LOVED Dr. Seuss books! And now as a mother of three, I love them even more! My kiddos never get tired of hearing mommy and daddy read them Dr. Seuss books before bed! Because of this, we decided to make my oldest son's first birthday a "Dr. Seuss" party! Great theme for a first birthday! Well, the favorite game of the night, amongst the kids and adults, was "Feet & Even More Feet"! For this game I used my lost socks bag or what I call LSB! Lol You probably have one too! You loose a sock "in the dryer" (because every dryer gets hungry! LOL). So your stuck with one of the pair! Well, I found that every time I got rid of the one, the mate would show up! So I created the Lost Sock bag. If I end up with an odd amount of socks from the dryer, I just throw it into the bag, where it waits until I find its mate!  Here is how to play!

Feet & Even More Feet Game

Supplies:
Random, size & color socks. ( if you don't have a LSB then get socks from the dollar store. You'll need 20 socks for 8 people)

Instructions:
1. Dump all the socks into one big pile. (Make sure you have enough space for the amount of people playing to sit around in a circle)
2. Have players take off their socks and shoes.
3. Instruct the kiddos or adults to sit in a circle around the pile of socks.
4. Tell the players they will have 2 minutes (you can add more time for toddlers) to fit as many socks on their feet as they can!
5. At the end of the time, whoever has the most socks on their feet wins!!

(This game can get difficult. The more socks they put on the bigger their feet get!)

The kids loved this game! And I even had the adults try a round! This is very easy and fairly inexpensive! I hope you enjoy this great party game!!!

Many Blessings!

Friday, July 20, 2012

PartyThemeFriday:The Wizard of Oz!



The theme that I have found for today's party theme is THE WIZARD OF OZ! I saw this and fell in LOVE!! The Wizard of Oz was and still is one of my favorite movies! Growing up, we watched classic movies ALL the time! And I would always go for the musicals! Music is one of my first loves! So watching the Wizard of Oz was thrilling! I was entranced by the colors and dancing of Munchkin land; In awe of the "Horse From a Different Color"! And most of all, I wanted Dorthy's Ruby Shoes! So, when I stumbled across this party theme, I had to share it with all of you!

There are so many different things that you can do with this theme! The possibilities are ENDLESS!

Lets start with, what every party starts with....the invitation! Here are a couple of invites that I love!



Now, these stick with the red, blue & white theme. There are a ton out there that have more colors and are themed to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"! Which is still, really cute! I just liked this more! I think that this theme can be for a little girl or even a Girlfriend Party! I found these invitations on Esty. I think that an invite made with a Cricut could be great as well!There are several cartridges that have the high heal shoes that you can cut out in a sparkly red paper! Click here for the cartridges with shoe templates!

Now that we have the invites done, we move on to the Decor!!

Decorations:

There is so much you can do with this theme! Here are some ideas that I found that would be great!

On the drive way up to your house make the "yellow brick road" with yellow construction paper leading to your door way! Make a sign that says! Follow the Yellow Brick Road to_______'s Party! And stake it next to your yellow brick road!

 Here is the "Lolly Pop Guild Candy Shop"! Very cute idea for a candy bar!

 And if you don't want to do a candy bar, you can do a dessert table with the theme of Munchin Land! Take inspiration from the movie make it as "Munchin" like as possible!

Now, these food table ideas are to die for! Check them out!



To find all of these great printables got to Etsy under Wizard of Oz Party! Click Here!
So cute right? There is so much you can do with food for this party! You can make "Ruby Red Pop", red cake pops or even "Yellow Brick Road Treats" as Rice Crispy Treats dipped in yellow chocolate ( white chocolate melted, then add a couple drops of yellow food coloring)! How about "Toto's Treats"? (use any cookie dough and cut out cookies in dog bone shapes) You could even do a cake thats "A Horse of a Different Color" or "Somewhere over the rainbow), that has all the colors of the rainbow layered in it! What about some popcorn? You could call it the "POPpy Field" Seriously, the possibilities are endless!!
Now for my favorite part of any party......the GAMES!!! Seriously, we all know that the two most important things at any party are the food ( pppshhh...we got that COVERED) and the games! If your party isn't fun, its not a party! Right? So here are some games/activities to do at your Wizard of Oz Party!

Tin Man Craft!


Supplies:
4" or 5" Styrofoam
1 Can of Silver Metalic Spray Paint (you may need more, depending on how many children)
Soup Cans (one per child)
Silver Sparkly Paper (you can get this at any Michael's or Joann's)
2 Black Sharpie Markers
Elmers Glue
 Heart Stickers

Prep:
1. Spray paint styrofoam balls with Metalic Spraypaint.
2. Remove labels from Soup cans & wash.
3. Take the sparkly paper and cut out Triangles (for the Tin Man's Hat) 
4. Make a small slit at the top of the styrofoam ball (wait until dry. You can you a steak Knife, it doesn't need to be be deep.

Instuctions:
1. Give each child a soup can and styrofoam ball.
2. Help the kids to put glue around the top rim of their soup can. And squish the sytrofoam ball on top of the can.
3. Now help the kids put a little bit of glue in the slit created on the top of the ball.
4. Have the kids put their Triangle into the slit.
5.Now have children carefully draw a face on their tin man with a permanent marker.
6. Once that is done have the kids give their tin man a heart!
7. And your done!


"Tin Man" Feet!

 
Supplies:
Soup Cans (2 per child)
String or Yarn
Stickers or paint

Prep:
1. Remove Labels from Soup cans
2. On either side of the can puncture with holes. (Use the triangle part of your can opener. The tool you use to pour liquids out of cans.)
3.Cut string into 3 foot lengths. (Make sure you have enough strings for each child to have two.)

Instructions:
1. Give each kiddo 2 cans & 2 strings
2.Have the kids run their stings through the hole on one side of the can to the other. (Repeat on other can.)
3. Now, help the kids tie together the the strings on each "Tin Man" foot.
4. Have the kiddos decorate their tin feet! And your done!


Scarecrow Search

You can do this a couple different ways, depending on the age group of your kids! One idea is to take a large woven basket (something from Goodwill, super cheap) and fill it with strips of yellow paper (aka: straw). Somewhere inside the "straw" place a picture of a brain. (Make sure its not creepy and gross, just a clip art of a brain will work.) And instruct the kids that they have to look for the Scarecrows brain!! The first one to find it wins a prize

Another option is to hide different words or  around the house and have the kiddos search for them. When everyone has found something, explain that these words are really hard words and that they were using their brain to figure them out! Just like the Scarecrow! Then give the kids a Diploma for using their brains and having KNOWLEDGE!



 Badge of Courage

This game is all about showing courage and doing something that might be a little scary. For this game you will need a jump rope and two adult helpers to be in control of the jump rope. Have your helpers stand parallel to each other and swing the jump rope left to right, left to right. (For older kids you could do a complete circle with the jump rope and have kids jump in.) Line the kids up and tell them that they need to run or jump to the other side of the jump rope. Show them how its done. Make sure you tell them that its tricky, and that they have to watch the jump rope for the right timing. (You could even tell them when to go.) Once all the kids have gotten across the jump rope praise them for completing the task and for showing courage. Give each child their Badge of Courage!






I'm so in love with this theme! I really hope that you find all of this helpful!! And if you throw a Wizard of Oz party I would love to see pics!!!


Many Blessings!







Thursday, July 19, 2012

Revising "The Plan"



Some of you may notice that there have been a few changes to Celebration Laine. I, in jumping in to quickly, got WAY ahead of myself! I'm sure we all have been there! You get excited and pumped at this BIG picture, and you soon realize your in way over your head. Well, that was me!! lol Trying to juggle the kiddos and starting a business was not working very well. Then my wonderful hubby brought it to my attention that I needed to step back and reevaluate the business. When I did I realized that I started way to big! I needed to keep it simple and easy, for my sanity and the well being of my family! So starting now is the NEW Celebration Laine. We no longer have packages, but individual items that you can pick and choose from! It takes a HUGE stress of me, trying to sell packages, and it frees my client to customize what they need!

Also, I realized that I was not utilizing the amazing blogging opportunity's!  I mean who doesn't love a blog, right?? Well, now I will post Game Mondays, where I'll be posting fun games that you can use in your parties for kids or even for adults! Tip Tuesdays, I will be sharing party tips with you! Wednesday Wishes, will be links to some amazing sites that help make my wishes come true! Kid Thursdays, I'll be sharing anything and everything about kids! And Friday's will be Party Friday's, where I share with you some of the best parties ever!

I am very excited about this new change for Celebration Laine! And I hope you are too!!

Blessings!