Alice In Wonderland Partie Decorations & Games

So I promised I would share what I got up to with the DIY decorations for Isabell's Party so here goes;

TEA CUP - MINUTE TO WIN IT STYLE GAME

Firstly I used an old packing box (moving every 12 months does have some benefits) and roughly drew then cut out a "tea cup".

Then gave it a coat of white paint, added a few outlines and voila:

Using a bit of Blu Tack we stuck this to the front of a bucket, lined the kids up and gave them 5 tennis balls.

Each child took turns at trying to get the tennis balls in the bucket, they had one minute each and they had to bounce the ball off the back wall and into the bucket! 

This was hugely successful, especially with the boys who were very competitive!

BOTTLE BEAUTY

For the centre pieces we wanted something that was a bit on the gawdy side, but nice and bright!  This was achieved by spray painting some empty beer and softdrink bottles, and a few bunches of flowers from the $2 shop!

The finished product can be seen in the photo's from Isabells Party in an earlier post.

BOTTLES OF BUBBLES

To fit in with our tailored mis-matched feel I got some bottles of VERY brightly colour Bubbles from our favourite $2 Shop - aren't they just lovely!!!

Measure the height of the bottle and cut some strips of patterned paper

Use a bit of double sided tape ...

Wrap around the bottles ...

Add a ribbon to hold the bubble wand and you have some pretty cute "Beautiful Bottles of Bubbles"

Now doesn't that just look sooooo much better!

That's enough for today - don't forget to drop in a the Jones Design Company and check out Emily's great Summer Giveaway!

Freebies!

One of my absolute fav "places" (read blogs) to visit is "jones design company".  Emily is such a talented lady who loves to share her sensational ideas and her wonderful family!  This blog just oozes style!  And now she has come up with a "goodie bag" of lovely products from her shop to give away!  So just click and check it out the button too you right and enter to win - goodluck

Mad Hatters Party Success & Kids New Bathroom

Phew what a day!  It has been huge, but soooo much fun! I am totally exhausted - perhaps has something to do with staying up till midnight making a Topsy Turvey Cake!  What was I thinking?  Anyway here are a few pics of our big day!

The Birthday Girl - in her version of Alice in Wonderland "why can't she wear pink Mum?"

Goddies Table - I totally forgot to take a picture once it was fully laiden with all things so not good for you!

The Mad Hatter AKA Kevin

Isabell Playing Pin the Tail on the March Hare - check out the details later this week on the games we played!

Craziness as everyone sits down to lunch at the Red Table!

Decorative Ribbons Hanging in "our" tree.

The Birthday Girl and Her Topsy Turvy Cake - don't you love the fringe in her face - she is growing it out!

The kids loved all the games we played, even those who were "too cool" to play the first few games, were joining in on the fun once they say everyone else having a great time!

Thanks to my DH - Kevin for all his paitence and help and to our wonderful neighbours Rachel and Natalie for their help and moral support!!!

Now quickly I mentioned a while back that I was very inspired my a kids bathroom makeover I had seen here.  Because we are renters - we are VERY limited in what we can do to make this "house" feel like our "home - you all know what the difference is!  Anyways I did this:

 

It was pretty easy - some plain pine frames from Ikea, a test tube of paint, a few printed out words and voila ...

 

So far the kids have kept this room clean and tidy and I have not been nagging about hair and teeth anywhere near as often!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers

Nic

My baby turns 8 today!

We had a very early morning today so that Isabell could open some presents from us before going to OSHC. Last night DH & I put up a few of the decorations we had arranged for the big party tomorrow!

The Banner that I made came from the amazing templates sections at Ruffled Blog.  Even though this is a wedding site - their DIY Projects and Wedding Templates can be transformed and used for any entertaining.  Oh and check out the real weddings - all drool worthy!  Enjoy

Isabell was very impressed with the selection of gifts she received from Mummy, Daddy and her sister Lillian.

Lillian got her some Sea Monkeys, something she has wanted for ages, and DH & I got her a great little Pink Ball Clock Radio with iPod Dock - so cute, a Meccano remote control robot to build and play with - purple of course and her first Bakugan (sp).  Now this one I was not too sure about, but she is always talking about them and showing me in the toy catalogues!  Such a tomboy, but still my littlest girl in so many ways.

I hope she is having a lovely day at school - I know she is very excited about her big party tomorrow! 

Check back later for more details on the Alice In Wonderland Adventure!

Cheers

Nic

Disappointed with "Eclipse" but loved "Predators"

While the kiddly winks were away having their Tropical Holiday with the Grandies - DH & I had a couple of "Date Nights". For those that know us they will know that we live at the other end of the country from all our family, and because we move often (ie every 12 months) we don't know anyone that we can leave the girls with, not that we mind too much - we love spending time with our darlings, but occasionally we would like to have some "us" time. So while they were away we did - what a hoot!

We strolled up "The Parade" in Norwood, did some window shopping (DH indulged me!)had dinner at a great Thai place one night and an awesome Italian Cafe another night. We also caught a couple of movies.

I enjoyed reading the Twilight Saga books and so far I haven't been disappointed with the movie versions - but - seriously Eclipse was a total let down! Now if all you were interested in was the looking at Edward and Jacob half dressed, then this movie would not be a let down, however, other than that - it really did not have a lot going for it.

Having said that, I think that Eclipse was the weakest of the 4 books so I wasn't expecting too much, but still I walked away thinking that I had wasted my money!

On the other hand we saw Predators and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it! I don't really go in for too many of the gorey action flicks,and secretly I have been scared of Predator since the first movie, but this one was OK! The storyline was pretty solid (if not totally fictional) and the acting was above par for your standard action film. I was interested for the entire movie and didn't even have to close my eyes when the Predators were doing their thing! If you get a chance - check it out, you too may be pleasantly surprised.

Cheers
Nic

Countdown to Alice In Wonderland

I just cannot believe how quickly this has come around! Tomorrow Isabell will celebrate her 8th Birthday and on Saturday we will host her "Mad Hatters Tea Party" - please be praying for me as I cope with 12 energetic 7 & 8 year olds. Hopefully everything will run smoothly, a lot of time and planning have gone into this:

Table Decorations - done
Home Decorations - done
Games - done
Prizes - done
Favour bags - half done
Cake - half done
Costumes - half done
Food - half done

It is really just the last minute bits and bobs that need to be done.

We are going to a totally chaotic look with NOTHING matching - hopefully it should not look like too much of a shambles!

I will upload lots of pictures of the great decorations we have made as soon as the chaos is over! Wish me luck!

BATHROOM SIGNS

Further from my last post - I did it!

I will take a photo soon to share! I used a lovely teal blue colour on the frames and then "dry brushed" a little white on them to distress them slightly, the effect is very "beachie" and I love it. I added a little palm and updated the towels and it made such a difference - and the amazing thing is that the girls have kept this room neat and tidy for nearly a full week now! They both commented on how much they like their "new" bathroom!

I am inspired

While doing my daily trawl of blogs that inspire me I found this awesome bathroom make over at Bee In Our Bonnet Blog. It looks sensational!
Because we are renting here in Adelaide, not all the ideas here can be applied to our girls bathroom, which also serves as a guest bathroom whenever we have visitors dropping in. But I am inspired so ... I quickly printed up some words using this font here. I have printed these off in a nice-ish rich brown, and am off to get some plain pine frames from Ikea to paint then pop the words in. Can't wait to hit the bathroom with these new goodies soon! Will share as soon as I can!

Getting Back Into Blogging

So this is going to be a long process, there are so many things that I can't remember and I a trying to get my blog to look the way I want it too!

Never mind, I will get there one of these days!

I really want to share all the cool stuff I have been making for Isabell's big 8th Un-Birthday. I have taken photo's of most things and will start to post them as soon as I can download, then upload blah blah blah!

Ciao for now!