MARIO KART PARTY

Welcome!  What could be better than a kid birthday party, right?  Kids are so excited about a party - wide-eyed and smiling from ear to ear - melts me into a large Mommy puddle.  

The Bug (my son) decided he would like a Mario Kart Party this time around.  I was completely excited about it.  Mario games are so bright and colorful! I made the cake out of an 11X15 pan and then built it up to look like a track.  

I had tried fondant last year with the Toy Story Cake, and it turned out great, but it was a waste pulling off all the fondant before we ate it.  Most of our family expects lots and lots of buttercream!  

This cake did not disappoint. I just love the chocolate rocks from Duff!! (I got them at Walmart) 

I made plenty of tissue paper balls to hang up in our basement and added a few Mario elements!  Stars were just made of paper and I drew on the eyes.  

I made the mushrooms from a paper lantern that I added white paper dots and bottom to make it look like the mushrooms in the game.

My favorite element though was the chompers!  I took a black balloon and just added paper eyes and a mouth.  I glued it to the balloon with glue dots.  They were super fun!

One other item I made with paper was Bananas!! I rolled up a piece of yellow cardstock into a tube, twisted one end to make it look like the stem and then cut the other end into 3 pieces (cutting each end to a point).  they are too stinkin' cute!

FOOD!  If you have read about any of my parties before now, you know I love a "build-your-own" food bar of some type.  They make me happy!!  For this party, we had build your own grilled cheese sandwich.  YUM! 

To make the building go a bit easier for all, we came up with 4 main sandwich ideas and named them to go with the Mario Kart theme.  I bought dollar store frames and printed them out.  

They turned out great and prep for the food was minimal - just the way I like it!! 

We also made sure everyone was dressed the part with a 'stache!  Hilarious!

The most fun that we had at the party though was our Mario Kart Tournament!  I reused the giant chalkboard I made for my Mom's County Fair party and drew up a bracket.

Everyone in our family are such sports when it comes to our kids, they had a great time playing.  I mean, what could be more fun than watching my Grandpa playing a video game.... the good news is The Bug won his own tourney.  If you are thinking that everyone let him win.... nope, Pappy (my Dad) was completely into it, and he doesn't like to lose.  LOL.  It really was a fun day!

Please feel free to "pin" any images!  It will probably make me dance with glee. ;)  Thanks so much for stopping to visit... come on back anytime!

VALENTINE'S DAY WREATH

Happy Day All!

I wanted to share a quick project for a Valentine's Day.  I made this pretty wreath last spring with a few things I had around the craft room.  

I just love the look of these satin roses.  They are romantic and so pretty!  A perfect combination for Valentine's Day.  So, here's what I did.  I cut out pieces of pink satin into flower shapes just like I did for The Boo's Bulletin Board.  

I singed the edges to make them curl up and then layered them until they were looking pretty.  (Watch out for burned fingers!!)  I used needle and thread to hold all the layers and also add beads for the center of each flower.  

I cut out green ribbon for leaves and singed the edges of those too.  It helps them to curl up just a bit.  

The cool thing about these types of flowers is that they are not symmetrical and you can add as many layers to make it look just the way you want. 

I added a burlap pennant with paper cut-out letters (thank goodness for my Cricut!) and threaded some ribbon through to connect it all together.  

It turned out great and I didn't spend any additional money!  I had everything in random stashes from leftover projects.  WOO HOO!  

Happy Valentine's Day!  I'd love to hear about your wreaths - please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by! 

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Love of Family and Home

VALENTINE'S DAY - BROWNIE POP BOUQUETS

Happy New Year All! 

I am so ready to get a new year going with new ideas and more changes to the house!  I have many plans and always run short on time, but we'll see what we can get done to share with you!

Today, I wanted to share some yummy goodness in gift form with you for Valentine's Day.  I do love me some heart day!  I made these gifts a couple of years ago, and thought I would pass it on!  Brownie Pop Bouquets!! Hmm.. a bouquet of chocolate for our Valentine's? Could it get any better?  

I was searching blogland hoping to find the perfect teacher gift for my kids' fabulous daycare ladies (and gents!) and I came across this idea from Shannon at The Shopping Mama.  I decided to give it a try!

I bought the brownie pop pans for Wilton (believe me, they get a lot of use - they are a great bake sale item for kids!) and just used a brownie mix!  

The only thing I have found that works better for me is to bake the cookie sticks into the brownies.  They don't look as perfect at the bottom - kind of uneven - but they stay on the stick better.

I dipped them in dark chocolate and then V-Day Sprinkles.  I decorated vases from the dollar store with ribbon, hearts and added red heart gems I purchased in the dollar section at Target, along with Valentine's Day paper to use for my flowers for only a buck a Target! Score!!

 I added a mini cupcake wrapper to each pop and my trusty Cricut cut out the flowers that were placed behind the wrappers.  The scrumptious hubby kindly helped me tie each stick with ribbon... awww... such a gem he is.  

Here's where I ran into a bit of a snag.  I baked two brownie mixes worth of pops.  I was picturing HUGE bouquets for each teacher.  Yeah, only about 6 fit into a vase nicely.  

So, I plopped the rest into a tall basket I had (without the flowers and such) and took it along for everyone at the daycare.  They all deserved a little love, right?  

I know many teachers don't necessarily like sweets, but I'm a sucker for a brownie and it turns out, so are they.  They were a huge hit.  

We did wrap each vase in clear plastic bags so that they were not dried out.  The bouquets turned out very cute and I was thrilled to be handing out "brownie bouquets" for Valentine's Day.  

I hope you have a wonderful LOVE day.  You could even make these brownie flowers and hand them out at your office - what a nice way to tell someone they are special!!  

Have a great day and thanks for visiting!!






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