Nemo Game, Centerpieces, and Mickey Blog Hop!

Hello! we are at the end of my Finding Nemo birthday party week here AND it is finally time for the Me and Mickey's Birthday Hop! Thanks so much Michelle for asking me to hop with  you all and Happy Birthday to Rexann! You should be arriving here from Laura's blog and if you came here directly you can start the hop at Michelle's. Be sure to stop by and wish Rexann a Happy Birthday!

I am going to share with you today the game I created for the kids to play at my daughter's birthday party. Instead of pin the tail on the donkey we played help Nemo find his home! (If you are new to my blog you can check out my other Nemo projects here.)

The details:
The game board is a 12x24 piece of paper and all of the cuts are accessories features on the Best of Pixar cartridge. They were all cut at 11 inches.  To create the "anemone" in the middle I welded two of the cuts together and then did the same with the layer/shadow cuts. By using different shades of pink and doing some light inking I got the anemone effect I wanted. The larger pieces of coral I cut out in different colors and flipped the image for the other side.

For the game pieces I printed out a bunch of Nemos on my printer and hand cut them out (no way was I putting together more Nemos after doing the invitations) and then I laminated them with my YourStory, well actually my daughter laminated them all and it was lovely because it kept her from pestering me and she thought it was soo cool. Because they were laminated, the girls at the party were then also able to write their names on the Nemos so we could see who put what fish on the wall.

This really was a fairly easy to assemble project - I just wish that PC sold 12x24 laminating sheets so I could laminate the board! (It is the same concept I used for my Halloween Haunted House game I just posted that first.)  Here is a picture of my daughter playing the game (and missing).

And then finally I have some super quick centerpieces to wrap up the party that were a big hit (especially with my youngest who is a candy junkie). This is a scraplifted idea that I got from Carrie aka greenbean on the messageboard and again - quick and easy to put together.

The details: 
With some white vinyl and some 77 cent fishbowls from ACMoore (in fact they are currently that price on sale today) I cut some 6's (1.20 inches and 2.5 for the the larger) using the heart font on Rock Princess and a fish from Animal Kingdom (1.50 inches) and I had a pretty fish bowl to fill with gummy and swedish fish. The middle one I stuffed with tissue paper and stuck in the Nemo light up wand we had bought the year before when we went to see the Nemo on Ice show.

Those fish went face and I am sure because they were in pretty bowls and not just because they were candy (yeah right). Here is a picture of the party room all dressed up!

Over to the left you can see the craft project we made, wooden frames from Michael's covered in glitter with seashells from Oriental Trading.  Here is the sample we made to show the girls what it should look like: 

I highly recommend the Martha Stewart craft glue - it held those shells on like nobody's business!

And here are all the works of art drying: 

Whew!! I am tired all over again just typing all this about the party!! It was a huge success and I was so proud that my daughter was able to fill the back of my car with her donations for the SPCA (and happy I didn't have to bring a ton of toys home). She made a new friend when we went to drop it all off, but that friend was most certainly NOT coming home with us.

And that is it! I hope you got some good ideas here - and I can't wait to see what all the other ladies have done. Your next stop on the hop is LaShavia's blog. I also have some blog candy to give away - I will give away a sampling of Divine Twine to anyone who leaves a comment (make sure you leave a way for me to contact you) - you don't have to be a follower but I would love it if you became one! Happy Mickey Hopping and one last Happy Birthday to Rexann!

Happy Blogaversary to me!

I can't believe it has been one year since I launched this blog! I am just blown away by my blessings in this last year - among which are 119 of you deciding to follow me and two of my projects are published in the November issue of Cricut magazine! It wasn't real until I bought the magazine at the store! They accepted two of my heat transfer vinyl baby projects (because I don't like heat transfer vinyl or anything) so if you happen to have a copy check them out!

I have a final Halloween project to share with you - this is the "Pin the Bat on the Haunted House" game I created for my daughter's class to play at their party.

The details: 

I cut out the house from October 31st at 19 inches - and how I did that was use two layers of the 12x24 mat on the Gypsy and cut it out in two pieces and then pieced the parts together on yellow poster board. I used DCWV glitter adhesive backed paper. This picture can give you some idea of the final size. 

 For the bats I used this cut in Paper Doll Dress Up at 2 inches real dial size. I drew them with my Cricut markers, then cut them out, laminated them with my YourStory (which I love love LOVE and think everyone should have one), and then added googly eyes with glue dots. 

This particular cut does not have a shadow or blackout layer so I used my Gypsy and the layers so that the markers lines weren't all cut again with the blade. The first layer was set up the cut as is and then I drew with the markers. 

Then on the next layer I used the same image with all the lines hidden except for the outside one. By keeping the layers visible you can line them up exactly. 

So after "cutting" the first time with the markers I selected return to design instead of unload mat, switched the marker for the blade, chose this layer, changed the pressure (don't forget!) and then cut  - which gave me nicely drawn bats which were only cut out around the shape.

I hope the kids have a good time playing the game - I only wish my YourStory laminated larger sizes than 12x12. And now - what better way to celebrate my blogaversary than to give away some blog candy?? I am going to give away the Teresa Collins Chic & Scary cartridge! Halloween is my favorite holiday and I just adore the images - who can't use more Halloween cuts?? it even has cupcake wrappers!

So all you have to do to enter is  leave a comment  and you must be a follower of this blog (anyone who wants to listen to me ramble deserves some kind of reward). I will leave it open until 12 midnight EST on November 7th. Thank you so much for all of your support this last year and I hope you have a spooktacular Halloween!