DIY CHALKBOARD PHOTO PROPS

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A DIY! At last! These chalkboard speech bubble photo props were so simple to make and were a hit at the surprise party last week. People loved coming up with what they wanted to write as a message for my mom or just for fun. 

You'll need:
Poster board
Chalkboard vinyl
Dowel rods
Paint
Glue
Scissors

With some poster board, cut out the shape you would like. I did speech bubbles, but I've done other shapes (hearts, shamrocks, pumpkins, hexagons) before! 
 Take some chalkboard vinyl and cut it to the size of your shape.
 Peel the backing off the vinyl and stick it on the poster board, then trim off the excess.
 If you would like, you can paint your dowel rod to make it a bit more colorful.
Attach the rod to the back and add an extra piece of poster board to support the back. And you're done!
Enjoy! 

SURPRISE!

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A few pictures from my mom's surprise birthday party. It was so much fun to plan and execute along with my sister. There was a lot of fringe and color which did not go with my parent's house at all! It's a very western, log cabin type home, but we were determined to brighten it up a bit for the party. I also bought some 36 inch balloons to use in the decorations, but they ended up being more like 60 inch balloons! So we let them roam around the house instead of hanging them up. The kiddos loved them! My favorite part was probably the photo backdrop. More details on that and a few other party projects coming soon! Happy birthday, Mom! Hope you were pleasantly surprised :)

LET'S PARTY: PACKING PARTY

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A packing party can be a great way to have a last hurrah with close friends and family and get the tedious job of packing done at the same time! Make invitations (something that looks like a box?), have some good food and a whole lot of boxes and bubble wrap. You could have games to see who can blow through their "to do" lists the fastest or have a dance competition to see who has the best moves while still packing. Fun, right?


Moving Tip: To help when moving in to the new place, use color coded tapes to let you know what room or even what might be in the box. It ends up going a lot faster than writing it down and having to read it later. (Thanks, Mom!)

MINI PIÑATAS + HAPPY WEEKEND

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I made these mini piñatas for a little cinco de mayo party we had this morning for some local kiddos. I won't give step by step instructions, but if you are interested you can see pretty much the same thing here. I made some minor changes through trial and error, but it's close enough. I used water balloons to get them as mini as I could.After I covered them with paper mache, I rigged up a way to hang them up so they could dry fully. I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself for that :) I filled them with some small toys and candy and the kids seemed to really like them. They took far too long to make, but it was fun and a great excuse to get caught up on some shows.

Do you have any fun plans for cinco de mayo? We'll have some yummy mexican food, and hopefully a few siestas! Have a fantastic weekend, friends!