How to Make Your Own Twister Game

Delineate Your Dwelling has an easy way to make your own Twister game. It would be so fun to make one to go along with your specific party theme or colors!


See How to Make Your Own Twister Game.

Ninjago Birthday Party

My son recently turned 6, so we decided to let him have his first friend birthday party. In the past, we've just celebrated with some family and maybe a close friend or two, so this was new territory for me. I let him choose the theme for his party, and he went with Ninjago (the Lego Ninja guys).

 

 

 

Not only was this new territory, but the weather did NOT cooperate. We originally planned an outdoor Ninjago party with some water elements. The forecast was in the 80s, so no big deal. However, the forecast kept slowly dropping over the next week and a half and finally landed in the mid-60s. Not ideal for an outdoor water party, but still do-able outside. Except then there were thunderstorms, which meant outside was no longer an option. So the night before the party, I was scrambling to try to plan an all-indoor party. Our tiny townhouse was definitely not built for nine 5- and 6-year-olds! But we made it work and everyone seemed to have fun.
 
The first thing we did when everyone arrived was give everyone their ninja headband. I just used long strips of felt and wrote their names on them.

Forgive the blobs over the faces. Just trying to let the kids (and families) maintain some privacy.
 
Here's an upclose of our Sensei though.

 

 

The games we played were pretty makeshift, since we were in a confined space and I was limited on time for actually coming up with them. We started off with a couple versions of "target practice".

 

This particular version was like bowling. I covered some empty Pringles cans in red and black paper, blew up a few balloons for the top, and let them have fun rolling a ball to knock them over.

 

 

I didn't get a picture of it, but they also had to throw a ball into a bucket that I was holding (thus the reason for no picture). We made it more difficult each round by moving the bucket.

 

After target practice, my husband (our Sensei for the day) alerted everyone that the skeletons were attacking. The kids each picked a balloon sword (directions here) and fought the skeletons.

 

The skeletons were just while balloons with faces drawn on them. Some of the skeleton faces look upside down, because I drew most of them upside down the first time around. That's what happens when I'm in a hurry - I end up wasting time by having to redo something! The skeletons were a big hit, and occasionally throughout the party, Sensei would announce another attack and the kids would run to get their swords and defend themselves.

 

We also had the kids practice their spinjitzu. They had to put their foreheads on the baseball bats, circle around them, then race to the kitchen.

 

After the games, we let the birthday boy open his presents. My hubby tried to get him to play (and understand) the bump on your head and make a wish for your friend thing. The birthday boy had no idea what it meant to make a wish for someone else, so this quickly ended.

 

Finally, we let the kiddos dig into the snacks they'd been eyeing for the last hour or so.

 

 

The birthday boy doesn't really like cake, so while we had cupcakes, the star of his show were these "ninja cookies". Really, they're just my chocolate chip cookies with red, white, and black M&M's instead of chocolate chips.

 

 

Like I said, I did make cupcakes, but they aren't as pretty as I intended. I ran out of time, so they're pretty sad. Luckily, the 6-year-olds didn't care. They were just glad they were yummy!

 

 

I made the cupcake toppers using PicMonkey and the print & cut feature of my Silhouette.

 

The kids also enjoyed the skeleton bones (covered pretzels) and the pit of snakes (gummy worms).

 

 

We also had some grapes and carrots to balance out the sugar overload.

 

I kept the decorations pretty simple by using mostly balloons and streamers. The round paper things (pieces of trash, btw) I found at Zurchers and thought they would be fun. They were a pain to work with. The tips of the fan were glued together (like a notepad, but worse), there was a big old cardboard thing glued into the middle, they didn't want to fan out nicely, and that caused them to rip at the ends (most of which were on the backside, luckily). The banner (no idea what it says) is from our neighbor who had some Chinese decorations leftover from a few years ago.

 

 

I purchased the Ninjago eyes from a seller on Etsy (you can find them here), printed out a ton, and then used them on everything. The set that I bought came with 5 different sizes. There were more ninja eye balloons around the house and outside, plus I put eyes on the cups and the favor boxes.

 

 

(See the cups and boxes in the corner?) I was also going to put eyes on the hats, but there just wasn't enough time.

 

After they devoured the food, we had about 20 minutes left and I didn't have anything else planned, so Sensei suggested that we let them watch some Ninjago. Not the best party activity, but it worked for us.

 

At the end of the party, the kids were able to take home their headbands, a balloons sword, and a favor box.

 

 

The favor boxes contained a tootsie pop ninja, a glow stick necklace, some lego brick candy, and some Ninjago stickers.

 

 

It was chaotic and messy and disorganized, but everyone had fun. I'm still getting compliments from parents who are saying that their kids are still talking about the party more than 2 weeks later.

 

If you're interested in knowing how I did anything, please feel free to ask. However, most of my inspiration and such came from other bloggers. You can find the other blogs here:

 

Click Photo Designs Blog

Craft Interrupted

Chicken Babies

Infarrantly Creative

Catch My Party 

 

If you're interested, you can check out my personal Pinterest board full of Ninjago party ideas. I'm not so great at keeping up two Pinterest accounts (which is why the Someday Crafts account gets neglected sometimes). But you're welcome to take all the ideas from my own board.

Birthday Party Categorically Crafting Party

Welcome to the

  BIRTHDAY PARTY Categorically Crafting Show  

where you can show off all of your fun ideas for

Birthday Parties!

Please join your crafty post if, and only if, it corresponds with the category and theme of birthday parties. We would love to see any craft projects, clothing, décor, activities, gift ideas, or food ideas that correlate with birthday parties! (If it doesn't fit in this specific category though, you are welcome to link it up to Whatever Goes Wednesday.) If you have joined a project that fits this theme to a party on my blog before, feel free to add it to this show too! If you have a lot of projects to show off, please choose your favorites. Remember to link to the specific posts, not to your main blog page. This makes it easier for readers to find your awesome ideas.

Let's see what you have created (either recently or in the past)!

This linky will be open until September 15, 2014, so keep checking back for more inspiration!

You can paste the "Categorically Crafting" button onto your blog post. I would love to see these floating around so more people can post their themed projects. Keep checking back for more ideas!!!

No-Sew Burlap Birthday Banner

I'm back (finally) with the birthday banner that I made to go with the birthday wreath from last week. It's hard to find time to craft with a little one in the house. If you'll remember, BurlapFabric.com sent me some products to use and review, plus they're offering a $40 credit to one lucky reader!

The supplies from BurlapFabric.com really made this a quick, easy project. The banner pieces come pre-cut and strung together in sets of 5. But they're super easy to string together if you need them longer (like I did with the word "birthday"). It's also easy to move them along the string. They're a smaller woven burlap fabric and have a vinly coated backing to help them stay stiff and not fray. They have not only this swallow tail shaped banner, plus the typical triangle pennant banner. Also, don't be fooled by the picture - these are actually pretty large pieces, about 8"x10".

 

 

So to make this banner, here's what you'll need:

 

 

- Banner Pieces from BurlapFabric.com

- Glue Gun

- Ruler

- Sharpie

- Burlap Ribbon from BurlapFabric.com (I used Jungle Green, Chartreuse, Orange, and Red)

- Letter printed to size (mine ended up being about 4.5" tall)

- Scissors

 

To start, I measured the space that the letters were going to go, and printed out the letters in that size. I used the same font as the Looped Burlap Ribbon Birthday Wreath, AR Bonnie.

 

Next, I cut out pieces of the burlap ribbon to fit across the top. Once they were cut, I started gluing them on. I glued at each end and in the middle. This was sufficient for almost all the pieces. Occasionally I had to add another dab of glue if the ribbon was really lifting off the banner piece.

 

 

When you're gluing, be sure to press carefully. The hot glue will squeeze up between the weave in the burlap and you could burn yourself. I did most of the pressing with my fingernail instead of the padding of my finger.

 

After the burlap ribbon pieces were all glued on the banner pieces, I pulled out the letters to start tracing. The letters were dark enough that I could see through the banner enough to trace the outline. In the picture below, you can see the "A" behind the banner, to the right of the "H" that I traced.

 

 

 

 After tracing the outline, I just filled it in with the Sharpie. Be aware that rubbing it over the burlap will start to weaken/ruin the tip of the Sharpie. I could tell this was happened towards the end of the outlining because the edge wasn't as sharp as it was in the beginning. This wasn't a big deal for me, since I was using an older, thicker Sharpie anyway.

 

 

After all the letters were outlined and filled in, I was basically done. I didn't have to do much with the "happy" part except scoot the letters closer together and cut off the excess string. The "birthday" part was a little trickier. I had "birth" and "day" that needed to be strung together. I figured out placement for "birth" and "day" on the strings, cut off a large amount of excess, and then tied a tiny square knot at the ends to join them together. The knot didn't easily go through the opening at the top. But I used the tip of my scissors to help open the end of it, and then the knot easily went through. I don't have a picture of that process, so I hope my explanation made sense.

 

Then it was just a matter of hanging up the banner. Because of the wall that I used, it was hard to get any kind of angle except straight on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Here's the Looped Burlap Ribbon Birthday Wreath that coordinates with the banner. Cute together, right?

And there you have it. No-sew, super easy birthday décor! Don't forget to enter the giveaway from BurlapFabric.com for the $40 credit to their store. They have so many cool things to offer!

(Please note that BurlapFabric.com provided me with the products of my choice to the create the project(s) of my choice in return for writing a post with my honest opinion. They're also providing a giveaway for $40 for one Someday Crafts reader.)

Looped Burlap Ribbon Birthday Wreath

 Hey there, Someday Crafters! I'm excited to be sharing my own project today. I haven't had a lot of crafting time since the twins were born in December, and this was an easy craft that I was able to (mostly) get done while the baby was sleeping.

 

I don't have a lot of wreaths, but I've always thought it would be fun to have a special one to put up around our family birthdays. When BurlapFabric.com contacted me, and I started looking through their products, I immediately fell in love with the burlap ribbon. I loved the idea of using it on a wreath, and thus the idea of this birthday wreath came to be.

 

I loved the selection of burlap ribbon that Burlap Fabric has to offer. They have about 9 different sizes, and so many colors and patterns to choose from. Ultimately, I ended up choosing the Orange, Chartreuse, Jungle Green, and Red burlap ribbon in 1.5" and the Burgundy in 2.5". I really loved the combo of those 5 colors together, so I overlooked the difference in width. And really, once they're all on the wreath, you can't really tell unless you're looking for the difference. I also adore the frayed edges. I think it adds such a fun texture to the wreath! The ribbons rolls come in 10' lengths. Doing 5 colors, I used up about 2/3 of 4 of the rolls and all of 1 of the rolls.

 

 

 

So, to do this wreath, here's what you'll need:

 

 

- Wreath form
- Burlap ribbon rolls
- Decorative Clothespins
- T-pins
- Twine (not pictured)
- Chipboard (not pictured)
- Adhesive-backed cardstock (not pictured)
- Scissors

I started by lightly wrapping the wreath form with the burgundy roll. I chose the T-pins as an extra measure to secure the burlap to the wreath. Because of the naturally weaved holes, glue didn't seem like such a great option, and neither did regular flat-head nails. I wanted the pins to lay across at the top so that the loops don't fall off the wreath. Like this:

I also say to lightly wrap the wreath form so that there aren't any spots of bright white peaking through. Because I used it to wrap the wreath, I used up the whole roll of burgundy burlap ribbon.

 

After wrapping the wreath form, I kind of played around with how big I wanted the loops on my wreath. I ended up cutting strips of ribbon to be about 3.5".

 

 

 

Once the strips were cut up, I just started layering the colors onto the wreath. I would form the loop, with the ends overlapping by about a centimeter or so. Then I would push a T-pin through both layers and stick it to the wreath. I don't have a picture, but I hope you understand what I mean.

 

I started with one color (in my case, the jungle green), placed it randomly around the wreath, then moved on to layering in the next color. I tried to get them as close as possible so that 4

 

(Here's where the pictures start to get a little dark. Like I said, I craft at night. It may be quiet and peaceful, but it isn't conducive to taking great photos.)

 

 

After I filled in the wreath, I got to work on the banner. I used my Silhouette to create the shape for the banner and cut that part out of chipboard. The next part is a little complicated and uses the print and cut feature of the Silhouette. I copied those same banner pieces and made them a bit smaller. I typed out the letters in "Happy Birthday" and put one letter on each banner. I then turned off the cut lines for the banner pieces and sent it through my printer on an adhesive cardstock. After it was printed, I turned on the cut lines for the banner pieces and turned off the cut lines for the letters. I sent it through the Silhouette to cut out the banner pieces.

 

 

I peeled off each of the banner pieces from the cardstock and put each on a piece of chipboard.

 

 

I wanted the pieces to be really sturdy on the wreath. The wind can get pretty nasty around here and my other wreaths take quite a beating, especially my Christmas wreath. To achieve this, I decided to go with twine and hot glue.

 

 

I put down a layer of hot glue, put the twine in the hot glue, and then put a few more dabs of hot glue over the twine to "seal" it in.

 

I also tied each end of the twine through a burlap loop before putting the clothespin over it. I knew that the decorative clothespin wouldn't be enough to keep the banner attached in the wind, so a knot seemed like a decent solution. I just pinned the clothespin over each knot to hide them.

 

 

And that's the wreath. My little boy loves it and can't wait to hang it up for his birthday next month!

 

 

 

I loved using this burlap ribbon from BurlapFabric.com. It was easy to work with and the colors are so deep and rich. I don't think my camera does them justice.

 

BurlapFabric.com has been nice enough to offer a $40 credit to one Someday Crafts reader. This post is long enough already, so I'll have the giveaway in a separate post. Within the next week, I'll also have a coordinating full-size birthday banner up on the blog! Be sure to check back!!

 

Enter the giveaway here.

 

(This post is sponsored by BurlapFabric.com. They sent me products in exchange for creating a project of my choosing and writing a post with my opinion. All opinions in this post are my own.)