Halloween Bowling – pinterest success!

Tis the season for Halloween Bowling! I’m a cub master and a preschool teacher & put together these bowling sets for both groups to make this past week (at pack meeting and at a preschool Halloween party). They were a huge success, and so stinkin’ cute!!

This project was a pinterest find, and I modified it a bit since I was making so many (12 sets) and had different ages (3 –10 yrs). The original version used 4 x 9” blocks, construction paper, googly eyes, and a bouncy ball. I made 1.5 x 6” blocks with vinyl stickers, and used a golf ball!

What you need to make my modified version:

• 6 – 1.5” x 6” x 1” blocks
• spray paint - (My favorite is Rust-oleum brand, use these colors - white, key lime, seaside, black, grape, and real orange)
• vinyl [and Silhouette machine] - (in these colors - black, white, and a little bit of yellow)
• vinyl sticker template (I created, this is for a Silhouette SD, but I think it will convert to other Silhouette versions)
• a golf ball (I got mine at Wal-mart, or find them here)
• red & black sharpies

Paint each board a different color, and let them dry. While those are drying, cut the vinyl stickers. I TOTALLY recommend a Silhouette machine, it makes projects like this so SO simple. All you have to do is open the template, load the vinyl & cut!

Once the boards are dry, and the vinyl is cut, it’s just a matter of applying the stickers. I showed the 3 year olds what it was suppose to look like (on the template), then they stuck them on how they wanted it to look. For the cub scouts, I just handed it to them and said, “put them together!”  The eyeball golf balls were simple too – use the sharpies to color in a black circle, then draw red squiggly lines all over it!

Then set it up and play!!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pirate Party

Our little G turned 4 this year and was talking about wanting a pirate party at least 6 months before his birthday. So I made his wish come true (as best as I could, anyway!). I like to have the kiddos help when it comes to their parties, so we started it off with his invitations. I looked online for examples of pirate party invitations and then made up my own. He put on some pirate stickers and stuffed the envelopes and wrote all his friends names on the outside.  

Then just to have even more fun with it, I made him a bow tie & suspender set and did a little photo shoot with him. He LOVES his pirate bow tie!

Then came the party. I ordered some inflatable pirate swords from Oriental Trading and used those as a gathering activity. While we waited for all his friends to show up, they colored their swords with sharpies (parents stayed close to keep the markers from ending up on their clothes!!).

They were beyond happy to just play & “sword fight” with each other for hours! They also got eye patches & pirate hats (from Oriental Trading and PartyPlace), they didn’t stay on long though. I made his shirt using a black black shirt from Wal-Mart, and cut the heat transfer vinyl using an image from Google images (search “pirate skull”).

I kept lunch simple and made pizza. While they ate, I set up a treasure hunt for them to find the cake!

I didn’t take any pictures of the treasure hunt, but they each got a pirate telescope (as seen HERE) & in the end had to “walk the plank” to find the treasure. A March birthday in Montana is hard because everything is inside, unless we want to play in the snow & freeze! I was going to set up the plank on the steps outside so they would actually have to JUMP off of it, but that didn’t happen.

The cake! I frosted it white & used my Silhouette machine to cut out a skull & swords stencil, laid it on the cake & sprayed it with black spray food coloring. I topped it off with black sugar sprinkles & some hand made chocolate swords (Little G’s favorite color is green!).

He asked for a pirate cake with swords on it, and he got it!

When they left, the kids kept their pirate hats, pirate swords, eye patches & telescopes. They also got a little goodie bag with suckers, pirate stickers & pirate tattoos (Oriental Trading!). [Stickers made on my Silhouette machine.]

Such a fun Pirate Party for this little 4 year old!

DIY Silhouette Plate

I decorate my house with a lot of personalized things. I did this silhouette plate for my first boy when he was 18 months and I held off and waited for my second boy to turn 18 months before I made his silhouette plate. It’s a pretty simple project (if you have a Silhouette machine!!).

Start with a profile picture of your child, against a solid background (contrasting is better).

I don’t have any special editing programs so I use Power Point instead. Insert the image then under the ‘format’ tab, click on remove background. Edit until you have the silhouette you want.

Right click on the profile head shot and save the picture.

Now, in the Silhouette studio, add that picture to your library (File – Import to My Library…). Once it is in your library, insert it (File – My Library… – My Own Designs). When it is on your design page click on the Trace function (top right), and ‘Select Trace Area’. Make sure the yellow line goes along the perimeter of the child’s head and click trace. 

You’ll have a sweet little silhouette just like that. I edited a few things (his eye lashes looked weird so I go rid of them, even though they are adorable in real life). Then cut!

Cut the vinyl silhouette, apply transfer tape if you desire (I did it without since it is one solid piece, not too hard to lay down evenly), then put it on the plate. I got these plates at the dollar store.

Like I said, easy…if you have a Silhouette! And makes for great personalized home décor!

 

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How to make your own stickers

This is yet another post on how I put my Silhouette machine to work! I have two little boys (little G man and little B man) and they LOVE stickers. What kid doesn’t? My favorite part about how much they like stickers is that they keep them quiet during church!

The problem with stickers is I have a hard time spending money on them when I know one sticker will only last for less than a second and once it’s stuck to that paper it is basically rendered useless (aside from the quiet it brings). Whenever I go to Michaels or Joann’s or look at Amazon.com I am always tempted to buy their super cute stickers, but then get very turned off by the price. Yes, you can find pretty good sales and use 40% off coupons, but the ones you want when you want them are always the most expensive (talking about specific themes for preschool or the favorite cartoon character for the week).

To save some money and make sure I always get what I want when I want it, I usually always make my own stickers now. Granted they aren’t slicky and “water proof” like the fancy store bought stickers, but they are perfect for my two little boys.

In the Silhouette Studio I import the picture or image that I want for the sticker. Sometimes I find them free on Google images and sometimes I use photos that we have taken.

When printing stickers, you have to use the ‘Registration Marks’ (upper right corner, second icon from the end if using Silhouette SD). I always end up adjusting the margins, just make sure the registration marks stay within the printable area.

Then I either cut a simple shape around that image (circle, square, heart, etc.) or I trace the image so that the sticker is cut along the outline of the image.

[stickers for little G & B man’s cousins]

[ABC & number stickers for preschool]

[teeth for preschool, T = tooth]

Then you copy and paste until the whole screen is filled with the stickers you want. Then print. It should only print the registration marks (3 corner marks) and whatever your picture is…not the cut lines (red lines). I use half sheet shipping labels,which I actually purchase to use as shipping labels for my business but grab a few sheets every now and then to make stickers! They do sell full sheetstoo.

I don’t know how to make the next step easier, or if it is just the way it has to be done. But what I do is then go through and erase all the pictures or whatever was just printed but leave what I actually want to be cut (just the circle or outline of the image). If you leave the picture it will also cut that out…it’s happened to me a few times when I forget to erase them before I cut – frustrating. *If you know an easier way to do this, please do share your tips and tricks!! So when you cut, your screen will just be the registration makes and the shapes or outline to be cut.

**UPDATED FEB 2014: I learned an easier and more correct way to do the above step. Rather than delete all the pictures or images (in this case, letters), you can leave them in place. What you need to do instead is click on the ‘OBJECT’ tab & then ‘CUT LINE SETTING’.

Then it will show you all the lines that the Silhouette will cut – they will be in thicker red. Since we are talking stickers, you obviously only want the outer edge cut (in this case the circles), so you click on the image you want on the sticker, then click ‘NO CUT’ on the right side toolbar. (I clicked on a bunch of the letters to show you how it will look…the letters are no longer outlined in the thicker red.) Do that to all your images/stickers & be sure to save so you can easily print then cut next time, without having to make any other changes. **You can even do that step before you copy and paste a bunch, then you only have to do it on a couple stickers.**

If all is set up correctly, the Silhouette should detect the registration makes and cut the stickers out perfectly (although very rarely, sometimes, for some reason, it just doesn’t work out for me…oh machines.)

[Mr. Yuk stickers for preschool –> Y = yuk]

Here are a few more of the stickers I’ve made:

[Valentine’s]

[bribes for potty training]

[Tooth stickers for teeth brushing chart]

[stickers for Girls on the Run snack]

I’ve done a bunch more, but those are just a few.

I keep a lot of the stickers I make for the boys in this notebook with a pouch on the front cover. It is always in the diaper bag and they usually only get it out during church. They love all the different kinds of stickers they get to use. I love that I don’t spend an arm and a leg for them!

Sticker Supplies:
*Silhouette (SD or Cameo)
*Sticker paper – HERE
*images/pictures you want as stickers
*printer (unless you want it solid white, ie: TEETH stickers above)