Tag: Disney Princess

Princess Belle Birthday Celebration ~ $5 Chalkboard Wreath Tutorial

Victoria's Belle Birthday Party 010

“Be Our Guest” at my daughter’s Princess Belle themed birthday party!

My daughter’s Princess Belle themed birthday party was this past Saturday.  I’m thrilled to say she had a wonderful time AND it didn’t rain!  Talk about a success!  I can’t wait to share the details of her special day with you.  Over the next week, you can look forward to posts where I’ll share the Beauty and Beast themed food, desserts, decor, activities and party favors.  Of course I have to throw in a tutorial post or two, so today I’ll begin the party by sharing with you a quick tutorial on the welcome sign that our guests saw as they arrived.

Chalkboard signage has been hot for the last few years and I’ve been looking for just the right opportunity to make one.  Since Be Our Guest is an iconic phrase sang in the film, “Beauty and the Beast”, I felt that Be Our Guest worked as a perfect greeting message for our arriving guests.  I decided to marry the partnership of a welcome sign with the phrase by utilizing a chalk board inside of a wreath.  However, I wanted to complete it inexpensively and quickly.  I gathered the following dollar store and craft store items and went to work.

Be Our Guest signage supplies

 The key to this project is the black foam-core board that the items are laying on in the photo above.

I found the black foam-core board at our local Dollar Tree store!  Black foam core looks exactly like a chalk board and chalk presents well on it too. I chose to use foam-core because it was a simple solution to get the project done quickly.  It’s important to know that you can’t put any amount of water on foam-core and expect it to wipe completely clean without destroying the surface.  I used a dry tissue to wipe off some minor mistakes, but it didn’t return to the crisp clean state that I started out with.  Lesson to be learned:  Make sure you know what you’re going to write before you start!

Be Our Guest wreath supplies Here’s an overview of how I completed the wreath.

The frame, purchased from Michael’s craft store as a double set for around $2 (with a coupon) was painted yellow and allowed it to dry.  While drying I hot glued on the dollar store pink rose buds on to the Target store grapevine wreath (found in their dollar bins) and measured the opening in my frame.  I cut a piece of the foam core just a few centimeters larger than the opening and hot glued it to the back of the painted wooden frame.  That’s it!

 Next the lettering!

Be Our Guest wreath supplies

Writing on black foam core was incredibly easy and the chalk that I used made the writing very clean.  You can use an average piece of chalk, but I decided to purchase the Allary set that is pictured above. The set was a bit pricey at $8.99 (Amazon), so my $5 calculation for the wreath price does not include the chalk.  However,  I absolutely love the set and can’t wait to use the other colors!

Here’s the finished piece as it greeted guests on Saturday.

Victoria's Belle Birthday Party 007

I hope you’ll be MY Guest this week as I share more Beauty and the Beast themed details of my daughter’s special day.

Up next, the dining room proudly presents- you’re dinner…or in our case lunch!

 

Belle Party Cupcakes

Belle Rose Cupcakes

 

Did you know that one cupcake with a rosette style swirl on top costs $3 at the grocery store?

Some hard-core party planning is going on in my house this week.  My daughter Victoria will be 3 years old on June 12th and she’s been requesting a Princess Belle (Beauty and the Beast) birthday party since January.  Yes, for six months she’s been telling the world that she’s going to have a Belle party.  I have to give her props.  The girl knows what she wants.  So here we are less than two weeks away from the big Belle party day and I’m ashamed to say I’m running around trying to put together a Belle party.

First on the list of things to do is to purchase or make the cake and cupcakes.   Traditionally, I use a small vanilla cake for her birthday photo and song and also chocolate cupcakes themed to compliment the cake.  It makes handing out cake much easier when you can have a helper pass out the cupcakes while you’re slicing the cake.  This year when searching for a Belle-inspired cake and cupcakes in our local grocery store, I came across a pretty cupcake with a single rose on top. It was absolutely beautiful.  However, each rose cupcake was $3.00!  I don’t know about you, but $72 for 24 cupcakes is a bit out of my price range for a birthday party.  I left the store on a mission to try my hand a making a rose cupcake for my little princess.

After a few Google searches, I stumbled upon the blog, Simply Sweets by honeybee http://www.simplysweetsbyhoneybee.com/. OH MY GOODNESS, I instantly fell in love with Melissa’s blog.  She’s so incredibly talented and her tutorials are fantastic.  Within one of her posts she shared three flower-making tutorials to use on cupcakes, a Rose Swirl, Rosettes, and a Frilly Flower.  She made it seem so easy to make her beautiful cupcakes that I thought I’d give it a try.

Here’s my attempt at the Rose Swirl.

 

Belle's Roses 026

I used store-bought icing, so the consistently is different. In addition, I didn’t have the same tips that Melissa used for these projects, but I tried the concepts anyway.  I’m going to work on them a bit more during the next week, look for the tips she used and try my hand at making icing…

These are the tips that I used.

I tried an open star Wilton 1M and a closed star Wilton 2D when I made the Rose Swirl and I used an Ateco 16 open star for the Rosettes pictured below.

Belle's Roses 031

 

 Here’s my attempt at the Rosettes style cupcake.

 

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If you’ve ever wanted to make a beautiful rose cupcake for your little Belle, stop by Simply Sweets by honeybee!  She’ll teach you in matter of minutes!  I’m sure glad that I did.  Below it the link to take you directly to her post that includes the video tutorial.

Mother’s Day Cupcakes {Video Tutorial}

Now back to the Belle party planning I go!  Have a great day!

 

Disney Princess Chalkboard Craft

Afterschool crafts 003Does your little Mouseketeer love puzzles and chalk?

Tomorrow, after school is dismissed, I’ll be hosting a Disney-Inspired craft club for 1st and 2nd grade students at my son’s school.  I’m super excited to start the four-week program with 12 creative Disney fans!  Each week that the club meets, I’ll have one hour to start the project, complete and have all 12 projects dried and ready to take home with their creators.  Since we all love to craft with our children but never seem to have enough time to make the fantastic ideas we’ve found on Pinterest, I thought I’d share with you this project idea.  It’s super inexpensive and literally takes less than one hour to have it completed.

A Disney Themed Puzzle Chalk Board

Afterschool crafts 029This week the girls will make a Disney Princess themed chalk board and the boys will complete a Toy Story themed chalk board.  My son Gavin, like many early elementary aged children, loves putting together puzzles.  So, when I was walking through our local Dollar Tree (Dollar Store) and spotted these cute little Disney themed puzzle tins I knew I had to incorporate them into a craft.  Once completed, the puzzle is 5″ by 7″.

Dollar Store Puzzle Tins

Here’s what you’ll need to complete this easy craft.

 

Mod Podge

I found the wooden framed and double-sided chalk boards for $1 at our local craft store called A.C.Moore.  They sell two different sizes, so make sure you purchase the one that is a 5″ x 7″ chalk board.  The Mod Podge can be purchased at any craft or art supply store and the castle craft punch was purchased at Walt Disney World.  I would have preferred to paint the wooden frame, but unfortunately due to time constraints I decided to do the castle punches on each corner instead.

Complete with these easy steps.

  1. Have  your child complete the puzzle.  It took Gavin about 15 minutes and he’s six years old.
  2. Using a paint brush, apply a layer of Mod Podge to one side of the chalk board.
  3. Place the completed puzzle onto the Mod Podged and framed area.
  4. Let this dry for about ten minutes.
  5. Apply another layer of Mod Podge on top of the puzzles and on the wooden frame.
  6. Place the castle craft punches in the corners of the frame.
  7. Let it dry for another ten minutes.
  8. Apply last coat of Mod Podge on top of castles.
  9. Let it completely dry before handling.

The empty puzzle tin can be used to store your child’s chalk.  Standard sized chalk fits perfectly.

Gavin had a blast helping me prepare this Princess-themed board for his sister.  He wanted to make another one today.  I’m hoping the rest of the kids in the club have the same reaction!

 

Royal Princess Dessert Favorite: Pink Princess Pearls

Sweet Princess PearlsA Super Easy and Super Yummy “Princess” Treat

A favorite dessert item at the Princess Baby Shower, these little bites of creaminess were gone before the shower was over!  I thought I’d share their simple recipe with you today. I think they would be a perfect addition to any Princess themed event!

I found the original recipe on Kraft’s site. My Princess Pearls are actually Kraft’s Nilla-Strawberry Cookie Balls’ recipe altered just a smidge. I think a Princess Pearl is a much better name than a Nilla-Strawberry Cookie Ball.  What do you think?

Regardless, if you’d like to check out their page, which includes nutritional information please find it below.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/nilla-strawberry-cookie-balls-121577.aspx

Here’s how I made them.

Ingredients:

1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread, softened

50 NILLA Wafers, finely crushed (about 1-2/3 cups) I used Reduced Fat NILLA Wafers and thought they tasted great!

4 drops of red food coloring

12 ounces of pink chocolate

Wilson White Sparkling Sugar

 How to make our Princess Pearls

  1. Mix the cream cheese, crushed cookies and drops of red food coloring.
  2. Roll about a 1/2 inch ball.  (Kraft suggests a one inch ball but I think they’re a bit too big.)  Lay each ball on a cookie sheet lined in wax paper.
  3. Freeze 10 min.
  4. Melt your pink chocolate and dip the balls in the chocolate.
  5. After dipping each ball place it back onto the cookie sheet and sprinkle it with the sparkling sugar.  I love the touch of Pixie Dust!
  6. Once your pearls are all dusted with sugar, place them in the refrigerator until the chocolate has hardened.

It’s that simple! Enjoy!

 

 

 

Disney Princess Themed Baby Shower

Preparing for a PrincessA Royal Baby Shower Inspired by the Disney Princesses

Last fall I had the honor of planning a Disney Princess-Inspired Baby Shower.  Of course this was immensely fun and I’m thrilled to share some of the Princess touches with you!

The Princess Shower Invitation with Insert

Princess Shower Invitation

Each envelope  held a party invitation and an insert requesting each guest to bring their favorite Princess storybook.  Here is the wording of the storybook request, if you’d like to use it in the future.

Once there was your favorite princess story book;

That you gazed upon for hours and just looked and looked.

We chose our favorite princess story when we were very young.

Now it’s Gwynn’s turn to join in our princess fun.

 Please bring Gwynn a copy of your favorite princess story book,

So now she can sit for hours and just look and look and look.

Party Details

Table Setting

What could be a better centerpiece at a Disney Princess Shower than a Cinderella Fairytale Pumpkin? I found this beautiful centerpiece, along with multiple other white pumpkins at a local farmers market.

With the shower being held at the beginning of the Fall season, the pumpkin icon of Cinderella’s coach was used for the party favors.  Guests were also given a box to gather the Princess themed sweets of their choice from the Royal Dessert Table.

Royal Dessert Table

Princess Baby Shower Treat Table

The two menus on the table told of how each treat was themed after a Disney Princess.

2012 249Royal Desserts menu

The Baby Princess Shower Cake

Princess Gwynn Cake

The Princess Shower Games

Baby shower creative game

Onsie Upon a Time Decorating Contest

baby showerThe shower took place within my little Cape Cod Cottage, so space was limited.  I decided the perfect place to host this “Game” was in my daughter’s nursery.  I purchased a few different sized white onsies, added some royal scripted material to cover classic wooden clothes pins and used ribbon as a clothes line to set up the game.  Took my children’s very sturdy Pottery Barn table and chairs and placed them in the center of the room.  Guests of the shower were teamed into two and given 10-15 minutes to create a “Onsie Fit for a Princess.”  They used scissors, ribbon, fabric squares in the color scheme of the baby’s room, some images that I had cut out ahead of time for those not wanting to start from scratch and of course Iron On material and fabric glue to make it all stick.  The Mommy-To-Be then chose the winner!

downloaded October 2012 560Talk about Princess Couture!

In addition to the Onsie Upon a Time Game, we played a game of Disney Princess Charades.  Ahead of the shower, I made a small personalized Princess notepad for each guest.  On the last page of the notebook the guest would find a picture of the Princess they were to act like.  Just in case the guest did not know whom this princess was, I included a little wiki about each in the notepad.  The guests totaled eleven, each being a different princess.  For about 15 minutes, guests role played as if they were their given Princess name.  This was hysterical to watch them try to communicate.  At one point one woman dropped to her hands and knees and started to pretend she was cleaning my kitchen floor!  At the end of the 15 minutes, they gathered their notes on each other.  And I announced each Guest’s Princess name.  We actually ended up with than one person who knew every Princess present at the shower!

Princess Party Favors

2012 270Each guest took home a silver or gold princess pumpkin, perfect for the fall season.  Adorned with a Royal Princess thank you sticker, the shower guests’ treat boxes were also filled with their choice of Disney Princess Themed treats, destined for those Princes at home waiting for a snack!

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Now that Princess Gwynn has arrived, I wonder…will she be requesting a Royal Gala for a future birthday party?  I hope so!