Apple Balloon School Photo Prop

For Parker's first day of preschool photos I wanted to do something a little different than the chalkboard signs I've been seeing on everyone's social media feeds. What better way to celebrate the start of a school year than with a balloon! Spoiler alert: I love balloons. For this project I drew inspiration from these fab balloon projects from Design Improvised and Studio DIY. Ready to get crafting? 

First Day of School Apple Balloon

Materials needed

-Thickers Letterman sticker letters in black (also available in blue and red)

-18" round red foil balloon

-Straw

-Green card stock

-Brown card stock

-Clear tape or zots

*I bought balloon sticks thinking they would be strong enough to support my foil balloon. I was wrong! I also cut two leaves thinking that would look cute but I ended up just using one.

Instructions

-Cut a leaf shape from your green cardstock and a stem from your brown cardstock.

-Insert a straw into the hole of your balloon and inflate. No helium needed!

-Decide what you want you balloon to say. I played around with Preschool 2016 and First Day of School 2016. Cut out the letters you need and line up the words. Make sure you spelled everything right because nothing is worse than misspelled words on a back to school balloon. Nothing.

-Find the center of your balloon and start sticking your letters on. 

-Attach stem and leaf on with clear tape.

-Tape back the tag at the bottom on the balloon so everything is perfectly round. 

TADA! You now have a fab back to school photo prop. Click HERE to see P's first day of preschool photos.

[Can you see me in the reflection on the balloon? Hi!]

Thanksgiving: DIY Spoon Turkey Puppets

Gobble gobble! Get your little one excited for Thanksgiving by making these festive and fun Turkey Spoon Puppets. These puppets are simple, inexpensive and fool proof. Kids can play with it as a toy or you can add it to your Thanksgiving tablescape. Ready to get started?

Turkey Spoon Puppets

Materials

Wiggle eyes

Wooden spoons

Feathers

Felt scraps in red and orange

Craft glue

DecoArt 8 Pot Set Dazzling Metallics

Paintbrush

Scissors

Masking Tape

Instructions

1. Cut masking tape into varying widths and wrap around the handle of the spoon.

2. Paint the spoon. Let dry for 1 hour. Remove tape once paint is dry.

3. Cut out beak and tattler shapes from felt. Glue beak, tattler and wiggly eyes to the head of the spoon.

4. Glue feathers to the back of the spoon. Let dry for 4+ hours so glue can completely set before playing with the puppets.

[All my supplies were purchased at Michaels except the wooden spoons. Not pictured: scissors and masking tape. Don't forget to use your 40% off coupon!]

[I saran wrapped Parker's high chair tray before I let him paint. The paint is easily removed with warm water and soap. He didn't want to wear the cute apron I bought him so I put him in a throw away shirt. I knew there was a purpose for those tacky souvenir shop tshirts!]

[Parker and Kaden's spoons after painting. All of the colors from the paint set mixed so well together. I love how they turned out. The slight shimmer is fantastic.]

[I placed two glue spots on the spoons and let him add the eyes]

[Waiting for our glue to dry]

Halloween: Spooktacular Bandit Bat Plushie Tutorial

Ever spend so much time on Pinterest that you feel compelled to just make something? This happened to me last week. I was so overcome with the need to make something that I went fabric shopping during my lunch break after finding Gleeful Things' Halloween Bat Plushie Tutorial. I used the PDF template from Julie's tutorial and modified it to look a little more like Udder's Bandit Bat. This project took a total of 1 hour but I think I can make this faster now that I have completed one. Enjoy and have fun creating this fun little plushie bat! It's makes for a great, inexpensive Halloween gift.

Materials Needed

-Flannel in black and white (I bought 10 inch pieces from Beverly's)

-Coordinating cotton fabric 

-Embroidery floss + embroidery needle

-Stuffing

-Sewing machine and basic sewing supplies

Instructions

1. Cut. Download, print and cut out the template pieces from Gleeful Things. Make any desired modifications to body shape or face shape. Use template to cut out your fabric pieces. You should have 2 body pieces (Mary's modification: 2 head pieces and 2 lower body pieces sewn together), 2 wing pieces, 2 sets of ear pieces, 1 bandit face mask (Mary's modification), 2 eye pieces.

2. The face. Sew head and lower body pieces together. Using a zigzag stitch, attach the bandit mask to the face. Attach the eyes to the bandit mask using the zigzag stitch. Embroider any desired details onto the face. I added a little mouth and X's on the eyes.

Note: I didn't add the face details until the end but it would be smarter to add this now.

3. The ears. Sew ear pieces right sides together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Flip ears inside out. Top stitch around the edges. I added a couple of extra stitches for added detail. Fold ears in half and pin in place to create a crease.

4. The wings. Sew wings pieces right side together using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Be sure to leave a 2 inch spot at the top so you can turn it right side out.

5. Lightly stuff the wings to give them a thing layer of poofiness. Don't stuff too much or else the next step will be quite difficult. You just want a thin even layer of stuffing. Top stitch around the edge of the wings to seal in the stuffing and close up the hole.

6. Using a chalk pencil, draw lines going to all points on the wings. Top stitch over those lines. The result should look like the photo below.

7. The body. Attach the wings to the middle of the back side of the body with a single stitch.

8. Pin the ears in place at the top of the head. Roll the wings up and pin the rights sides of the body together. This part is a little tricky since the wings are stuffed.

9. Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, sew the body pieces right sides together leaving a small hole so you can flip it right side out.

10. Stuff the body and sew up the hole. Now admire your handy work and have fun playing or gifting your new bat plushie.

[I love how the wings wrap around the body.]

Thank you for sharing this fun tutorial, Julie! Parker loves his new bat plushie.