DIY Halloween Planes(Dusty) Costume

My 5 year old is obsessed with Dusty Crop Duster, from the Planes movie. And that is what he wanted to be this Halloween. I tried my best to change his mind, gave him options of a pilot or something human like, and how it would be difficult to make a planes costume that really looks like one. But he said, 'Mom, you just need to make one out of cardboard and not fabric. It won't be that hard'. I still gave him few more days, showed him pictures of other simple costumes, but no, he would not budge. Well, if that's what he wants.. plus its his birthday month, so I gave in.

I really had to search hard on the internet to find if there was an existing tutorial, and I found this awesome one from Desertchicaramblings. It was quite simple to make. One trip to our basement and I found all that was needed. Thanks to my husband who never throws away any boxes(or anything).

I hope this costume lasts until Halloween. Its in heavy use these days, and its wings are taking a toll.

Its hard to take any pictures of a plane in action, but I tired.

Happy Halloween!

Miss M’s Indian Birthday Party

 

I still get surprised when I see my baby girl running around. And I am left wondering on where the last year went by?  My heart feels heavy and happy at the same time when I see her grow up so fast. I was in denial that she was going to turn one in July, for so long, that I did not even start thinking about her birthday until June. This led to her dad getting worried if I was even planning on celebrating her 1^st birthday at all.

 

So, I accepted the fact that I cannot stop her from reaching the first big milestone of 1, buckled up and started preparing for it. We had agreed on the Indian theme long time back. 

 

First were the Invites:

I wanted to use something other than the elephant, as that was all I could see on the ideas on Indian theme on internet. India is not just about Elephants. So, went with the peacock, and why not, after all it’s the National Bird of India. The background image is of Hindu shlokas in Sanskrit.

Even though there was nothing babyish about the card, I did want to add some touch which would give a birthday feel. So, added balloon liners to the envelope.

 

 

Table Layout

 

As the place that we had booked, gave us only an hour for decorations, I had to decide on something simple and big with more impact, instead on numerous small decorations. I got orange and pink paper lanterns, and some bulbs to go inside it. Never ended up using the bulbs, as it never got that dark(read no time). Also, we had time to put up only half of the lanterns I bought. My brother in law was at it the minute we entered, and he did his best to put up as many as possible.  

 

 

 

 

We decided to get the food catered from outside, but at some crazy moment, I made the decision to bake the cake, or shall I say cakes for the party. A week before the party, I thought I was baking and icing non stop. 8 cakes… no kidding. For those who do not believe me: 2 smash cakes, 2 cakes for party, 1 cake for cake pops, 1 for the actual birthday, and 1 for my darling sister(but we ended up saving it for the party).

 

Here is the chocolate cake for her actual birthday.

 

 

Smash Cake No 1

 

 

Smash Cake No 2: for the party

 

Going with the theme of the party, made pink and orange cake. Added some Henna style designs with golden icing. By the time I started to get my hand set on it, I ran out of golden icing.  Set the cake on my favourite wood rustic cake stand.

 

This Bundt cake is what I had baked for my sister’s birthday, which is one day after Miss M’s. But we thought we might not have enough for the party, and saved it. As it was bundt cake, there were not many options on decorating it. Iced it in cream cheese icing. Added a silk flower and a banner. Made this banner from beautiful printables from Kalyani Designs.

 

 

Red Velvet Cake Pops: I made these cake pops using the recipe here and decorated with Henna designs on it(alteast that’s what I tried).

 

 

For the cake pops stand, I bought wood slabs from Michaels, and drilled holes in it.

 

 

Marshmallows: Coated some marshmallows with orange and pink candy melts. No pictures of it though.

 

First Birthday Stats

 

For the background of the cake table, I clubbed together some of Maya’s pics over the last year, and printed in in polaroid. Actually these are not true polaroid. I had to use Picasa’s Collage feature to create a picture with white background of true digital size of  4 *5.3. Then placed the pic in the center of this collage. That was the only way I could make it work.

 

I used two frames that I found in the basement of our 100 year old house. Covered the picture it had with brown kraft wrapping paper, and hung the photographs on hemp strings. In between the 2 frames, added a birthday banner. I had also made pink fabric ruffled frills to go along with the banner, but it never made it, as we had limited time to put stuff on.

 

 

 Maya's felt birthday hat

 

 

For the table cloths, I used burlap with a wide width, with runners on it. Made runners from the crushed velvet fabric and block printed on it. More on the runners here.

 

  

I wanted to paint the mason jars in the colors of the party, but there was absolutely no time to do so. Instead I colored the water that went in the jars. I think it worked equally good. In addition to that, I decorated the jars with Swarovski in paisley designs.

 Block Print Goodie bags

 I bought ready made bags and block printed on it in golden, orange and pink.

 

 

Favors:  I bought these magnets from Chumbak with an Indian Hand. For kids, there were Ganesha and mouse charms along with some candy.

 For girls, there were bangles and bindis.

 

 

Moochi(Moustache counter). I cut these moustache out of felt, and glued a small portion of band aid at the back.

 

 

 

 

Food Labels

 

Indian Dinner

 

I loved making these food labels with some detail for each food item on it.

Sweet Boxes

 

Which Indian party would be complete without mouth watering Indian sweets. I packed some (laddoo and kaju rolls) in kraft boxes, and embellished these with hand crafted paper roses. Each guest left with one of this.

 

 Smash Cake Time

  

 



 Cake cutting

 

 

There was Pinata in the end, which kept kids busy, while we wrapped up the party.

Here's wishing my darling daughter a very Happy Birthday and a heartfelt thanks for filling our lives with laughter and love always.
 

Other Details 

 

Printable peacocks from Graphic Express

Silk Peony flower on bundt cake from simplyserra

Felt Birthday Hat from Mosey shop

Printables from Kalyani Designs

Kraft Boxes from The Package House

 

Rakhi Tutorial

Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan, an Indian festival is just around the corner. This festival celebrates the strong bond between a brother and a sister, wherein the sister ties rakhi(thread) on her brothers' and cousins' wrist, and the brothers in return vow to protect and take care of their sisters lifelong. I am lucky to have all my brother and cousins to share this occasion with.  

This year, on my mother's encouragement, I decided to make my own Rakhis. Here in US there anyway is not much variety to choose from. This year, even Maya had to tie/send Rakhis to her brother and cousins. The rakhis offered here were too simple for kids. All the more reason to make own Rakhis.

While my Mom was visiting us few months ago, she bought embroidery/cross stitch thread(in 3 colors) for me for this purpose. So thoughtful of her.

For a 12 inch long Rakhi, I cut four 15 inch long thread of same color. Did the same with other 2 colors.

Tied all the 3 colors together to make a braid.

Made the braid, and knotted the other end, and cut the edges to even length. I know the threads pic above does not match with the braid below. Atleast I have a pic :)  

For my brother and cousins, I sent these simple braided threads. But for little ones, these are too plain. So, added the embellishment with some hot glue. I got some 3D stickers like Guitar and Panda. 

Finished by adding a small piece of felt on the back side with hot glue.

Also made some with Ganesha charms.

Happy Raksha Bandhan to my dearest brother and cousins. 

Block Print Goodie Bags and Table Runners

I am back with a post after ages. I was so busy with all the projects I had undertaken for my daughter’s first birthday, that there was no time to blog. And with 2 kids,  I can either find time to work on my projects or blog about it, but hardly to do both.

I have been recently hooked to Block Printing. I can’t wait for my next visit to India, to pick up plenty of wooden hand crafted blocks. But as that trip won’t be soon, and I have never been known to be patient enough, I ordered few blocks from etsy buyer Amada Jones . There were many other sellers, but I settled with her as she buys blocks from artisans in India at tourist prices instead of low bulk prices.

Here are the stamps I bought:

With these stamps. especially the last stamp on right, I was taken back to the days when my Mom and Maseeji(aunt) used to buy us block print Indian dresses. And there were days when me, my sis or my cousin would unintentionally end up wearing the same dress, and only people’s glares made us realize that we were dressed same.

Initially, I had these huge plans of sewing goodie bags for my daughter’s birthday from muslin cloth(after dyeing it pink) and then doing a block print on it. After just dyeing a test fabric, I realized how time consuming it was going to be. So, I bought ready made linen bags from oriental trading, and used those for dyeing.

For block printing, this is what you would need:

1)      Fabric paint, Rits Dye or Block Printing Dye

2)      Cardboard

3)      Brayer

4)      Fabric to paint on

I used both fabric paint and Dye, and would prefer dye, as its easy to go on the blocks and easy to remove as well. I had a tough time removing the fabric paint off the blocks.

Step 1: Put a cardboard behind or in between the fabric

Step 2: Pour the paint on a cardboard and roll the bryer on the paint.

Step 3: Use the brayer to get the paint on the block

Step 4: Press the block to the fabric with some pressure.

Warning :  It can be addictive.

Once I was done with block printing, for some bags I removed the thread those bags came with, and replaced it with the thin strips from runner fabric. I don't have any picture of those bags. Hopefully, the photographer from the party must have got it.  Not left with any golden print bags either. Those were the first ones to go at the party.

Now Block printing the Runners

My brain must have exploded thinking about some ideas for cost effective runners. After wracking my brain for what seems like eternity, I settled on the crushed panne velvet fabric from Joann’s. I liked its crushed look and thought it would look good all by itself.  But when I dressed it with burlap(which was to be the table cloth), the runners looked too plain to use as is. On top of that, tables at the venue were not wide enough to use the runners length wise. But I had already purchased the fabric, so there was no going back. I decided to use it width wise, 3 per table.  And for dressing up the runners,  the idea of block printing the runners hit me. I was little worried if block printing was doable as the fabric was synthetic. But, the print went on it like that’s what the fabric was made for.

Added a border on both sides.

Some in orange as well.

  

I can’t wait to make some block print drapes. Maybe I can go back to my canvas drapes, and add this block print to it.. hmmm

Happy Block Printing!