Mickey/Minnie Mouse On a Stick

Okay peeps, get ready for the easiest of easy tutorials. Seriously. I know I always say that, but this one really is simple.

Supplies:

One Bag of 3" Styrofoam Balls (comes with 6)
One Bag of 2" Styrofoam balls (comes in a bag of 12, convenient...)
Black Spray Paint
Tooth Picks (mine are multi-colored because that's all I had)
Dowel (I just asked at my Michae's where they kept them, they were in two places, one place had smaller ones like the ones below, the other ones were really big, and not the ones we want)
Ribbon for making a bow (if you're making Minnie Mouse)
Glue Gun

Step 1:

Insert toothpick into 2" Styrofoam ball, on mine there was a small circle on the bottom of the ball, so I used that, since I didn't want that to be seen. These Styrofoam balls were actually quite dense, so I had to insert toothpick, then take out to dab some hot glue in the hole. Make two of these.

Step 2:

Take the 3" Styrofoam ball and hold it with one hand

With the other hand, insert the "ear" into the correct position.

It should look something like this.

The finished Mickey/Minnie head. If you want you could sand down those little ridges, but I didn't feel like doing that. Had I thought ahead and done these crafts months/weeks in advance I might have done that.

Step 3:

Insert dowel. Like the toothpicks you're going to want to put it into the Styrofoam first, and then take out, put glue in the hole and put in dowel.

This is what it should look like now.

Step 4:

Here comes the fun part! Spray painting of course. I almost used paint, but thought, hey spray paint is going to be much faster, and it was, I sprayed it once and let it dry for about 20 minutes, even though the can said fast drying. Then sprayed it a 2nd time just to get it coated more evenly with black paint.

Of course you're going to want to do this outside and not near something you care about.

Step 6:

This is what it will look like when you're all done, super cute and easy right?! Now if you were doing a Mickey you could definitely now paint the bottom half red, with some yellow buttons, or keep as is. Since we had a Minnie party, I made a bow, using this tutorial. I actually made my own bow maker, using a box I got from Amazon and those dowels that you see above. Pretty easy, just made the holes 3 inches apart and did a single loop of that video.

I found these buckets in the dollar section at Target, and thought it was perfect. I then used the left over tissue paper from the Minnie Mouse Wreath, and scrunched it up and put it around the dowel and this is what I got, a super cute Minnie Mouse table decoration. Oh and I also used some ribbon to cover the dowel, since I didn't like the brown stick look and I didn't have any pink paint. If you did want to paint the stick I would have done that first, before putting them in the heads.

So there you have it, a super simple Minnie/Mickey centerpieces.

Also linking up with Amanda, for Thinking Out Loud, Vanessa and Penny for Thinking out Loud, Lulia, Stephanie and Sarah for The Ladies Collective, Annie and Natalie for Thoughts for Thursday and Joey and Kristin for Stuff and Things, Angel for Wake Up Wednesday, Cara and Rhonda for Craft Frenzy Friday, and Kelly for Inspiration, Christina for Wildly Original, Tammy and Brittany for One More Time Saturday, Lambert for Create it Thursday and Lindsay for Artsy Fartsy, That DIY Party, Tweek it Tuesday, Mad Skills Party,  Fabulous Party, Weekend Retreat , Tuesday Talk and Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party and Let's Be Friends Blog Hop and  Jennie for Friday Favorites

How to Make A Tissue Paper Wreath

So I finally got my act together and put together a tutorial on the tissue paper wreath I did. I found this tutorial online, but it wasn't that detailed, so here's how I made mine based off of the few pictures she posted.

 

Supplies:

• Styrofoam wreath (Mine was square, but you could probably use the round one. There were two Styrofoam wreaths at the store, one was a little more dense than the other, I got the less dense one, seemed easier to poke holes in.)
• A stick to poke small holes, I used a bamboo skewer that I use when making kabobs.
• Tissue paper (mine was 20"x 30"), I used about 35 sheets of paper (I bought off of eBay, way cheaper!)
• Glue gun
• Scissors
• Ruler

 

 

 Step 1:

 

Measure paper, I used 5"x7" rectangles, it seemed to work for me.

 

 

 

Step 2:

 

Cut paper, I quilt, so I have a quilting set up, but scissors work just as good.

 

 

Step 3:

 

Stack and fold the tissue papers. Every 5-6 single sheets I folded, I would fold a two sheets together. You don't have to do this, but I would guess if you don't want to make it as full, you could do the double sheets and space out the holes a bit more.

 

 

 

Hard to type this out, but...first you folded it in half once, then folded it in half again, and then twisted the bottom corner into a tight point.

 

 

For those of you visual learners here's a quick video 

 

The folds and twists do not have to be uniform or neat, but the tighter you get your point the easier it will be to put into the styrofoam when time comes.

 

Step 4:

 

Once you have a huge pile of tissue papers (FYI: this was about half of how many I ended up using)

 

 

You can start putting them into the wreath. I found that 5 holes across made for a really full wreath.



Step 5:

Glue the tissue in place, I found that putting a small amount of hot glue at the surface of the whole worked best. If you shove the glue gone in the hole, it will melt the Styrofoam, so try not to touch it, and just put it in on the surface, then when you stick the tissue paper in hold it there for a few seconds.

 

 Repeat this a million times, okay that's an exaggeration, but a lot of times. I just did the top and the outside, for the outside I found that 3 holes works best. I also alternated, so I would work on one side then move a little bit down and work on the side. If you try to do the sides in a row, the glue isn't dry enough and they tend to fall out. Hope that makes sense, it's hard to explain. I then added a Minnie Mouse head and called it a day.

I made a quick 3 minute video of the whole process for your viewing pleasure as well. I know I am a video learner, so I did both video and pictures.
 

 Don't worry it just seems a lot more daunting than it really is, put on a good movie and go for it! If you make one send me the pictures! I'd love to see them.

 

Also linking up with Amanda, for Thinking Out Loud, Vanessa and Penny for Thinking out Loud, Lulia, Stephanie and Sarah for The Ladies Collective, Annie and Natalie for Thoughts for Thursday and Joey and Kristin for Stuff and Things, Angel for Wake Up Wednesday, Cara and Rhonda for Craft Frenzy Friday, and Kelly for Inspiration, Christina for Wildly Original, Tammy and Brittany for One More Time Saturday, Lambert for Create it Thursday and Lindsay for Artsy Fartsy, That DIY Party, Tweek it Tuesday, Mad Skills Party,  Fabulous Party, Weekend Retreat , Tuesday Talk and Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party and Let's Be Friends Blog Hop and  Jennie for Friday Favorites

Minnie Mouse Party

I lied, I told you I would show you Mini Fox's birthday party on Tuesday, when in fact I was too busy catching up with work to even think about it. So you get it for Thursday instead :)

We'll start with the above picture, I made that wreath (tutorial coming soon), added a Minnie Mouse head and bow and called it a day (okay it really took me about 4 hours to do this, over several days).

When you walked into the house you saw the big Minnie Banner. I think it turned out fantastic. I decided since her 1st birthday party was all red and black polka dots that I would make this Minnie the pink version. Plus it's Mini Fox's favorite color.

I went to Michael's and found 4 different pink printed patterns and bought a bunch of every kind so I could use those in all of my crafts. I used my Cricut (which I think everyone should go and get right this minute! The one I linked is the most recent model, I have one that is about 5 years old)

By the time I took pictures of the food table everyone had eaten already, oops, so ignore the half eaten food. I decided to make some cute signs for the food, because we all know food tastes better when there is a cute sign to go with it.

Some close ups of the food signs.

What's a pool party without some drinks? Isn't that string of Minnie heads so cute? My sister-in-law came up with that. I got Cricut crazy and just kept cutting out Minnie heads and bows...so I had a ton of them just laying around waiting to be used.

Close up of the Minnie center pieces I made, tutorial coming at a later date (of course, but when I do have it, I'll come back and link it for you).

Of course I had to go crazy with the Minnie desserts right? There are so many out there that are super fun to make. I have never made cakepops before, so of course I had to do it for her party right? I think they came out super cute.

 I actually didn't put together a tutorial, started to get lazy towards the end. But I do have to say if you ever try to make them, definitely, definitely use Candiquik - you can find it at Vons, or check here for a location near you. It's so smooth and WAY easier to use then the Wiltons candy melts you can get at Michaels. Trust me these will make making cake pops SO Much easier and faster!

For the bows, I actually bought fondant at Micheal's and then bought this* silicone bow maker, life changing, I just want to go around and make bows, it's so easy. The finished product, I actually used the cellophane type wrapping, you know the kind that comes on a roll like wrapping paper? I just cut into squares and then tied the ribbon around it, since they have ears, the wrappers I bought didn't fit them. I used an amazon box, wrapped it and poked holes in it to hold them, next time I'll space them out farther.

Another dessert I made, I used this basic recipe for Homemade Oreo Cookies, and added some Oreo Cookies for ears and then big heart sprinkles for a bow (found at Michael's - seriously what isn't there?), how cute are they?

All set up, super cute, and everyone remembered them from our party a couple of years ago and they were the first things to go, I wish I had made more, oh well!

And then I had to do just one more thing, some Minnie Mouse cupcakes to round out the dessert table. Then I made a few mini cupcakes too, only because I thought most people like mini cupcakes so they feel like they're not eating a huge dessert, plus I bought those cute little Minnie things to stick on the top.

Super cute right? I made those cupcake wrappers with my Cricut, I found a template online and just used that, they were super long, but it worked out.

The last thing I made were these cute things. Actually Mr. bought the fan part for my birthday and I thought, hey I could add a Minnie head and call it a day. I put a Minnie head on both sides, didn't want side to feel left out.

I did the same for the streamers he bought to put up for my birthday, just added a Minnie head and called it a day.

And then I also bought these* things, I didn't get a picture of it, but they were out in the tent in the back yard. You can sort of see them in this picture.

I got this center piece kit for the table in the Living room, which of course I didn't take a picture of.

I also bought this scene, but only used the Minnie Mouse of things.

I'm so sad I didn't take a picture of the thank yous, they were so cute. Of course I used the Circuit and cut out Minnie head with a thank you in the middle. Boo! But I did make these little Minnie Tulle ears for all of the little girls. They turned out really cute.

And that my friends is everything I did for Mini Fox's Minnie Mouse party. She thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake and getting sung to.

One of my favorite pictures!

After she was done she was pretty much covered from head to toe in cupcake, we took her upstairs to give her a bath, but she wanted to swim some more, so we washed off the crumbs and she went swimming for another 30 minutes.

No fear this one.

Of course we didn't get any pictures of the four of us, or even just of Mr. Mini and Me...darn. Oh well, next time right? I keep saying I'll get better at taking pictures, but I never am. One day, one day.

Also linking up with Amanda, for Thinking Out Loud, Vanessa and Penny for Thinking out Loud, Lulia, Stephanie and Sarah for The Ladies Collective, Annie and Natalie for Thoughts for Thursday and Joey and Kristin for Stuff and Things, Angel for Wake Up Wednesday, Cara and Rhonda for Craft Frenzy Friday, and Kelly for Inspiration, Christina for Wildly Original, Tammy and Brittany for One More Time Saturday, Lambert for Create it Thursday and Lindsay for Artsy Fartsy

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