Flowers, Butterflies, Party...

Our little girl turned four last week. And we celebrated her spirited self with a small get together with her play-date buddies.

I had nothing much to do as far as the decisions on how to party. She had all the things figured out on her own, including the colors she wanted to see. The list was long - but as enthusiastic as she was about it, I tried to bring most of them to the table - well except for getting real giraffe, monkeys, puppies and cats to her party and everyone on her friends list - obviously for space constraints!!!

She has been fixated over pink, yellow and black color theme for some time now. I can understand where pink and yellow are coming from but with black I am lost.

Anyways, the loving and creative mother I am ( How do you incluse a "wink" here?), I set out to devise a plan to bring most of the list alive. Oh, wait - there were more things on the list. As,

Flowers, butterflies, Baloons, Streamers, Pinata, cryons ,cupcakes, cookies, ice cream - everything in pink,yellow or black.

Since the time I found paint chips in stores like walmart and Home depot, Making banners out of them has been a hobby. I have done it a number of times and can do it again and again as they are "free".

I searched the available stores for economical party supplies in her theme - but in vein. Not that stores didn't carry them at all - but either the quality or the colors or the price tag did not gel well with us. I ended up making a few things by myself.

Hardest thing to find was a decent table cloth in pink and yellow or even black. Online or in store I couldn't find anything that suited. Since I wasn't ready to invest much on such trivial things - I am a cheapo to core and core - I made one from painter's drop cloth and pink and yellow and black paint. The far sighted me could envision it as a picnic/beach blanket too. I have seen canvas drop cloth being used as curtains and even rug (Vidya from Whats Ur Home Story does such UN-imaginable tweaks. You can check it out here)

The back drop here, was the way I found to include flowers and butterflies. First I thought of hanging them from ceiling. Decided against it thinking they will be more of a clutter with all the balloons and streamers in this small house. So instead I ended up just sticking them to a foam board. In case you are wondering they are card-stock paper the kids use at school.

Cake is from Baskin Robins Ice cream cake in rosette design (remember the flower theme!). Since big-time baking is not my cup of tea, the food department as such is not, I took advice from a friend on ideas to have pink,yellow black themed food items.

Cup cakes,cookies,candy, ice cream, pinata, balloons - the rest is regular ingredients of a kids party.

I bought some crayons, paint and color pencils for a little bit of quiet time for kids ( actually to keep us adult's sanity intact ) and rest of the time they played and we adults discussed about - I don't know, world issues!

Before I conclude, I have to thank Anjana Dev - I contacted her for food ideas - If you haven't yet - you should totally check out her blog Happy and Harried here. Simple recipes with un-expected twists, presented with elegant write ups and photos.

Thus she turned four, I can't believe she is already 4 and we celebrated - a handmade birthday for a dear little girl. Did you like our party ideas? How far do you go to fulfill those little dreams they dream?

Wish you a great week ahead, Keep Smiling.
Anima

I am linking this post upto an awesome DIY blog C.R.A.F.T & Delineate Your Dwelling

Painting a Chalkboard

I am not tweaking today, but making. And this one brought a lot of memories back from my childhood that it is very close to my heart.

My father is a teacher - retired though he is, still teaches as he has done for past four decades. We had this chalk board and desks and benches in this small room from the time I can remember. This is where he teaches equations and probability and formulas to countless students of his.

Dad's black board back home

Every year, come last week of march, dad sets out to polish his black board with Ink and a rag. Even though it is a messy affair, he never asks us children or mom to help. It has always been kind of his ritual. He would pour out the ink in a cup, and with a rag apply the ink on the board multiple times, once dry, brush it with the duster to bring a smoother surface to write.

Now back to our now and here - we don't have to use ink and rag and get messy to create a chalk board. We have special paint to turn any surface into a chalk board, available in multiple colors even available as spray paint. All you need is a surface and a brush and we are all set to create our own black board and write away. I bought this paint. But there are variety of options available in the market.

I made this particular chalk board for my daughter to draw. I could have chosen a wall to turn into a big board but decided  a smaller piece that she can carry around would be a bigger success. I got a piece of foam board from Michaels Crafts Store, but have since found out that this is available in dollar stores too.

Just to make it more appealing to her I painted the boarder with left over pink paint. This could be framed too but I didn't since it is for a four year old and more weight means less convenience for her.

So, here are the steps ( I must be crazy to write out steps here - but what if I forgot how to paint a rectangle?)

1)  Gather your supplies - meaning the chalk board paint, A paint brush, some rags for clean up.

2)  Choose your surface. A wall space, wooden piece cut to size, Foam board (have seen even a fridge painted with this. The surface must be cleaned well.

3)  Mark the part where you want to paint.

4)  Shake the paint well before opening the lid and paint away.

5)  Once the paint is completely dry ( it will take only 20 minutes to dry ) with a piece of chalk rub the whole surface and rub it off. This is to condition the board.

Here you go - simple and easy.

Do you like the chalk board option to unleash creativity in kids? Would you dare paint a wall with chlak board paint? Where else can we use it to get maximum impact? Share your thoughts here.

Best Regards,
Anima