Big Hands, Crafts

Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage

Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage_Halloween 2016

Even though I knew I would be spending way too much time making our Pokémon themed pumpkins this week, I didn’t want my daughter to feel completely left out.  When I saw a bag of tiny white pumpkins at the grocery store, I knew right away that they would make the perfect wheels for a quick and easy Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage.

Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage_Halloween 2016 Continue reading “Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage”

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Big Hands, Celebrations, Crafts

Gotta Carve ‘Em All

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Eevee and Pokeballs

We have carved our pumpkins a bit early this year thanks to a Pumpkin Carving contest at my son’s elementary school this week.  Since I was tasked with running the contest, I knew I had to come up with something awesome for our submission.

What better place to go for ideas then your children?  When I asked my 6 year old what kind of pumpkin he would like, he quickly suggested Pokémon as our theme.  Since his favourite character is Eevee, it was no surprise when he asked that I recreate one in pumpkin.  And you can’t have a Pokémon without a Pokeball so my husband also suggested we find some small pumpkins to transform into Pokeballs.

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Eevee and Pokeballs

My Eevee was actually fairly simple to carve and create using 3 pumpkins.  I found a great white pumpkin that I knew would work great as Eevee’s fur collar and found a smaller orange pumpkin to stack on top as his head.  I then purchased an additional oval shaped pumpkin I could use to cut out his long pointy ears.

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Pumpkins for Eevee
Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Eevee and Pokeballs Lit

For the Pokeball’s, I found these great little round white pumpkins that I knew would work perfect with a bit of paint.  I was intended to make the traditional red and white ball, but my son requested that I also make an Ultraball and a Masterball.  Who knew there were so many different types?!

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Pokeball Ultraball Masterball

I made a template to carve out each of the pumpkins to look like the balls were opening up and a flash of light was coming out like in the show/game.  I then painted their tops with acrylic paint and finished them off with a ring of black electrical tape and a black and white paper circle glued to the center.  For the ultraball, I added yellow electrical tape for the stripes and used a pink sheet of foam and white duct tape for the finishing details on the Masterball.  Since the pumpkins were already white, I was able to leave the bottom portions as is.

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Pokeball Carving Template
Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Painting Masterball

I think the finished pokeballs look awesome both on their own and lit up, and are the perfect complement to our Eevee.

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Pokeballs

I usually like to theme our Halloween pumpkins to the kids costumes, just like my Olaf and BB8 pumpkins from last year, but this year I really struggled to come up with anything to go with the kids Batman and Batgirl costumes.  I was apprehensive when my son suggested Eevee and I was unable to find any inspiration online, but the actual carving of the face was pretty simple.  I am happy with the final result and hopefully my pumpkin will help inspire the other Eevee fans out there!

Pokemon Halloween Pumpkins_Eevee and Pokeballs

I am not sure my carved pumpkins will survive until Halloween night, but we did end up winning the Halloween carving contest (I promise it wasn’t rigged).  Watching my son race around the kitchen island in excitement after I tallied up the votes and told him we had won was enough to make it all worth spending my entire Wednesday evening carving and painting pumpkins!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Hands, Crafts, Gift Ideas

Hail to the Bus Driver

Bus Driver Appreciation Gift

Bus Driver Appreciation day was celebrated in our school district in April and I came up with these quick little gifts to thank each of my son’s bus drivers for their hard work all year.  Now that it is the end of the school year, I thought I would share in case anyone is looking for a last minute gift idea for the bus driver’s, teachers, or other school support staff in your child’s life. Continue reading “Hail to the Bus Driver”

Big Hands, Celebrations, Crafts, Little Hands, Uncategorized

3D Paper Easter Baskets

Today I am excited to share this quick little paper craft courtesy of my mom, Christine Wolzl.  These simple paper baskets would be a fun little craft to do with kids and are so easy to customize using your favourite color or patterned paper.  They would be great at a kids party for favour baskets or filled with treats as part of the place settings at Easter dinner.

3D Paper Easter Basket from scrapbook paper Continue reading “3D Paper Easter Baskets”

Big Hands, Celebrations, Our Forever Home

From Mario to Minecraft Basement Makeover

Minecraft Basement Makeover

You might recall the Mario inspired make-over I gave our basement walls last year before my son’s 5th Birthday Party.  His love of Mario is stronger then ever, but some of the paper images I had tacked up were coming down and looking worn so I decided to give the walls an update for his Minecraft themed party. Continue reading “From Mario to Minecraft Basement Makeover”

Big Hands, Crafts, Gift Ideas, Little Hands

Easy DIY Handprint Snowman Christmas Cards

SONY DSC

Between my two children, we have 6 different teachers to buy Christmas gifts for this Holiday season.  My kids both love school and I think the teachers and aides play a big part in that so I wanted a small gift each to thank them for their efforts. Continue reading “Easy DIY Handprint Snowman Christmas Cards”

Big Hands, Celebrations, Parties

Rudolph Party Printables

Free Rudolph Party Printables

Last Christmas I put together a fun Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Holiday Party on Christmas day.  It is my absolute favorite Christmas movie, so it was fun for me to design all the different printables and pull together this festive party.  Today, I am sharing all the printables so you can host your own Rudolph themed party this upcoming Holiday season. Continue reading “Rudolph Party Printables”

Big Hands, Celebrations

Happy Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween 2015 - Star Wars and Frozen

Halloween has come and gone again for another year, but I wanted to share some pictures of my costumed cuties and my pumpkin creations. Continue reading “Happy Halloween 2015”

Big Hands, Celebrations

A DIY Princess Anna Costume for Mommy

Frozen DIY Anna Costume for Mommy

I thought my daughter’s Frozen obsession would have subsided by now, but she will be joining the hoards of other little Elsa’s this Halloween.  Also joining in will be our large hound dog, thanks to this Elsa dog dress we came across at Petsmart.

Petsmart Elsa Costume for Dogs Continue reading “A DIY Princess Anna Costume for Mommy”