Zelda Party

My oldest turned 11 recently and a Zelda party was requested. So Mom delivered!

I rotate birthday parties between the years to help save me money, this year was the “off” year for my oldest. That means less money is spent on decor and we don’t have a lot of people over.

So to save additional money on costs I try to use things I already have at home and I DIY A LOT of stuff.

This is the main decor wall for the party, all this is is crepe paper (streamers) and construction paper cut into the Birthday banner. It made a huge statement and covered up my art which my son doesn’t care for.

The cake

I wasn’t planning on this DIY…. I use Publix for my cake, I ALWAYS use Publix because their cakes are DELICIOUS!!! Also, they do such an amazing job with their decorations. They let me down though and I had to improvise. This is a vanilla cake with icing I dyed green. The design is a Hylian shield. I cut out the inside myself with a razor blade. I placed the paper on the iced cake and I used black decorating icing to “color” in the design. The outside of the shield is just paper, it was my simple solution. It looked amazing and my bday kid was very happy!

I always have the kids do crafts or play games at the parties, it helps entertain them and it gives them something to take home. For the Zelda party I choose to have the kids paint stained glass pictures. They turned out really well!!

I used 8×10 dollar store frames and took them apart for their glass. It made a bit of a mess and I regret not keeping the frames to hang the glass up.

I found an image easy enough to trace with puffy paint

Either will work

I made a total of 5

To make the paint that dries semi clear just take acrylic paint and add school glue. The kids really enjoyed painting them and they were a really easy and cheap craft!! Because I had most of the supplies I spent $10 on 5 of them; 5 for the frames and 5 for the puffy paint.

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Call Me a Candlestick Maker

I have made candles! This has been something I have had the supplies to make them for over a year!

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These are lemon lavender… for relaxing

I am a firm believer in the power of essential oils and I wanted to help my kids with their meditating so I made them these!

I put these dry herbs and oils in the candles

I heated up the wax on a double boiler. I was surprised how much wax I needed for even a small candle, so if you are planning on making candles keep that in mind.

They looked pretty cool even before they cooled down and they smell so good.

First time being lit!

Ingredients are soy wax, essential oils, dried lavender and lemon slices. The jar was actually from the dollar store and it had the wick already included so it made the job very easy.

Beach Crafts

I have posted several times about my love for the beach and I wanted to bring it home. So I decided on the downstairs bathroom being beach themed.

I am going to be honest with you, for the first year and a half of living here my “beach theme” beach was void of any actual beach items. I have been trying to slowly decorate our house more and make it more home-y feeling so I decided to concentrate on one of the smaller rooms.

My first move was to search for beach décor on Amazon because… I have a problem, lol. I found some cute stuff, but I felt some of it was over priced so I decided to try a dollar store copycat craft!

And this is what I have made!

Pretty good copycat!

So here is how I did it!

I took 3 5×7 photo frames from the dollar store and I painted them with some acrylic paint and I wiped off some to give them a distressed look. I look rope that I got from Walmart for under $6 (but the dollar store rope is cheaper) and I hot glued them together. My frame is slightly longer but I like it!! My piece is also over $20 cheaper, so I am pretty happy with myself.

Inspiration

What I did

These were Super simple statement pieces. I bought 2 vases and one mason jar from the dollar store. I used the rope from the last craft and hot glue to create the effect. I used sand from the actual beach but you can buy sand, sea glass, shells and the tumbleweeds at the beach. Total cost was about $6.

Inspiration

Actual pieces

I got the canvases from the dollar store. Painted them with a coat of bronze paint and then a layer of teal. I sanded them to give them a worn/distressed look. The “coral” is actually a vase filler I have had lying around for years and the shells were both store bought and found on the beach. The starfish was the most expensive item at $4, I got that from Walmart. Hobby Lobby has a 3 pack for $4 and you can use your 40% off coupon BUT they are much smaller and I wanted a big one. Altogether these were probably around $10. They do hang on the wall but I wanted a picture of them close together.

Inspiration

What I did!

I bought 8×10 frames from the dollar store and used the same spool of rope, hot glue and shells from the previous crafts. This turned out super cute but kind of pointless because who needs 8×10 pictures in the bathroom??? Lol. I will probably use my silhouette to make a design or….

I could make something like this again

So these are my beach crafts, I hope you like them! If you have any questions or have any other dollar store crafts you like comment below!!

Christmas Crafts

Decorating is underway in our house! I have the outside lights up and we have some of our inside lights up.

Our tree has been decorated and even though it’s fake, it’s looking cute!

That wasn’t the star that I originally wanted but the tree is cheap so the branches can’t hold much weight, but the red star looks great.

The kids and I have also made some homemade decorations, which I am pretty proud of!

Printer paper and floss is used to make hanging snowflakes! They are suspended in our dining room.

These are fabric Christmas trees. They are sticks from outside and strips of fabric tied around them. You cut the fabric into the shape of a tree and hang them up with ribbon. They were an easy craft for us to do!

These are both dollar store items. I spray painted the church white and I used spray snow on the glass (I wouldn’t recommend). I made the “snow” with Epsom salt and glitter. I used mod podge in the areas I wanted the snow and then poured it on. They look amazing! I can’t wait to have an entire village.

These trees are made of air dry clay that we shaped with a cookie cutter. The kids painted them and then I hot glued them to the twine. They are a little heavy, so when I put them up they will need to lean or be supported to avoid breakage

I also have put some decorations outside.

The wreath I got for free from someone in my neighborhood and I spruced it up. I glued the Christmas balls on there to add some flair.

I think it turned out pretty cute, so if you are on a budget always keep Facebook market place in mind or after season clearance. You can always repaint or tweak something to make it your own.

The “gifts” under the wreath are just Amazon boxes stacked up after I wrapped them. I put pretty ribbon that I got from the dollar store to give it something special. My gifts are never that well wrapped, lol. I am also hoping that they don’t get mistaken for actual gifts because we do have some porch pirates in our area.

Well those are my current Christmas crafts, if you need any help making them just comment below. Also if you have any other craft ideas comment below, I LOVE crafting!!

I hope this season is finding you well. Happy Chanukah to anyone that celebrates.