Baby Shower Scrapbook Pre-Assembly

I always wanted to be the crafty one and I never was.  This summer everything changed.  I finally found my inner crafter!  Now I am both handy with my tools and nearer to crafty and I love it!   I was part of a group of girls who threw a baby shower for our friend Michelle this summer and someone had the idea to leave a guestbook so that everyone could leave a congratulatory note.  I just did not like the idea of leaving blank book with no pizazz!  So I created my first scrap / memory book and it turned out great and was so special to Greg and Michelle!  Much more so than a empty book.  You could also do something like this for a gift at a shower and create a page for every month of the baby’s life or for pictures of big “firsts”.  I would have loved that!

First, I used my usual 40% off coupon at Michael’s (seriously I think you get them every time you check out – good for one item) for an 8×8 scrapbook in chocolate brown, one of the colors in the nursery!  I then went back the next day with my coupon from that purchase to buy a pack of little boy like paper that was SO cute. 

I cut the paper so that there was 1/4 inch on all sides. I liked the look of showing the black paper and I wanted a solid canvas for the pictures and cards.  I used a simple Fiskars cutter.

Cute Paper

After making my pages I decided to go all out and make small envelopes to put the little notes in.  There was nothing pre-made that matched my paper or was the right size.  Crafting is like furniture – if you need something of a certain size – you DIY!  I found an envelope template online.  I cut my template out of the thickest cardstock I could find in my craft closet so that I could use it to make all of my envelopes.  In total I had 15 pages.  This took a LONG time to do, especiailly for a first timer, but it was so worth it!  The scrapbook pages have two sides so both the inside and outside of the envelopes look adorabe!  You simply fold the two small sides in and use glue to attach the bottom that will fold up.  You can choose whether to leave the envelope opoen as I did or close it.   I will now be making all of my envelopes.  They are so precious!

Envelope Template

Outside Envelope

Inside Envelope

Once I had all the envelopes ready I attached them to my pages, trying to make each look good as far as coordinating paper and envelopes.  I then figured out the right size cardstock to slip into all of the envelopes so the guests could easily write their notes and slip them in!

Page with Envelope

Page with Photo area and Sticker

I finished by using a little box of alphabet stamps to create the little placeholder on the cover.   They could replace it with William’s picture if they wanted.  I used some of my paper scraps to make a little border.

Scrapbook Cover

Greg and Michelle loved this very personal touch for their guestbook.  The guests wrote very personal and endearing notes.  It was worth the time and effort and it inspired me to do some actual scrapbooking for my own family.  This in itself would have made it worth it!

The whole shower was beautiful – in case you missed it I also posted a DIY on creating a Simple Gerbera Flower Arrangement.  These would be perfect for any shower or wedding or party!  It was a pleasure to create these things for this special shower, for a special friend.

I am linking up to Kimba’s DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.  Head on over and check out all the great projects!

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My princess loves her castle!  This is Sophia at the END of her birthday.  She is exhausted and still smiling!  And the castle still looks great after 25 kids playing in it!  There are pics of the finished castle in the daylight further down.  Enjoy and good luck!

The Background

Sophia wanted a princess party for her 3rd birthday and I wanted a party on a budget.  She said she wanted a castle and I found a way to build her one!  The best part – it was very inexpensive!  The worst part – it was really hard work!

It was totally worth it.  The kids play in it every day.  Sophia’s party was a big hit and her social schedule is now full of tea parties with her friends in the afternoon in the castle.  I love how much fun it is to watch them play with it and I am so glad that I did this instead of getting a bouncy for a lot of money that then gets taken away at the end of the party.

The Project (as completed by me) Requires:

• The Mr. McGroovy’s Plan:  He has a ton of other AWESOME plans for boxes.  Please – if you do not use the widgets send him something for designing these great plans!  They rock!
• 8 Large Boxes (Wardrobe or Refrigerator) – you can find free or very cheap boxes.  See Mr. McGroovy’s tips on acquiring boxes for free!  If you want totally free start WAY in advance.  I spent approximately $30 for the 8 boxes and started 2 weeks in advance.
• Mr. McGroovy’s Box Widgets ($24.99) and/ or
• Plain ol’ Nuts and Bolts (Plastic or Metal) long enough to go through 2-3 layers of box. (app. $5)
• Corner Brackets available at any Home Depot or Lowe’s (app. $5)
• Utility Knife with sharp blade
• Drill (Hand or Electric)
• Brown Spray Paint (to cover markings on boxes) ($3)
• Large Black Sharpie (app. $4)
• Gray Paint (Oops! Paint $5)

In addition to the above the project requires patience, time and lots of love.

If you want to be very special…

• Black and White paint if you want to add highlighting to the stones.  (I chose not to as I opted to make my own castle cake for the party.)

The Nitty Gritty How To:

The first few steps are detailed in my Curses!  The Castle! post.

1.  Find Boxes – 8 of Them (9 if you want to build a throne).  This project is easiest if you have 8 of the same boxes.  I did not.  What is cheap is not always easy! I used wardrobe boxes.

2.  Cut all the boxes using utility knife so they are all rectangles without flaps and all look the same (curse a little a lot).  Save the flaps.  My next “how to throw this cheap awesome party” post will include how to make these into swords, shields and magic wands for your complete royal party!

3.  Arrange lovely boxes in castle shape as per plans.  If your boxes have big flaps like wardrobe boxes they should be at the top (we will deal with this later) or you will be unable to make the cuts to the boxes.  I also marked which boxes were what because I knew I had to move them to the porch.

4.  Make your cuts as per the plans.  Don’t forget your door!  I also left one flap from the wardrobe box that I made a “secret” door by painting it to match the castle.  You can see this in the picture below in brown.

5.  Rivet (or bolt) your castle.  This is not as easy as I had thought it would be but it was actually much easier where I chose to use bolts (not in the crawling tunnels) because the screwing was a lot easier than the pushing and let’s be honest – I like to build things and I am more comfortable with bolts than rivets .

6.  Cover the box markings with spray paint.

7.  Cut out the entry way(s) and rivet (or bolt) to the top front of the castle.  I actually used two entries – one at the front and back of the turrets to increase stability.  You will see the two I did in the final picture.  I measured from the opening of the one turret across to the opening of the other and then made sure that the arch would be about 6 inched taller than Sophia.  With refrigerator boxes this will be less of a problem but your castle will be very large.

8.  Add any interior braces / supports.  This was not in the plans but I did not like how much the castle moved and I thought that with 25 kids coming over I would find a way to make it more stable.  Also, wardrobe boxes have a flap on the top of one side which has to go on the top so this was a great way to bring the two sides together!  On side has the rivets and one has the bolts.  It was a LOT easier to do this with the bolts.

9.  Paint your castle!  Kids can help here!  Use a foam roller for the best coverage and least waste of paint.  This was the easiest part of the whole project!  Sophia had a blast!

The Princess Paints!

Only One Coat of Paint!

10.  Draw Your Lines for Brick Layers and Windows.  I used a template that I made from extra box flaps so my spacing would be even and my windows the same size.  Still, this took a long time.

11.  Draw Your Bricks.  I made a brick template out of the extra cardboard as well.  Again though, this was painfully slow when I think about it and not that exciting.  There are  a LOT of bricks to draw.  I tried to be centered on the front entry way and then below the center of each turret and work my way around from there.  Then draw all of your curved edges so the stones look more realistic.

12.  Cut out your windows and add any special treatments to the castle.  I added some lovely window treatments and a walk through out of tulle.  Sophia loves it!  I stapled it to the back of the cardboard and it worked great!  It did not even come down during the party!  It also hid the inside of the castle (bare cardboard) from the front view of the castle.  This picture is from the day AFTER the party and the castle still looks GREAT!

13.  Let your kids enjoy it for as long as you have the space!  Here is Sophia’s first Rock Concert at the castle.  Hannah Montana is in the background thanks to her cousin Nicole!

I love this castle and it is totally possible for far under $50 if you start way ahead on boxes and already have the drill and such.  My total cost was about $75 for everything.  It would be less if you chose to build this without the rivets but them like I said, please send Mr. McGroovy something for his incredible plans!  I am reusing this castle, cutting off the turrets, repainting, and making it a western store for Miles’ 2nd birthday party with a cowboy theme.  Since I also made swords, shields and wands out of this I had very little else to get for an awesome princess party!  The money went a long way!  And we get to keep the castle!

Next Box Project:  A Vanity for my little princess’ room for under $15.  She is SO excited!

I am posting this to the DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.  Please check out Kimba’s awesome blog and all the other fabulous DIY ideas…most for your own home and not your child’s play place.  Enjoy!

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Mr. McGroovy's Castle

I was busy writing a post on kids’ birthday parties and budgets and had the best intentions of posting it and then wandering around blog hopping and commenting on all of your lovely blogs.  Keep an eye out for that post – I love me a little controversy and there are LOTS of opinions on the party scene for our progeny. Then I received my Mr. McGroovy’s Box Rivets™ in the mail and immediately rushed back to my *bleeping* moving boxes to continue my Castle assembly.  You see I am attempting to build this gorgeous castle for Sophia’s princess party.

You see – I don’t do pricey birthday parties but I do go all out on time and energy to make the party extra special.  I will post my “How-To” entitled A Princess Party with a Pauper’s Purse when I finish all of the preparation.  The big day is next Sunday, Sophia’s 3rd birthday!

The Castle is the biggest part of the party and the saga began yesterday.  When it is done I will cry tears of joy but right now I am cursing the night I found this castle.

First you must build the ugly frame and then you may make it beautiful.  I am on hour 8 or so and I am just getting to the painting.  Here’s how  got here.

Step One:  Find Boxes – 8 of Them

Because of my very tight budget I waited too long to get totally free wardrobe boxes from FreeCycle, one of my favorite groups in the whole world.  Therefore I went to Craigslist to look for free or really cheap boxes.  I found 8 wardrobe boxes for $30 delivered.  This is a good deal as wardrobe boxes retail for $12 – $18  each!  I chose wardrobe boxes (the website says you can!) instead of the refrigerator boxes used in the picture above because they are slightly smaller and I want Sophia and Miles to be able to play in the on the porch after the party.   This may have been a mistake, for the following reason.

Step Two:  Get the boxes to all be rectangles without flaps and look the same (curse a little a lot)

This is what I woke up to.  You can’t see the mess in the dining room too.  I didn’t exactly finish last night.

It took me more than 2 hours to figure out what to cut off (all that crap on the floor) and then actually cut off the tabs on the wardrobe boxes because they are made to be like little closets.  I am not stupid, but I got a hodge podge of boxes and I had to figure out what to cut on each one!  When I started arranging the boxes to make myself feel like I had gotten somewhere, I realized that my different sized boxes were going to make a big problem!  Not only did I still have flaps due to the nature of the boxes but the simple instructions did not account for wacko wardrobe sizing issues.  By 2 a.m. I thought I had it figured out.  Yes, my crazy perfectionist self diddles around with those boxes for another couple of hours trying to fit them together and figure them out.

This morning I realized I was wrong. There was one box that was made for someone even littler than me.   I thought I could make it work (another almost hour) but no…it was…unusable for the castle. I had to go and buy one NEW box to replace the smallest wardrobe box ever seen and a roll of paintable packing tape to fix all of my flaps (30 minutes).    That one new $12 box blew the uber cheap castle right out of the water.  I was peeved.

Step 3:  Arrange lovely boxes in castle shape

After that box trip (you can see the awesome new, unmarked and taller box in the back tunnel) and another hour of re-arranging to get my sizes aligned again, I had the shell of a castle.  I just needed my rivets!

Step 4:  Cut out battlements at top of boxes, rivet your castle and cover the box markings

This was supposed to be the easy part.  Only the battlements were easy.  I cut out a template, traced it on all the tops and took them out with my utility knife.  The rivets were a lot harder.  It took me a little over 2 hours to rivet this monster together.  The job went faster when I started drilling bigger holes, but I was nervous to do this in the beginning.   Bigger holes combined with a lot of cursing helped! I also took a break from the cutting and I am waiting to make my entrance way until tomorrow so that I can still easily get in the castle and so that I have a clear head.  I held my breath for so long to spray over the box markings (even with  a mask and outside I am pregnant) that tonight is not the night.

Here is where I stand – ready to paint!!!  I used brown spray paint ($4) to cover the markings in the same color that I want the doors so that I did not have to purchase 2 browns.  You can see the two doors below. I  The darker brown may show through the castle gray a little but that is okay.  It is supposed to end up looking like old stone!

My apologies for the lack of blogginess tonight.  This is one monster of a project! Can you forgive me?

Also…wagers anyone?  I am guessing all in about 16 to 18 hours.    The kids better love this one!

Nightie Night my friends!

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I love Gerberas and these would be so super chic and simple for your tables in your house or for a huge shower or party!  I love that they are short so people can have a conversation and see each other!  No more moving the flowers.  It was also so easy to place single or double flower accents in addition to the main arrangements on the buffet and on the bar and by the candles in the powder room without a lot of fuss.

As many of you know, I was assigned flowers for a recent evening couples baby shower for my friend Michelle and her husband.  I was really in over my head from the beginning because I tend to think big even when my skill set in a particular area is small.  In this case it was zero.  Other than thinking flowers are beautiful and loving Gerbera daisies in particular, I had no prior experience before embarking on this project.   Despite this, my arrangements were a huge success!  When my husband dropped off my virgin arrangements at the party location the concierge asked for his card.  Well I tricked that chick huh?

5 of the 7 Arrangements

So here is the play by play.  Start this after you have finished freaking out over the task at hand.

1.  Determine the number of flower arrangements you will need and the type of vase that will hold it.  Also determine your color or colors and whether or not you want just Gerberas as I have done or if you want some roses or other flowers in there as well.  This is beautiful, I have seen it.  This tutorial is only intended to teach you how to make compact, vibrant and fabulous Gerbera daisy arrangements.  If I ever tackle this again with a different flower or style, I will post that then.  In my case I needed 7 and we wanted to have them in some varying sizes.  As the theme was sort of mod I thought they should all be square or rectangular shaped.  Since this party was in a home we did not need huge arrangements but we wanted to give punches of the accent color from the nursery, orange, throughout the home and patio.

So I settled on 7 arrangements with Gerberas in square or rectangular vases plus one floating candle arrangement.

I was lucky and found them at Michael’s on clearance 70% off in white and brown, two of the nursery colors.  I got each vase for under $3.  If I have not found this deal, I would most likely have ordered online.  If you are working far enough in advance you can find great prices on vases on the Internet.  I also bought some Oasis Floral Foam (for wet application) and some Styrofoam as well as a floating candle bowl and some faux flowers for the floating candle arrangement.

2.  Determine the number of flowers that you will need.  A florist or wholesaler can help with this.  I estimated  after looking at pictures and was just about right that for each app. 4 inch square vase I would need about 8 flowers.  So I ordered 60 Gerbera daisies from an awesome company called Fifty Flowers .  I got all 60 flowers for $99.99.  I ordered the middle size Gerbera, not wanting the mini and not wanting the gigantic.  This was half of the price I could find at local florists.  They are a flower wholesaler and have quite a selection at MUCH better prices than you will probably find locally at your florist.  Just remember, by making your own arrangements and ordering from a wholesaler, you are taking on the job of being a florist.  I now know this means that a good portion of your job is babysitting the flowers.  This is how the flowers arrive.   They have little nets on them and stem protectors and are all squished together in a tiny box with a full page of instructions.  You want the flowers to arrive approximately 48 hours before the event.

The Unopened Box

Daisies in Nets and Plastic

3.  After you have finished wondering how the heck these will ever look like what you ordered and being nervous that they are not in fact the color you wanted, then you may start to unpack the flowers as per the instructions.  Each flower must be carefully taken out (the stems break easily) and put in a mixture of water and flower food with 1 inch cut off the stem at an angle.  Then the flowers, with net still on, must be left in vases in a cool place to begin hydrating.  After 4 hours, the nets can be removed and the flowers can be put back in their hydration area.  Mine was above a nook bookcase shown below.  Notice that the flowers still are not fully open the day before the party but a day after they arrived.  You must change the water each day as Gerbera’s are very sensitive.  (Great – just what I needed right?)

Gerberas Hydrating and Waiting

Finally – the day of the event.  Are you ready to arrange?  I tried forever to find “how-tos” on this on the Internet to no avail.  Clearly florists keep their secrets close to the vest.  So by luck I did it the right way.

4.  Now that I know how, I would arrange all the vases in order of importance in case you run out of flowers and start to cut the floral foam.  I used a regular kitchen knife.  It was easy. I cut the foam so that it fit in the vases and came to about 1/2″ below the lip of the vase.  One advantage of using non-clear vases is that you could not see the floral foam.  If you are using clear vases you will have to use stones or something else to hold the flowers upright or put something around the vase where the foam shows.  It was much easier to just go with the white and brown vases.  After you have the foam in place you must put water in the vase and wait until the foam is completely soaked.  It should float at first and then completely sink.  It also changes color so you can see when the water has penetrated the whole block.  If you have a portion of the block in one vase that does not have the little holes in one side to help with this, simply poke them yourself.

5.  It is now time to start pushing your pretty flowers into the vases.  Be more careful than I was.  Maybe it is inevitable, but I broke 5 of the 60 flowers very close to the head of the flower while removing the plastic stabilizer on the stem.  This is the time when you will remove the stem stabilizers and because the top of Gerbera stems are often curved, it can cause the stem to break.  Proceed with caution.  The good news is that if you are using these shallow vases you can still use them as long as there is enough to push into the foam and you use longer stems on either side of the broken daisy.  I would cut off the stem at about 1″ longer than the depth of your vase and then you can cut a little off if you want more or less sticking up.  Because I wanted the flowers to rest right on the edge of the vase I started in the corner about 1″ in from the corner and pushed in my first flower.  I then went around the edge of the vase making it look right and finished with the center flower (s).  The depth of each flower varied a little for me to get the right look, and the flowers (s) in the center were definitely a little longer stemmed than the others so that I would have that nice arc at the top of the arrangement.  The foam is somewhat forgiving so you can go back into the same hole if you need to adjust the flower angle or depth.  If you need the flower to stand up more and you have already pushed it in too deep you can either make another hole or put some of the cut stem in the bottom of the hole that already exists.  As I said this was my first time so I had to improvise some when I made mistakes.  I tried to make sure each arrangement had some of the best and biggest, which I put in front of the smaller daisies in each arrangament.  I also put great flowers on the top of each.  I needed 8 flowers for my small arrangements and 11 for my large.  The two arrangements I have not shown were very small taller rectangles for the powder room and guest table, each which had only 4 flowers.

Small Square From Above

Rectangle From Above

6.  Now enjoy your handiwork and impress all the people at your party for WAY less than ordering arrangements.  When I looked at florists in town and online a small Gerbera daisy arrangement ranged from $30 – $50!  I made these for about $15 each and I got to keep vases that I liked.The arrangements I made looked pretty for about 5 days in the foam.  Towards the end of a week though, the petals were not as bushy and you could see some of the stems and some foam through them.  Still, these arrangements could easily go from a rehearsal dinner to a wedding if you carry a color theme through both nights.  They could also be used at a bridal shower and then gifted to guests if it was a small shower.  The Gerbera daisies were prefect for a baby shower.  There are so many ways that fresh flowers can brighten your life and now you, like me, know a simple way to make them shine!

Here’s some pictures of the Flowers at the Shower.  Enjoy!

Flowers on Patio

Flowers at the Bar

Floating Flowers

Next time I will post the simple how-to for the very cool faux flower floating arrangement!

So I am one of 4 gals hosting a baby shower for my wonderful friend Michelle on Saturday and as usual I believe I overestimated my own abilities as well as my time without kids each day.  I also get excited about craft projects WHETHER OR NOT I HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE.  My husband is going to laugh at me or strangle me when he realizes I will not be coming to bed tonight because I will be waiting to change the water for the flowers, make the faux floral arrangement and figure out how to scrapbook.

Here is how my table looks (we are eating elsewhere for now) without the scrapbooking stuff and only 2 of the 8 vases I have to fill.  I have abandoned the idea of tissue paper pom poms even though I love them because I could not find orange tissue paper anywhere.  I made a white one though as you can see.  Wouldn’t it be cute hanging?  I think I may make some bright pink ones for Sophia’s room!  Again…there I go!

The Prep Area

To summarize what I have now gone overboard on…

First, I decided to save money I would be a florist and order our Gerbera daisies from a wholesaler and purchase inexpensive vases and then babysit the very sensitive flowers and arrange them.  All of this with no skill.  Thank God for the Internet and www.ehow.com but I may still fail.  Turns out florists are a little sneaky with their secrets and don’t just share all their goods online like I do.  Believe me there will be a How-To on this site if I accomplish this.  Here’s how the flowers come.

Not Quite Ready for the Party

So far I have gently taken the daises from their box, filled vases with cool water and some flower food, cute each stem by about 1 inch (this will have to done every 24 hours) and placed them in vases (with their little nets on) and then on a counter that does not get any direct sunlight and is not near any fruit.  The daises are currently hydrating.

Hydrating Daisies

Second, I thought plain old floating candles would be boring so I got a vase that needs a faux flower arrangement inside of it.  Again – NO IDEA how to do this.

Faux Flower Dilemma

Third, the gals had a great idea to take pics of everybody coming to this couples shower and put them in a scrapbook.  Since I was already at Michael’s and I am absolutely fascinated by all the pretty paper in the scrapbooking aisle, I also volunteered to do this.  To be fair to me, I thought scrapbooking was a lot easier than I think it really is.  Please….if you are a scrapbooker or know ANYTHING about it I need help!  I don’t even know if I am supposed to do both sides of the page.  I did get some fabulous Bebe Chic paper though and a very mod brown linen book so I am pumped about that.  Again, maybe it will turn out to be the best baby shower idea ever and I can pass on my hints to you.

A note on the brown…the nursery colors are Brown, Blue and a very mod Orange is the accent.  I will ask Michelle if I can post pictures.  It is SO cute.  It was not as easy to find napkins in brown as in other colors.  Hint:  Shop early if your shower theme is nursery colors and you are not going with baby blue or baby pink.  You will thank me.

I will update later in the day with my progress.  Then you can all laugh at me too.