Have a Brave Birthday Party

While browsing the internet for castles made of cardboard, I stumbled across this fantastic "Brave" birthday party over at Sweeten Your Day Events. A birthday party theme that any boy or girl would absolutely love.

Upon arrival, children were led by wisps across the lawn into the castle entrance. Each kid received Tartans, those plaid sashes, of different patterns for representing their chosen family clan. They played Scottish themed games such as Caber Toss, archery, and even a bean bag toss made of nylon and rocks. Their craft was to make a bear claw necklace which doubles as an awesome party favor.

I love the arrow tails in the cupcakes. You could take this a step further by adding some red gel or sprinkles in the center of each cupcake to make it look like a target. The food display table looked amazing with the wood stumps and movie prop background. The bear claw cookies look so yummy and I love the bubbling cauldron idea to serve drinks from. She includes a full list and recipes at the bottom of the post with all the delicious food they made.

Thank you Sweeten your Day Events for all the great ideas and sharing them with us. Make sure and visit their website for more pictures to all the games, themes and food they prepared.

Peter Pan - Peter Costume Tutorial

I love this simple Peter Pan Costume from mojoturbocostumes. Check out his site for some great close up photos and detailed instructions on how to make this yourself.

Peter Pan - Wendy Costume

I have a daughter who is going to be Tinker Bell for Halloween. So, I thought we could have a family theme around Peter Pan. I'll be Wendy and my son will be the Crocodile. This Wendy costume was oh-so-simple and inexpensive. Especially when I found the fabric in the bargain bin. Try and get a heavy drappey type fabric. This dress is modifying a ballet pattern - Simplicity 5138 Style A. Modifying the shoulder (taking out the spaghetti strap) and adding a puffy sleeve with elastic. There is NO zipper or buttons. Elastic at the empire, with lining at the bust. Add a bit of Pixie Dust, think happy thoughts and you're off!

Alice in Wonderland

I adore the new and the vintage Alice costumes.

Here is a tutorial for both the Tim Burton by googiemomma

And Disney Classic by danamadeit

Pirates mini Angelica

This is stage one, default out of the package costume, will see as it continues to be a bit cooler.

Tutorial: Buzz Lightyear costume

Here is a great tutorial Buzz Lightyear costume made very inexpensively and light weight.
Made from dollar adult T- shirts, camping pads, emery boards, a juice lid, plastic restaurant cups, and a pair of rain boots. Good Job Mojoturbo.

Belle Apron

I am starting to really like this pattern, our daughter can dress up as her favorite princess simply and over anything she wants. I don't have to worry about her larger cousins wanting to wear them either. The next one I make will be darker blue. I just used what I had at home (left over Cinderella fabric). It has a beautiful Rose embroidered on the skirt (her favorite part).

Princess Belle costume

For the Belle costume, I worked with Pattern Simplicity 2563. I borrowed the collar from pattern Simplicity 5520. A piece about 30" by 8.5" cut on the bias. I bought a yard of sparkle fabric. I put the collar at the furthest to the lower hand corner of the yard fabric. Then I used the pattern tissue to cut up the remaining at 8.5" high to make long bands for the lower skirt.

I had some yellow leftover fabric from making the Snow White dress. There was enough to do the top but I had to buy more for the skirt. The pattern said 2.5 yards which I thought we bought that much. I guessed wrong, I needed to go get more.

I pinned the swag on the skirt at about 8" center back and each swag to the front was an inch higher, the center front was at 12". Now feel free to adjust to suit the height of the child. I top stitched each swag down in a swag shape from each pin, plus the fabric is gathered/folded at each swag.

The skirt has (8) 15" clear elastic gathered underneath. The one at the center back is obviously shorter. Starting at the seams and darts of the upper bodice and centered down the swags, stopping at the 2.5" hem. The skirt pattern on this dress is super long. I used the 18m size skirt with the size 3T bodice. This was for my 3 year old daughter. I suggest using a dress size that fits her or measure your child to see which length works for you.

Sleeping Beauty Dress

My niece wanted a Sleeping Beauty dress for her birthday. Since her birthday was coming up, I wanted to make her one. After looking at tons of pictures online, I decided the Sleeping Beauty dress didn't look much different from the Cinderella and Snow White dresses. Unfortunately, there are some not-so-great knock off patterns on the market, none by Di-ny ofcourse. So, my plan was to use the pattern I already had on hand, Simplicity 2563. I drafted the other parts by hand.

I used a straight sleeve from this pattern, but drew up the over skirt and yoke. The final result? I think it turned out better than expected, and my niece absolutely loved it. Which is the joy of being the aunt to a 3-year old.

I will post my patterns later for you to download or you can email me and I will send it to you. 

Princess aprons

I made this Princess Aurora apron for my niece for her birthday and I have waited to post it until after I gave it to her. It has a cool embroidery on the side of the skirt, hard to see in this picture. What do you think? Should I make more? I guess I could and see how they do.

Princess Tiana

I made this one for my niece, However if I was more talented I would have made the skirt just like the original, but so far I haven't seen a similar one in patterns for toddlers I can modify. I made this one from the Simplicity Pattern 2872 (Tinkerbell herself. I omitted the belt and wings)
There are some wanna-be not official patterns, but after looking at them, I am so glad I didn't modify them.
Now some modifications, no tulle in the underskirt, I wanted the dress to be a play dress, to wear over her clothes and every where if she wanted, so it doesn't get in the way of seat belts or whatever. The pattern wanted the collar lining to go up on the shoulders, and I thought what was the point of making the top sheer if the under wasn't so I just used the same piece for the collar under the same as the top and next time (you know, for my kid) I'll omit the middle because the white center I made was two sided all the way down and basically made a yoke pointless. The white was left over from the Mulan costume , the sheer was scraps from a wedding dress, the rest cost me about $10. (excluding the pattern) I had the felt, I bought the smallest piece #10 stabilizer for the white flower, the rest was felt I had around the house. The vine is lined with boning. (That ended up being ripped off by the 3year old, after half a year of play. Next time no boning.)
The decoration on the bodice was a tight zigzag stitch with embroidery thread. My mom installed a zipper in the back. The white bodice I traced a "V" shape on the pattern and cut the decorative top, inserted it into the green that I folded back to reveal the white, and top stitched.
My mom had that old button that is in the center of the flower, I made the flower removable for easy washing. It is all polyester for washing and stain resistance, I used the crape side, I think it looks more fancy.

Mulan Costume

I used McCalls pattern M4953(size 7-8) I bought all the polyester fabric on a 60% off sale, the cotton lining I pulled out of the closet. I sandwiched the skirt in the belt. I added some elastic to the belt cause my niece is super skinny.
Just below the waist, about where the pattern says you can shorten it I cut it and added the change in skirting. I lined the sleeves with the same satin to make sure they had some weight but not too much. I wanted the kimono to be long, and drag on the floor a bit like the cartoon. I intended the red and white on the neck line to be in reverse like the movie, but I actually like this best, it shows up less at the bottom and in Japan the part at the neck would be red. Do what you like.
It took me about 5 hours. With borrowed material and fabric on sale it was a great gift under $20.

Princess Jasmine Costume

I made this costume for a 4 year old for her birthday. It was fairly simple though it looks complicated, it took half as long as I thought, things just seemed to come together, It is my idea of an Arabian princess from a cartoon. This was the pattern 3626 Genie Costumes and the fabric ended up costing me $20, I got most of it in the sale pile. I put adjustable snaps on the shoulder straps and in multiple places on the back to acomodate a growing girl. The pants have elastic in the back as well as Velcro to open and close. I wanted it to easy for a child to put on an play in.