craft – Page 3 – Casa de Berry

2012, birthdays, boys, craft, entertaining, kids, parties

Lego Birthday Party

July 31, 2012August 6, 2012by casadeberry12 Comments

My youngest turns six today. We celebrated on Sunday with a small birthday party in the theme of his choosing — Lego Dinosaurs. I did a simple invite based off the Dino Lego website, using the Legothick font I downloaded for free:

The day was beautiful, a little warm for my (arctic) taste, but my in-laws lent us their canopies and we had a great time chatting in the backyard and watching the kids play.

For the cake, we chose to do a Lego brick cake — actually two, since I made one chocolate and one vanilla cake. My son’s choice was blue frosting on his vanilla cake, so I made the buttercream, too. First time, and I think it tasted pretty good. The chocolate cake was covered in green buttercream. We had liquid food coloring at home so I used that, but it took so much coloring to get the shade I wanted that I think next time I will use gel food coloring. My son saw the blue buttercream and gave it a thumbs up. Then he tasted some and wanted to eat the whole container so I had to refrigerate it for a while ;D

A couple of friends suggested Ding Dongs for the Lego studs on the cake:

Here’s my sweet Alex blowing out the candles:

It worked out perfectly that I made a six-stud brick and he was turning six, I just stuck a candle into each, uh, Ding Dong stud. Man, that sounds bad, huh? lol

For the piñata, my husband made a fabulous, Alex-sized version of one of the Lego Dino wranglers:

Here you can see the “model” on the shoulder:

Clothing details:

It’s alive!

My husband gazes at his creation one last time before the kids go at it!

Alex with his piñata:

After the carnage, my oldest made sure to save the head for our future “trophy room” — seriously, we have saved the heads off a few piñatas and costumes, and I told my husband we should mount them on the wall the way others mount moose and tiger heads 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed looking through our Lego party – have a great Tuesday!

2012, craft

Stepping Stones

July 16, 2012July 31, 2012by casadeberry6 Comments

My family and I have been making some stepping stones for our backyard — some of them with leaves pressed into the wet cement as embellishment.

This lavender one is my favorite!

My oldest made this T-Rex stone:

We had a ton of glass stones (vase fillers) so I used up a few on a monogram:

Here, after a few days:

With round glass beads, I made a fleur-de-lis motif. I can’t draw freehand to save my life so I found a picture I liked, traced the outline and then cut it out, laid it gently on the wet cement, and outlined it with the glass stones.

When the cement had solidified a little but still had some give, I stamped in our last name and the current year:

I am very happy with the finished look of the stones, and we’ll be making some more before summer is over — hope you all have a wonderful week!

2012, bronze, craft, kitchen

Embellished kitchen towels

June 11, 2012June 30, 2012by casadeberry6 Comments

Recently I saw a fabulous idea for a craft – embellishing plain kitchen towels with Sharpies! Heather at Setting for Four came up with this super easy, super awesome craft. All you need is some Flour Sack towels, a Sharpie, and whatever image or text you want to copy onto the towel. I printed a few from the Graphics Fairy, but if you’re better than me at Photoshop you can always create your own graphic.

I decided to make two of the towels using a metallic bronze Sharpie. This color is great, and gave my towel a very vintage look.

As Heather explains in her tutorial, you can see through the towel fairly well so it’s easy to follow along.

Here are the two towels I made with the bronze color:

As much as I loved the look, I could only find the bronze color in the regular fine tip marker, not the super fine size, so I was not able to add some of the more detailed elements of the graphic. I did, however have a super fine tipped-Sharpie in black, so I went to town on this towel.

And forty-five minutes later I decided perhaps I’d been overambitious. It took longer than I had planned for, with all the detail and shading, but I do love the finished product.

Here are my three towels:

Now, I must admit, I have about 25 different ideas in mind for these towels. I LOVE how generous they are in size, how soft the cotton is, and truly, the possibilities are endless — pillowcases? cafe curtains? kids’ artwork-embellished towels?

I have a feeling I am going to be buying a ton of Sharpies in the near future. Thank you Heather, for this awesome craft!

2012, craft, decor, friends, glam, paint, paris, red

Sassy Red Bookcase Makeover

May 18, 2012May 18, 2012by casadeberryLeave a Comment

As much as I am in love with my shades of turquoise and chartreuse, my love for burgundy will never fade. Although it does when I try to put it on my hair.

Recently I re-organized the entryway and ended up with a plain little bookcase with nowhere to go, so I decided to glam ‘er up and give her a place to live next to my desk.

First I gave it a coat of primer, then two coats of Krylon’s Burgundy – geek moment: I was so giddy when I realized I used up the last of both that can of primer and the burgundy shade – am I the only one who loves finishing up cans of spray paint, because it means I can get more? – and finally, a coat of Rustoleum lacquer.

After waiting impatiently for it to fully dry, I started filling it up with items that I wanted near me, that had no place on my desk, and that made me happy.

Et voila!

I am super happy with the result, it adds a lovely pop of color against the white walls of the office, and it has many items that make me smile.

I just received this beautiful mug for mother’s day, from my dear friend D, and believe me, it’s already getting some use. Seeing it there when I first go to my desk reminds me to just take a moment for myself before the craziness of the day begins. The green oval box hides some Splenda packets, and the Paris-papered oatmeal canister holds whatever current magazines I have.

The adorable mini chest of drawers was a gift from my dear friend A long, long ago, and the picture frames were gifts from my mom. The photo on the left is of us holding our month-old oldest, and the one on the right is our youngest’s hospital picture. I don’t think it looks anything like him but yes, I know it’s him because they took the pics in my hospital room ;D

The bottom shelf has a tray I decoupaged with more Paris-themed paper, one of my favorite votive holders (from the dollar bins at Michaels!), a little tray I made inspired by an item at Paper Source, my current inspiration books, and the most sought-after treasure in our household: PENS!!! I swear, I can’t keep them on my desk anymore because they get taken at an alarming rate 😀 so now they are sort of, maybe, semi-hidden. Who am I kidding, by the time this post is published there won’t be any pens left!

So that’s it, my latest re-vamp – I took this bookcase from drab to fab and didn’t spend a cent. But now, I must spend a penny, if you know what that means.

Have a wonderful weekend!

2012, boys, craft, green, holiday, husband, school

Leprechaun Trap!

March 16, 2012by casadeberry2 Comments

Ah, the much awaited leprechaun trap. Last year my son was in kindergarten and I saw all the first graders proudly parading their creations — and now it’s his turn!

With his dad’s help, they created a seemingly innocent structure in friendly hunter green. A helpful ladder led to the top . . .

And what is that I see? A rainbow? And Lucky Charms?
Come on, little leprechaun, it’s only a few steps to the bounty!!!
Just ignore those lines of moss, they’re not hiding anything like cuts on the floor . . .

My sweet boy displaying his leprechaun trap.

I think they’re going to catch one or two greedy leprechauns, don’t you think?

2012, craft, gardening, paper

Downton Martha garden file box

March 12, 2012March 10, 2012by casadeberry5 Comments

I saw this idea on The Martha’s website the other day and decided to make something similar. Alas, at the time I was watching Downton Abbey, so you see, the end result is something of a hybrid ;D

We had a spare DVD storage box that I appropriated for this project, and covered in gorgeous 18-century floral print wrapping paper that I got from a book on clearance. Score! It has a few different prints so I used two, the lighter one to cover the box, and the darker one for the cardstock dividers.

I made the Seeds sign with stickers I had leftover from my craft table project. Since this file box will be outside some of the time, I added some wide packing tape to the edges of the box, the Seeds sign and the dividers, to protect the printed paper. I had some bias tape that coordinated with the paper, so I made handles for the box and added a ribbon detail to the top of the box, with a cute button on the Seeds sign.

The seed packets are attached (once empty) to plain index cards where I can write down how well they did, where they were planted, etc. I have a spreadsheet I use for my garden plans but I had been holding on to the empty seed envelopes because I didn’t want to throw them away. Now I have a pretty box to store them in and add information for future plantings.

Hope you enjoyed this Downton / Martha inspired craft!

2012, birthdays, boys, craft, husband

Superhero birthday party – Background and Decor

March 2, 2012June 29, 2020by casadeberry14 Comments

superhero wall
(Click on the picture above to see a larger version)

My husband wanted to create a huge cityscape, full of well-known superhero landmarks, a blend of Metropolis, Gotham, etc. for our son’s party — we had a huge roll of butcher paper his mom had given us, so he decided to use that and our supply of spray paint to create his vision.

Putting the final touches on the Daily Planet building.

Some final detail shots:

The bat-signal appears against a stormy sky.

Shadow-lettering on the Daily Planet topper.

The main letters on the Daily Planet, Daily Bugle, and Stark Industries buildings were printed out, cut out (no Silhouette here, LOL) and pasted on.

My son had the great idea of adding the superhero decals I had gotten him for Christmas to the buildings. They really added the finishing touch to the background.

Here’s my sweetheart on the morning of his birthday.

In addition to the fab background, my husband also built a sloping console to go on top of the TV console – he cut out pieces and taped pictures of various villains and technical elements, then added fluorescent lights under so it really looked like a computer console:

The birthday boy loved all the touches throughout the house, and I loved all the work and thought my husband put into making our sweet boy’s birthday a magical one.

If you missed any of the earlier posts, click on the following links to read about the rest of the party details: Invitations, Masks & Capes, Cakes, and Piñata – enjoy!

2012, birthdays, craft, husband

Superhero birthday party – Piñata time!

March 1, 2012February 28, 2012by casadeberry2 Comments

With a superhero-themed party, the obvious choice for a piñata was a supervillain. My husband decided on Dr. Doom, foe of the Fantastic Four and other heroes.

The piñata was built out of balloons and paper mache, and I made the tunic and cloak out of green velour I found on sale.

Here’s the birthday boy ready to wallop Dr. Doom:

Dr. Doom’s neck was the first to go, followed by his head — my little one gave some dainty hits as well 😀

The hardest hitter of the afternoon caused some serious damage:

But in the end, Dr. Doom met his end at the hand of a mob of children, and was ripped apart, limb by limb.

There was much rejoicing in the vanquishing of this villain, and even more so in the baggies full of sweets that were inside his belly.

2012, birthdays, boys, craft, entertaining, husband, kids, parties

Superhero Birthday Party – Masks & Capes

February 28, 2012March 7, 2012by casadeberry13 Comments

Our original plan had been to make fabric masks and capes for the kids so they could be “superheroes” all afternoon — but then my husband decided to shape foam sheets into masks and off he went, making a ton of them in a variety of colors and shapes.

This one was my favorite:

I loved the sparkly rose gold color and the heart shapes!

My son chose this one:

Here he tries on another mask for size:

The kids loved choosing a mask and cape and wore them throughout the party – here are some of them during the piñata gorefest (not really). I made a few capes in different colors, and my son requested his be longer, and I added his initial on the back.

It was fun to see the kids trying to decide which color mask or cape to wear, it was a very important choice ;D

2012, birthdays, boys, craft, paper, project

Superhero birthday party — invitations

February 27, 2012June 29, 2020by casadeberry2 Comments

My oldest turned 7 yesterday – he’s been into superheroes for the past few months:

As Captain America for Halloween

He’s waiting for the new Avengers movie to come out – so is mommy, for entirely different reasons – so of course, a superhero party was requested. My husband and I go crazy planning our kids’ parties so we had a lot of fun with this one.

The invitations were the first project completed, of course — I’ve posted about some of our past efforts, but in this case, it was my husband’s work all the way. He came up with a cool superhero invitation concept, but I’ll let the birthday boy show you the invitation itself 😀

The Avengers seal on the front of a gate-fold card.

Inside, on the center panel, would be all the party information.

On the left were the names of some of the Avengers and their status for attending the party — Responding!

On the right were the map and coordinates for the superhero headquarters, i.e. our house. Yes, the map and coordinates actually pointed to our house. It’s my husband we’re talking here, he’s very detail-oriented 😀