Kids GB Proton Pack Tutorial

Last year we did a Ghostbusters party for my son's 6th birthday you can find here. For one of the activities the kids got handmade proton packs that shot silly string proton beams and went ghost bustin'. It was a ton of fun! I took pictures while making the packs to post a tutorial and completely forgot until recently when I got a few requests for tips on making them. So here you go and sorry I didn't post earlier!

For the proton packs I wanted to keep it simple and CHEAP since I had to make so many of them!
Supplies used:
large gift box - roughly 12x18 (the kind I would usually get clothes in from my grandma :), small square jewelry gift box, plastic cup, 12" round cardboard circle, toilet paper roll, black ribbon, black spray paint, red shiny scrapbook paper, 2 different colored electrical wire, black tubing, spray can trigger, hot glue and glue gun.

To assemble the base you need these: 

I cut the toilet paper roll in half,  and trimmed the cup down a bit. Then glued them all on one of the large gift boxes. I glued the lid of the smaller gift box on the top right because is was thinner and the bottom of the small gift box on the bottom left.
Note: I used elmers glue to attach the plastic cup because the hot glue was melting the plastic.

Then spray painted the whole thing black. While that was drying I used the bottom part of the large gift box to make straps for the kids to wear.

I cut to slits towards the top, and two slits approx 3/4 the way down. Cut 2 long strips of ribbon and insert one end into the cuts.

Fold over the end of the ribbon and hot glue it down to the inside of the box.

Repeat inserting and gluing the ends into place. Here is what the inside of the box looks like.

Next I lined the edges of the box that had the straps on it with hot glue in inserted it into the lid (painted box) so they were glued together... sorry no picture!

For the accents on the proton pack I googled 'Ghostbusters Proton Pack Warning Labels' and found an image of one of DANGER labels.

I copied and printed them off small enough to fit on the top right box. Then using a 2" craft punch, I punched out 4 circles and glued them on the to large circle glued at the bottom of the pack. I poked a small hole in the center of the cup and box below the toilet paper roll. Last I cut 2 strips of the colored electrical wire and glued one end into the toilet paper roll, and the other end into the cup and box.

For the last step I got these plastic things that attach to the tops of spray cans from Home Depot. They fitted silly string cans perfectly!

I poked a hole into the side of the proton pack. Cut a strip of black tubing long enough for kids to be able to stretch out their arms and shoot with. Glue one end of the tubing into the hole in the proton pack. Then I used some black electrical tape to attach the other end to the trigger. 

Here is my son modeling the finished product... 

Notes:

I only painted one side of the boxes because I didn't want any paint to rub off onto kids clothes.

The labels for the silly string cans were custom made by Jenny of Bloom Designs. Thanks again for your fabulous work!

I hope that this helps anyone interested and it all makes sense. These were such a hit at the party, the kids LOVED them! I used simple products that I could find, but feel free to substitute with whatever you can find. Good luck and please comment with any questions or thoughts :)

Comic Book Bunting Tutorial

Today I am going to show you how to make these SUPER comic book banners!

Here is what you are going to need:

Your favorite comic books (you can find them cheap, I got mine online for about $.80 each)

Double fold bias take

Craft knife and ruler, or paper trimmer

Sewing machine

Carefully remove/cut the desired pages from your comic books. Using your ruler and knife or paper trimmer cut a triangle from the top two corners to the bottom center.

Line the top of your pennants in between the bias folds and sew together using a straight stitch on your sewing machine.

Ka-Pow! Your done!

These were made for a special 'Super Dad' father's day luncheon my family had. You can see more details and pics from this party here on my blog.

Another great thing about this tutorial is that you can use it with any style or pattern of paper so you can totally customize it to fit any celebration and color assortment.

Chocolate Moustache Tutorial

Moustache themes have been quite the rage for awhile for everything from weddings and baby showers, to birthday parties. I recently threw a Pizza party with a "mozzarella and moustaches" twist on it. Today I am going to show you how easy and cheap it is to make your very own chocolate moustaches!

Supplies:

Moustache chocolate mold - I got mine here from Wilton for a whopping $1.99!

candy sticks

candy melts/chocolate melts

squeeze bottle/decorating bag/ziplock baggie

*note: candy melts come in such a wide variety of colors that you can pretty much make moustaches to match your party!

But I wanted my staches to be black, and they don't make carry that color. So I got dark chocolate melts and black candy coloring.

FYI- you HAVE to use an oil based candy coloring, not regular food or icing coloring because they are water based. If water mixes with chocolate it will crystallize....  not fun. But don't fear if you have not familiar with chocolate, it is super easy to work with :)

Now let's begin! Step 1: Melt chocolate by follow directions on package. Be careful not to overcook.
 

Step 2: Fill your squeeze bottle or baggie (snip the end) and fill the mold up halfway. Settle chocolate by tapping the mold lightly on the counter. This releases all the air bubbles and gets chocolate in all the little crevices.

Step 3: Insert candy sticks into chocolate, twist to cover the whole end of the stick. Fill the rest of the mold with chocolate.

Step 3: Put mold in refrigerator or freezer until hardened.

Step 4: Gently wiggle mold to loosen and turn out on counter.

Viola! Now you have super cute (and yummy) party favor!

Thanks so much for checking out my tutorial and I hope that you have fun making your own stache-tastic treats!

DIY Cupcake Tower

Today I wanted to share with you all my tutorial that shows you how to make these adorable and SUPER easy cupcake towers that you can customize to fit your party style.

Materials:

Hat Boxes (or any other sturdy and smooth cardboard box) - Michaels, Joann, Hobby Lobby, or most craft stores.

Decorative Paper to fit your design/style/theme

Decorative Edge Scissors

Tape

Tips: I found a jumbo roll of wrapping paper that matched our invites that we used and wrapping paper is usually pretty inexpensive.  Also various box sizes are great to add height and variety.

Step One: Line the top side of your box (it is now going to be the bottom side of your stand) on the edge of the paper and mark  how tall it is.

Continue drawing your line for the length of paper you will need to wrap around the box.

Tip: Some styles of wrapping paper now have grids on the back (mine didn't) which makes it super easy for cutting straight lines.

Step Two: Take your decorative edge scissors and cut about a half inch to an inch above your line to give it a little bit of a lip above the edge of where your box will be.

Step Three: Wrap your box. Remember to keep the open part of your box at the base of the paper. Tape one end of the paper to the box to hold in place. Then roll/wrap.

The other end should overlap just slightly to cover the whole thing and tape together.

Step Four: Stand your box (open side down....) and you are done with one. Repeat and stack!

You can stack as many as you like to achieve the look you want. I went with a taller box for the base to give it some height, and then a slightly shorter box on top to give it some variety.

Step Five: Fill with cupcakes!

Tip: For standard size cupcakes, you will want a 4" difference in box sizes for each tier to fit cupcakes all the way around (ex: for a 3 tier cupcake stand:  bottom tier - 14" box, middle tier - 10" box, top tier - 6" box). For mini size cupcakes a 2" difference in box sizes for each tier will work.

Now that your stand is all filled with cupcakes you can take a step back and enjoy your hard work, and eat a cupcake!

Thanks for checking out our hat box cupcake tower tutorial. Another great thing about this is you can take the paper off and re-wrap for another theme, the versatility is really endless! Also be sure to check out other fun details from this baby shower that I styled filled with DIY projects and more tips on uses with wrapping paper for parties on my here! Thanks again and please feel free to comment or share!

DIY Candlestick Jars

Some of you may know that I am one of the new contributors over at A Blissful Nest! I will mainly be focusing on party/entertaining crafts and tutorials.I have been brainstorming lots of fun things to share with you to help inspire your own exciting parties and events. Today I am finally going to share with you this fun and easy tutorial to create your own candlestick apothecary jars that I made for my Easter Peeps Party found here.
Materials:Candlesticks (various sizes) – The Wood Connection (Utah), Hobby Lobby or wood/craft store
Wooden knobs – The Wood Connection (Utah), Hobby Lobby or craft store
Glass containers – Hobby Lobby
Wooden plaques – Hobby Lobby
Gorilla glue – any craft store
Paint and brushes – craft stores
I was able to get most of the supplies on sale and the total cost was under $15!
Step One: Gorilla Glue your candlesticks to wood plaques, and wood knobs to lids.I wanted to add a little more texture to the lids, so as I was browsing Hobby Lobby and found these little wood painted Earth’s and figured they would work since I was just going to paint over them.
Step Two: PAINT! Mine took a couple coats since it was a lighter color.
Step Three: When your paint is dry, pipe a ring of Gorilla glue around the top of your candlesticks and center base of jars onto them. Hold firmly into place for a few minutes while the glue sets.
Step Four: Once glue has fully dried, screw on lids to enjoy the finished product!
I just love them!
Step Five: Fill jars... I filled mine with jelly beans, M&M's, and Robin Eggs for Easter.

You can fill your jars with pretty much anything your heart desires! Fancy them up with bows too. They are great for entertaining or home decor! You can paint them any color to match your kitchen or home and leave them up all year. Fill them at each holiday with special treats : Valentines Day – conversation hearts, Halloween – candy corn, and so on. I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and please feel free to comment or share! Also be sure to check back at A Blissful Nest soon for more great tips, parties, and giveaways!