DIY Pool Noodle Horses

I'm baaack!  Marty, Avery and I just returned from a week vacation from the beach and a very short trip at Disney World.  *sigh*  Why does real life exist and why can't I just live at Disney all the time?

Anyway.  So now it's back to work, back to my dirty house and piles of laundry and back to blogging.  Hooray!

Today's blog post is going to be all about teaching you how to make these bad boys:

For Avery's 3rd birthday, we did a Disney Jr. themed party.  The invitations were Doc McStuffins, some of the decor was Mickey Mouse, her outfit and cake was Sofia the First, so I felt like Sheriff Callie needed to be represented.  The easiest way I could think of was making Sheriff Callie favors.  Sheriff Callie, like every good cowgirl, has a faithful and trusty steed, Sparky.

I decided every little girl at the party would need her own Sparky to ride off on adventures with.  Enter, Pool Noodle Sparky.  Wanna know how to make your own?  Let's do this thing. 

Materials Needed: 

• Pool Noodles
• Knee socks
• Fabric (for mane)
• Felt (for ears)
• Buttons
• Grocery bags
• Ribbon (for reins) 
• Hot glue

Assembling:

1.)  Determine what size you want your horses to be.  For an older child, I would recommend leaving the pool noodles whole.  I was making horses for a bunch of toddlers, so I decided to cut my noodles in half to accommodate shorter legs. :)   (Dollar General had primary colored noodles for only $1. I wanted neon colors, so I paid a little more for mine at Walmart).

2.)  Take one knee high sock and stuff the end of the sock with grocery bags, tissue paper or some other type of filler.  You want the sock to be able to stand on its own once it's put on the noodle.

3.)  Slide the sock onto one end of the pool noodle, stopping at the heel.  This makes it seem as if the sock is separated into the horse's head and neck.

4.)  Start adding the fabric for the horse's mane.  I made mine with strips of fabric cut into pieces that were about 4 inches wide by 1 inch thick.  None of this was measured exactly, just eyeballed.  

I did a variety of colors and patterns that I knew would coordinate with the socks that I had bought.  You could also use tulle, ribbon or a variety of other materials to make the mane. 

I started by taking a piece of my fabric, twisting it in the middle and then gluing it down to the sock directly with hot glue.  Some pieces were easy to attach, others needed a bit more glue to make sure it wasn't about to fall off and leave my horse bald.

I continued on, picking two or three different patterns and varying them down the sock until I was happy with the length of the mane.  

5.)  Next, I attached the ears.  For the ears, I picked two different colors of pink felt and cut two ear shaped pieces out of both colors--one set being slightly smaller than the other (to go inside the bigger set).

To attach the ears, I pinched the bottom of the ears (at the widest part) together and then glued it to the side of the sock.  I just eyeballed this part to and placed the ears where I thought they looked best.

When you're gluing the ears on, make sure you glue each layer to each other, or the ears won't be nice and folded together like you see in the picture.  So, when you're gluing, glue:  1.  The hot pink piece to the sock.  2.  The light pink to the hot pink.  3.  The light pink to each other, where the ear will meet in the middle.  4.  The hot pink to the light pink.  

Clear as mud?  Just put glue in between every single layer of the ear. 

6.)  Glue on eyeballs.  I picked buttons in a variety of shapes and colors for my eyes.  You could use pom-pom balls, googly eyes, or just draw them on.  

7.)  Attach the reins.  I used ribbon that I had laying around the house.  First, make a circle around the end of the horse's "nose."  Glue that on.  Then, attach one side of the ribbon to the circle, pull out the ribbon and loop it around the neck and mane, and back on the other side of the circle on the nose.  Glue those two ends down and you have your reins.

You're done!  I made nine of these beauties and Avery had to test ride every single one.

She would ride it around the room, declare it to be a "good Sparky for her fwiends" and then test the next one.  Avery approved pool noodle horses, y'all.   You're welcome.

Minnie Mouse Highchair

I'm sad.  This is the last of the "Avery's Minnie Mouse Birthday Bash" tutorials I'll be posting.  I hope if you're having a Minnie themed party of your own, you've gotten some ideas for your party too!  So, here it is, the last tutorial:  *drumroll*  a Minnie Mouse highchair (as seen here as my little girl chows down on her birthday cake)!

 I lucked out on this chair.  I had been wanting a cheap highchair for pictures to paint a bright color, like yellow or turquoise, until we decided that Avery would be having a gigantic Minnie Mouse party and this idea was born. 
Wanna know how to make one for yourself?  Here's what you'll need:

• Highchair (obviously)
• Black spraypaint
• Minnie Mouse polkadot fabric
• Foam circles
• Polka dot ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Sandpaper

I found my highchair at Goodwill for.....get ready.....$5.  The legs wobbled a bit and it didn't have a tray to go with it, but it was FIVE DOLLARS.  I could deal.  It was also a little bit dirty.  So, step one was to sand the highchair down to remove all the stickers and junk that littered the arms and seat of this bad boy. 

After sanding, I began to spray paint. It took two coats of black spray paint (I bought the cheap Walmart brand) to cover the whole thing.



When the chair was spray painted and dry, I brought it into my house to add the Minnie skirt along the bottom.  Finding the fabric that perfectly matched Minnie's skirt ended up being the hardest part of this project.  I went to FOUR different fabric stores before I found the perfect print (Thank you JoAnn's Fabric).  I got two yards and it ended up being JUST enough, so get 2 1/2 or 3 to be safe.  I was sweating as I was coming to the end because I really thought I was going to run out.  Here's how to attach the skirt (and if my instructions don't make sense, hopefully the pictures will....I'm a visual person, not a descriptive one). 

Take your hot glue gun and put about an inch worth of glue along the chair and attach the fabric.

Now, put about a quarter of an inch of glue along the end of the fabric that you've just glued to the chair.  Fold the fabric back and glue it down. 

Repeat the above two steps.  You'll be creating a sort of ruffle effect along the entire chair. 

Once you've done a few "ruffles," you'll get the hang of how to do it.  Continue along the entire chair. 

When I first started working, I wanted a floor length "skirt" on my highchair.  Because I didn't get enough fabric, I had to cut it in half to have enough to finish the entire chair.  I like the finished look better, I think.  It's appropriate because Minnie doesn't wear a floor length skirt!

After you've finished the skirt, spray paint the two foam circles black (this will take MULTIPLE coats with a heavy hand because the foam soaks up the paint like crazy).  Then attach with a hot glue gun to the sides or top of your chair.  Glue a matching red and white polka dot bow to one of the ears and you have your very own Minnie Mouse highchair!!

I hope you all have enjoyed the entire Minnie Mouse series!  If you're interested, check out Avery's Minnie birthday invitations and envelopes, canvas bag party favors, personalized Minnie Mouse wreath and Minnie Mouse birthday bash recap (including a Minnie Mouse Cozy Coupe)!  Now, what to do for the 2nd birthday......



Minnie Mouse Initial Wreath

I promised you tutorials on how to make a few of the personalized items that I had included at Avery's birthday party.  I'm just not a "cookie-cutter" kind of party planner.  I'm not all for going to Wal-Mart and buying the package of coordinating plates, cups, napkins, table runners, candles, etc.  I'd rather have a handmade and from the heart kind of party.  I'm not knocking you if that's the kind of party you like to throw.  Lord knows, it's wayyyyy easier than the route I took.  But if you're like me, here's a tutorial on how to make your very own Minnie Mouse Initial Wreath.  It hung on the front door to welcome guests into the party and now is hanging proudly in Avery's room.  Ready to make one for the Minnie fan in your life?  Grab your hot glue gun and let's get started!

Materials needed:

• Styrofoam wreath
• 2 small Styrofoam circles
• Black cardstock paper
• Initial of your choice
• Small circle sponge brush
• Red and white acrylic paint
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun

{step 1}
I started with my Styrofoam wreath and wrapped all the way around with a silk black ribbon to create the base for my wreath.

{step 2} 
After the wreath was wrapped, I took the two smaller Styrofoam circles (that had already been spray painted black) and hot glued them to the top of the wreath as Minnie's ears. 

{step 3} 
Taking the black cardstock paper (I picked glitter paper--thought it looked more "girly"), I cut out two circles that were the same size as the Styrofoam circles and hot glued them onto the front.

{step 4}
I painted my wooden letter A in cherry red to match Minnie's dress.  Of course, Minnie wouldn't be complete without her signature polka dots!  So I took a small circle sponge brush and white acrylic paint and added polka dots all over the letter.

{step 5}
I attached the letter to the wreath and made a bow out of red and white polka dotted ribbon.  It's not in the picture, but I added some leftover ribbon at the top for the wreath to hang from. 

And voila!  Avery now has her own personalized Minnie Mouse wreath.  I'm thinking about making a family sized one to go on the front door now......

Minnie Mouse canvas bags how-to

It's supposed to be an "Organize One Thing Wednesday" kind of day, but  I still have that specific project on my mind and I STILL can't find the materials I need.  Maybe this is the universe telling me that I need to learn how to sew so I can just make the idea myself.  harrumph.

Instead, I'm going to be posting one of MANY tutorials from Avery's Minnie Mouse themed 1st birthday!

This week:  Minnie Mouse canvas tote favor bags!
I knew I wanted to do something a little different than the plastic-favor-bag-picked-up-at-WalMart route for Avery's little friends.  I had a couple of canvas tote bags laying around...and the idea was born! 

Materials Needed:

• Canvas tote
• Black, red and white fabric paint (I prefer Tulip brand)
• Round sponge brush
• Medium sized paint brush
• Pencil
• Cereal bowl
• Small drinking glass

{step 1}
Find two rounded items to use for Minnie's head and ears to trace around.  I chose a cereal bowl and an orange juice glass.

{step 2}
Trace around items with pencil.

{step 3}

Using your medium sized paintbrush and black fabric paint, trace around each edge of the circles.  To make it easier, I squirted the paint out onto a paper plate for easier dipping.

{step 4} 

Fill in each square with the rounded sponge brush.  You could also use the regular paint brush to finish the entire Minnie head, but I found the sponge to be easier. 





{step 5} 
Add the details.  I free handed a big red Minnie Mouse bow and wrote each little girl's name on each of the bags with the white fabric paint.  But this is your bag....get creative!
Inside each bag, I added the standard party favors:  cheap, but fabulous sunglasses, Minnie Mouse bubbles, Minnie ears and a container of Puffs (for the babies).  They were a hit!  Of course, these don't have to just be for parties.  Make one for your little girl to carry to school or to use as a purse.  Or, if you're a grown-up Disney freak like me, make one for yourself!  Use it as a work bag, a diaper bag, a reusable grocery bag....the options are endless!!

Stay tuned for more Minnie Mouse party themed decorations and tutorials!!