Aug
2013

Free Printable Airplane Garland Template

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Free Printables

Airplane GarlandDecorating with Planes

Do you live with a little aviator?  If so, an airplane garland is the easiest and cheapest way to decorate his room with a touch of plane décor.    He can even help you make it!  All you need is cardstock, a hole puncher, ribbon and a pair of pinking shears.  To get the consistent airplane shape I used a Wilton airplane cookie cutter as my “template”.  If you can’t find this cookie cutter, I traced if for you.  Just click on the Airplane template link below and print it out.  I would recommend printing it on cardstock.  It’ll make it easier to use it as a template.

Airplane template

Five Steps to Make an Airplane Garland:

  1. Trace the airplane cookie cutter or template on to cardstock.
  2. Cut out the airplane shapes.
  3. Punch one hole on front of each plane and one hole on the back of each plane.
  4. Cut ribbon.
  5. Tie the planes together with the ribbon.

DSC_2183At Gavin’s 6th birthday party, I used this garland on the front of the dessert table. His window valance is a dark navy, so the garland also worked perfectly in his room.  Since then, he’s painted the orange plane you see hanging in this picture.

Now Gavin and I would like to make an Orange, White and Blue Airplane Garland for our new favorite Cropduster, Dusty!

If you’re looking for a fantastic deal on Disney’s “Planes” toys. The Disney Store is running a wonderful sale on their “Planes” toys. Here’s the link to take you straight there!
Online Exclusive. For a limited time, 40% off high-flying favorites from Disney’s Planes at Disney Store!

 


Aug
2013

“PLANES” Cookie Pops

categories: Disney-Inspired Treats

Dusty cookie popsChocolate Covered Nutter Butter Plane’s Inspired Dusty Cookie Pops!

I’m certain everyone knows by now that my household is pretty excited about this weekend’s premiere of Disney’s “Planes”.  So in celebration of the premiere this week we are having some High Flying Fun!  Last night, I decided to try to turn a Nutter Butter Cookie into the face and nose of Dusty the crop duster lead character of Planes.  Pictured above is my end result.  If you’d like to make a Cookie Pop Dusty, these are the steps that I took, including a few photos that I took along the way.

  1. Gather all your supplies.  I used white and orange chocolate melts, black icing coloring, plastic sandwich bags, scissors, a skewer, wax paper, pencil and one piece of paper, white Dutch mints, mini blue M&M’s, cookie pop sticks and Nutter Butter Cookies.
  2. There are two ways to make this cookie, with or without the cookie pop stick.  If you do not want your Dusty cookies on a stick, then skip this step.  If you would like to make the cookie pop version, then you’ll start by attaching the stick to the cookie.  To do this, gently separate the Nutter Butter cookie by sliding the two piece apart.  Then melt your chocolate wafers.  It doesn’t matter which color chocolate you use. Take your cookie stick and dip the top third of the stick within the melted chocolate.  Lay the dipped portion of the stick on top of the center of the opened cookie.  Gently put the cookie back together, with the stick in the center.  Place them in the refrigerator for five minutes.  This will allow the chocolate to harden around the cookie pop stick.
  3. For those of you that chose to skip the cookie pop stick this will be your first step.  Dip your Nutter Butters half way into the orange chocolate and lay them on top of a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  If you’re making the cookie pop version, dunk the entire Nutter Butter in white chocolate first .  Then let them harden on the wax paper.Orange half dipped Nutterbutters
  4. Once the chocolate has hardened, move onto dipping the bottom half white.  Cookie Pop version, this is when you would dip the top in orange chocolate.  Below is a photo of how your cookies should look.DSC_2178
  5. Next, dip your skewer in the white chocolate and draw Dusty’s white face directly in the middle of the orange part of your cookie.  Allow this to dry for a couple of minutes.
  6. Take two mini M&M’s and place them on the bottom of white face that you drew.
  7. Now to make the propellers!   On a piece of paper, draw your propellers. FYI- Dusty has three blades.  Place the drawing in between your wax paper and your cookie sheet.  You’re going to use this drawing as a guide for making the propellers in chocolate.  At this point, you’ll most likely have to melt your white chocolate again.  After melting, I scooped the chocolate into a sandwich bag and added a touch of black icing coloring.  Work the black dye into the white chocolate by kneading the bag between your fingers.  This will turn it into a silver color.  Cut a small snip out of a bottom corner of the bag and start piping the propellers.  After making the blades, add a Dutch mint to the top.  You might have to dip the mint in additional chocolate to make it stick.  Move the paper along as a guide for each propeller. Let them dry for at least five minutes before moving to the next step.
  8.   Add a small dab to the bottom of the propeller and place it in the center where the orange and white chocolate touch.  Make sure you don’t block Dusty’s eyes.
  9. Let the entire cookie set for a few minutes  You’re done!

DSC_2191Victoria enjoyed few bites!

These cookie pops are perfect for a Planes party or a special treat!  I do want to caution you that these cookies are very sweet. Shortly after this photo was taken, Victoria shared the rest of the cookie with others. It’s a little too much chocolate for a two-year old aviator.  As you can see, she enjoyed it!


Aug
2013

Airplanes Birthday Party

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Disney-Inspired Party Planning

Sept. 2012-May 2013 273Flying Fun!

This week, the kids and I are so excited that Disney’s “Planes” premieres in theatres on Friday, August 9th. I don’t know about your kids but my son, Gavin, has been talking about the film’s release for months.  Having been a plane enthusiast since the young age of one, this year Gavin really wanted to have a Disney’s “Planes” themed birthday party.  Well, Gavin was born two months premature and let me say, if he had gone full term then the Disney “Planes” supplies might have been out in time for this party!  Regardless, there was not a single “Planes” product available when I was planning his party and at that point, other than what was said in the original preview we knew little about the film.  So, the party theme was tweaked a bit and was transformed into a “Flying” theme.  This also gave me the opportunity to be creative with planning his special day around him, instead of a specific character. With the theatre release of Disney’s “Planes” this summer, I’m certain quite a few more children will also want to have a “Planes” birthday party this year.

Today, I thought I’d share some of the details of my son’s “Flying” party that you could incorporate into a Disney’s “Planes” Inspired Party.

Check In Desk (Presents!)Check In Table (Present Table)

Kids and Parents TableParents and Kids Table

I wanted to do a kids table but attending the party were a lot of small children that needed Mom or Dad’s help to eat.  I decided to create runway style seating that included cloud place mat settings for parents and their children. At each child’s cloud flew a Match Box plane with a banner attached to it that said the child’s name.  At the head of the table, blocked by the balloons in this photo, was a control tower.

 Flight TrainingActivities

Activities of the day included Flight Training, which involved making, decorating and flying paper airplanes.  Aviators also completed Plane Maintenance, a.k.a. painting their own wooden plane.  This station was featured in the first photo of this blog post.  At the end of the party, we brought the kids outside and launched rockets.

Juice Boxes Chocolate dipped plane cookies

Plane Birthday CakeFlight Inspired Food

There were two food areas, a Food Court and the Pilot’s Lounge.  In the Food Court, we offered party guests a buffet of Gavin’s favorite food, Pizza.  There was Chicken Wingman Pizza, Broccoli and Alfredo Flying Pizza, Flying High Cheese Pizza Pies, Pepperoni Pie in the Sky and Ham and Cheesy Flight Attendants Pizza.  In addition we had prepackaged chips, like you’d find in a food court, plane propellers (fruit on a skewer) and Jet Fuel (a variety of drinks).

At the Pilot’s Lounge is where all the goodies, including cake, could be found.  The photos above show a few items offered, chocolate-dipped airplane sugar cookies, juice boxes and the birthday boy’s cake.

Guest Gift Bag "Baggage Claim" TableBaggage Claim (Favor bags for babies, kids and adults)

Before Gavin’s guests left the party, they headed over to collect their baggage (favor bag).  The babies that attended took their personalized mini luggage filled with a travel size baby body wash.  Kids, two years old and above, were given one of the larger brown luggage pieces, shown in the middle of the table.  Each luggage piece had a personalized luggage tag and thank you note.  Inside was enough room for their painted plane, paper airplane, Match Box plane, and some surprises, such as a plane kite and a chocolate plane lollipop.  The adults at the party left with their “In Flight” peanuts and a thank you note.

In Flight PeanutsI’d like to thank Kerri Nichols for the wonderful Bi-Plane cake and Jeff, of Jeff D’Angelo’s Design Group, for the use of the vintage luggage pieces. Find out more about Jeff D’Angelo’s Design Group at:

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeff-DAngelos-Design-Group/132909703465772

If your child asks for a Disney’s Planes birthday party this year, I hope these “Flying” party ideas will help you plan a party that Soars to Spectacular!


Aug
2013

Back to School Craft

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts

Ducktape DisneyTurn ordinary pencils into Disney pencils in less than a minute!

Popular with children of all ages, Duck Tape creations have taken over the crafting world.  Honestly, I haven’t a clue how to make the Duck Tape detailed works of art that I see on display at our local craft store.  However, using it to spruce up school supplies is not only fun, but fast and simple.  I encourage you to take your child to a craft store and have him pick out a color or printed pattern Duck Tape roll and let him transform his folders, notebooks,  and pencils.

photo (29)Duck Tape Brand has three Disney themed offerings, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse and Tinkerbell.  I purchased the Minnie Mouse Duck Tape to decorate my daughter’s $1 flash card case and over sized Pre-K pencils.  The pencils took less than one minute to cover!  What’s fantastic about this product is that it is so user friendly that my six year old can enjoy using it to decorate his school supplies too.

Have you ever used Duck Tape to make a Disney creation?  I’d love to see it and share it on our Facebook page!


Aug
2013

Mickey Mouse Topiary

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Disney-Inspired Party Planning

TopiaryThere are Five Simple Steps to Make a Mickey Ribbon Topiary

On Monday, I shared with you my daughter and nephew’s Mickey and Minnie Mouse Flower and Garden Birthday Party.  One of the décor items that I made for the party was the topiary that is pictured above.  I didn’t invent the concept of a Mickey Mouse Topiary, nor did I make the World’s Greatest Version of a Mickey Mouse Topiary.  However, I did make a lot of mistakes when making this craft and I’d like to share them with you, so your topiary will be simply perfect.

Before I share my “earned knowledge”, here are the basic five steps for making the Mickey Mouse Inspired Ribbon Topiary:

  1. Purchase supplies: You will need three Styrofoam spheres (your choice in size, as long as there are two small spheres and one large sphere), ribbon of your choice, sewing pins, a wooden dowel for the topiary to attach to the base, white paint to use on the dowel, one cookie pop stick cut in half, a terra-cotta pot for the base and Styrofoam for the interior of the base where the dowel will anchor.
  2. Cover the spheres with ribbon and attach the ears: Cut your ribbon into 2″ strips.  Loop the ribbon and pin it into one of the smaller spheres. Continue to do this until you’ve filled almost all of the sphere, except for the bottom.  This is where you will anchor it into the larger sphere by using half of your cookie pop stick. Continue to fill the second small sphere and then anchor it with the other half of the cookie pop stick.  Now fill the large sphere the same way, except fill the entire sphere including the bottom.
  3. Decide the height of your topiary and prepare the dowel:   Keep in mind it will need to be inserted into the base of the pot and also through the largest sphere.  Then cut the dowel and paint it accordingly.
  4. Secure the dowel:  Insert the painted wooden dowel into the base filled with a Styrofoam insert.
  5. Secure the Mickey Mouse Head:  Gently, push the completed Mickey Mouse shaped topiary down as far as you can onto the dowel without it coming out the top of the Mickey Mouse head.

Now for the bits of knowledge you should know before you start each step:

minnie mouse inspired topiarySupplies: When choosing your Styrofoam spheres and terra-cotta pot realize that once you put your ribbon and pins on the sphere two things happen.  The spheres become significantly larger and heavier. Notice in the photo the differences between the two ears.  The terra-cotta pot that you chose for the base should be heavy enough to support your topiary; otherwise your topiary is going to tip over.

Ribbon: When you’re choosing your topiary’s color scheme keep it simple if you’re planning on using printed ribbons.  I found that five different ribbons made the topiary eye-catching, yet keeping the same color scheme of black, white and pink made the look uniform.  I would suggest Grosgrain ribbon since it won’t fray as much when you’re pinning it.  What’s really important is that you purchase enough ribbon.  Half way through this project I ran out of the Minnie Mouse ribbon and had to go out of the area to purchase more.  Also keep in mind that wider ribbon will cover more space than a narrow ribbon and plan accordingly.DSC_2165

Applying Ribbon: I found putting the three spheres together before starting the ribbon made it easier to keep his ears looking symmetrical.  Once that was done, I took each ear off to apply the ribbon.  Make sure you leave room for the ears to rest on the large Styrofoam sphere.  See the photo above for my example of how the base of the finished ears looked before putting them on the larger sphere.

Height:  Depending on the size of the base, wooden dowel and finished Mickey Mouse head, you might have to keep the topiary rather low.  Several of my initial attempts to secure the topiary to the base failed because it would tip over.

Inserting the Dowel:  Keep the amount of times you take the spheres off of the dowels to a minimum.  The more times you take the topiary off of the dowel the less secure the finished product will be.

Environment:  Most importantly, always plan for weather.  Wind will knock this centerpiece over.  If you’re having an outdoor event that is exposed to the wind, I would suggest a small topiary.

With these added pieces of knowledge you’re on your way to making a perfect Mickey Mouse Topiary that will wow your guests at your next Disney Party!