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August 23, 2012 4 Comments

back to school photography ideas

Every year, until this year, I scrambled around the first morning of school trying to capture a few quick pictures before rushing the kids into the car and making it to school on time. Not this year! This year, we had a mini photo shoot the day before. Much less stress, the kids’ eyes weren’t puffy from just waking up, they didn’t mind holding my props {grin}… it was wonderful. Plus, since my oldest has to wear a uniform to school, this gave him an opportunity to show his own style a bit.

We started with chalk and the driveway. I saw an idea on Pinterest, but the child was laying down and I didn’t really want them on the ground. Instead I wrote the word on the drive (ours is a bit slanted), grabbed my hubby’s eight ft. ladder, positioned myself downhill and above the boys. I really loved how they turned out!

My oldest wanted to stop and draw for a while, so I got a shot of that too. Another reason to do this the day before!

Next we moved on to chalk and slate. My neighbor got these from an old school house roof and they worked perfectly for one of my favorites, asking them what they want to be when they grow up. This year my Kindergartner chose a classic little boy answer, Fireman. As for my oldest, the answer has been scientist for two years and this year he’s honed his passion from science in general to science and math for engineering. I wonder what other loves they’ll discover this year that will mold their dreams…

They also had their own ideas of course. They wanted to walk the drive and then race on scooters. It was actually a fun little shoot. No tears, no time constraints, just fun.

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and in this case, celebrate back to school!

Join The Celebration Shoppe on facebook, sign-up for the daily ideas to come right to your inbox (a box in the right-side navigation bar), follow us on twitter, pinterest and on instagram at @thecelebrationshoppe

what I made Wednesday link party

Hey ladies! It’s that time again! Time to show off how talented you all are. But before we get started, let’s have a look at a fun share from the last link up.

Isn’t this Jungle Baby Shower from Nestling adorable?! Hop over and visit Rachel for more pictures and party ideas. And thank you Rachel for sharing!

Okay, just a few rules for today’s link up:

Be generous and visit some of the others that have linked up ideas. And you can even be super sweet and leave a comment! We all LOVE comments!
Link back to the party with my 125×125 button. Just cut and paste the HTML code (found here) into the bottom of your original post. By the way, we’re making new ones… they need to be cuter! {grin} OR, post a nice text link like I’m sharing my idea on The Celebration Shoppe’s What I Made Wednesday link party!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

DIY moving party favor boxes

Hello there! It’s Deanna, event designer and editor of Mirabelle Creations, again! I’m so happy to be back here at The Celebration Shoppe, sharing an easy party favor packaging idea. I recently co-hosted a Going Away party for a friend who was moving out of state. For party favors, I decided to package the favors like little moving boxes.

The moving boxes were filled with a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds and homemade dark chocolate cashew bark. Additionally, a sweet card was added to the box, which read, “Flowers make the world colorful, bright and fun, just like Will & Andrea. Think fondly of them as these bloom.” The Forget-Me-Not seeds were a great favor for our Going Away party because they are both inexpensive and sentimental!

And if you have a college student heading back, these little boxes would be a creative way to wrap up a special little farewell gift!

What you’ll need:

4x4x4 cupcake box or other small box
roll of craft paper
8×11 shipping label
tape
scissors
favor of your choice

And the simple how-to:

I started with 4x4x4 cupcake boxes that I ordered from an online bakery packaging supply store (my resource). It’s my favorite way to package party favors so I ordered a case of 100 boxes! But you can also find them at your local craft store in smaller quantities.

Fold the boxes and fill with the favor of your choice.
Wrap the cupcake box with the craft paper, just like you would gift wrap a present.
Using a word processing program, print moving phrases, such as “This Side Up,” “Fragile,” and “Handle with Care,” onto the 8×11 shipping label. Cut out the labels and attach to the outside of the boxes.

As always, we hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

how to make a paper airplane video

This summer has been amazing and I’m honestly having a hard time with it coming to a close… but before I tear up, I want to share with you the first of hopefully many The Kid’s Perspective videos that my boys are so super tickled about being a part of.

I was blessed with two boys who love to be in front of the camera. Thank goodness, right! My blog would be much less interesting and have far fewer photos if my boys were camera shy! {grin}

So when I mentioned that I was going to start vlogging myself about various craft projects, they started asking if they could make videos of their projects (they’re always making, building, drawing, creating something) and I thought why not start with them… I mean, they’re cute no matter what so I could save myself some angst and learn the ropes with their videos. That’s not terrible of me is it? {wink}

For the very first installment of The Kid’s Perspective, Alex is sharing how to make a flat nosed paper airplane in celebration of National Aviation Day. My uncle, a pilot (and attorney, he’s a super talented overachiever and we all love him dearly!) shared this design with my boys a few months ago and now they make no other kind of paper airplane. They claim, “Uncle Billy’s fly the best and the farthest!”

Yes, my home is often littered in a paper airplane war… {sigh}, and now yours can be too!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

what I made Wednesday link party

Hey ladies! It’s that time again! Time to show off how talented you all are. But before we get started, let’s have a look at a fun share from the last link up.

I just loved this submission by One Creative Housewife. The crayons are so fun, but then the flyaway pedals cinched it! Thanks so much Andrea for sharing with us!

Okay, just a few rules for today’s link up:

Be generous and visit some of the others that have linked up ideas. And you can even be super sweet and leave a comment! We all LOVE comments!
Link back to the party with my 125×125 button. Just cut and paste the HTML code (found here) into the bottom of your original post. By the way, we’re making new ones… they need to be cuter! {grin} OR, post a nice text link like I’m sharing my idea on The Celebration Shoppe’s What I Made Wednesday link party!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

back to school teacher gift + printable

Hello there! I’m Deanna, event designer and editor of Mirabelle Creations. I’m so happy to be here at The Celebration Shoppe, sharing a super simple back to school teacher appreciation craft that you can do with your kiddos!

All teachers love a little something at the beginning of the school year and these Edible School “Glue” Sticks, inspired by the traditional Elmer’s Washable Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks, and fun “So happy to be stuck with you this year!” free printables are a great way to show your appreciation. Plus, they are easy for little hands because they’re simply filled with York Peppermint Pieces candies! But a warning, make sure you have extras because while making these as many candies went into my helpers’ mouths as did into the containers!

The idea for these Edible School “Glue” Sticks came to me last week while shopping for school supplies with my kids and a school supplies themed craft for the teachers seemed like a great way to start off the school-year.

What you’ll need:

Push-Up Pop containers (available on Amazon and Shop Sweet Lulu)
1 ½ inch orange grosgrain ribbon
York Peppermint Pieces
Glue dots or double sided tape
Scissors (scallop circle punch optional)
FREE printable back to school tags
White string or thin ribbon

And here are the simple steps:

Fill the bottom of the push-up-pops container with a layer of blue candies, about ½ inch thick. Fill the remainder of the push-up-pops container with white candies.
Tape the top of the push-up-pops container closed.
Cut two pieces of orange ribbon, the length of the circumference of the container.
Fold one piece of ribbon in half, lengthwise, securing it with glue dots. Attach it around the bottom edge of the push-up-pops container using the glue dots.
Wrap the other piece of ribbon around the top of the push-up-pops, securing to the bottom edge of the container lid. The taller ribbon at the top will mimic the cap of the glue stick.
Print the Edible School “Glue” Stick label on a full sheet of white sticker paper or regular paper and attach with tape.
Print the I’m so happy to be “stuck” with you tag on cardstock. Punch out the tag and attach with string or ribbon.

Now you’re all set to show your teachers how excited you are about this new school year! Enjoy!

And as always, we hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

Join The Celebration Shoppe on facebook, sign-up for the daily ideas to come right to your inbox (a box in the right-side navigation bar), follow us on twitter, pinterest and on instagram at @thecelebrationshoppe

free back to school owl lunch box notes

Here in Ohio we’re only a week away from heading back to school. The kids are getting excited and I’m getting anxious about adhering to a strict schedule again… {smirk}. I’m also gearing up by organizing the house, setting up new ways to monitor homework and papers coming home (there is so much!).

AND, I’m thinking of fun ways to remind them how much I love them throughout the day.

Hop over to my facebook page and

DOWNLOAD your FREE printable OWL LUNCH BOX NOTES NOW

they come bundled with my FREE “MINT TO BE” back to school teacher gift printables.

And make sure you stop back in because I have a few fun things lined up to share with you this week! And as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

shopping back to school style

I’m still a bit in denial. This summer has gone by so quickly and although we’ve had so much fun, my boys are amazingly ready to get back to school. They may change their minds in a week or so, but for now, they’re ready! And let’s face it, getting new clothes, new school supplies, new backpacks, etc…. etc…. etc… {hear the money leaving your bank account}, is exciting!

And each year, to make sure I’m getting the best deals and to keep my boys from having a melt-down because we’re in the store too too long, we tend to shop online before we hit the stores. I also keep tabs on our favorite stores by signing up for their e-mail lists/coupons.

My oldest son is in love with green… green everything {I hope this subsides soon} so he chose a green polo, jeans and skull shoe combo from Old Navy as one of his first picks. For the shoes, he liked the design and I love that they’ll go with almost everything! Plus, through August 15 — my boys sizes in jeans are half price, just $10 a pair!

And he really wants a watch, like this Flex 4D gray watch, this year. I debated because I don’t want him counting the minutes til school is out, but he is 7 3/4… almost a grown man… so I guess it’s time. {grin}

My youngest son loves blue… his big brother chose it for him {smirk} when he was a toddler and it stuck! So he’s loving these DC Mariner Blue Stripe Shirt and DC Navy Chino Shorts with Shark Vans and a “mini” Flex (just a skinnier version of his brother’s pick). And for those brisk days, this Patagonia jacket.

And who said moms didn’t also get a little back to school wear! I’ve been collecting a few things on my Pinterest board, Clothing. You should have a peek… and I should think of a cleverer name for my board!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and in this case, SHOP! Happy Friday everyone!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

little Olympian training party

The Olympics are coming to a close tomorrow and although you can’t catch your favorite summer events on TV for another four years, you can host a little Olympian training party like Lisa of Moore Minutes did for her son’s 10th birthday party! Don’t you love this cake and the orange cotton candy Olympic torches!

One of my favorite details of this party was the RE-energize and RE-hydrate Bar. I love that she balanced the sweets of it being a birthday party with the typical diet of an Olympian in training. And isn’t the “ring” backdrop just perfect!

Here are just a few of the party details in Lisa’s words:

THEME: This party theme focused on little athletes in training for the Olympics. We even had an “athlete station” with rolls of sweat towels and water bottles for the little athletes to re-charge during “training.” The party’s main attraction was a surprise visit from a fitness coach! He came in, taught the kids about wellness and exercise and did a workout with them. After the workout he awarded them with customized awards on our DIY Olympic podiums (wooden cable reel wrapped with blue crepe paper). We also did an art project of designing awards. And finally we played classic outdoor childhood games like a potato sack race.

DECOR: Along with the little athlete table, I set up three other tables.

The first table was called the RE-energize and RE-hydrate Bar. This table was designed for the Little Athletes to line up for AFTER their training workout. It was health-focused with an area with PROTEIN, one with CARBS, and one with FRUITS & VEGGIES. On the side of the table was a beverage wagon with boxed juice, h2o, and V8 juice.

The dessert table was playful and fun, decorated in Olympic colors. It had orange cotton candy Olympic torches and we had extras for each guest to take one home. We also served Ancient Greece Olympic olive wreath cookies. The cake was a simply stated design in gold.

The last table was our Olympic Ring Pizza main lunch table. It also had a three-layer RED, WHITE, and BLUE USA punch that I made and real Olympic torches on either side with giant balloons at each end, in Olympic colors.

FAVORS: Along with the cotton candy Olympic torches, the party guests got to take home their own sweat towel autographed by the special guest fitness coach. The favor buckets held treats that were athletic centered: a whistle, water bottle, Olympic colored socks, Patriotic salt taffy and gold medals.

VENDORS:
Taffie Wishes, world flag felt banner
The Cookie Jar, custom cookies
Sugar Shack, cotton candy torches
Spoonful of Sugar, cake
Banners on the Cheap, party banner

For tons more pictures and details of this fabulous party, hop over to Lisa’s blog Moore Minutes. And as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

back to school photography ideas

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