Not Your Ordinary Face Painting!

Next time you consider hiring a professional face painter for your child’s birthday party, think beyond the common ‘cheek art’ specialists and hire a true artisan – like our friend Elizabeth Jordan at Magic City Face Art.

They recently painted veritable ark of God’s creatures onto the faces of a wait staff serving at a Noah’s Ark themed event. These images tell it all!

The imaginative talent of these artists reaches far beyond tiny rainbows and balloon bouquets – and would thrill party goers young and old. See more photos on their website at http://www.magiccityfaceart.com/

Beary Easy Glittery Animal Ears

Several friends who saw pictures of the recent MerryB Event, Peyton’s Teddy Bear Picnic, have been surprised by how easy it was to make the glittery bear ears all the girls we wearing. So I thought I share the directions with you!

First, get pre-glittered foam visors like these (in pink) from your local craft store. These are usually about $1.25 and come ‘ready-to-wear’.

Your guests will be wearing these visors like crowns above the forehead instead of like hats on the forehead so keep that in mind during the following steps.

Next, create a template by tracing an outline of the visor on construction paper and cut it out.

On the visor template, pencil in a sample shape of the ears taking into account distance from one another and positioning on the head. (Hint: put the visor on your child to get approximate placement for the ears). Be sure to keep a connection across the top of the head / between the ears so the template doesn’t fall apart (similar to a girls headband).

Fold the template in half and cut along one side of your pattern, making sure not to cut it entirely in half. This should render a symmetrical template you can use to trim the visors. You may need to repeat this step to get the ears just right.

With the template on top, align the visor and the bear ears template together and fold them both in half. Trim away the excess foam – again making sure to leave a band to connect the ears. You should have a perfectly adorable bear ear shaped visor.

Using a sharpie (I used black, but you could use brown or any other color), sketch the inner ear shape on the glittery ears. I feathered in a few whispy hairs for added effect. And you’re done! Writing these instructions was probably harder than creating the ears.

These directions could be adapted for any number of animals–think cats, horses, bunnies!

May the Force Be With Me!

According to my son, who will turn seven in April, there is a Star Wars themed birthday party in my future. I loved the original movie... or rather the first but technically the fourth movie ... The 1976 Star Wars was a favorite of mine, so I'm looking forward to planning the festivities.

Ever the planner, I did a quick search of the web for ideas and uncovered these cute R2D2 cupcakes at Sugar & Meringue. A stand-out among ordinary cupcakes topped with plastic Darth Vaders and Storm Troopers, the R2D2 is sure to be a hit with my little jedi.

I'll be bringing this picture to the bakery when it's time to place my order!

Move Over Mylar – Make Room for Monogram Balloons

According to our friends at Bama Balloons, more and more brides are requesting monogrammed balloons for wedding décor. We thought why not enhance a child’s birthday with them as well?

You can special order any color combination through Bama Balloons. And if you want to add something truly spectacular to your child’s party, talk to them about creating a custom balloon structure to match your theme. They design balloon sculptures that will knock the socks off the birthday boy and his guests! They created a gorgeous garden canopy for us for Peyton's Teddy Bear Picnic.

Check out more pictures on the Bama Balloons website to see how talented they are!