Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

     On Sunday I had my Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party, so for the next few weeks (or months) I'll be posting some Alice in Wonderland themed crafts.  Today's post will be an overview of the party so you can get a sense of what it looked like and I'll try to link to each craft as I write the posts.  You may also want to see my earlier post on my Alice in Wonderland charm bracelet.

     First up is the snack table.  This was one of my favorite things about the party.  I really liked the setup and the happy sunflowers are so adorable!

     On the ceiling are some playing card streamers.  I used extra fabric to cover up the printers and then added decorations to the top.  On one of the printers you can see a mouse and a rabbit inside teacups:

     To make the mouse I used the templates and instructions for the "Lavender Dormice" in the book Everything Alice, with some modifications.

     For the White Rabbit, I used the template and instructions for the White Rabbit in the "Wonderland Mobile" in Everything Alice, again with some modifications.  In the book they do some gorgeous embroidery on the rabbit, but I don't know how to embroider things and so I left that off.

     On the other printer you see my key tree and my old stuffed animal cat, David Copperfield, playing the role of Dinah.  I made him a clay name tag with the name "Dinah" on it using the same technique as I did when I made the clay nameplate earrings.

     Here's the crafting table.  We decorated paper "teacups" and made some paper fans.  I found some oversized playing cards at a yard sale a little while back and I taped a few of them to the booth for some added decoration.  It's hard to see from this picture, but I have a clear plastic tablecloth covering the cloth one.  I found that was the perfect way to have a nice tablecloth without having to worry about it getting stained.  On the wall are some Alice in Wonderland themed photos and artwork that I used to replace the regular photos I have hanging on the wall.  You can also see that I kept my whimsical spring floral arrangement and my spring butterfly mobile out for the party.  I thought they went well with the rest of the decor.

     Here are the decorations on the other wall.  Some of them are kind of hard to see, but I'll have better pics in a later post.

     These are the plates, napkins, and straws I used.  They all came from Dollar Tree.  And here are some photos from the party:

     Here are some of the guests being crafty.  Katie is wearing Cheshire Cat ears.

     Here's me as Alice and Brian as the Mad Hatter.

     Trying to give dad bunny ears.

Cake time!

Alice in Wonderland Charm Bracelet

Materials:
*Chain
*Fasteners
*Various charms and beads reminiscent of Wonderland
*Head pins
*Jump rings
*Small vial with a cork
*Glitter
*Paper
*Pen
*Twine
*Scissors
*Round nosed pliers
*Wire cutters
*Needle nosed pliers

Directions:
*Gather together some beads and charms to use for your bracelet.  I used the charms from two old bracelets of mine, plus various beads from my bead box and a small vial.
*Segment off a length of chain slightly longer than the circumference of your wrist.
*Affix one part of a fastener to each end so that when you link together the two pieces of the fastener, you form a closed loop.
*Map out where each bead and charm should go along the chain.
*Begin attaching the charms and beads to the bracelet.  For some of the beads (such as the mushroom, rose, and diamond card ones on my bracelet), you may need to slide the beads onto a headpin, trim off some of the excess metal with wire cutters, and then curl the remaining metal using round nosed pliers to create a loop you can attach to the bracelet.
*For the "Drink Me" bottle, take your small vial and fill it with glitter.
*On the sheet of paper, write the words "Drink Me" in small letters and then cut out the label, leaving some excess paper at the top.
*Using a pin or some other small implement, create a small hole in the top of the label, large enough for you to slide a piece of twine through.
*Slide the twine through the hole and add a jump ring, then tie the twine around the neck of the vial.
*Use the jump ring to affix the bottle to the bracelet.
*For the little photo frame, I used a pic from this site.

A Third Graduation Photo Frame and Tassel Holder

Materials:
*Photo frame
*Commencement program
*Photos
*Ticket
*Brad
*Scissors
*X-acto knife
*Black cardstock
*Mounting tape

Directions:
*Cut out a page of the program, such as the one with your graduate's name.
*Using the X-acto knife, create a small incision in the top of the program on the right side.
*Slide a brad through the incision.  This will be where you'll hang the tassel.
*Crop the photos to size and arrange on the program, along with the commencement ticket.  add some black cardstock to frame the photos if you so choose.
*To highlight your graduate's name, cut out a rectangle from the cardstock about 1/2" longer and 1/2" wider than what would be required to cover the name.
*Cut out a rectangle from the black rectangle using the X-acto knife that is the same length and width as the name.  Use the resulting rectangular frame to highlight the name.

Toilet Paper Tube Bowling

     I found this idea here.  Below are my slightly modified directions.

Materials:
*6 toilet paper tubes
*Duct tape in various colors/patterns
*Red duct tape
*Scissors
*Stress ball

Directions:
*Wrap toilet paper tubes in duct tape.
*Add a red band around the middle of each tube using the red duct tape.
*Use a stress ball or a similarly lightweight ball for the bowling ball.