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.

Clay Nameplate Earrings

Materials:
*Gold clay
*Small letter stamps
*Knife
*Rolling pin (or suitable substitute)
*Toothpick
*Ear wires
*Round nosed pliers

Directions:
*Roll out clay to make a thin, flat sheet.
*Stamp the desired name or word into the clay sheet twice.
*Using the knife, cut out a rectangle around the words, leaving a little extra clay at the top of each rectangle.
*Poke a hole into the top of each rectangle with a toothpick.
*Bake clay in the oven according to the directions on the packaging.
*Once the clay is cool, add ear wires.

Bottle Cap Refrigerator Magnet

     These magnets are adorable, easy to make, and are a great way to use up any bottle caps you have kicking around.  It's a great craft for all ages.  I used to make them with my mom when I was a kid.

Materials:
*Bottle caps
*Patterned paper
*Mod Podge
*Self-adhesive magnetic backing
*Pencil
*Scissors
*Paintbrush

Directions:
*Place the bottle cap onto the patterned paper and trace around it to form a circle.
*Cut out the circle.  Check to see if it will fit inside the bottle cap.  If not, trim it a little more until it fits.
*Coat the inside of the bottle cap with a layer of Mod Podge to even out any unevenness in the bottom of the cap.  Set it aside to dry for 24 hours.
*Once it is dry, dab some more Mod Podge across the bottom of the bottle cap and add the picture.  You can then either coat the photo with a layer of Mod Podge or leave it as is.  Set it aside to dry.
*Once it's dry, add a piece of magnetic backing to the back of the bottle cap.

Whimsical Spring Floral Arrangement

It's finally starting to feel like spring here in Maine!  I got the idea for this bouquet from this post from Fave Crafts.

Duct Tape "Dandelion"

Materials:
*Duct tape
*Measuring tape
*Thick gauge floral wire
*Scissors
*Wire cutters

Directions:
*Cut off a strip of duct tape about 18" in length.
*Fold it over (the hot dog way) almost in half so that about 1/4" of tape is left unattached.
*Cut slits in the tape almost all the way down to the unattached portion to create a fringe.
*Cut off a length of floral wire and wrap the duct tape around one end.
*Gently push on the petals to open the flower.

Large Sequin Flowers

Materials:
*Large sequins
*Medium sequins
*All purpose adhesive
*Wire

Directions:
*Take three large sequins and glue a medium sequin into the center of each one.
*Cut off three sections of wire of varying lengths and attach a large sequin to each one.
*Twist together the three wires to create a branch.

Sparkly Pom Pom Flowers

Materials:
*Sparkly pom poms
*All purpose adhesive
*Thick gauge green floral wire

Directions:
*Cut off a length of floral wire.
*Glue a pom pom to the top of the wire.

Hearts and Flowers Branch

Materials:
*Artificial floral branch
*Patterned paper
*Heart punch
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Punch out hearts from the patterned paper and glue them to the artificial floral branch.

Glittery Flower

Materials:
*Artificial flower
*Glitter
*Glue

Directions:
*Coat the tops of the petals of the flower in glue.
*Pour glitter over the glue.  Set aside to dry.
*Once dry, shake off any excess glitter.

Butterfly

See my Spring Butterfly Bookmarks post to find out how to make this lovely butterfly.

Putting it All Together:

Materials:
*Oversize plastic cup
*Cone shaped Styrofoam
*Mini pinwheels

Directions:
*Fit Styrofoam inside cup.  Mine fit perfectly as it was, but depending on the size and shape of your cup, you may have to trim the Styrofoam some.
*Stick flowers and pinwheels into the Styrofoam.
*Glue the butterfly to one of the flowers.