DIY Paper Lantern Hot Air Balloons

I just love seeing hot air balloons floating up in the sky.  They are so beautiful!  I wanted to recreate that beauty at home, and made some gorgeous colorful hot air balloons out of paper lanterns.  They really are very easy to put together, and look great in a nursery, child's room, or as party decor!

I'm sharing my fun tutorial today over on the Darice blog Live. Craft. Love.  I'd love for you to check it out and leave a comment.

Have a great day!

xo, Laura

DIY Lighted Marquee Letters

I just love the look of those large beautiful marquee letters with round lights inside each letter.  I love them so much in fact, I made my own mini set!

These letters look great as a decoration for a party, or even just to add a little something to your decor at home!  You can check out the full tutorial on my first design team post on Darice's blog, Live. Craft. Love.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

xo, Laura

DIY Candy Dish {Made for Just $2}

I love throwing parties and entertaining family and friends, and today I'm sharing with you a great way I came up with to serve candy (or anything else) in a pretty pedestal bowl with a stand that can be customized in any color! 

Want to know the best part?  Each candy bowl on a stand can be made for only $2!  Cool, right?  These little dishes are the perfect holders for serving candy at parties, entertaining, decoration, or just for snacking on at home!  You can fill it with anything, too, it doesn't have to be just candy…. there's endless possibilities!  My friends at Krylon sent me a big box of free paint to play with, so I have been doing lots of painting this week, and can't wait to share more fun crafts with you!

Here are the easy directions!  These dishes do come with a warning- "Highly Addictive," because once you make one, you're going to want to keep going and making more!  You have been warned.

Supplies: 

• Small- medium-glass bowl (Check your local dollar store- my bowl was only $1)
• Candlestick (Also from the dollar store for just $1)
• Spray paint in your preferred color (I used Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze, one of my favorite Krylon colors!)
• E6000 adhesive, or another strong adhesive or glue

1.  Spray paint the top, bottom, and sides of the candlestick.  Be sure to spray in multiple thin coats, which will allow for better coverage.  

2.  Once the paint is dry, use some E600 to trace a thin ring of adhesive around the top of the candlestick.  Don't use too much glue- you don't want it oozing out from the candlestick.

Let dry according to the directions on the glue that you use, and voila, a beautiful little glass candy dish that matches your home or party decor!  And for only $2?  As Martha would say, "It's a good thing." ;)

Happy crafting!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

How to Make Disney UP Wilderness Explorer Badges

Last week I shared with you the Disney UP-themed event for church that I put together.  One of my favorite crafts/projects from that night is the Wilderness Explorer sash and badges that I made to sit out on one of the tables.  Remember the cute boy Russell from the movie, and the sash with badges that he wore?  This is a replica of that, complete with the same badge designs that he wore!

This DIY sash is perfect for a Russell Halloween costume, an UP themed party costume or decoration, or even just for fun!  It was not hard, but took a little bit of time.  I found Pixar's Wilderness Explorer badges online and printed had them printed at the copy store onto thick photo paper.  I used this tutorial here as my inspiration, but made a few changes.

Supplies:

• Badges (printed onto thick cardstock or photo paper)
• Mod Podge (I used Matte)
• Craft foam
• Scissors
• Foam brush
• Adhesive
• Dark brown felt
• Glue gun

First I had the badges printed at the copy store.

I carefully cut out each badge, then glued it onto a thin strip of craft foam.  Using a foam brush, I brushed on a thin layer of Mod Podge to protect the paper badges and make them more durable.  Then I cut out each individual badge from the foam.  The grape soda badge was a favor left over from an UP birthday party we went to last year.  So glad I saved it!

Next I used my son and measured the brown felt, and cut out two long strips.  I glued the strips together with the glue gun (yay for no sewing!) to look like a sash.  I then glued all of the badges onto the sash, leaving a spot for the grape soda badge of course!

My son begged me to keep the sash, because he loved how it looked.  It was pretty easy to put together, too, which is always a plus!  So how would you use these cute little badges?

You can check out more photos from the event, including a sky backdrop, UP garland, painted paper mach houses, and lots of balloons!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Disney UP Themed New Beginnings Program

I was recently asked to put together a program for the 12-18 year old girls at our church called New Beginnings.  I decided to go with a Disney UP themed evening after seeing these two fun programs here and here, and because it's a lot more fun for everyone when have a great theme!  Many of the ideas I used came from these two sites, and many I came up with on my own.

I wanted to share what I did with you, because a lot of these ideas can be applied to any UP themed party, whether it's a birthday party, a baby shower, bridal shower, etc… the sky is the limit!  ;)

The photos taken from that night were taken at night in a church building when I was scurrying around trying to make everything perfect, so please keep that in mind :)

I bought some sky and clouds butcher paper from here that worked perfectly as a backdrop for the evening and the decorations.  I have a large PVC stand that my husband and I came up with for our party backdrops, and it worked perfectly with the cloud paper!

I found the cute picture of Russell, the boy from the movie, and added the words "It's UP to you to Come Unto Christ."  This is one of the ways that I tied the UP movie theme to our Young Womens New Beginnings Program.

I made Russell's little Wilderness Explorer sash and badges, too, just for fun, and will be sharing an easy tutorial soon on how I made it!

The girls each got a small bag of colorful gum balls with the same Russell picture and words as the above sign.

I love this easy garland I put together for the program using Party City paper fans, these Pixar Retro UP Poster Art prints, and some string.  It added a lot of color and added to the overall UP theme, too.

All of the leaders helped me out and brought some delicious treats for dessert!  I forgot to push the table back up against the sky paper until halfway through the night, so ignore that little space in between the table and the paper.

One of my favorite decorations of the night were the brightly colored paper mache houses I spray painted in bright pastel Krylon spray paint colors.  I used the colors Blue Ocean Breeze, Gum Drop, and Satin Meringue to paint each of the 6 houses.  

I attached balloons to all of the houses, and used some on the houses on our main table, and some as centerpieces on the round tables we used.  

Because I didn't have enough houses to use on each table, I also used grape Crush soda on the other tables, with balloons tied to them, UP retro style posters leaned up against them, and paper fans lying by them on the table.

I feel like the evening was a great success, and everything went really well.  The girls, leaders, and parents all loved the theme, and it was a lot of fun to put together!

Oh, and I almost forgot… here's one of the photos I put on Instagram taken at church, when I passed out the girls' invitations.  They LOVED them!!  I designed some cute invitations with a house on them floating with tons of balloons on the top, and a blue sky background.  I attached the invitations to each balloon (that I filled up during the second hour of church), and passed out to the girls at the end.  I wanted them to get excited about coming, and I think these balloon invitations did just that!

xo, Laura

Sharing here: Show + Tell

Creative Oscars Party Ideas + Film Reel Cupcakes

I am a member of the World Market Trendsetter Tribe.  This Oscars Party is brought to you by World Market as part of their Movie Lovers Sweepstakes. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.  #MovieLoversSweeps

Don't you just love watching the Academy Awards?  Whether you watch it to critique the fashion and style on the red carpet, to catch a glimpse of your favorite actor or actress, or to see if your favorite movie wins, there is something for everyone!

I've been busy creating some great ways for you to enjoy the Oscars this year with family and/or friends by throwing an Oscars viewing party!  I'll be sharing tons of fun food, drink, invitation, ballot, and decorating ideas for you party to be amazing and worthy of the red carpet!

To get ready for my Oscar party, I went shopping where I always go to prep for a party- World Market!  World Market so many great dishes and party essentials that are perfect for entertaining, as well as lots of gourmet food and drinks from around the world.  

The first thing you need when prepping for an Oscars viewing party are invitations.  I created these free printable Oscar party invitations for you to download, print, and pass out to your party guests!  

I created them to look like tickets, and in this post I show you how to make a glittery gold envelope to put them in.

Once the invitations are passed out, it's time to go shopping for food and some party dishes!  I wanted this party to look great, but be easy to put together. 

One of my favorite finds at World Market was this retro popcorn maker, which looks amazing, and is just perfect for the Academy Awards since the movies and popcorn go hand in hand.  

World Market also sells some cute paper popcorn boxes that perfectly match the popcorn maker…. gotta' love that! 

I wanted to serve cupcakes to match the theme, so I decided to go with some gold film reel cupcakes made from licorice wheels.   

The wheels look like film reels, especially when you unroll the end just a bit.  I originally saw the idea here, but I swithced them up a bit.  Here's how I made them: 

Gold Film Reel Cupcakes:

Supplies:

• EDIBLE gold spray paint (from the craft store)
• Store bought or home-made cupcakes
• Licorice wheels (from World Market) 

To give the edible film reels some sparkle and shine, spray them with edible gold paint.  Spray the wheels and top of the cupcakes with the gold paint just like you would with regular spray paint.  You might need a couple coats of paint on the licorice wheels.

Place one "film reel" on the top of each cupcake.  I just love the way they turned out!!

Another fun treat to serve are these tuxedo chocolate covered almonds.  They are so impressive to serve, but I promise they aren't as hard as they look to make!  

Simply start with some World Market chocolate covered almonds, and follow the directions in my tutorial to make the cutest little almonds, all dressed up in a suit and tie.  You're basically just painting on a white triangle for the shirt, a tiny black bow tie, and a couple little dots for buttons with chocolate bark or melts and a toothpick.

I found these small tuxedo boxes that were perfect for holding treats for guests!

While watching the Oscars you have to have a little bubbly, so I picked up some of my favorite orange mango passion fruit Italian soda and mixed it with ginger ale for a delicious drink that looked amazing in the Madison champagne flutes.  These glasses look amazing, and would you believe that they only cost $1.99 each?  You can bet that I stocked up!

To decorate make my food table, I spray painted some regular tickets from the party store (originally green) a pretty gold color, and attached them to the front of my cake plate and serving platters with tape.  I also used some metallic gold shreds on a platter to hold the drinks.  Both of these decorations added a lot to the table without taking a lot of time and effort or costing a lot of money.

When your guests arrive for your Oscar party, you can have them fill out this free printable 2014 Oscar ballot and make their picks for the top categories of the Oscars.  

They can do it for fun, or you can always have a prize for the winner at the end of the Academy Awards!  A fun prize would be an assortment of some of World Market's delicious and unique chocolate bars.  Their strawberry and champagne and sea salt dark chocolate bars are soooo good!  The blood orange milk chocolate bar is next on my list to try.

Are you a movie lover too?  World Market is giving away FREE movies for a year ($1600 Fandango gift card), plus a $1,000 World Market gift card!  Be sure to enter World Market's Movie Lovers Sweepstakes for a chance to win the grand prize package.  There are also three awesome runner up prizes which include a $500 Fandango gift card and a $500 World Market gift card!  

You can earn bonus entries for liking World Market's Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr brand pages for more chances to win.  Good luck!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Sharing here:  Show and Tell

2014 Printable Oscar Ballot

It's Oscars Week here on Make Life Lovely, and today I'm sharing a 2014 Printable Oscar Ballot that you can use to play along during the Academy Awards and see how close you were to picking the winners!

You can play along and vote for your favorites just for fun, or you could have a prize at the end for the big winner.

If you're throwing a party or get together you don't want to miss the free printable Oscars invitations that I shared with you yesterday, plus the directions on how to make a gorgeous sparkly gold glitter envelope to put it in!

Click here to download the 2014 Printable Oscar Ballot

(2 per page)

Enjoy!  If you missed any of the Oscars fun this week, here are some of the highlights!

I teamed up with World Market to create a fun Oscars Viewing Party!  

One of my favorite ideas are these gold film reel cupcakes that are so quick and easy to put together.  When you use store-bought cupcakes, you can have these guys ready in only 5 minutes!

Chocolate covered almonds look and taste even better when they're all dressed up for the party in tiny chocolate tuxedos!  These little guys are so addicting…

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Sharing here:  Show and Tell