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

Under the Sea Birthday Party Feature

Hello!  I'm busy trying to finish up last minute valentines for a party we're going to tomorrow, and recovering from the big UP-themed event I planned for our girls and their parents at church last night.  I'll be sharing more details about it soon, but if you follow me on Instagram you have probably already seen a sneak peek of what it looked like…

Here's a couple Instagram shots of the event, called New Beginnings.  If you're not already following me on Instagram, I'd love for you to join along!  I'm not going to lie, Instagram and Pinterest are my favorite forms of social media to use- I just love a  pretty picture! ;)

It was a lot of fun, and as much as I loved planning it, I am breathing a big sigh of relief now that it's over!

I wanted to share with you that my daughter's under the sea party that I shared with you a couple weeks ago is being featured on Smart Party Planning today, so be sure to pop in and check it out, as well as some of the other fun parties that Catherine has shared on her blog!

xo, Laura

DIY Disney FROZEN Gift Basket

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.  #FrozenFun

Have you seen Disney's FROZEN yet?  If you haven't, you have GOT to go!  We took our kids to see FROZEN the day it came to theaters (our usual routine for new Disney movies), and we all LOVED the movie and the amazing songs that were sung.  Of course after seeing the movie my kids wanted the beautiful dolls and FROZEN toys to play with, so I decided to put together a fun gift basket to put under the Christmas tree that they are sure to love!

I love putting together gift baskets because you can tailor everything to the person you are giving the gift too.  In this case, I wanted everything to be FROZEN related, so that meant Disney FROZEN toys, snow, and snowflakes.  I picked up lots of adorable FROZEN toys at Walmart.  They had a great selection of toys that I know my kids will love to see under the tree on Christmas morning!

The Musical Magic Anna and Elsa dolls are the ones I am the most excited about, because if you press their hands they light up and sing a song from the movie.  So cute!  I'm giving one to each of my daughters, since they are sisters like Anna and Elsa.

I just couldn't give my girls a FROZEN gift basket and not include loveable Kristoff!

I like this set of toys because all of the main characters are in the box, including Olaf, Sven, and Hans. This set will keep my five-year-old occupied for hours!

And last but not least, I included this set with Anna, Elsa, and Olaf that I know they'll love.

There were lots of other FROZEN toys, too, to choose from at Walmart that I might have to go back for ;)

I also bought a big basket, some sparkly snowflake ornaments, white batting, and then gathered some white spray paint, clear glitter, and snowflake ribbon that I already had.  The basket I bought was the perfect size for the toys, but not the perfect color.  It was a light grayish color.

I wanted the basket to be white and sparkly like snow, so I gave it a few coats of white spray paint, and then added clear sparkly glitter to the whole outside of the basket.

I then sprayed it with a clear sealer to make sure that the glitter stayed on the basket and not all over my floor.

After the basket had dried, I added almost a whole bag of batting to the inside to fill the basket up and to look like a blanket of snow.  Then I added the toys in, bigger boxes in the back, shorter boxes up front.

I tied a bow around the front of the basket with some pretty snowflake ribbon, and then added a glittery snowflake ornament to the front of the bow to add some more shine and to further enhance the FROZEN theme.

I cut the strings of a few more snowflake ornaments, and tucked them into the toys and the "snow" in the gift basket.

Isn't it pretty?  I had planned on wrapping the whole gift basket inside some clear cellophane and tying a big bow on top, but I didn't want to take away from the sparkle and shine of the basket and the snowflakes inside, plus this way my kids will be able to see the toys better before digging in and opening up their new toys!

While shopping for your FROZEN toys at Walmart, be sure to stop in at the Subway inside select Walmart locations like we did.  My little shopping buddy and I worked up an appetite with all that shopping!

If you buy a Fresh Fit Kids Meal, then the meal will come in a cute reusable FROZEN bag (through January 6th) with exclusive collectible designs and an exclusive FROZEN key chain.  Subway Walmart locations are the ONLY place you can get the FROZEN key chain when you buy a Fresh Fit Kids Meal.  My Walmart Subway was out of key chains, but we still got the cute reusable bag and a FROZEN puzzle.

I can't wait to see the look on my kids' faces when they see their FROZEN gift basket filled with toys from their new favorite movie!  I'm thinking I need to buy the soundtrack, too, and add it to the basket.... maybe with a tag that says "To Mom" on it?  ;)

xo, Laura

Disney Planes Movie Night Treats

This Disney Planes family movie night and Planes treats and craft are sponsored by Collective Bias®.

My kids have been counting down the days until the Disney Planes movie comes out, and were so excited when I surprised them with the movie and a fun movie night! I made a few Plane treats and even a little craft for my son that I'll be sharing with you!  

I love the values and the overall message of courage that is in Planes.

Without giving too much away, the main character, Dusty, has tremendous amounts of courage, despite being laughed at by practically everyone and being told that he'll never be able to fulfill his dream. Despite all of the opposition, Dusty keeps going and working hard to achieve his goal, and is kind to everyone he meets in the process. I love the lessons and values that this movie teaches! My husband and I talked to our kids about courage, persistence, and kindness after we saw the movie at the drive-in the night it came out, and shared how we should all be more like Dusty!

For our fun Disney Planes movie night, I headed out to Walmart to pick up some ingredients to make a yummy treat for everyone and a fun surprise for my biggest little Planes fan- my two year old son! He has been in love with Planes since the first time we saw it, and has all of the little die-cast Planes toys that we can find! I thought it would be fun to make him his own set of Dusty plane wings! For the treat, I made little plane cups. I made them while the kids were at school, so they were so excited when they saw them!

Disney Plane Cups:

• Cotton candy
• Colored chocolate melts
• Plane chocolate mold
• Cupcake cups (or small cups)

1. Melt the chocolate according to the directions on the package. Carefully spoon the chocolate into the plane molds, and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes until the chocolate has set and become hard. Pop out the chocolate planes by placing the mold upside down and gently shaking. The planes should pop right out!

2. Fill your cup with cotton candy, trying to make it look fluffy on top, like clouds.  

Add a chocolate airplane to the top, and repeat with the other cups.  

So easy, right? You'll notice that if you overfill your mold, you'll have a little extra chocolate on the sides of the planes. No worries, all you have to do is rub your finger along the edge where the extra chocolate is, and it will melt and smooth it out so that your edges are nice and clean. These little planes are very impressive, and yet are so easy to make! I made mine in orange, blue, white, and red, but you could choose any colors that you want, or even make them to match party colors if making these for a party.

I also made some plane suckers as well, using the same chocolate and directions, but this time using a plane sucker mold.  

These were a hit with my kids, too!

And last, for my youngest Planes fan, I made him his own pair of Dusty wings out of felt. They were a breeze to make, and require no sewing! Unfortunately my little guy was not in the mood to cooperate with picture taking (with all that chocolate around he was a bit distracted), so my daughter stepped in so I could take a picture of them. They fit perfect on him, but are obviously a bit small on her :)

To make the wings, I held up a big piece of white felt, folded in half, and measured how long I wanted the wings to be. From there I just cut the felt into a wings shape, and since it was folded that gave me the front and the back of one wing. I cut around that wing onto another piece of folded white felt to get another wing. I used hot glue to glue the front and back side of the wings together.  

I cut thin strips of orange out to fit the top and sides of the wings to match Dusty's wings. I also added the thin blue strip that has has, and traced around a round object in my home to get the black circle. I cut out the circle, and then cut the inside out and a black number 7 to match Dusty. I hot glued it all together, and within about 15 minutes, I had two Dusty wings!

You and your kids will LOVE Disney Planes! We have watched this movie countless times in the past week that we've had it. You can own it on Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD on November 19! You can also follow Disney Planes on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to keep up with the latest news and to get some great Planes ideas to try.

If you liked this, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Monsters University Cakes in a Jar

I made these Monsters University Cakes in a Jar as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias ®.  #ScareEdu

By now, I'm sure you know of my love for all things Disney!  Disney's Monster's University came out on DVD + Blu-ray this past week, so we kicked back this weekend and had a fun movie night with the kids and watched it.  I also made some fun treats for our Disney movie night... colorful mini cakes that match Mike and Sully's colors that I baked inside baby food jars!  I just love this technique, and will share with you exactly how you can make your own!

We love surprising our kids with Disney toys, so when we bought the special Monsters University 2-Disc Blu-ray + DVD + Infinity Figure Combo Pack at Walmart, we also picked up a few Monsters U toys for the kids to add to their collections.  They already had the Sully and Mike toys, so we bought them Johnny and Squishy toys, too.  The kids loved that the Squishy toy was actually squishy and squeezable, just like the character!

You might remember these mini cakes from when I shared with you my Rainbow Cake in a Jar baked in a baby food jar.  My Monsters University cupcakes are very similar, just without all of the layers of color, and with bright colors of frosting!

Here's how to make your own Monsters University Cupcakes/Cake in a Jar for your MU family movie night...

Supplies:

• Clean baby food jars with the paper removed
• Vanilla cake mix (I just used a box mix)
• Frosting (I whipped up a batch of 7 minutes frosting)
• Food Coloring (I used gel because the colors are much more vibrant)

Directions:

1.  Make sure the baby food jars are clean and have the paper removed.  I use Goo Gone to remove the sticky residue off of the jar.  

2.  Mix up the boxed cake mix following the directions on the box, and separate the mix into smaller bowls, one bowl for each color that you would like to use.  I used three different colors- green (with a tiny bit of yellow added) to make the Mike Wazowski cakes, and sky blue and purple to make the James P. Sullivan cakes.

3.  Carefully drop the desired colors into the baby food jars, filling NO MORE than halfway up the jar. If you fill more than halfway, it's just wasting it, because the cake will overflow and bake outside the jar and you'll have to cut it off.  

For the Sully cakes, start by adding some blue cake mix, then dropping small drops of purple mix in on the sides.  I did a blue layer, then two drops of purple, then another blue layer, then two or three more drops of purple, etc. until the jar is filled about halfway up.

4.  Place the jars in the oven at the temperature listed on the box, and bake for 10-15 minutes.  Check the cakes after 10 minutes, and keep checking every minute or so after until the cakes are completely baked.  If you leave the cakes for too long, they can turn a slight brownish around the bottom, so be sure to keep a close eye on them.

5.  Remove cakes from the oven and let cool thoroughly before touching and frosting.

6.  Make your preferred frosting recipe (or use store-bought).  Split the frosting into two separate bowls.  Add some green gel coloring to one bowl, and some purple gel coloring to the other bowl.  Pipe the green frosting onto the green Mike cakes, and the purple frosting onto the blue and purple Sully cakes.

Aren't they adorable?  Your little scarers will LOVE their Monsters U cake in a jar! 

I just served these to the kids with a spoon, and they dug right in!

Except for my little guy, who had to give his favorite furry monster a big hug before licking his frosting!

These are the perfect treats for your Monsters University movie night or MU party, and they're great because they can be made a day or two ahead- just put the lids on the cakes, and wait to frost them until shortly before serving.

We had a great family movie night watching this Disney's Monsters University, and I won't even tell you how many times they have watched the movie this week!  It is a wonderful movie, and everyone in my family absolutely loves it!  

Be sure to get your copy of the special Monsters University 2-Disc Blu-ray + DVD + Infinity Figure Combo Pack at Walmart, and check out all of the cool Monsters U toys they have!  

If you'd like to try making a fun MU toy for your kids, check out my Mike Wazowski EYE-Spy bag I made for my kids, using small Monsters U toys that I bought at Walmart a few months ago!  I give complete instructions in the tutorial, so you can see how to make it here.

If you liked this, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Happy scaring! 

xo, Laura