Toy Story Party (on a budget)

I chose a Toy Story theme for Lil' Hoot's third birthday because she spent several months prior to her birthday absolutely obsessed with her Toy Story "friends".  From the top left:

1. I made her a #3 birthday shirt with Buzz Lightyear and Woody patches.
2. Her birthday sign was made in MS Word using the Gill Sans Ultra Bold font.  It doesn't match the movie font exactly, but it is as close as I could get without Photoshop.
3. Birthday cookie with Toy Story figures.  She prefers cookies to cake and it was her birthday after all, so she got a giant chocolate chip cookie.  I tried desperately to decorate with icing but, well, I can't be good at everything and I absolutely stink at decorative icing.  Fortunately for me, she was extremely happy with the figures and the cookie.
4. I was a bit worried about the balloons - one of the few requests from our birthday girl - because there was a national helium shortage (or so the signs said in many stores).  I eventually found a couple of Toy Story balloons at Wal-mart.  The rest of our spread included M&Ms, carrots, grapes, goldfish crackers, raisins, peanut butter rice krispie treats and sugar cookies*.
5. I made her banner using the same Gill Sans Ultra Bold font.  The gift bags included the alien thank you printable from Disney Family Go.  I got the idea to include paperback books in the gift bags from a friend of mine.  I found a 12 pack of Clifford books on clearance from Scholastic.  I also printed out the Toy Story Fun Book.  
6. Table decor was kept super simple.  Lil' Hoot chose her party hats - not toy story themed, but again, it's her birthday.  Toy story plates and another printable - Buzz's Refueling Liquid - water bottle labels.  Those were a big hit.

*A note about these sugar cookies.  Absolutely a HIT!  The recipe for the cookies is from Annie's Eats - soft frosted sugar cookies intended to mimic those found at the grocery store.  I have always had a hard time getting sugar cookies to turn out edible but these were easy and tasted awesome.  Added bonus - they freeze great so I made up the dough ahead of time then froze them.  When it came time for the party I just popped them out, let them thaw a bit then into the oven.  One change though, I didn't like the icing so I used vanilla frosting from the Cake Boss.

And I almost forgot, invitations!  I snagged a printable Toy Story invitation from the Disney site then added a Buzz Lightyear image and popped them onto some primary color cards.

Wordless Wednesday - DIY Stick Horse

 

Bullseye!

My most recently completed projects have primarily been gifts so I have kept them under wraps.  The first of the gifts has been given so I can finally post about it!  I spent months searching for the perfect gift for my friend's little boy and when I stumbled on this tutorial only a day before our swap deadline, well, I had to make it.  He loves both Toy Story and horses so a Bullseye softie was perfect!

I used the Bullseye Tutorial from the Running with Scissors blog - with a few very minor tweaks.

First, I used pipe cleaners (aka fuzzy sticks) twisted together because that's what I had on hand.  

Second, I added more hand sewing.  As a generalization I prefer not to rely on hot glue to hold together anything exposed to toddler abuse (see Toy Story 3 for reference).  So I glued and then also sewed.  I used a blanket stitch on the hooves, a straight stitch on the ears and french knots for the eye balls.  I did use a fabric marker for the nose.

I also learned a few things for the next time I make one - first, I placed the tail too high (my mistake, she shows you on the pattern where to put it, duh); second, don't forget to clip the curves before flipping it right side out (again, I just needed to read the tutorial, duh); third, pay more attention to the front curve, mine came out much flatter in the front than hers.  Oh and I would really like to make a leather saddle next time, I didn't have any scraps on hand so I would like to get some.

Overall it was fun to make and I am told it is much appreciated.