Richard Scarry DIY Birthday Party - Busytown cardboard cars

Richard Scarry is known for his Busytown world, so we had to do something with cars..and what's not more fun than a bunch of cardboard boxes!

I first collected up a bunch of boxes and spend a night with an exacto blade and a RBusytown Cars book. I found the cars I wanted and went to work. Taping and cutting till I had somewhat of the shapes I wanted. I then painted, either by brush or spray all of the cars. 

This was no 1 night deal. I'd say over a course of a week, you could do it if you were determined, but it took me about a month off and on, working on it when I could.

After the cars were painted, I used a paint pen to draw any black details. I then used paper plates with colored paper and attached them onto the cardboard by making holes in the cardboard and inserting metal bendable fasteners.

The cars would then just need suspender type ribbon to hold the cars on. I made some holes and used some ribbon role I had and just cut and knotted. I also taped a few so they wouldn't come loose. 

Some of the ones I made were Bananas Gorillas Canana, The Cheese car, The Tow Truck, Mr Frumbles Pickle car, The Boat car and Dingo Doggies Car.

The idea was to create a roadway of sorts throughout the backyard using signs and banners.

 

These I found online or created some signs for special areas, like a car wash with streamers and gas station.

The rest was open, ready to roam..

We also had a Mr Fix Its Repair Shop where some of the drivers could stop and fix anything that needed fixing.

Even when we had a break down, our tow was there to help!

All the kids loved the cars..I highly recommend!

Richard Scarry DIY Birthday party - Busytown Decorations, Favors

Now that we have our invites, It's onto Inside Decorations and Favors..

I love Decorations, But this time since the basis of the party will hopefully be outside running around in cardboard busy town cars, I would try and limit decorations to only around the table types. So I started with a banner.

I used an old "Things that Go" book that was ripped up, and cut out pennant triangles. I needed one for Every letter of Happy Birthday and his name. 

I found the letters in one of the Richard Scarry books that lists the alphabet. I enlarged them and printed them out 2"H. I cut them out with a die cutter and double stick taped them to the pennants. 

I then used some binding strip that I had laying around and sewed the pennants together to form a banner. Whalla!

The rest of my inside decorations would be online store bought Richard Scarry brand paper plates, napkins, hats and paper mats. The reusable cups, hats and mats could be taken by the attending children.

For the center of the tables, I wanted to use authentic vintage Richard Scarry toys. 

I found some of the figures on Ebay.com and found a great book, Richard Scarry's Best Make-It book (LINK)

I highly recommend it, there are TONS of cut out paper people, vehicles and toys.

In the Make It book, is a great pattern to make a Lowly Worm plush. There he is twirled around a party hat. I made him and added wire inside so we could make him bend. 

Besides, that, I just blew up some balloons, hung streamers and collected all our Richard Scarry books and made a nice table of them so kids or adults could look at.

Favors

For the party favors, I wanted them to be Richard Scarry related. I always love to give books, so I found a great lot of new books on Ebay.com. I knew about 8 kids were coming, so I got 10, just to be safe.I didn't want the subject matter to be too boyish, so I chose Shapes and opposites.

I then looked for some small figures, and found bananas Gorilla riding in his banana car in a huge lot at a great price.  The notepads I found at the online party store with the former decorations. I added a twist crayon for the older children.

The Thank you tagged I created by finding a vehicle I liked and cut and pasted text from a book till I had "Thank You for coming".

I found some Chinese take out style containers in blue, so I filled them up with goodies and also included a snack, older kids got gummies, younger received the crackers.

I wrapped the books and attached tags for everyone, and Whalla!

Next, Let's play Cars Busy Town Style!

Richard Scarry DIY Birthday Party - Invites

Richard Scarry, Who doesn't remember and love Richard Scarry!? 

My son loved and loves Richard Scarry books, any and all, so many amazing illustrations of a whole world! It was the perfect theme for his 3rd Birthday Party. He especially loved The Things that Go books he wrote. It seemed like a no brainer..we would go with that loosely and have to have cardboard cars to ride in!

But to start, Invites..

To start, I just started out finding images I liked, luckily for me I picked up some battered used ones at a thrift store, and could use them for images on decorations as well later.

I chose some vehicles and I liked the way he had a plane with a banner so I could use that to write his age. I would layout the vehicles to look like everyone was coming to the party.

I found in one of the books an alphabet, so I cut and pasted the letters I needed to make his name, the date and the word "celebrate".  

The images are all from various books and I added some words that I wanted as well. The party one is a great one, and even an image of Hilda Hippo carrying a cake. priceless!

I found the clock on a page and cut and pasted the hands to point to the party time.

I liked the idea of the invite folded like an accordion, so I printed them on longer paper, 16" wide. That way, the image could continue the whole invite. 

Overall, I think it looked colorful and fun!

Next Up, Decorations and Favors..

New Year, New Work..Custom For You!

As I scroll through images from past work, I realize I have lots of fun custom work I never really share. So I decided to post a couple of pictures of some custom work I've done. 

Custom work is great, It allows you to have control over exactly what you want and how you want it.  Through color, size and design, You can co-design something really special for your loved one or special friend.

I offer custom work through my Etsy shop and website. I've designed for businesses and for retail customers. I always enjoy trying to design different patterns and playing with new fabric combinations. 

The Lion is a favorite and I've had numerous customers want it larger. I've made it in 3 sizes. The largest was about 17" H stuffed with weighted arms and legs for Autism sensory work and play. 

I've made fun dinosaurs, This one being a T-Rex of course! It was fun to figure out a new pattern for a doll that stands up.

 

I've had many customers want an item I already make in another colorway. Here are some items I regularly offer but have made in natural, undyed fabrics.

 

Bunnies are always a favorite, and I'm always open to creating one in any colorway. Here's one in light purple, A customers daughters favorite color..

A customer wanted a group of Organic natural colored bunnies, so I added tan, brown and charcoal to her color choices.

Bath Mitts are a great gift. Here's a Panda Bear Bath Mitt commissioned for a panda bear loving new mom to be.

 

I've also done a couple of like styled dolls of Figures.

But the suit is the best... It was for a wedding. He was a Flower Guy (:

If you are interested in me creating something for you, please visit my website custom inquiries page here. I can create anything I already make in any colorway and can possibly create something specific you'd like.

Mr Lions Gingerbread House

Curious George DIY Birthday Party- Cake & Favors

Curious George, everyone's favorite monkey!

Yum..Cake!

So my son was 2, so I made him his own cake along with making more practical cupcakes. I found a nice figure online and wanted to use some type of fondant for decoration. It being my first time, it came out OK. I don't advise eating it, but It can be used as nice decor. To cut it, I used some cookie cutters and just a knife. The twirls were just wrapped around a straw then were slid off and set to dry.

I found some nice cupcake cups that matched the colors, I think they were under the theme "circus" . 

I made a small cake banner that said Happy 2nd Sebastian and used 2 balloon sticks to hold it up.

I also did something I found online. I pre-scooped ice cream into leftover cupcake cups. Then froze them on a cookie sheet. When it was time to serve, I just brought out the sheet and ice cream was all ready. Super easy!! (You can see them on the left lower side)

The ending to the party, was the fun favors.. 

In each one was-

• A Curious George book ( you can find new sets of 6 paperback books on ebay)
• 3 bean bags I made in the coordinating colors
• A Curious George magnet I made (You can find other items on Etsy)
• 2 lollipops with curious george hanging on like balloons (printed out george pic and taped to candy)

 It was a great party and fun to do! And my Mr was crazy sugar delirious after (:

Curious George DIY Birthday Party Ideas- Games

Curious George, everyone's favorite monkey! 

 

For my sons 2nd Birthday party, I wanted to plan out some games we could play, like mini golf, monkey knock down and a bean bag toss. So to start, I made a sign for each game. I placed it with a balloon so the kids could see where the start was. 

Monkey Toss.. 

For the Monkey Toss I sewed fabric bean bags and filled them with beans. The colors were to match the color scheme. The bean bag idea would also become favors for each child. 

We purchased a large piece of wood and cut out a couple of holes in different areas. I then found an image I liked and projected it into the wood. I painted the picture with acrylic and  latex paints we had and whalla..a Curious George bean bag toss! 

Just grab a basket, fill with bean bags and set up the sign..Easy! You could also make a smaller toss board like George's face or a specific character your child likes.

Monkey Mini Golf..

My son had just gotten a play set of golf clubs and really liked playing with it. I searched "Curious George coloring" in Google and loads of black and white clear line pictures came up. I chose my favorites and filled in the color in adobe photo shop. I then printed them to be the mini golf main pictures. My husband had foam board laying around so we backed them up. But you could use cardboard from a box. I am lucky to have a printer able to print good images, but all of these ideas can be printed at your local stationary store if you don't have access.

I already had balloon Sticks, they are sticks to attach a balloon, instead of using helium, you just blow them up yourself and stick the knot through the balloon stick top. Then you can use them anywhere, they stick easy in dirt or you can make a display with them. I used them for each hole.

I designed some mini golf tee number flags, printed them up and attached one to each balloon stick. I only did 1 through 5 numbers, we aren't doing serious golfing here! (; 

I dug out some random holes in the backyard and stuck the balloon stick by the hole. Then I placed a picture at each hole. 

We already had ping pong balls and some small golf clubs and Whalla..Monkey mini golf!

 Monkey Knock Down!

 Monkey knock down is easy. Bean bags and a couple of cans are all you need. 

I made some more bean bags with the same fabric from the bean bag toss. 

Then I saved some cans from the recycling.(These exact cans were organic cocoa powder cans). I wrapped them in a striped gift wrap and whalla! Knock down cans. I set them up on an old crate and the kids had a ball!


We also had dinosaur bones in the sandbox to find. At this age you don't really need much. Kids find all sorts of things to do outside at a party!

Next..Let them eat cake!!