Fairy Party: part one (things made and the Birthday Fairy herself)

Ok, I have spent hours sorting through pictures from Monkey's fairy party that was held this weekend...and I've narrowed it down to a mere 65.  That would be a ridiculous amount, except that I've been slowly working to prepare for this party for FOUR MONTHS.  Mostly to cut down on my stress, since I can never be positive that I'll get to work on things on any given day.  And also because my interest ebbs and flows, so I'd work on it for a while and then put it away until creativity hit again.

Anyhow, it is now quite late, and I need to get to bed...but I'd promised myself that I'd blog today, so I will.  Just a little.  I'll share some of the preparation projects that I worked on.

Each party attendee got a little bottle of pixie dust, so I did labels for that (on bottles purchased for cheap on etsy.com).  They look purple in this picture, for some reason, but they are actually printed on brown paper shopping bags...then I went through and added heat embossed glitter on the words and around the edges.

I did similar invitations, which had sticks at the ends to roll up.  I used some starry wire (garage sale for 10 cents) to tie it up.  It all would have been free were it not for the stinker three year old boy who dumped out my bottle of embossing glitter!  So I had to buy a new one. grrr.

It says:
The fairies and elves are gathering!
Amid the flowers, on glittering wings,
Their tinkling voices this news foretold:
Monkey is turning 5 years old!

So they've worked some magic and cast a spell,
and are throwing a party in Monkey's downstairs dell.
Take no care about thy clothes--
the fairies are providing those.
You only need to RSVP
and a magical time will await thee.

Step into the fairy circle on December 7th from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m.


Everyone also got a little pipe cleaner fairy (or elf).  These are such fun little dolls to make!  And super simple.  The picture that included the boy elf dolls is fuzzy, but it's the only picture that I have with the elves in it.

All of the fairies got felted star wands, which was another super fun project!

The fairies also got wings (purchased on halo heaven), homemade square "handkerchief" style skirts (you'll see them in my next post), and head wreaths. 

Here's Owl modeling Monkey's wreath:

(Don't feel bad for the Elves...they got tunics and sashes, but best of all they got bows and arrows that Fox made.)


I made menu rocks...

...and a welcome sign.  The welcome sign was originally going to be made with "moss graffiti" (blend up moss, yogurt, and water and paint it onto the surface and watch it grow) but the moss never grew.  So sad.  So instead I did the same as on the menu rocks--I just hand-lettered it all on using sharpies.  Then I hot glued moss around the edges of the board, and used some glitter glue to highlight the words.  I like how the rocks and the sign turned out.

{I really REALLY enjoyed all of these projects and am happy with how everything turned out} I made some other things...toadstool stool covers, a banner, and leaf placemats (and other things) but I don't have non-party pictures of them, and I don't want to ruin the surprise of the party décor! Maybe I can blog about that tomorrow.

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Other recent party-related projects were special clothes for Monkey.  The fairy set was her main birthday present.  I made flowered fairy shoes, dress, and wings. 

I don't mind saying so myself, but I think the wings are amazing.  They are one of those things that I can't believe that I made.  And they were really quite EASY! (though I almost didn't attempt them because it didn't seem easy when I was looking through the tutorial: HERE, at Antique Lilac, which has such beautiful fairy dolls and clothes!  I highly recommend this tutorial...I hope I get to make another pair sometime).  On Monkey's wings the beads are homemade from polymer clay.  The wings are made from scraps of fabric and silk flowers and odd little pieces of embroidery floss and wire hangers...little pieces of nothing that add up into a really stunning something.  And it was so fun to do. 

The harness part was made from part of a silk maternity dress that I'd bought for $1 way back when...I bought it for refashioning, since it's not a color that I can wear successfully.

Her dress is actually too short, and I am going to add a dark purple ruffle at the bottom (and probably a pink ruffle as well)...but I haven't had time to do so yet.  At any rate, the purple is painted on, and the flowers are all hand-sewn and hopefully durable.  The dress was made from an all-white women's skirt that I found at the thrift store for $1.50.

Here she is in her completed costume.  This was just after the party...I'd done a little photo corner so that we could get pictures of each of the kids sitting on the stump.

 

 

Isn't she such a cute little fairy?! She originally came down in argyle knee-high socks, and I told her to change into tights.  When I saw that these were the tights I told her to go change, but by then the guests were arriving...oh well, it adds to the whimsy, I suppose. 

{Fairy Party: part two (Décor & Edibles)}

{Fairy Party: Part three (Fun & Games)}