Mermaid or Pirate Baby Shower

 I've been friends with Amber for well over a decade now.  She's expected baby #2 and this go 'round she decided to wait.  Since it's summer, her sister and I decided to throw her a shower that plays with the theme Mermaid or Pirate?  My pal Kelly made these adorable invites for me.

 Again, since it was a summer shower I was able to go crazy with desserts and I madea  collection of both mermaid and pirate themed desserts to serve.

 Last year I attended a shower and they had a poloroid camera where each guest had their picture taken, and then we made a scrapbook page with a message to mom and baby.  I knew Amber would love this (she's one of my last scrapbooking buddies).

 We each made a page and her sister said she would finish the album for Amber.  We had the guest decorate pages with either pirates or mermaids based on what they predict the baby will be.

 I made a bunch of banners I hung throughout my house as well.

 I also used beads someone gave me from mardi gras, shells, and coins to scatter around the house.

 We served all pirate and mermaid themed foods.  Canon Balls (meatballs), sumbarines (sub sandwiches), planks (crackers) and gold (cheese-served with little swords), crab legs (carrots), seaweed (spinach dip), seashells (pasta), and berried treasure (berries).

 We also served some blue punch in fish bowls.

 I made little mermaid straws.

 Amber's sister put together some adorable bubble bath.

 And bottled them in cute little bottles.

 All went so smoothly, but it helps when it's a sweet friend and easy going friends and family she's collected along the way.

Mermaid or Pirate Desserts

Last month I hosted a baby shower where the gender wasn't known yet.  With summer in full swing, we went with the fun theme of Mermaid or Pirate.  I've been posting about this for a few weeks, and next week I'll post the whole thing, but here were the dessert offerings.  Since it was summer, I had more time to bake....and I did.  

 First off, I made mermaid tail sugar cookies.  I bought the cookie cutter on Amazon, and I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe to put these together.  These can be done in advance, so that helped!

 Amber's husband loves cake balls, and even though he wasn't in attendance, I made these so we could ship some home.  I just dipped the cake balls in white chocolate and to make them look like pearls I served them in little seashell cups and then brushed on some of the Wilton's luster dust.

I posted about these cheater cupcakes last week.  Again, I bought cupcakes at the store and then used a kit from Wilton to dress up my cupcakes.  

 I definitely made too many desserts, but....too many and the word dessert are welcome words to string together any day in my book!

Easy Pirate Cupcakes

 I recently hosted a baby shower.  The theme was mermaid or pirate.  I wanted to do a mix of both themed desserts, so for the pirates-I saw a kit from Wilton with all the pieces you need.  I knew I would be busy right before the shower, so I decided to buy the cupcakes and then just slip them in the liner and add the decorations.

I picked the color closest to 'flesh', and man I'm glad I cheated.  1)  Sam's makes a fine cupcake 2)  This saved me a lot of time and dishes.  In my old age I'm learning that sometimes it's OK to cheat.  So this is my confession tip-buy the plain cupcake....then decorate them up the way you want.  

Crockpot Meat Balls

I recently hosted a party at my house and one of the things on the menu were meatballs...or....canon balls (it was a Mermaid/Pirate themed party).  I've done a lot of different versions with jellys and sauces, but I decided to try something new, so I went to the internet.  These were commented on and well received at the shower.  It'll definitely stay on the rotation for future parties.  The original recipe (from familyfreshmeals) even suggested serving them over rice for regular ol' weeknight meals.
So, if you are in need of some canon balls....try this one out.

Honey Garlic Crockpot Meatballs

Ingredient:  1/4 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. honey, 1/2 c. ketchup, 2 T soy sauce, 3 cloves garlic (minced), 1 (28 oz) bag fully cooked, frozen meatballs (I used some from Trader Joe's b/c I read they were the best...and the internet never lies).  

Instructions:  

1.  In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar, honey, ketchup, soy sauce, and garlic.  

2.  Place frozen meatballs in a 3-4 qt crockpot and pour sauce over the meatballs, stir until all the meatballs are coated evenly.  

3.  Cook on low for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.  

(I actually put them in the crockpot the night before and put the ceramic inside in my fridge and then just lowered the time by about 30 minutes the day of the shower since the meatballs had thawed some, but it saved me a few minutes and a sink of dirty dishes during the shower).  

Pirate Tent and Play Set

 I made a play fort this summer for the first time and blogged about the SUPER simple process here. I used this same concept for my buddy Donovan's birthday gift this year. I decided to use the same concept, with a pirate theme.  He loves Jake, from Disney (I had to do research on this), and I went back and forth between the hula hoop tent and the fort, and decided this one would be something his Mom could put up easily and get out of the way (as their family grows, this seemed important!).
To start I made a bag to store it all in.  I found a skull and cross bones, downloaded a free bone font, and then saved it as a picture file and rotated horizontally so it would be the mirror image.  I printed it off on some fabric transfer paper (by Jolee, no benefit to saying that, but it's a fact), and ironed it onto a plan white bag.

 The hotter your iron, the darker your print.  I wanted it to look a little vintage pirate, so....I didn't go for the full heat.

 I also made a little pouch for the gold I made, here are those instructions.  I just cut off the top of the bag the sheets came in that I used on another tent, the stamped the word 'loot.'  I was going to put 'booty,' but he's going to be 4, and for the next few years, as he is put more and more into play groups and schooling....I figured maybe I wouldn't promote that word, least it is misused or misunderstood in other settings!

 Here's the final product there..

 I also decided instead of sewing on these little pirate designed pennants to the tent, I'd just attach them to binding I bought at the scrapbook store.  I sewed the triangles along the binding but you could also just use fabric glue.

 I also made a pirate map, the instructions were on the same tutorial as the gold.

 Very easy...I just drew a picture with permanent marker.

 I sewed blue felt and a sharks fin to one side of the tend, and also made a jolly roger flag out of felt.  There are six ties, and I also included some clamps so that it can be attached to various pieces of further/trees etc inside or out.

 Peanut thought it was fun...

 ...but then....out of all that junk...he played with the fake gold.  Notice he has flipped it onto his paw here?  Smart dog.

 The best part, it fits nicely into one snug little bag!!

Argh-Good Morning Texas, Pirate Style

As I'm sure you all know, today is officially (no lie), Talk Like a Pirate Day.  So....I'm headed to GMT with Pirate crafts.  I received a schedule at the beginning of the year, and before each show, I submit about four different craft ideas/themes to the producer who books the crafts.  When I was looking at the fall (I usually do holiday themes, with some misc every day crafts thrown in), I saw one of the days (today) was officially Talk Like a Pirate Day.  I suggested some of the below crafts, and the producer was game.  :O)  You can use some of these ideas for Halloween or birthday parties, but hello, I think we should take this day global!
In honor of this stupendous holiday, I've even created a Pirate Board on my pinterest page.  I have a few crafts I've done in the past I posted there (that's a little disturbing on some levels to me), and I'll be sharing the following projects.  Click on the title to go directly to the tutorial.  I'll also post today's segment on facebook where old GMT segments live.
Yesterday I posted about the Pirate Cupcakes and Pirate Playdough

Pirate Booty

Bone Bread

And....Temporary Tattoos to Decorate a Cup

Temporary Tattoo Cups

 Every pirate needs a cup for his....juice?  A friend told me about this idea.  I tried to hunt down the original idea (she said she saw it online), but the only link I found led to nowhere....so...it wasn't my idea, but it's a fun one.  Temporary tattoos come in all shapes and sizes today (I saw a student at my school even sporting a glittered princess castle today via a temporary tattoo kit-I'm pretty sure I need that one).  In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day-I found this pack of a bazillion temporary tattoos at Target in the party section.  You do exactly what you do with skin to get them to apply to clear cups.  Pull off the top, press it face down.  Apply a sponge or towel over the top until it's wet, pull the back off.  It sticks.  And it's a clear sort of translucent fun.