Owl Bean Bag {Free Pattern}

These owl bean bags were perfect for my friend's Owl Theme Birthday Party. I helped her make them and it was such a fun, easy project I thought I'd share a free pattern here on the blog for others to use.

I've create a two page PDF file with a basic pattern and very simple instructions. Click on the link below. Enjoy!
Owl Bean Bag Pattern

Today Is...

During my PreK curriculum search I came across many ideas for teaching the concept of days, months, years and seasons to pre-schoolers. Not wanting to invest too much money in something that would be used just a short period of time I created this poster and had the blank "canvas" printed at a local print shop and then printed the various pieces, laminated them and added velcro dots. I thought this might be useful to others and so I'm sharing my files here. This design caters to my daughter, Marin, thus primarily pink design (sorry boys).

Blank 16.5" x 23" Poster
Day, Month, Year, Season, Weather Pieces

Owl Party

My friend Darci threw her girls an adorable owl theme birthday party last weekend. Here are photos from the big day.

 These unique owl smores were an original creation of Amy from Living Locurto. Tasty and cute, this theme appropriate spin on an cool weather treat, was a big hit.

Darci pulled inspiration and colors from these fabrics which were used to created banners, owl bean bags and we even used the fabric to line various dishes. The Brown Owl Fabric and Fruit Trees in Cream are both Timeless Treasures fabric designed by Alice Kennedy. The Tangerine-Full moon polka dot fabric is an Amy Butler design.

 
 
Oh and in addition to cupcakes and owl smores Darci made these tasty acorn cookies. Dandelions and Lace has a helpful tutorial for making your own. The owl bean bags were used as decoration and as part of a bean bag toss game. Kids were given chances to toss these owls into holes cut from a large wooden tree (created by Darci's husband). A fun filled activity for the kids.

No opportunity for adding an owl detail was missed. Even these drinking bottles were tagged with an owl label. The orange and white paper straws and paper flags were fun and matched the theme.

Enlisting the help of her 3 year old, Darci created these owl party favors. Made from butcher paper, shaped as owls, filled with trail mix and sewn shut with a sewing machine. A sweet, hand made touch and a great way to include the birthday girl in saying thank you to her friends.

A super cute candle moment from the evening.

No party is complete without an owl pinata. A special request by the birthday girl, who wasn't quite sure if she wanted to hit the owl once it came time for the big moment.

Hand colored owl bags were used to collect "owl guts" from the pinata.
A wonderful, party filled with fun, family and fine feathered friends.

Featured! {Special Baby Shower Gifts}

The always popular Hunting Themed Baby Shower has been featured on Special Baby Shower Gifts. Thank you, Jami and Caryn for the exposure on your site. So well done and helpful for anyone interested in hosting a similar shower. I'm so happy that this unique theme is inspiring others!

While I Was Away, We’ve been busy…

Eating nutritious meals for the new growing baby. That’s right baby number three is due Jan 8. Above is the 20 week ultrasound photo taken yesterday. Boy? Girl? You’ll have to wait until 2012 to find out.

Attending ballet class with Marin the Ballerina. This photo is from her first class.

Spending entirely too much time on pinterest.

Learning to eat with a fork.

Researching preK curriculum for Marin. Think I’ve settled on starting with this preK Scholars curriculum.

Filling out my Belly book for baby #3. My most treasured pregnancy possessions are my belly books. I’ve made it a tradition to buy every friend family member one of these upon hearing of her pregnancy.

Vacationing with Family in Wimberly, Texas.

Studying for the Captains exam at the fire station.

Reading the book Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Going to the theatre to watch the Winnie the Pooh movie.

Cleaning the floors in my house with this dandy Bissell steam mop I borrowed from a friend. 

Pink Princess Bingo Party {The Game}

This custom Princess Bingo set was designed for my daughters fourth birthday. The concept is simple. Playing with a bingo game based on an object and colors helps younger children enjoy the game. I ordered spinners for the circles from Board Game Design and printed the cards and wheels out on card stock. Pink M&Ms were the Bingo chips. We played at the party and each guest had a small take home set of their own as a party favor.

Pink Princess Bingo Party {The Party}

 These beautiful cakes were made by Granny (my wonderful, talented Mom) and were fit for a princess! The imperfections are because the four year old princess was involved in the decorations and had preferences as to where the wafers, marshmallows and red hots were placed. It's fitting that ice cream cones were used to create the towers as ice cream cones (minus the ice cream) are Marin's favorite snack when she is at Granny's house. My mom had seen the princess cake idea below and thought Marin would love it. After visiting with Marin about what she wanted for her birthday she insisted on a castle cake. So in true "Granny Fashion" Marin had TWO birthday cakes.

 Loved the tiny paper flag at the top. Perfect addition.

 The sugar cookies were made with cutters we found at Hobby Lobby. Princess crowns and magic slippers.

 Hand made hat and wand (smile).

 Party favors were these stripped water bottles and a princess hat for each little girl. The boys that attended were given the same bottle but in blue and a foam sword.

 I created a custom Princess Bingo game for the party. Above are the prizes the kiddos chose from when they won a round of bingo. Marin's favorite candy (dum dums), glow in the dark stars, princess stickers, tiny princess crowns and dress up rings.

 I had a poster size print of the bingo circle printed at a local print shop and glued it to a piece of foam board. The spinner was a piece of the foam board covered in black paper attached to the board using a game size spinner that I ordered from Board Game Design. Worked fairly well. Each of the kids were also given a set of two bingo cards and their own spinner to take home for more princess bingo fun.

 I splurged and purchased bottles of Lorina Sparkling Pink Lemonade from World Market. I have a serious addiction to that stuff!

Activities for the kids included this cardboard coloring castle from Hobby Lobby and the Princess Crown Pinata, also from Hobby Lobby.

It was a magical evening filled with family and close friends. What a blessing to watch my beautiful Marin grown into a lovely princess.