County Fair Birthday Party

The Tyler County Fair was a huge success and so much FUN! 

There will be a lot of detail in the party posts because I don't want to forget anything about Tyler's special day!

Planning the party was just as much fun as watching my little man enjoy his big day.  Thanks to pinterest and my crafting buddy, Kirsten, we made a TON of decorations for the party!  It all started with the invite.  :) 

 

My craft room was PACKED with party items Saturday night!

 

Welcome to the Tyler County Fair!!

I found the ribbon on sale at HL as well as the red/white twine (online) and the red/white checkered paper (that you will see ALL over the pictures) is restaurant paper.  ($13 for 1,000 sheets)  The "fans" you see below were SO fun to make.  Kirsten and I may have gone a little nuts making a ton of them but we used all of them.  They are too cute.

I wasn't trying to be thrifty for the party but it kind of happened and then it became a challenge.  You wouldn't believe the amount of items I found in the "trash" area near our freight elevator at work.  lol!

The canopy turned out so cute with the bunting (party city) and homemade tin can windsocks (detailed picture below).

I used old quilts on the tables as covers and I think it turned out so neat!  Perfect for a fair theme!

Table decor!  I covered coffee cans with wrapping paper, made paper flowers and pinwheels, shred some restaurant paper and added a crepe paper rosette ribbon to the front. 

 

Peanuts...a must at the fair!  This little box is made from a paper plate.  :)

Tin can windsocks!!  These were a lot of fun to make.  I spray painted my coffee cans, cut and glued ribbon to the inside, punched holes in the top and hung with twine.  So fun and festive!

My Mom and I like to decorate for summer holidays at the creek and I think these windsocks will be so cute blowing in the wind.  (I also have to add that I've made fun of my mom for years about saving coffee cans....guess who I had to call to get enough for the party?!  We got a good laugh out of that one!)

The Fair isn't complete without games!!

 I pulled out an old bed sheet, printed out goldfish and safety pinned them to the sheet.  Turned out so cute!  The kids won gold fish as their prize.

The ring toss is probably my most prized party creation!  I also think this is about the time that Rolf thought I may get fired from digging through the trash and bringing it home.  lol!  Hey, the freight elevator area has a lot of great party "stuff!"  I found this little gem (copier toner box) and knew it would make a great ring toss!  I hot glued some of the cones to the top, spray painted it and wa-la...instant ring toss!  Kirsten already had the rings...free!

We already had the bean bag toss! 

Tin Can Throw!  This game is made of cans and old shake mix containers wrapped in restaurant paper and sitting on top of two nice boxes I found in the trash at work.  :)

Face Painting! 

Red and blue boot pinata was perfect for the fair!

Let's take a look around inside.  Here are more fans and ribbons on the back patio! 

My big boy and his 3 year old pictures that we took on Saturday!

Treat table!

Goodie bags :)

Cupcake sticks were easy and fun to make!  The cricut was getting a workout!

Popcorn holders made of restaurant paper and sitting in a box covered in brown paper.

Cotton candy!

 Precious carrot cookies in "dirt" that Anja made!

Grub time!  We served hot dogs, corn dogs, pizza rolls, veggies, chips and all the fixin's.

More restaurant paper use.....utensil and napkin holders!

Whew!  I think that's about it!  I couldn't have gotten all of this setup without my team of helpers so THANK YOU!!! 

Tyler's BoyHouse!

The long awaited BoyHouse post is here!  I'm absolutely THRILLED with the final result.  I'm so happy that I took notes as the planning took place because it's pretty funny to see how all of this played out.

One boring Friday afternoon in August, when Kirsten and I were practically the only ones in the office, we had this little conversation via IM....

katie: tell me I'm nuts and I'll just walk away

katie: http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/05/bookshelf-fire-station.html  

katie: cute BUT my house is a wreck, I do not need to be spending time making a freakin' boy dollhouse barn thingy

katie: do I?

kirsten: YES

katie: I'm feeling the craft bug bad over this dollhouse

kirsten: YAY!!!
kirsten: lets do it!

katie: should we?

And that's how this whole crazy idea began!  :)  I've always noticed that Tyler likes playing with dollhouses, playing house, etc. but there wasn't anything on the market like this for boys.  I did find a rocket ship and fire station that were super cute but that's not really T's style so away we planned/crafted!

Here is the final result (after a little playtime and placement from Tyler himself).

Now, let's break this bad boy down!

I searched the internet for the best "house" bookshelf, weighed our options for building our own, etc. and finally found the perfect one at wal-mart.  I ordered that baby and then the real fun began.  Kirsten and I gathered items for months!  (Hobby Lobby's Christmas section was fantastic for this house)  Eventually the spreadsheet nerd in me created something like this to help keep us on track......

We had some interesting google searches which included, but were not limited to:

• "boys like dollhouses too"  interesting results right there!
• "miniature mounted racoon trophies"  which resulted in.... "collect all 8 of our trophy mounts for your mansion or dollhouse"  who knew! ha!

Let's not forget that my house (and Kirsten's!!) were a complete disaster and under major construction.  I think we might have went a little nuts on the BoyHouse trying to make up for lost time at our respective disaster houses.  ha!  Eventually it was the middle of December and we hadn't started anything....ahhh!  My house was still a disaster so I went to Kirsten's house Dec. 14th and we worked for 12 hours.  It was crazy, fun, exhausting and awesome!

The first task at hand was building the actual shelf (which was HARD).

"um, Kirsten...this shelf is A LOT bigger than I thought it was...where am I going to put it?!"

  

Mod Podge fun!  I carefully selected paper for each room (meaning it took me over 30 minutes on the paper aisle at Hobby Lobby) and I think it all turned out great!

  

Massive shelf on the table!  Hi Kirsten :)

Time to glue some shingles on!   

During the shingle placement, we were kicked out of the craft room and into the dining room.  (installation of quarter round was happening)  We were both squeezed in a tiny area...nail guns and air compressors going off....Kirsten and I focused on BoyHouse shingle placement!  I'm sure the workers thought we were nuts!  We had many, many laughs!

We're nothing if not precise!

Ta-da!

We took a 3 hour break while I went to Christmas dinner with some friends and we met back up about 9:30.  I started off the late night adventure by spilling an entire bottle of mod podge on Kirsten's NEW wood flooring.  I was freaking out........Kirsten was laughing and taking pictures. 

"You stop it right now and get me more towels!"

MP everywhere.........

Back on track.......mod podging away!

It's getting there! 

Kirsten's electrical is messed up in her craft room so we had to use this floor lamp to see.  It was hilarious and crazy!  I believe this is the last picture we took after midnight.........

The next morning we hooked back up for the final transport to my house!  The house took up the entire back seat area of Kirsten's Expedition!

After transport, Kirsten and I staged a few of the rooms for Christmas morning.  :)  Then, we literally stood there for 15 minutes just marveling at our project (we think it's worth bragging over!!)  We were just giddy with excitement!

The next series of pictures are details of each room at different stages.  I love to see how Tyler has made the rooms his own!

Hunting Lodge:  The "deer skin" run came from HL, I ordered the hunting men/animals online (because a boy needs people in his house!), deer over the mantle was an ornament, deer chandelier was an ornament, and the furniture is from the dollar store.

I LOVE the deer over the mantle :)  (fireplace from HL in the dollhouse section)

Deer chandy...ha!

After a little Tyler play and some more additions of pieces he received for Christmas.

Look at all of those trophies on the mantle!  (and that poor, poor man hanging out IN the fireplace. lol.)

Campgrounds:  I found the campground set at Wal-Mart and the sign is an ornament.

After Christmas, Tyler and I hung a few "hooks" in each room so he could organize his accessories.  I'd venture to say that these hooks/organizing are one of his favorite features.  Wonder where he got that from?!  ;)  (I love the ice chest hanging!)

Tractor Shed:  I didn't buy anything except the paper and sign (ornament) for this room since we have lots of tractors and I knew he would receive some for Christmas as well.  This is how Kirsten and I staged the room with items we already had.

...and this is after some Tyler play :)

Later on that day we set the rodeo up in the tractor shed...so cute!

Cowboys hanging out in the trailer watching the show.  (I LOVE to see Tyler's imagination at work through his house...SO much fun!)

Barn:  Another room I didn't buy anything for other than the paper, wood fence (HL) and sign (ornament). 

After some Tyler play :) 

Repair Shop: I ordered a Play Mobil mechanic shop on ebay, paper from HL and Rolf found the stickers on the ground at the gas station...ha!

This is such a cute set!

After some Tyler play :)  "dat blue tractor is always broken"

Parking Lot:  We purposely left the parking lot empty so Tyler could do his own thing.  The sign was from the wood section at HL.

Tyler filled the parking lot with items he already had and a few things he received from Christmas too.  Notice poor Woody "hanging out."  lol. 

That about sums up the details of the BoyHouse and how it came to life!  I'm thrilled to see the final product and watch my boy enjoy his house SO much.  

(hands on hips...admiring his work...hehe!) 

I'll continue to take pictures of Tyler's house funnies.  Like the poor guy below that was sleeping peacefully in his tent when all of a sudden "dat big truck backed into him." LOL!  I love it!

Usually the house is completely empty by the end of the night and there's a long line of "traffic waitin' to get back home."  LOVE!!!!

Thanks for all of your help Kirsten, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun by myself!  :)