A Rescue Pup Birthday Party!! The details!

The day has come and gone!!!  I'm so excited to share everything with you guys!  As I've shared before, our oldest daughter just turned TEN (yesterday!), and as a young lady with a lot of passion and a really big heart, she asked to have her party to support a local dog rescue organization called Coco's Heart Dog Rescue.  Our pet dog, Bentley, is a Coco's Heart rescue pup, and he's been part of our family since November--he's a quirky, sweet, silver standard poodle, and our girl wanted tone able to help more rescue pups like him.

So, here ya' go!

The party was held at a local pet store--Angel's Pet World--that we frequent and that coordinates with Coco's Heart for adoptions events and many other activities!  We had the entire multipurpose play area to use for the party, an incredibly helpful staff at Angel's, and a couple of amazing volunteers from Coco's, along with not one but TWO ADORABLE cuddly, darling little rescue puppies, ready for adoption, and complete with puppy breath!!!!  This may have been Katie's birthday party, but the adoptable puppies, Donna and Rico, totally stole hearts!!

Donna (left) is a black and white fluffy puppy is snuggling with
Rico (right) a tan and white puppy.

We had a welcome sign on the front door to welcome guests to the party!  We set up the party area with several "stations" for the kids.  Once all the kids had arrived, they came to the "Adoption Center" and began by adopting their own puppies!

Puppy Adoption Center:  green grass play yard with white picket fence
and 16 stuffed animal puppies of all different breeds waiting to find
their forever home.

The Adoption Center was super simple!  The "grass" is two green outdoor rugs from the Dollar Tree, found in their household section.  The fencing is also from Dollar Tree (available seasonally).  The fencing is intended as garden border so I used an XActo knife and cut the fence "posts" even with the rest of the fence.  Perfect!  The puppies were purchased from Amazon and are a variety of puppy breeds of Webkinz Lilkinz.  The kids gravitated toward them right away and several were already hoping for a specific puppy!  Thankfully, everyone got "the" pup they were hoping for!

Adoption Certificates

Adoption Table:  Adoption Certificates, Dog Leashes in a variety of bright colors,
matching Dog Collars, Puppy "Vitamins" in small containers (gummy bears), and "Dog Houses"
(gable boxes) the kids would decorate to take their things home in.

 After choosing their new pup, each kiddo received an official adoption certificate, and they each selected a name for their pup!  We had a Mocha, Coco-Angel, Fluffy, and Kedzie among others!  Some of the kids named their pups for pets they remember, some for the appearance of the pup, and some for people or organizations (in this case Coco's Heart and Angel's Pet World).  The kids took their new puppies to the table and decorated a "house" they would take their things home in.  They had markers, stickers, as well as paw prints of various sizes and shapes that they could color and glue onto their house as well.  If there's one thing that surprised me about how the party went it's that the kids went to work on those houses and they were SILENT!  You would NEVER have guessed there were eight kids sitting there--though I suspect we had a relatively crafty and artsy bunch of kids among us!

The adoption certificates my husband and I designed in Pages on my computer.  I added a couple of paw print images to the certificate before printing and they were ready to go!  The leashes and collars I made with a regular fabric ribbon (I purchased a bulk set for bow-making on Amazon).  I found these awesome Avery labels with the metal ring and the inside of the circle label is white cardboard so the kids could design their name tag as they chose!  My sewing machine is currently out of commission so I had to test run some fabric adhesives and see what worked (or in this case, didn't lol).  It ended up that E6000 worked (which is great because I had some in my craft closet and I had NO clue what else to try!).  I found the little lobster clasp things for the leashes on Amazon as well.  I basically just slid the name tag onto the ribbon and glued it at the size I wanted it to be.  I held the glued area for about 30 seconds and then laid them all out to dry.  Same with the leashes, I chose a length, cut them, chose a size for the handle and simply made the circle handle and glued the ribbon.  The claps were a little different in that I wanted a clean end so I folded them over the ring of the clasp, glued, and then folded and glued again so that it would look a little more finished.  E6000 glue saved the day!

The kids' "work table" where they decorated their houses with markers, stickers, and paw prints.
Serious work took place here!

When they arrived, each guest also received a t-shirt!  We purchased 5 packs of plain white t-shirts at Target and I had iron on transfer paper in my craft closet that has been waiting literally YEARS for a purpose--so we made the kids T-shirts with Coco's permission!

Coco's Heart Dog Rescue t-shirts for the kids--Katie gave each guest a shirt when they arrived
 and they all wore them throughout the party!

As soon as the kids were done working on designing their houses, we moved to the big activity--we split the kids into teams and had them do a Scavenger Hunt for items we had already selected to purchase and donate to Coco's Heart Dog Rescue.  We had chosen items from the rescue's wish list and had spoken with the store owner to see what food would be most useful to the rescue.  We had a red team and a black team--the kids decided on a cart driver and a reader for the clue cards.  We had the kids take one card at a time, read quietly so as not to give away their clues or ideas, and then they brought the item back to use to OK and give them their next card!  They were so great, and it was so fun to hear them zip around the store running back and forth or looking for the items!  We only had to help a couple of times--they were pretty darn independent and did such a great job!  The funniest part of this was that we had a pet bed as one of the items, we forgot to tell the first team that we wanted them to choose a $30 bed and they went RIGHT for these waterproof amazing Audis of the pet bed world when we were looking for more of a VW Beetle....  I quickly mentioned the $30 pet bed limit and they went on their way to find that VW Beetle of the pet bed world I had originally hoped for.  It made me laugh!  The scavenger hunt cards I simply made in Pages on my computer, printed out on white card stock, cut out, and glued to red and black card stock respectively.

Scavenger Hunt cards for the black team (left) and red team (right).
We gave them the same clues just in reverse order so that they wouldn't be
on the same path at all times.

The scavenger hunt was a huge success!!  The kids seemed to really enjoy running around the store and choosing their own items to donate to Coco's!  The entire time I couldn't get the game-show "Supermarket Sweep" out of my head....  Do any of you remember that show??  I always thought it would be a total blast to run around the store with a cart and just throw things in!  Plus, typically the "clues" on that show were for cleaning items and things like that.... hello.... who WOULDN'T love that?!  (Welcome to my world loving cleaning, organizing, and craftiness....  It's a little twisted...  It's ok.  I've accepted it.)

To wind things down the kids had cake or cupcakes and ice cream, sang Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl, played with the canine stars of the show, Donna and Rico, and played a game of "Life: Dog's Edition".  Even the adults who stayed for the party got in some great cuddle time with these adorable puppies!

Sign on the game of Life table:  the frame is black, says "woof" and has a
silver dog bone on it and inside the sign says "A Dog's: the Game of LIFE" 

The game of Life:  Dog's Edition set up and ready to play--cars with a
cardboard picture of a dog inserted are ready to go!

Huge thanks to Pupcakes and Cupcakes bakery in Minneapolis, MN who made Katie's dog bone shaped cake (marble and white frosting, by request), and her Dog Food Bowl cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting, and Coco Puff "dog food" with red "dog bowl" cupcake liners!  They were so adorable and so yummy!!!

Dog bone shaped cake with tan icing and won paw prints on the top
and bones on the sides.  "Dog food bowl" cupcakes
with red liners and Coco Puff "dog food.

We also had a few snacks including "Chew Sticks" (pretzel rods), "Scooby Snacks" (Scooby Doo Graham Crackers by Keebler), and "Doggy Doo" bags which had Nestle Buncha Crunch candy inside.  The "Doggy Doo" bags were the result of this parent caving under tween pressure.  While mom thought this idea was mildly disgusting and somewhat mortifying, the new 10 year old thought it was downright HILARIOUS!   The 10 year old won this time.

"Doggy Doo" treat bags:  paper bags with pow prints drawn on them.
Inside is Buncha Crunch candy and the bags say "Doggy Doo"

Katie had asked that her friends not bring her birthday gifts but rather bring a donation of an item or a cash donation to give to Coco's Heart Dog Rescue in addition to the items we donated during the party.  She received two large dog beds, a huge pack of puppy potty pads, and $115 in cash that she donated to Coco's during her party!  We also donated two of each of the following from the scavenger hunt:  dog bed, slip lead leash (especially good for the more skittish rescue pups when they're frightened), dog potty pads, regular walking leash, two toys per team, and dog food.  We couldn't have been more proud of this kid--the party was a blast, the kids were incredibly well behaved with literally NO issues to speak of, and in just one day, as the clock turned her from a 9 year old to a 10 year old....  she helped dogs in need, she made a difference, and she followed a passion.  This lady is one proud mama!

Katie holding adoptable puppy, Donna, in front of the treat table
and "Happy Birthday" sign

If you have any questions or would like to know more about our Rescue Pup Birthday Party or the projects we did, please just let me know!  If you enjoy my projects, "Like" Chronicles of a Crafty Blind Chick on Facebook and Pin this post on Pinterest!  I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into Katie's special day!!  Crafty days are kicking into high gear over here with summer quickly approaching--more to come soon!

Happy Crafting!

Name logo:  "Nicole"

A Rescue Pup Birthday Party: Planning!

Oh my gosh!  Can I just tell you guys....

I am SOOOOO excited for our daughter's upcoming birthday party!
How excited?!
SOOOOOOO excited!

Not only is she turning TEN, hitting double-digits, and giving us daily glimpses of this amazing young lady she is becoming, but she has made me overwhelmingly proud!  She chose to have her birthday party theme be "dogs" and in talking about it further, she decided she wanted to have HER birthday party AND her gifts, go to the local animal rescue organization we follow and participate in called Coco's Heart Dog Rescue!  If you are in the Minnesota / Wisconsin area (they work with people around the country too!) and on the hunt for a wonderful new fur-baby, please consider Coco's. We have been constantly impressed by the work they do and the number of pets they place in forever homes with great care and attention to quality and a perfect fit.

When the kiddo decided that she would like her party to support Coco's somehow, I hopped to trying to make this happen!  I contacted Angel's Pet World, a local pet store that partners with Coco's often, to see if they might consider the store as a venue for such a party!  We love to shop locally and support local businesses, so we take care of all our pups' needs at Angel's, and with our absolute favorite local dog trainer, Crystal Clear Canine Training, providing classes there, it's a bit of a one-stop shop for us!  We love the staff, the business's commitment to local organizations and participation in community, and the welcoming, homey feel we get when we walk in the door--saying hello to Big Bird when we stop in is a pretty good perk too!

Angel's Pet World logo:  caption reads,
"Tails are wagging and pets are bragging!"
-Image credit to Angel's Pet World

+

Coco's Heart Dog Rescue logo
-Image credit to Coco's
Heart Dog Rescue

This cause is pretty near and dear to the kiddo's heart.  She's an animal lover, has been since she was tiny, and as she's gotten older I have watched her gravitating toward participation in events focused on animal rescue and care.  Her grandma is a foster provider for the rescued pups with this organization, and the kiddo has attended many an event with her grandma, giving heaps of snuggles to pups of all shapes and sizes awaiting their "fur-ever" homes.  When we decided to get a "pet" dog, we worked with Coco's and watched closely for a pup to join our family--this crafty blind chick has a guide dog, and while she's a HUGE part of our family, her role as a guide requires distinction and some guidelines that differ from our "pet" dog.  We successfully adopted a very BIG, very SCARED, but very SMART Standard Poodle about a month before Christmas and he quickly became our fuzzy Mr. Poodle Boy--I think he likes it here and we love him tons and tons!

As it turns out, this birthday party thing was RIGHT on the radar for both the pet store and rescue organization!  We scheduled the party and now we're in the midst of some serious Crafty Blind Chick preparations over here!  The next few weeks will bring invitation design, crafting favors for the kids to take home, and party decor and activities--all on a budget.  I'm super excited to share these things with you as they are completed!  We're trying SUPER hard to incorporate LOCAL businesses!  We love being able to support local small businesses and organizations, and we're doing our best to involve as many as possible!  For now, here's a glimpse of what our Rescue Pup Party is going to look like!

- Invitations will bear the Coco's Heart logo as well as a description of the party so that attendees are aware of Katie's hopes for this day--which include her asking for no gifts, but for donations to Coco's Heart either by donating dog leashes, collars, food, etc., or by monetary donation.

- The kiddos will get to "adopt" a pup of their choosing when they arrive, receive a collar, leash, name tag, and adoption certificate for their new "fur-ever" friend.

- Since "fur-ever" friends and any party goodies need a home, the kiddos will be able to decorate a dog house for their pup (and goodies!) to take home with them.

- Kids will split into teams and participate in a scavenger hunt within the pet store.  We will purchase the items they pick up during the scavenger hunt and donate them to Coco's Heart.

- Each child will receive a t-shirt to take home and wear, sharing Coco's Heart with their world!

- Both human cake and cupcakes, and pup cakes, are set through Pupcakes & Cupcakes, a local bakery that specializes in amazing treats for people AND their pets!  Many of their goodies can be shipped outside of the Minnesota / Wisconsin area, so if you ever want some super special people and puppy treats--check them out!  We love their work and cannot WAIT to have these treats!

Pupcakes & Cupcakes logo, with a paw print & a cupcake image
-Image credit to Pupcakes and Cupcakes

And the highlight....  Seriously.....

Coco's Heart Dog Rescue will bring a couple of adoptable PUPPIES to meet the kids, and some of the foster care providers to tell the kids what it is Coco's does and how they help save animals, create families, and help our community!  I can't even wait!!!  I mean, who doesn't love PUPPIES!!!!!

But.....  I have to.

Which is ok really, because I have a lot on the good ol' to do list between now and then!  We will send out invitations around April 20th, so you can anticipate a post about those pretties and a party prep update around then if not sooner!

Thanks for following along with our Rescue Pup Birthday Party Planning!

Until next time!

Name Banner:  Nicole

DIY Essential Oils Kid's Kit

DIY Essential Oils Kid's Kit:  Rainbow roller bottles with labels
detailing the blend in each--details in this blog post.

 Our family began using essential oils about a year ago, and over that year our use of essential oils has increased drastically, in just about every way possible.  We use them in minor first aid and self-care, better health & wellness, improving sleep and avoiding nightmares, beauty and skin-care, and cleaning to name a few.  My children are no exception to the use and love of essential oils.  My 9 year old was actually the first one in our family to use Young Living essential oils and she still has the tiny little sample of Purification a friend gave her at Family Camp last summer to help with the itching of her mosquito bites!  The way she coveted that tiny little bottle was adorable!

Being the crafty chick I am, I tend to try to find a DIY for nearly anything I want to get or make (within reason).  Young Living has a "Kid Scents Collection" which is awesome and diluted to the perfect ratio for kiddos to safely use, but I wanted to make something out of blends I knew work for my little lady and I wanted to prepare them sooner rather than later!  In thinking about making them special for my girl's likes, I went on the search for RAINBOW roller bottles (and I found them--SCORE!).  I made these a few months ago and at the time didn't photograph the process but they are one of the simplest projects EVER!

A note of caution:  My daughter is nearly 10 years old and pretty mature.  We have talked extensively about essential oils, safety, proper application, and so on.  Use your common sense and knowledge of your own kiddo when choosing whether or not to make and give a Kid's Kit to your little one!  I would not recommend this for any child 5 or under--not because I really think they'd get themselves into trouble, but because the younger the kiddo, the more unpredictable their behavior can be, and safety is of utmost importance in anything with our precious little ones.

Supplies:

--  Roller Bottles of your choice:  I chose these smaller Rainbow Roller bottles (amazon) for the novelty of it and knowing my kiddo loves rainbows!  I also thought this way I could give each color a "purpose" to differentiate them other than labels!

-   Carrier oil of your choice:  I used Grapeseed oil

-   Young Living Essential Oils (see below how to order if you're interested) of your choice:  all of my blends and the number of drops of essential oil for safe dilution for older children are listed below.

-   Glass dropper if needed

Here are the bottles I created:  color, name, and recipe.  Once you've placed the essential oils into the roller bottle, fill the remainder with your carrier oil, place the roller bottle on, push to secure, and place your cap--BAM!  You're done!  You're a rockstar!  And your kid is going to be SO excited to have his or her own set of oils!!

Red:  OUCH:  2 drops Lavender essential oil, 2 drops Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) essential oil

Pink:  Focus:  2 drops Orange essential oil, 2 drops Peppermint essential oil, 2 drops Valor essential oil blend

Orange:  Stay Healthy:  4 drops Thieves essential oil Blend

Yellow:  Joy:  4 drops Joy essential oil Blend

Green:  No Worries!:  2 drops Stress Away essential oil blend, 2 drops Lavender essential oil, and 2 drops Ylang Ylang essential oil

Blue:  Sweet Dreams:  2 drops Lavender essential oil, 2 drops Cedarwood essential oil, and 2 drops Stress Away essential oil blend

Making these is super easy--for any other blind chicks (or dudes) reading today, I prefer to drop the oils directly from the essential oil bottle to the roller bottle.  Reason being, I can generally hear the oil as it comes out--it makes a slight ticking noise as it comes out to the essential oil bottle so you can hear it drip and you can count the drops by sound.  I just make sure the bottles are basically touching so that the oil goes into the roller bottle.  If you prefer, you can always use a glass dropper to get the essential oils from the main bottle into the rollers.  The glass droppers ARE handy for the carrier oil, in my case grapeseed oil, because it is all but impossible to get out of its original bottle and into the roller bottles without your counters taking a grapeseed oil bath!  

Essential Oil Kid's Kit "Ready to Go" with a perfect size
clear plastic carrying case from Dollar Tree

Our daughter takes her Focus, No worries!, and Stay Healthy, and Joy rollers to school often in her backpack!  I think her favorite is Joy--but that's always been a favorite for her!  The little carrying case pictured above I found at Dollar Tree.  It contained three miniature antibacterial hand soaps when I bought it, but it's the perfect size to hold most of the Kid's Kit!

If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about Young Living Essential Oils please feel free to contact me at neschultz@gmail.com and I will gladly talk oils with you and provide my Young Living Essential Oils Distributor information.  If you follow the link above to get your hands on these incredible oils you will want my full name and distributor number.  They have been such a phenomenal addition to our family's health and wellness!  

To see more Crafty Blind Chick posts as they happen, "Like" Chronicles of a Crafty Blind Chick on Facebook!

Happy Crafting!!!

$3 Easter Egg Wreath

Having waited entirely too long to change out the wreath in front of our house, I was subject to parental ridicule inquiry as to whether I was ever going to change out the wreath and if I owned a spring / summer (or otherwise more happy, cheerful, non-Minnesota dreary) wreath.  I have wreaths for fall, winter, and around Valentine's Day...  So, it was time to add an Easter wreath, hopefully one that would be super bright and fun but not $30 like the single Easter egg option available at my fav, Target Boutique.

Here ya' go!!  This project is perfectly easy for both sighted and blind chicks (and dudes, of course, we don't discriminate around here).  The eggs have a tiny plastic blip that I oriented toward the back of the wreath with each egg--easy point of reference by touch.  The wreath foundation is totally tactile and will guide where you decide to place your eggs.  I didn't follow a pattern at all, in fact, contrary to my completely just sliiiiiiiightly perfectionist tendencies, I placed the eggs as randomly as I could.  Borrowing someone's eyes, or using an app, to separate the colors of eggs may be helpful so that you're randomly placing eggs but not ending up with six orange eggs on one side or something.  I guess that could be cute, though, actually, as I think of it.....  it could be a rainbow Easter Egg wreath....  oh man, that may be even better!  Rainbow makes EVERYTHING better!  (Must stop thinking now.)

Alright, here ya' go.....

Supplies:
- Ribbon
- Wreath form:  I found this one at Target in the Dollar Spot, woot $1.00
- Regular Plastic Eggs & Mini Plastic Eggs:  I got both of mine at Dollar Tree--I chose them in the same color palette as they had bright sets and pastel sets--this is the bright set
- Hot Glue Gun & Sticks

I began by simply tying the ribbon on to the wreath form, it's made of reeds so I was able to slide the ribbon through it about three inches apart so that it will hang nicely.  I made sure to hold the ribbon at the top point after typing the left side and moving on to tie the right side.  I double knotted each and trimmed the excess ribbon.  The ribbon I used was in my craft closet but it ended up being a closely coordinating green color!

Photo Description:  Empty white reed wreath form with green
ribbon tied at the top left and right sides

Next, I just jumped in....  I have a tendency to overthink and overplan things, even things like this....  What if I put them in the wrong place?  What if the little ones don't fit?  What if it looks stupid?  What--ever!  So, what if it does?!  If it does, you've spent $3 and chances are it doesn't look bad at all--you just think it does because you're a perfectionist like me! Hah!!

Just start gluing those eggs on!!  I glued the large ones on first--the only "intentional" thing I did was to try vary the egg color rather than have two like-colors next to one another.  This is where an app or borrowing sight may come in handy!  I began with each egg by placing a tiny drop of glue on the inside of the egg to hopefully keep it from opening as I'm working with it or once it's on the wreath.  Half the time I didn't have to squeeze the glue gun at all to do that as there was a tiny bit of hot glue on the tip of the gun.  I touched it to the inside of the egg and closed the egg.  I'd say this step is entirely optional.  Then I placed glue on the form where I was going to place the egg and on the back or sides of the egg accordingly.  As I got further into the project, I glued just the egg I was placing based on what parts would touch other eggs or the wreath form and then I stuck it on--went a little faster.  I held the egg steady for a few seconds and on some of them gently blew on the glued area to cool the cool.  I did have to add a drop of glue occasionally, often to the egg next to the one I was placing if they touched one another--the drop of glue gave a bit more support to keep it in place.

Wreath after adding first six eggs:  pink, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple.
How did I NOT see rainbow potential in this?!?!

I continued with the large eggs and finished with those before moving on to the mini-eggs.

Wreath with 17 eggs:  They seem to begin forming groups of 3-4 eggs.

After I had added all the large eggs, I got started with the mini eggs.  The mini-eggs were used most to fill in gaps where the wreath form was visible and where the wreath needed a bit of rounding out.  I began doing these on the counter like the others, but then moved the wreath to hang off of a cabinet for me to check the shape and open spaces that could be seen (yeah, yeah, by the sighted chicks and dudes) when looking directly at the wreath as it would hang.

Wreath after beginning to add mini-eggs

Wreath hanging from cabinet--still a fair amount to go!

I ended up with two mini-eggs left!  I could have added them but frankly it seemed like the wreath was ready and I didn't want to add eggs just to add eggs!  I"m SUPER excited about how it turned out!  Thirty minutes and $3.00 later and we have a bright and shiny Easter wreath!!

All finished and outside ready for Spring!

And, now the parental units can't complain that our wreath is so dreary!  Time to welcome Spring!!

If you try this project--enjoy!!!  And come back with a photo of your wreath!!  I would love to see them!  The kiddos will love this project too but this time, it's just me....  :)

Have fun Crafting!