tutorials - The Little Style File

How To Make Memorial Day Treat Boxes

May 23, 2013

Many will celebrate Memorial Day weekend surrounded with family and friends honoring those who have served our country by showing their Patriotic pride. Memorial Day is also a great time to teach our children the importance of freedom.

Children and treats go hand in hand, and what better way to get them involved in understanding the meaning of Memorial Day than to create a treat box! To get your children into the spirit of remembering those who have served our country this is really a fun and simple craft for all ages to enjoy.

My little one loved peeling the stickers and was able to apply them herself.

Once she finished decorating her box we filled it with chocolate chip cookies and delivered this sweet treat to our neighbor. Older children could drop these off at a local VFW or hospital. In addition to giving away the treat boxes you could offer them to guests as a way to take home leftovers from a Memorial Day BBQ.

Fill the boxes with cookies or any treat of your choice. Add ribbon and your treat box is ready for delivery!

*The takeout boxes can be found at your local craft store. Children of all ages can enjoy decorating them with markers, patriotic foam stickers, and ribbon.

Happy Memorial Day from The Little Style File! What are your holiday plans?

Filed Under: cooking, crafts, holiday, tutorials Tagged With: DIY, fun with kids, memorial day, treat boxes

How To Make Mickey Mouse Cookies

April 23, 2013

Part of planning a fun party is all the cool details. These Mickey Mouse cookies were a huge hit at the Mickey party! I wanted to share how to make them with you.

How to make Mickey Mouse Sugar Cookies:

Step One: Make the Sugar Cookie Dough

1 1/3 cup Butter

1 1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

(Cream Together)

Combine:

4 cups of Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

3 Tablespoons of Milk

Add slowly into the butter/sugar mixture. MIx well. Refrigerate dough in a plastic bag overnight.

Step Two: Take out the Chilled cookie dough one hour before making

Step Three: Roll out Dough make your cookies. Grease cookie sheets, Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Step Four: Cool Cookies completely before decorating/icing them

Step 5: Make Royal Icing:

3 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder

4 cups of Powdered Sugar

6 Tablespoons of warm water

Food coloring of choice

Beat 7- 10 minutes. To thin it out more just add a little more water. After it’s mixed add food coloring. Place icing in a decorators bag or squeeze bottles.

Step 6: You outline cookie first with the icing being on the thicker side. Allow to dry then make sure your icing is ready to flood center of your cookie. Decorate accordingly.

You can check out more details of the party here.

Filed Under: celebration, contributors, cooking, tutorials Tagged With: mickey mouse cooke tutorial, mickey mouse cookies, mickey mouse party

Owl Party Ideas + Cupcake Tutorial

April 3, 2013

This little party was an Owl Theme. Three main colors were used along with a couple of patterns to make the party cohesive. Owl party ideas for decorations include birdcages, mini flag pennants, mini yarn ball banners, a mini scrap banner and of course, a lot of owls. All of the printables were designed by Lauren Haddox Designs.

The desserts I made for this party were Owl Cupcakes, Cake Pops, Mini Rice Crispy Treat Cones, Rice Crispy Treat Pops, Mini Cheesecakes and Cake Pops. The party printables are a cost effective, easy and fun way to carry a theme throughout an entire party.

The Owl Cupcakes are so fun and easy to make with your kids! Here is a quick tutorial on how to make them. We made these for my daughters birthday and she had SO much fun putting these together.

Owl Cupcake Tutorial:

You will need:

1 package of Oreos

1 package of M&M’s

! batch of cupcakes (Homemade or Box)

1 can of frosting (or homemade)

Food Coloring

Step 1: Cook Cupcakes

Step 2: Frost Cupcakes

Step 3: Separate Oreos then cup one of the tops in halves to make the ears.

Step 4: Place ears into the top of the cupcake and add the two circles for the eyes then add the M&M for the nose.

So easy, right? If you decide to give it a try, share your photos with us on Facebook or Instagram!

Filed Under: celebration, contributors, party, tutorials Tagged With: kids party, owl cupcake tutorial, owl party

Kids DIY Valentines

January 29, 2013

The other day, as I was cleaning the kitchen, my 6 year old, Abryn had been very busy and very quiet for some time. When I noticed what she was working on I just had to share it!

She was making her own valentines for her friends at school. With no help from mom, she drew 2 little hearts on the outside and colored them red and then on the inside wrote “i love you.” She was very proud of herself and even asked me to video tape her! At that I laughed, but I thought a few pretty pictures and a quick tutorial would help your littles get started. There is just something about receiving something handmade.

For the kids version of DIY Valentines, here is what you need:

-Paper, or card stock in any color (target) has a great $1 section filled with all kinds of valentine stickers, paper, envelopes etc.

- Envelopes + liners if you want to add a bit of detail

- Markers

- Valentine Stickers

- Glue Stick

Write a sweet little note on the inside of the card or use some of the classic valentine lingo like “your rad,” “be mine,” “so sweet,” “hugs,” etc.

Next decorate the envelope with stickers or hand drawn hearts and place the card in the envelope. Now for the glue…

Abryn’s favorite part, use the glue stick to secure the envelope down or a big sticker and voila, pretty handmade valentines!

Do you make or buy your kids Valentine’s Day cards?

Filed Under: celebration, crafts, fun, holiday, tutorials, Valentine's Day Tagged With: handmade valentine's day cards, kids valentine's day cards

Celebrating History | Presidential Inauguration & Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 21, 2013

inauguration day kids

It’s Inauguration Day! While the President was officially sworn in in a private ceremony yesterday, today is the big celebration. This Inauguration Day is even more special because it’s Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and the kids are home from school to watch.

I remember the last Inauguration Day. I had an almost 2 year old on my lap barely pregnant with her little sister. We watched as the first African American President was sworn in and I giggled every time Ellie would shout, “Barack O’Mama!”

This time around Ellie is almost 6, Madeline 3 and they will be home tomorrow for the nation’s celebration. Ellie has been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. at school and is excited to watch the Inauguration as well. Here are a few fun and easy ways to celebrate this day in history.

Inauguration Day Bingo

Patriotic Pinwheel

Red, White & Blue Treats

How is your family celebrating this historical day?

Filed Under: crafts, tutorials Tagged With: crafts, games, Inauguration Day, MLK Jr, snacks

5 Kids Holiday Crafts You’ll Be Happy You Made

December 18, 2012

You’ve seen them all over Pinterest. The Holiday Crafts For Kids. But how do you know which ones are worth your time?

Over the past few years we’ve made them all. Now we’re sharing our favorites with you. We’re not crafting experts and while we think everything our kids create is A-Mazing, we do have a critical eye. So, may we present

We love this craft because the kids can pick out the items to go into the snow globe, the ribbon and glitter. The grown ups need to do the glue gun but the kids can dump in the glitter and then they love to see it shake around. In the picture above, we have secured a gift card so it’s a fun presentation for a present as well! There are different variations with water or not and we have tried and liked both ways. Click to make.

These ornaments are easy, fun and smell sooooo good. Just like making cut out cookies, you bake and then decorate. Tied with a cute ribbon, they make great additions to packages or as a gift all on their own! Click to make.

Since this is an honest post about holiday crafting, I’m going to tell you that these adorable trees which now live on our entryway table take a lot of patience. My kids did about 1/8 of the middle size tree. But they did love picking out colors and buttons and were great at directing me where to exactly place each ‘ornament’ on the trees. Besides taking some time, they turn out super cute and are even gift worthy. Click to make.

We made these trees on a canvas in 2010 with a 1 and 3 year old. Depending on wall space and the sizes of canvases, you can do single trees or family trees. For bitty kids, we think these turned out pretty great and even gifted them to the grandparents that year! Click to make.

Like Sugar Cookies but with MUCH more salt, these cutout ornaments are fun to make and decorate. Given as gifts or hung on your own tree, kids can paint and sprinkle them and admire their work for years to come. Click to make.

So there you have it. 5 Kids Holiday Crafts that you’ll actually be happy you made. All of the above photos are from the projects we have done over the last few years. If we can do it, you can do it! Your family and friends will be beyond impressed.

Tell us what your favorite kids holiday crafts are below in the comment section or on our Facebook Page!

Filed Under: crafts, holiday, tutorials

Fab, Free Father’s Day Printables

June 11, 2012

Father’s Day is this Sunday. This Sunday! Sometimes it can be a struggle to show dad just how much you care. To make things easy on you and your budget, here’s a round up of the best FREE Father’s Day Printables.

1. My Dad Rocks Card

2. Father’s Day Cards and Labels by Hello Lucky

3. Martha Stewart Retro Father’s Day Labels

4. Kiki & Company Father’s Day Printables

5. A Book For Dad

6. Positively Splendid Photo Collage

7. 5×7 Father’s Day Printable

8. 5×7 Babe Ruth Quote

9. Superdad Printables

10. Best Daddy Ever Beans

11. Dad Survey

How will you celebrate Father’s Day this weekend?

Filed Under: celebration, cool finds, crafts, gifts, tutorials Tagged With: dad, Father's Day, Father's Day Printables, free printables, printables

DIY: Cupcake Liner Flower

April 5, 2012

I mentioned in the Princess Baking Party post that I fell in love with the One Charming Party cupcake liner flowers. I took inspiration from those and decided to create my own version. I purchased adorable Martha Stewart Gingham cupcake liners at Michael’s, small doilies at my local grocery store, a bag of buttons and Elmer’s Glue.

I put a little drop of glue in the liner and folded it in half.

I folded the liner again. This makes it look like a flower petal.

I created four petals. I then put a little glue on the back of each petal and arranged them on the Doily.

Once I was done gluing the petals to the Doily, I sewed a button on. I then stitched the button right on to the paper chef hat!

It was an easy & inexpensive project, just took some time to make 14! The girls all loved them and they were a perfect compliment to their pink aprons.

Filed Under: crafts, tutorials Tagged With: cupcake liner flowers, DIY, tutorial

Balloon Wreath Tutorial

March 5, 2012

There are so many times I pin something on Pinterest, think what a great project it would be in my spare time and then never look at it again. This was not one of those times.

A colorful wreath popped up in my ‘Pinners I Follow’ section and I had to get a closer look. It turns out that this entire wreath was made out of balloons! It looked complicated and time consuming, but when I followed the link to check out how to make it, I learned that you only need a plain straw wreath, balloons and pins. Sounds easy enough! Here is a more detailed tutorial on how to make a balloon wreath for your next event.

Supplies for a 14″ Wreath:

1 Straw Wreath, 14 inches. LEAVE IN PLASTIC!

400 5″ ballons in theme colors

400 floral pins or straight pins

optional: scrapbook paper & ribbon

Directions:

1. Fill your DVR with your favorite shows.

2. Grab your favorite beverage, my suggestion would be a nice glass of red.

3. Lay out supplies.

4. Take a balloon, push pin through the balloon and into the wreath.

5. Repeat Step 4, 400 times.

6. If you would like to add ribbon with an initial, name or design, pin it on to the front top of the wreath before pinning on balloons.

7. Continue pinning until the entire wreath is covered and there are no gaps. To be sure, hang the wreath and examine from all angles.

Ellie just had a Magic Party with the colors black, white and pink. Here is the balloon wreath I made in progress:

Final balloon wreath:

Total project time was about four hours and I did it all while catching up on my favorite shows. You could create a bunch of mini balloon wreaths for table centerpieces or hang photos in the middle for a photo wall. The possibilities are endless!

Are you on Pinterest? You can follow The Little Style File here and we would love to follow you back! If you have a great Pinterest creation, share it on our Facebook wall!

Filed Under: celebration, crafts, tutorials Tagged With: balloon wreath, craft, party, party decor, pinterest, tutorial

12 Favorite Valentine’s Day Crafts

February 7, 2012

Love is in the air and that means Valentine’s Day will be here in a week! It is time to break out your craft box and start working on some fun DIY projects, crafts with the kids and fire up the oven & start baking! We have scoured the Internet and of course pinterest for our favorite Valentine’s Day Crafts!