Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

Has anyone gone through life with children withOUT having a MICKEY Party?

Well! We not only had a Mickey Mouse Party... We had a Micky Mousetach party!

See, my nephew who's birthday is one day before my youngest's had to have a Mickey Party, and at that age you can't argue with them.  So my sister in-law and I decided to combined the parties since they are so close in dates and who wants to consume an entire weekend with birthday parties!?  NOT me! 

SO evolved the Mickey MouseSTache party!  

I've always wanted a "little man" themed party with ties, vests, top hats and mustaches but with the great opportunity to combined parties and with my nephew not parting ways with Mickey Mouse anytime in his near future I thought we should combined the theme as well! 

So here are a few pictures to gaze at... We are getting into the party planning business soon as well, but if you should live far, far away then we can send you the items for you to adorn your party with all by yourselves!   WARNING- combining a party does not make less work! It only makes it more fabulous! 

ENJOY :) 

Logan (left-3) Brandon (right-2) 

THE BIRTHDAY BOYS

Artsy made the shirts! They turned out ADORABLE!! 

Mickey Top Hats- we made from cheap top hats then added ears and a red stripe to tie into our colors

Mickey shapes were added to the tops of our favor bags with a mini clothes pin and we also put them on tall bamboo skewers to add some depth and cuteness to our tables.

oh and here is a top hat for one of the girls that planned to stop by and share some minnie love ;) 

An amazing chocolate cupcake with shipped cream frosting and red sprinkles! 

YUM, Brandon liked them! 

We also set up a fancy photo booth with dress up clothes! These are the oldest BROTHERS to the young Birthday Boys! 

a beautiful mickey balloon decor for the wall 

so the mustaches didnt make it through the entire theme but it was still cute and came through some of decor!

dont forget the marshmallows!

The Mickey Cookies that CookieXchange did only dipped the ears in chocolate instead of using any royal icing decoration.

...and some more yummy desserts...

FRUIT KABOBS

FRUIT TARTS

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES OF COURSE

more cute favors

ADORABLE FRAMES!!! 

On the back of the boys' shirts Allison ironed on some cute sayings-

Logan turned 3 his shirt said _ YIPEEE IM 3!!

Brandon turned 2 his shirt said- WOHOO IM 2!!

ALL JUST PICTURES TODAY no tutorials or where to get things... 

I'll try to keep you updated with out crafty lives over yonder...  please be sure to comment.  If you ask any questions about anything you see I will be sure to give you my answer!!!

XOXO

How to Make Vanilla Extract

Pure Vanilla Extract!


Okay so this stuff is super expensive and I'm trying to raise some children in America. So why not make my own!

Actually this batch I'm testing on friends and family (but don't tell them).  I am making Christmas gifts out of the extract I produce this time around. JUST in time for Christmas present planning.. You'll need 6 weeks minimum to make this delicious stuff... here is how;

First you'll need to invest in some vanilla beans.  I purchased mine from ebay, and to tell you truth I'm not sure where else you would purchase these without breaking the bank!
There are different Grades for beans and also different types of beans.
I got grade B

Vanilla Bean Grades

When a bean has completed its curing the bean goes through a grading process. The Bean is separated from others according to length, color, plumpness, appearance, shape, and moisture content. The more the quality a little bean holds, the more it is in demand and hence the higher market value.

Most all varieties of Beans have this grading;
A
Whole, uniform, fine, fatty, oily pods. Deep, dark, chocolate brown in color. No defects or blemishes. Great aroma, flexible with good moisture content, about 8 inches in length. The finest of all grades.
B
Similar in quality and characteristics to Prime grade beans, but slightly less plump.



Then there are grades below those... buut... nothing you want to mess with when it comes to a pure extract, you simple wont obtain the quality in flavor, you mineswell go buy vanilla flavor instead of pure vanilla.


Now, I went through this company on ebay

Now I actually purchased Tahitian Vanilla Beans (a whole pound) and I went for the cheaper Grade B. If I had another chance (perhaps next year) I WILL be purchasing Premium Madagascar Bourbon Grade for a little extra money. That being said what I purchased was not bad, but there were a lot of very thin dry beans which don't make for a GREAT Vanilla Lemonade .. YUM

Now believe it or not Vanilla Extract is alcohol... again when I have the luxury next time I will be ordering premium FAT little beans and to make things a little more interesting I will be using some top notch vodka to make mamma (that's me) my very own stash! That wouldn't be so bad in some cocktails!

POUR-SLICE-SCRAPE-SHAKE-WAIT
Let's begin

No exact measuring here guys and gals... pour and plop method

You will need:
1 large Mason Jar
3-5 cups of Vodka (nothing fancy-I went for the cheapest I could find)
7-10 Vanilla Beans (Best you can find for your money)
knife
Music

*Fill that jar with vodka 3/4 full (just until you get all the vanilla in, then you'll fill the rest of the way)
*Slice the vanilla beans in half.
*Scrape the vanilla beans of their gold (like below)

I used the back of my knife so I wouldn't take too much of the pod with the beans!

DUMP- all the pods and the beans into your jar and fill the remainder of the room left with Vodka. The longer you keep these beans in there the better this extract will be.

You will need to keep this in a dark and cool area, if you have dark colored glass jars EVEN better! Sunlight damages important chemicals made for those flavor notes that hit your tongue.. so keep these puppies locked down BUT don't forget about them either. I set myself a reminder to agitate or shake it a little every week! 

Give it a minimum of 6 weeks... Mine is almost there. I did this around 5 weeks ago, and it is super dark in color and looks amazing!  Everyone who gets some will be thrilled. I will post an update soon.

Let me know if you will be trying to make your own homemade vanilla! 

XOXO