Mad Science Party - Part 2

In part-1 here, I talked about the decorations (and short how-to's for those) we had at AN's 7th birthday Mad Science party. As our guests arrived, could see that everybody was really enjoying the lab coat and funny nerd glasses.

And here is "Professor Z" from Mad Science getting ready for awesome and kooky experiments.

AN with his friends

Everybody listening to Professor Z so closely

"Professor Z" actually sent 10,000 Volts onto a plate

And, the rainbow glasses

Some serious scientist talk :-) What are they discussing about?

and the finale, the slime! Can't do without that

Pizzas toooo!

And the mad science Cake, 100% My design :-) Oh,no, I did not draw that on cake, I created the image and sent to Wegmans, they used my design to make that Edible picture! :-)

Mad Science Cake

And, One happy birthday boy! Priceless!

Here we go again

This year, we haven't had a day since Dec 26th 2010 without having to wear boots.

Look at this.

and this.

Unlikely of this part of the country, sure we get snowfall every year, but like 5 doses of 6 inches ..may be.. Thats the usual. There can only be one explanation to what we see now. Global Warming. Not surprised, huh?

Now, in other news. I made this beautiful top/bottom set from left over fabric for BN.

I love the way it turned out, she does too :-)

Mad Science Party - Part 1

The Scientist of the day had started a terrible cold that was going around, the morning of the party. But boy, he was excited.

He then dressed up in his very own Lab Coat, all 100% cotton sateen of it. He does look like a scientist, doesn't he?



How did I do it: This is an extended tunic pattern with added collar stand, collar and button front (It was my first time with collar stand and collar, so I had to use a few, ahem, adjustments).

There were balloons, all silver themed.


How did I do it?
Party Land, asked for Silver themed :-)

The entry door of condominium community club house AKA the Lab was stamped with some lab signs, here is an example.


How did I do it? No rocket science. I got the image from about.com and added my own text, Then I cut yellow construction paper into standard letter size sheets, used my home printer to print the picture. I used shelf liner sheets to stick them to the glass doors.
About.com, free science images link

There were molecules everywhere, of Water.


Look at this hanging from the ceiling, like a drop of water. Who doesnt love Chemistry?  

How did I do it? I used Construction Paper of different colors and traced circles using a cup and cut using regular scissors. Exacto knife would have given smoother edges though. I used glue to stick pieces of it together and cut out strips to connect the atoms. Hung up using the wrapping ribbons.

Hanging from the wall above the fireplace was the blackboard, with everything you need to know about science, OK, well not everything, the bare minimum you need to know. The Einstein equation.


How did I do it? I used black construction paper sheet, Chalk, Cut out shapes, and Shelf liner to finish the edges.  



Here is the Birthday banner.
How did I do it?
Because of strange shortage of science themed party stuff, everything had to be handmade including the blackboard. So what do I do for the birthday banner, well, I've got it covered. Get a generic banner with balloons in the middle and cut more circles out of construction paper and glue them, they are atoms, silly!
 

Now, all scientists had to sign up and receive their Lab coats and funny glasses.


I couldn't believe how successful this was. Everybody LOVED receiving their lab coats. It even came with name tags.

How did I do it? I ordered the lab coats from Mr. Disposable Inc in Brooklyn, NYC. SN picked up the coats in person, and told me the staff was very nice to him. He did call in advance and ordered the lab coats in the right sizes for all the kids according to our guest list. It was a hit, I am patting myself for deciding to go with the lab coats.

Next up! The Mad Science experiments, Food and Cake.

AN

I can't believe I haven't been keeping up my online sewing journals lately. The Mad Science party sure took a lot of time and effort. But it was a huge success. I cannot wait to post the pictures. A lot happened between January 14 and yesterday. Everything fun with lots of pictures will be posted very soon, and the sick and ugly part with coughing, fever, runny nose, body pains, headaches etc will be forgotten.

But,

I don't want to forget yesterday, neither do I want to forget to write about yesterday. It was a wonderful evening for SN and me. We had a PT meeting with AN's teacher. The before mentioned coughing and fever landed BN to an unplanned doctors office visit, after receiving a call from her school. That too at: 6:15pm, while I was scheduled to meet with the teacher at: 7:30pm. I was obviously very stressed out with a sick 2 year old, and a sick but energetic 7 year old with Neytiri AVATAR he got with the Happy meal. Very long story short, I got back home, baby sitter arrived a little later, and I was all ready to go with SN to talk about AN with the teacher.

SN and I were a little nervous what Mr. M would say about AN, he welcomed with a "My problem child!". He was just kidding. He couldn't stop talking how good AN was, and he was thanking us for sending AN to his class, and all that. AN was well above the grade level according to Mr. M and he didn't have any complaints. He concluded the meeting very quickly and didn't have anything to complain about.

Well, there you have it. Although a PT conference for a 1st grader may not sound very important and it wont probably define the person he will be in 18 years, it definitely is a promising feedback. It is indeed a good sign that he has almighty's blessings and my, he works so hard. In case you read this some day, AN: Dad and I are very proud of you. You are very special and one of a kind.

The Bhami dress & Tutorial

Have you ever gotten used to an idea so much so that you do it over and over? I have. Classic gathered jumper has been my favorite for so long, until I figured out how to do a peasant style dress with the bare minimum work. The results have been fabulous.

I call it the Bhami dress!

Making one of these is super easy. It will take only less than 1 hour,really!

Grab your supplies (All measurements are for a 2 year old)

1) Fabric: 1 Yd

2) Contrast fabric or trim: 1/4 fabric (44'') or trim as needed

3) Elastic - 13 inches long

That's all, oh yeah, your sewing machine, thread, needle and all that fancy stuff.

Get started

Step 1: The Fabric

Piece Type 1 - the dress - (cut 2 pieces at the fold)

Piece Type 2 - Arms - (cut 2 pieces at the fold)

You should get 2 pieces of width 10 inches and height: 16 inches

By now you should have the 4 pieces like here in this picture

Step 2: The armhole



I am pretty sure I mentioned this is a super easy project. For armholes you need to align the raw edges of all 4 pieces and pin them all together, we are going to cut armholes at once on all layers (NOTE: make sure you have EACH piece folded in the middle). Like this.

(Tilting of armpieces is expected, trust me, it will go away)

and mark a point 5.5 inches from the tip of the sleeve on the neck side

Now you need to draw a free handed armhole. A basic J shape is fine. See below. Blogger turned my picture like that, sorry!

Do you still have the pins through all four layers? Good. Now cut through all 4 pieces following the share you drew.

Step 3: To the sewing machine (1/4 seam allowance)

What we are going to do next is; sewing pieces right sides together at the ARMHOLE SIDE, PLEASE!.

You will take a bodice piece and attach a sleeve/arm to it.

Now,take the next bodice piece attach it to the sleeve, then you'd attach the next sleeve.

Now the remaining ends are attached here. And you get this.

Step 4: Elastic

Now that you have a dress with a square neck, you can double fold the neck edge and create a case for a 1/2 elastic. DO not forget to leave a 1/2 inch hole to insert the elastic

Insert the elastic through the hole and sew the ends.

Step 5: Seal edges, finish & Hem

Now you can finish the dress my hemming the sleeve edge and the skirt edge using the double fold method. Then close the body pieces as in the picture below. You can hem the edges after dooing this, and thats what I did. Oh, I also sealed the raw edges using a zip zag.

There you have it! A pretty dress.

Cherry on top.

If you want to add the trim go ahead and top stitch the ribbon to the edges.

Coming up next..........and Mad Science

I've been busy. The latest venture is organizing a Mad Scientist party for AN. You know, AN isn't exactly into Science experiements, not yet, but he is very curious, he wants to know things, and always loves when we explain and he actually gets it. Over the years SN and I have been transformed into boring working parents and we consider our computer technology jobs as just bread money, no passion, nothing. We have long forgotten our Engineering background and all Science we learned. Trust me, we spent so many ours learning electrons, protons, neutrons and their lively world that it is a shame that we are not using any of the knowledge we gained now.

Anywhooooooo....I figured, the party will be a good exposure to him and he will get to know how cool science can be (kids love only "cule" things, why? should be added to the Tell Me Why series books). If only I knew there were ZERO science themed stuff in stores, before I planned it. Party City has all things Lady Gaga, but not a single thing related to Science. So what was I going to do with a Mad Scientist party theme. Well I had to use my own ideas. It IS indeed a Science Party after all, isn't it?

Tips on Mad science themed party ware, decorations, activities, food will be posted after the event :-) Gotta keep it a secret, hope Julian Assange does not leak it!

But I have a very very exciting project coming up very soon, Pictures and sewing are all done. It is so cute and super easy. Here is a sneak peek.

Hello 2011

New hopes, new aspirations, new promises, new goals!