M-I-C-K-E-Y...you know the rest...

Lil D's 3rd birthday is this Tuesday...we are having a family party this year, but that doesn't mean I can't have a theme and have a little fun making some decor:)

I was standing in the party store trying to decide what to do this year. Lil D doesn't have a real strong opinion about it...he just loves green...ask him what he wants for his birthday..."all green stuff"...SO, since we did Monkeys for his 1st birthday and cars for his 2nd birthday, I decided to go with his current love...

MICKEY MOUSE (clubhouse)

I bought some invites (I don't have time to make them this year)...a table cloth...some napkins...and wrapping paper and headed home. I wasn't sure what I was going to do yet...till I got to the craft closet and remembered I had a Disney cricut cartridge...hello fun! One of the functions is a Mickey head with all of the letters and numbers cut from the middle of it. So my first project: A happy birthday banner made from Mickey heads.

Lil D LOVES to help with the cricut, scary as it may be...he can open it...put the cartridge in...load the paper and cut the paper all by himself...nice!

So here is my lovely assistant showing us how to get those Mickey heads cut out...

The cricut (with Lil D's assistance) cut out each Mickey head with each letter along with 4 Mickey heads cut out in Mickey scrapbook paper. Because many of the letters have centers, I backed each one with a white square...

then I put the letter back in, and the center in with some glue...

Then removed the letter...the center is now perfectly placed...

(or you can just eyeball it:)

I used black brads to attach the heads together...

It's a REALLY long banner...but I can't wait to hang it up!

(I'm having a hard time waiting till Tuesday)

Since we are having Lil D's party at Chuck E Cheese (read...the house demo is beginning and I refuse to have people at my home for a party in the mess), I am making cupcakes (I LOVE to decorate cakes...but cupcakes will be easier to eat away from home). I am going to use my new cupcake holder covered in Mickey wrapping paper. I will be making chocolate cupcakes with white frosting (in red and yellow papers)...and these cute little Mouse heads will be the cupcake toppers...(They are 2 inches tall)

I decided that I needed to take the mouse head with a three cut-out another step farther. I bought some black fabric, with little tiny white dots, and cut out a 5 1/2 inch mouse head with a 3 in it. The cricut works great on fabric...but it must be really stiff. I used heat n bond, since I was going to iron it on anyway, and that makes it plenty stiff. I also tape my fabric down to the sticky pad (just for added assurance that the fabric won't slip)

I ironed Mickey's head :) to the front of the shirt and the 3 that was cut out to the top back of the shirt. Then I did a satin stitch all the way around the head and number.

On a green shirt, of course, 'cause Lil D LOVES green!

I can't wait until Saturday, for Lil D to sport his shirt and to get it all put together...I'll post pics next weekend of it all put together.

I am also going to make a "birthday boy" t-shirt for him to wear on his actual birthday.

(the thread I was using kept breaking during my first attempt, so I am going to try again tonight with some different thread...any suggestions would help...my black thread did great on Mickey so I don't know what the problem is).

I'm linkin' to:

Weekend wrap up at Tatortots and Jello

DIY project parade

Just something I whipped up

Make it for Monday

Toot your horn Tuesday

Get your craft on Thursday