The Art-Over

What do you do when this awesome, sweet, funny, independent, creative girl has a birthday?
Well, you invite six of her closest friends over for an art extravaganza sleepover, aka: an Art-Over.

We found some really cute American Girl party goods at Michael's. They had paint brushes and hearts and flowers on them and phrases like "Create" & "I Love Art," so we thought they were perfect and so cute.

There was a coordinating scrapbook paper pack that was kinda spendy, but with a 50% off coupon, we figured it was worth it. We used pieces of paper to make a runner on the dinner table and the cake table, as well as crafting a banner for the hallway.

We made a Happy Birthday banner to go over the cake table...

...and gussied up these paper fans to hang in the window.

Miss Mae requested home made cupcakes for her party- so we frosted each one a different color and Mr. Sahm cut out a paint palette from foam core from the Dollar Tree. I think it turned out great!

We set the cupcakes on the buffet under the Happy Birthday banner.

I cut out this number 9 from the foam core and painted it- it's a little rough, but being surrounded by marshmallows made it just fine! A cupcake seemed like just the thing to secure all those skewers.

Mr. Sahm, the awesome printer man, made posters of paintings by women artists to hang on the walls (His idea! He is seriously the best dad ever!)

We gathered all our supplies, which were many! Miss Mae had some definite ideas for what she wanted to do for her activities. The supplies were so cute, I used them to decorate this shelf in the kitchen. It was nice to have it all laid out and ready to go in one place.

First, as an experience in textile art, we tie dyed t-shirts. What a mess, but so worth it! All the girls were so excited to have their shirts, and everyone wore them to school on Monday. Then we painted on real canvases with acrylic paint.

Each girl had her own paint palette and the freedom to paint whatever they chose.

This sweet girl made a self-portrait. How cute is that!

Of course, pizza was neccessary after all that creative energy was spent!

We did a little freeze dancing and ate cupcakes and watched a movie and at 11:30, I begged them to go to sleep, which, eventually, they did.

In the morning after breakfast, we did a large cooperative art installation on the driveway with chalk and packed up to go home. Each girl took home her t-shirt, her painting, and this little bucket of goodies, including crayon hair bands and crayon buble gum, as well as an initial necklace from the dollar bins at Michaels.

They had a great time and Miss Mae's birthday was thoroughly celebrated. Everytime these girls all get together, I am struck by what a blessing these sweet friends are.

Happy Birthday, Miss Mae!