{Photo Booth DIY}

I know I've mentioned the Bean's upcoming 16th Birthday Bash. (Yeah, like eleventy million times, sorry!). It's just a few days away now! Woop!

We've got lots of fun things planned. I mentioned the food 'bars', and posted about one (Snow Cone Bar).

One of the fun things I'm doing is a photo booth.

So, see, I'm kinda obsessed with the show Four Weddings. I love it because it gives me all kinds of devious plans for future parties. I'm actually using a few for this party alone. One idea I keep seeing repeated is a photo booth. After snooping around on the net, I figured out, you know what? I can do this myself. Easily. I don't need to buy the pre-made packages of props that sell for $20-30 and over.

What DID I need?

Cardstock
Wooden Dowels
Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
Hot Glue
Pencil

That's it. I simply drew and cut out the shapes you see above.

Ok, I have a background in graphics, but here's a little secret. I CANNOT DRAW. My stick figures are sad, strange lil creatures. If I can do these, so can you. The fact that they aren't perfect lend a little more fun to the props. For serious.

Draw and cut the shapes out.

Then, flip over and add a dot of hot glue (I put my dowels on the right because most people are right handed). Add the tiny wooden dowel. Allow to cool.

Done!

The cardstock cost about 59 cents a sheet. You can get a LOT out of one sheet. I only had one sheet of each color shown above.

The dowels were $2.79/30

Glue, Glue gun, pencil, and scissors I already owned ;)

It took me about an hour to get all of these done, which I did while I watched Grey's Anatomy, thankyouverymuch.

I made 15 different designs. Ties, lips, mustaches, and a monocle, cause monocle.

For the backdrop I used a black plastic tablecloth, which cost $1.99 at Party City.

In these photos it is fresh out of the bag. I recommend letting it hang for a couple days so some of the fold marks drop out.

I also made a pennant bunting from cardstock, bakers twine, and little clothespins. I simply cut and hot glued the pennants to the twine. The clothespins are for decorative purposes only.

I did buy a few pre-made props. Head boppers, over sized sunglasses, small chalkboard, and plastic fedoras. However, these are totally not necessary for awesome Photo Booth pics!

At the party, I will have a sign that reads:

Snap away with your cells
Or find me for photos!

Want to see the results?

To get the classic Photo Booth look to the pics, you can take them into Photoshop to create this:

If you are taking your photos with a smart phone, you can use an app called PicFrame to frame (I believe it costs 99 cents, but there may be free ones out there) your pics. The PicFrame frame is a little different, very wide on the sides, but when you print it, you can simply cut the sides down.

Or, just use as they are, because they are pretty much a whole lotta fun no matter the frame!

I will be printing these up (with the photo booth frame) as thank yous for the guests.

Do you think they'll have fun with this? I think they'll have fun with this! 

So there you have it. For a few bucks and a little bit of time, you can capture some amazingly fun memories!

Say Cheese & Ham it up!

Tina  


P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

{Raspberry Shortbread Crusted Brownies}

Ok, confession time.

My favorite cookies? Plain jane.

Sugar. Butter. Shortbread.

I don't need that extra stuff. Delicious, pure flavors. That's what I like.

Shortbread cookies are probably my favorite. I love the rich, butteriness of them.

I was recently invited to join the Ambassador Program for Walkers Shortbread. The awesome news here is that Walker's was the brand I already buy!

Here's a little info about Walkers:

The brand is imported directly from Scotland. The company was started in 1898 by Joseph Walker. It is still family- owned & ran today. They bake their shortbreads, cakes, traditional cookies, oatcakes, and puddings in the village of Aberlour in the Highlands of Scotland.

Authentic Scottish Shortbread? YOU BETCHA.

What I love most about Walkers' is that their shortbread products are guaranteed to contain no GMOs, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, and antibiotics or bovine growth hormones are given to their grass fed cows.

The classic shortbread is made of only FOUR ingredients: Flour, Sugar, Butter, and a pinch of Salt.

I love that. Seriously.


Walkers Shortbread products are also 100% vegetarian and certified Kosher OUD.


 My first shipment from Walkers' contained Raspberry Thins. I knew right away what I wanted to make.

The raspberry in these cookies (biscuits? I want to feel Scottish, so, I'm going with biscuits!) is intensely real tasting. No 'fake' raspberry taste. They smell amazing.

What pairs perfectly with raspberries? Why, chocolate of course!

I decided to make a Raspberry Crusted Shortbread Brownie.

Super easy to do. Just pulverize your biscuits, add a bit of sugar, flour, and butter to make a crust. Press into an 8x8 pan. Then, whip up this 1 pan brownie from my friend Darla, at Bakingdom. I love her recipe because it has the slightly crisp crust and the deep, fudgey middle. Yum.

After cool, dust with a little powdered sugar & top with fresh whipped cream if you wish! You could also top with fresh raspberries.

Honestly, I intended to put a chocolate glaze on these, it it was NOT needed. They are so good as is!

The biscuit I topped the brownie with is the Vanilla Shortbread, which is not only delicious, but a really lovely looking cookie.

Walker has extended an offer to my readers! You can get 20% off your purchases made at www.walkersus.com when you use my promo code #SBBSPRING until May 24, 2013. This code excludes sale products.

I think you'll love these all natural, delicious biscuits as much as I do!

You know what makes brownies even better?

Shortbread.

You know what makes shortbread crusted brownies even better better?

Raspberries.

Yeah.

Tina



Raspberry Shortbread Crusted Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 F

For the crust:

1 package (4.2 oz) Walkers Raspberry Shortbread Thins
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Pulverize the cookies in a food processor. Stir in the melted butter, flour, and sugar until well mixed. This should be a 'wet sand' texture.

Press into a greased 8x8 glass dish. Set aside.

For the Brownies:
(recipe by Darla of Bakingdom)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup  unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter. When butter is melted, remove from heat and mix in sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Slowly, whisk the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture.

When well combined, pour batter on top of the shortbread crust.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean with only a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow to cool totally before cutting and serving.

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

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