Trend: Tissue Paper Petals

I've been seeing alot of diy projects using  layered tissue paper petals, to a great effect.

Isn't this tablescape so fabulous? So summery! The best part is those lanterns. This project comes to us via Martha Stewart, full instructions are here

 Image source: http://www.marthastewart.com

I think this is a great way to salvage cheaper paper lanterns that are not quite right.  I bought some cheapos once and they were definitely not perfectly round. Perhaps I could have saved them by covering them with tissue paper circles.  Apparently, you can buy the circles pre-cut at craft stores if you are not into cutting out dozens of circles yourself. Paper lanterns and tissue paper is very inexpensive, but what an impact! Great way to stretch your party budget.

I have also seen this method used to decorate pinatas. 

Image source: http://www.younghouselove.com

Here's a tutorial from one of my favourite blogs to read, Young House Love. This pinata was from their daughter's first birthday party.

Image source: http://www.everydaycelebrating.com

If you are not into getting messy with flour and glue,then this very similar project uses a store bought soccer ball pinata and just adds on the tissue paper "petals". Because it's uses a store bought form, it is perfectly round which might appeal to those perfectionists out there (ahem, me).
You can find more photos and instructions here

What a lovely alternative to those gaudy character pinatas you see everywhere in the store. I love the pretty, modern look of these.

Re-Post: Felt Citrus Slice Coasters

Image source: http://www.purlbee.com/citrus-coasters/

Image source: http://www.purlbee.com/citrus-coasters/

Lemon, Lime, Pink grapefruit, Orange 

By now, everyone knows I love felt. Look at these fantastic citrus slice coasters.
Love, love, love!
All you need is some appropriately coloured felt, scissors, pins and a needle and thread. 
The step by step instructions for this project from Purl Bee can be found here

Is there anything you can't make from felt?

Lady Bug Decorations

A friend asked to help her with some things for her daughter's first birthday. I didn't have alot of time to contribute, but I came up with these two quick projects.

 Directional Signs

The idea for these guys were to be signs to point the guests to the party, without giving away to much information such as the address or child's name. Guests were told to look for the ladybugs. One was at the entrance to the complex, one each on the front and back door. I made them from cardboard and acrylic paint. I painted them freehand, so they are not all perfect, but since they would not be side by side, it didn't matter. They are quite sizable, I used the lid from a paper box. Easily seen from a distance. I think the middle one is my favourite.

Leaf cupcake flags

These little guys are so easy to make and look adorable. 

Materials:

• toothpicks
• green paper
• red dot stickers
• black marker
• glue stick

 Cut out a leaf shape from green paper.

 Add some red dots (the body of the lady bug)

 Draw on the details with black marker.

Add a bit of glue and roll the stem of the leaf around the toothpick.

Of course, try not to touch the pointy end of the toothpick, or wear gloves. It's easy to whip up alot of these in a very short period time. I made a dozen in about fifteen minutes.

If you are considering a theme for a young child's party, especially if that party is in a backyard or park I encourage you to use a ladybug theme. There is so much available online-free printables, games, activities etc. If you can't find ladybug decorations, they are easy to make. Or simply use red/black/green as your colour scheme.

Re-post: Easter Egg Fireflies

This is the cutest thing ever. I had to share. I have an entire bag of these plastic eggs leftover from Easter. What a great summer craft for summer outdoor parties.
Cottage, Camping, Canada Day...

Image source: http://www.ohdeedoh.com

 Image source: http://www.ohdeedoh.com

Put them in the garden, and turn them on at night to suprise the kids.Yellow ones can be bumble bees, pink ones can be lady bugs, blue or green for dragonflies. You could make a whole slew of different kinds of bugs, as well as the standard lightning bugs.

Materials:

• plastic easter eggs (the ones that open)
• stickers or googly eyes
• pipe cleaners
• duct tape (for wings)

For detailed instructions, click here

Re-post: No Sew Felt Bunting

I mentioned recently that I was thinking about making felt bunting banners that could be re-used again and again.  This morning I came across a great tutorial from Style at Home, you can find it here

The instructions look really easy- I am thinking about upgrading the twine to some thin satin ribbon and maybe adding some decorative stitching.

Hoppy Birthday Banner

Materials:

• card stock in your choice of colours (2-4 colours)
• letters (stickers, scrapbooking or cut your own)
• ribbon
• glue stick
• pencil and ruler
• scissors

I used pre-cut card stock for this project, which makes it easier and faster than a circular garland. I bought a package of pre-cut cardstock in four colours at the dollarstore. Each piece is 61/2 inches by 41/2 inches.
First decide on what you want the banner to say, as well as any additional decorative pieces. Lay out your pieces so you can see how it looks before you start. Once you are happy with the colours combinations, cut our all your letters I used a combination of white, off-white and two shades of  brown. I drew the letters freehand, but feel free to use a template or pre-cut scrapbooking letters or stickers. Lots of options available at dollar and craftstores. Once you like what you see, glue on your letters and embellishments-lining them up all the bottom edge will help it look even.

 

I added a silhouette of a bunny wearing a party hat to each end of the "hoppy" banner. I cut out the bunny, the triangle and the pom pom from paper and drew the details with a pencil.

Next I made a "pocket" for the ribbon by measuring out an one inch fold and gluing it to the back side. I applied just a thin strip of glue-don't glue the pocket shut. Think of a curtain panel, the ribbon will be like the rod. I used the side of the glue stick to get a very thin line.

Once all the glue is dry, slide your ribbon through each letter, making sure the letters spell out the word correctly and knot the ribbon on each side. I did the banner this way because I wanted to be able to re-use parts of it. I can keep the "birthday" as is, and take out the bunnies and the "o" from "hoppy" to change it to a standard birthday banner instead. Just un-tie the knot and slip off the letters.

It's actually really easy to make a custom banner, they look great and can be customized. Much better than the tin foil ones at party stores. For the instructions on how to make a circular banner, check out the "sweet pea" banner here

 

I am thinking about making some felt garlands and pennant banners, they'll be longer lasting and can be used in various ways for lots of different kinds of events.

Hoppy Birthday Party

Date: Sunday April 24, 2011 (Easter Sunday)
Location: Mississauga, ON
Guests: 10
Budget: $75

 Menu:

•  Crackers and Cheese platter
• Thai Chicken bites with Sweet Chili dipping sauce
• Veggie Platter
• Mini Samosas
• Fruit platter
• Strawberry and cream trifle

I made all the platters myself. Prepared veggies, fruit and cheese trays are so expensive. If you have the time, it is well worth it to make it yourself. My only suggestion is to buy the fruit ahead of time, so it has time to ripen. Which I didn't do-thus no melon. The cheese I got was on sale, as well as the grapes and strawberries. The samosas are pre-made, but were a good price and baked rather than fried. For the chicken bites, I simply baked the chicken breasts in the oven, sliced into cubes to be eaten with toothpicks. Now that I think about it, no one even used a plate! So I didn't have to wash dishes. Bonus!

The spread: it's it so colorful?

Mini Samosas: very yummy. Next time I will add a yogurt dipping sauce

Maple Leaf Prime Thai Chicken, comes with the sauce. I had a coupon for $2 off.

  

Grapes, strawberries and pineapple. No melon, they weren't ripe.

Old Cheddar, Goat Cheese with herbs, Marble, Havarti

Various peppers, celery, cucumbers, grape tomatoes

Trifle: angel cake, whipped cream and strawberries

 The trifle was an accident-it was meant to be a strawberry shortcake inspired birthday cake. It fell apart when I added the second layer. It fell to pieces. Epic fail. In a panic, I called my sister, since it was Easter Sunday grocery stores were closed. She said "do you have a bowl? Make a trifle". Thank goodness. She also picked up a carrot cake from a small market that happened to be open, just to be safe. We could have gone without it, but I was worried about it. But it tasted great after all. Silly me, I failed to stick to the plan. A few weeks ago, I baked a test cake since it has been quite awhile since I actually baked a birthday cake. The test cake was great. Then I saw cake mix on sale for $1 and in my zeal to save money used the cake mix instead of my original recipe. Bad idea. The lesson-stick to the plan! 

Decorations:

• Hoppy Birthday Banner
• Paper Streamers
• Paper Bag Easter Baskets

 I made both the banner and the streamers from cardstock. The paper streamers are simple to make, you simply need a piece of paper, scissors and some tape to hang them up. You can find further instructions here. My original plan was to hang them all vertically from the ceiling, but I have stucco ceilings and they all fell down. So taped them to the wood shelf and in the doorways. It seems the theme of this post is "what went wrong", I don't want to give the impression that the party didn't go well because that is not the case at all. This just goes to show how things don't always go according to plan, it's good to have back-ups because you never know.

Paper Bag Easter Baskets:
These paper baskets are so easy to make, and look great. All you need are paper bags, scissors and some tape. The instructions on how to make these are here. I added a paper flower for the girls, and a bunny for the boys. Inside the baskets were bubbles, small toys and some chocolate eggs. The grass is green paper I shredded with a paper shredder. Easy, cheap and recyclable.

 Rosette hair pins:
For each girl, I made a felt rosette hair pin. Simple to make. You can find the templates and instructions for free all over the internet. Find one you like, and go for it. It only takes a few minutes. As many of you know, felt is my favourite crafting material and this project is a great way to use up small scraps.

 Activities:

• Dye Easter Eggs
• Egg Hunt
• Golden Egg Challenge

Even though we are all adults (no kiddos yet) my sisters wanted to dye Easter Eggs. Some of the boys hadn't ever dyed eggs before, and they really got into it! We used both store bought kits, as well as food colouring and vinegar dye. The store kits did not work as well as the dye. And the smell! Ugh, so were awful. My favourite eggs are the ones we dyed with food colouring. We used dental floss, elastic bands, stickers and wax crayons for the patterns.

Egg Hunt:
I hid plastic eggs with candy inside all over my apartment, and outside on the balcony. It might sound silly, but it was really fun. I think I hid the eggs too well, I found an unfound egg the next morning.

The Golden Egg Challenge:
This was the birthday boy's idea. He wanted a game where the winner won a golden egg trophy. I found a "golden egg" aka a yellow glass blown egg on clearance at Home Sense for $4. The birthday boy invented the game, which consisted of knocking down a pyramid of plastic cups with a Nerf dart gun. The person who knocked the cups off the table with the fewest darts won the golden egg. The birthday boy won (of course). So he gets to keep the egg for a year, and is responsible for coming up with next year's challenge. We'll keep the tradition up from year to year, passing the egg around. Again, silly but fun.

Easter Pussy Willow Arrangement

Today's idea comes from my Swedish-Canadian friend who sent me this image of a pussy willow arrangment she made. In Sweden it is traditional to decorate branches-typically willow, birch or pussy willow with easter eggs, brightly coloured feathers and fuzzy yellow chicks to celebrate spring.
She also told me a funny story about tramping through her neighbour's field searching for pussy willows in the recent spring snow storm we had on the weekend. The snow was actually blowing horizontally.

This image is so Swedish to me-with the all white background, the brightly coloured decorations and table runner. I hope you find this image inspirational. For another take on the same theme, check out my version with willow branches, a bird and nest and butterflies.

Spring Shopping Spree

This past weekend I did the Winners tour with my oldest sister and scored some pretty sweet deals. Now that spring is here, it's time for colour!

Here's what I scored: a dark teal open front cardigan with rosette appliques, on clearance for $15. Can't really see it in the image, it's the blob on the upper left of the photo.
A fantastic purple Sparrow True handbag marked down to $29 from $59.99.
A scrapbook for $10 and a kirigami craft kit for $5.99.
Pretty sweet deals, huh?  As soon as I got home, I switched from my brown suede handbag to the purple one. Love coloured handbags in the spring/summer. I have been intending to do a scrapbook of vacation photos from Mexico and Cuba and have not found the right cover yet, but this one is perfect. Can't beat the price either. It's a 12x12 format, and I already have tons of scrapbooking paper and doodads.

Here are better images of the cardigan. The colour is a bit off in the photo, but it's close enough. I love the versatility-it can be worn open, tied to the side, or tied in the front. It's casual enough for jeans and ballet flats, or can be dressed up with dress pants and heels. Just because something is on sale, doesn't mean it is always are great deal. I always think about care-it is machine washable, will it wrinkle? And if  I can think of three other things I can wear it with, and at least two places I can wear it to, then I will get it. If not, I don't buy it even if I love it. Otherwise I won't end up wearing it.

 The kirigami kit is really cool, I'd never heard of it before.  Kirigami is related to origami, the Japanese art of folding paper but Kirigami uses cuts as well as folds to create intricate and beautiful designs. The kit includes the instruction booklet, a folding guide, tracing paper, a slew of coloured papers and scissors. All for $6, can't beat that for value. And since I recently broke the handle of my favourite craft scissors, it was too perfect to pass up.

Some of the designs-aren't they neat?

The project guide includes awesome tips and ideas. Both for home decor and entertaining. Here are some of the pages:

I am going to use the designs in my new scrapbook-the tropical floral designs will be the perfect complement to my Mexico images. I also love the photo matte-I'll try that one too. There are so many uses-to add pizazz to basic white dinner ware, string them together for garland. There are a few three dimensional projects too, one is a hanging decoration/mobile, as well as the paper butterflies shown on the cover. Can't wait to start folding and snipping away.

I always start at Winners first when shopping, especially for gifts. I can always find something fantastic at a great price. I suggest going with a friend, filling a cart and trying everything on. You never know until you try it. Rummage through the stationary and home section too, good deals abound.

Happy Shopping!

Re-post: Ladder Tablescape

Isn't this fabulous? I love it for several reasons:

• re-using an older ladder, eco-friendly and maybe even free
• love the use of photographs
• the graphic punch of the hits of red in the black/grey/cream colour scheme
• love the x's and o's 

This table setting is for a wedding reception, I think it's in an art gallery-love!  I can think of so many other events this could apply to-an engagement party, anniversary, milestone birthday.

 source: http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/green-style/green-style-a-ladder-as-a-dining-table-overhead-hanging-141529

Craft Project: Spring Tree

 

Spring is finally on it's way! This is the time of year I start craving colour-I add colourful scarves and ballet flats to my winter basics, switch handbags and gravitate towards bright coloured tees and tanks. It's also the time to add pops of colour to your everyday décor. Last night I decided I would whip up a quick spring craft project using some things I already owned and adding a few inexpensive items from the dollar store and craft store. 

Materials:

• opaque vase or flower pot
• florist foam 
• knife and cutting board
• a stick (this one is willow)
• dried moss
• embellishments of your choice-artificial butterflies, birds, nests, eggs etc. 

First, pick a pot. This one I saved from an edible fruit arrangement, I washed it out well and dried it.  You can use any opaque container.

 

Cut the block of florists foam to fit inside the pot. It doesn't have to be perfect, you may have to use multiple small pieces and fit them together. Doesn't matter-the moss will cover it. I used a serrated knife-it cuts though the foam like butter. 

 

Shove the stick into the middle of the foam block and make sure it's sturdy. Cover the foam with dried moss. You could also use decorative stones, artificial grass, shredded paper or anything else you can think of. 

Next, wire on your embellishments. The ones I chose came pre-wired. If they do not come already wired, you will need some thin wire. 

I discovered the butterflies were more delicate than I had anticipated. I broke some wiring them on. So in the end, I only used two. One at the top, and one sitting on top of the moss.

The nest was a bit tricky to balance, so I hung it on a lower branch. You could glue it on if it's wobbly. 

 

I love this little bird. So pretty. When picking out the embellishments, I stayed within one colour theme-orange and pink. There are plenty of options out there, in any colour you can think of. Adjust the items according to your décor or taste. 

 

The finished piece! I love the sculptural element of the branch and the whimsy of the little nest and bird. 

I can think of so many other ways to change this piece according to season or theme. Hang little eggs for Easter, add some artificial flowers in the summer, hang miniature fairy lights at Christmas time. Add orange and red leaves for fall, I can go on and on. 

The only problem-my cat wants to eat this! Yes, I had to battle him three times to save the bird. I finally put this way on the top of  the fridge out of his reach. I am going to my Mom's this weekend, so I'll bring it over there. So, if you have toddler or cats this project might not be for you.