Thursday, March 8, 2012

an invitation, a thank you and a free download

  I wanted to share my birthday invitations and thank you notes I made for my daughter's birthday.

If you missed my gazillion pictures of the party, you can view them here



I made the scalloped border in a pink color and then glittered it.  The invitation envelopes are a glittery gold lined with a shimmering hot pink paper.  The note card envelope liners are what designers say "is the jumping off point".  I found this wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby.  The polka dots are playful but seem more grown-up when it's in gold.  I snatched the roll right up...not like it was the only one left or there were tons of people in the aisle.  I just knew this was the direction I wanted to go.


The glitter really does stay on....yeah it made rub off a bit when you run your hand over it.  I really don't know why I didn't see that when I was taking the picture!



 I made these four note cards for personal download use. 

I buy my envelopes from Paper Source.  These note cards fit perfectly in the 4 Bar size.


I wanted to show different embellishment options that you could do...

The first card I simply just rounded the corners - nothing too fancy.


Second card I added I flower and a ribbon leaf.


Third option I again added glitter.


And finally the fourth I tied baker's twine around it with a simple pearl flower attached to the bow.


Now for the download part....this is new for me so please let me know if there are any kinks.

All that I ask is that if you are not a follower or if you are a new visitor, if you wouldn't mind following me and sharing the link. 

You should be able to click on the "Scalloped Note Card" title below and it should take you to Scribd where you can download it....or you can click DOWNLOAD here and that should take you there as well.

Scalloped Note Card

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

a glamous big girl party

My big girl turned 10 this past February! 

Ohh what an exciting age!  She definitely is not a little girl anymore and not quite a teen.

A fun age that deserved a glamous big girl party. 

We've done the swimming, play park, movie and slumber parties.  I wanted to create a party where girls got dressed in fancy party clothes and ate, danced and mingled. 

I glittered, sewed, pom-pomed and baked to get things ready.  I also did a lot of pinning!  If you follow me on Pinterest, I pinned a lot of pink, white and gold parties. 

So here is just a few(hehe) pictures of the details....




I wanted to create a whimiscal tree with recycled glittered Christmas ornamnets as the centerpiece.



My lollipop circle tissue paper fluffs were super easy to make.  I will show how sometime soon.



Cupcake toppers are from this adorable Etsy shop, Icing Designs.


The paper doily banner and glittered flower streamers are from Martha Stewart.  I did add my daughter's name to the center of the doilies.  The glittered "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner was made by me the same way I did my "THANKFUL" banner found here.


My sandwich toothpicks were another easy project.  I will show how to make those as well.


The ruffled fabric garland was also sewn my me....and it still amazes me that I did this one!  I need to perfect a few things before I show anyone my method.


I made a bunch of symbols, number "10"s and letter "C"s out of glittered cardstock to hang in the tree.





And finally my oversized cardboard letter "C".  This too was an easy project but did take awhile.  I used the same technique as I did with my hanging crepe paper flowers found here.  The only difference was that I used strips of crepe paper in lengths of 2' instead of 4'.




Finally every party has to have balloons!  There is just something about balloons.  This party I ordered extra-long strings so that the girls could reach them.

The party went well!  I thought girls would mingle around the food and into our living area.  Instead they would grab a bite to eat and go back into my daughter's room.  At one point I went into her room and found all 8 girls on the top bunk sitting and talking.  I guess at this age they need their privacy too!

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

my winter wreath

Seeing that it will be nearly 70 degrees today, I figured I better post about my winter wreath.  Spring is right around the corner and I am already thinking of what to do for spring.

This was my Christmas wreath that never was written about.

 

I got the idea from Martha Stewart found here.  It took me a looooooong while!  I started with an 18" straw wreath.  I have never used this size: I wanted something bigger for the holidays.

Well, I started with one bolt of yarn and did make it all the way around once.  But there were gaps and you could see through it.  So back to the fabric store I went.  I grabbed 2 more bolts, thinking I only needed one more but just in case I bought another one.  I probably didn't need the third but I wrapped it around as well.  The outcome is a nice fluffy non-see through yarn wreath. 

Now that the core wreath was done, it was time to embellish.

Making the flowers also took some more time!

Martha Stewart's wreath consisted of using different color ribbons with different textures.  I did price it if I were to do it exactly like she did using her source....mega expensive! 

I had bought a some velvet and satin fabric to re-do some Christmas ornaments.  I decided to give the fabric a try.  I made myself a template in 4 different sizes and traced away. 

I followed the directions online and put the flowers together. 

Instead of covering the entire wreath I decided to pin the flowers only on one side.

After this was all said and done it was only a few days before Christmas.  It was such a shame to take it down so hence the idea for my "winter wreath".

Here in Nebraska the ground is shades of brown and gold and often times covered with snow.  I wanted to incorporate those colors into my wreath.

At the fabric store I bought 1/2 yards of different colors and textures that I thought might work.


Some fabrics were easier to work with than others.  So beware.

Also I hung the wreath from a ribbon that I thumb tacked to the top of the door.  I didn't want to use my standard black hook.  I think I like it!






I used several different flowers stamens or "pips" in various coordinating colors and sizes.  I found most of what I used on Etsy.

I also ran the edges of the fabric petals through a candle to seal them.  I did this afterwards once I noticed the edges fraying after being on the wet-icy door.  If I were to make flowers again, I would do this before constructing the flowers.  It just gives it a more polished look.




Stay tuned for a spring wreath.  Hopefully it wouldn't be almost summer before I write about it.

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.