Spring Centerpiece

Looking down on my handy work.

I've been looking for a spring centerpiece and I've been looking for a baby shower table centerpiece. I think I've found just the thing. It's an easy peasy project that cost me NOTHING! 

Don't you just love that?

All I did was go outside and cut some of the beautiful branches beginning to bud. I actually had to determine whether or not this was a good idea and finally decided that one of the reasons trees are here are to provide beauty for us to enjoy. Soooo, I cut some branches and arranged them in one of my favorite vases. 

Then I made some crepe paper buds. I looked online for ideas but all I could find was tissue paper flowers- like carnation sized. I just want little buds.

I drew flower shape onto the tissue paper in various sizes and then cut them out.

I pinched them in the middle, then twisted the center where I was pinching the tissue paper.

I used a little dab of glue to hold them in place.

Then I wanted some large flowers that looked like cherry blossoms or something of that scale.

I played around with tissue paper cutting and folding and layering until I got the look just right.

I used a pink marker to outline the edges of one of the layer for just a little pop of pink.

For the larger "flowers" I used some white twisty ties and wrapped each one around the end of a branch.

I actually removed the blue when the shower was over and replaced them with smaller versions of the white ones.

Sorry about the yellow tint- took photos at night.

I'll post more tomorrow on the "how-to" for the faux flowers.


Linked up at Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, Simply Designing,  Nifty Thrifty Things,  Craft Envy, I Heart Nap Time, Tip Junkie and Reasons to Skip the Housework.

Special Touches

I've been working on some special little details for the baby shower I'm throwing, more about that here and  here. I've mentioned that I'm a HUGE believer in planning before undertaking a project. I hate to waste time and (especially) resources on changing your mind or and "whoopsies" that happen. Not a great pet peeve for us DIY undertakers but great planning has helped tremendously.

In my prior posts you can see the some of my inspirations.

I've worked with simple tools to put together my own cupcake flags and prize bags.

These bags were ridiculously easy to put together and they cost me ZERO extra dollars!

They are white paper bags, which I already owned, silver wrapping ribbon, card stock I'd already purchased for the shower and the inspiration stickers I've mentioned.  The turquoise square is 3"x3", the light blue is 2"x2" and the white is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".

Easy, cute, and extra budget friendly!

This is an example of the cupcake toppers I've made. They were even easier than the gift bags. I used some thicker and longer than usual square toothpicks I already owned and and made smaller versions of the decal I put on the gift bag. The turquoise is 2"x2"in and light blue is 1 1/2"x1 1/2". The sticks are just taped on the back, so easy it's ridiculous!

Linked up at Chic on a Shoestring , Simply Designing, Stuff and Nonsense,  Tip Junkie,  Tatertots and Jello and Reason to Skip the Housework!

Pom Poms

I know these are all over the Internet since Martha Stewart had a online tutorial, so obviously these are no secret. But darn aren't they cute! I am planning a baby shower for a gal who is still a student. So when I planned the decoration for the shower I tried to incorporate projects she could keep in the nursery as part of the decor, like this. Shoot, I wish I had a kiddo just so I could put them up in their room.
So deciding on this project was a piece of cake! 

Here's what I started the project with:

tissue paper-6 packs of 8 sheets each to do 6 pom pom balls
twist ties
scissors
fishing line (not pictured)

 Now, accordion fold 1 1/2 in sections of tissue paper starting with the shorter side or the width of the paper.
Note! You do not need to have very tight compressed folds. The ones that I did lightly folded were MUCH easier!



Once folded it will look like the picture to the right. Secure the the middle and then attach your fishing line.

Now round out the the ends of the paper to your desired asthetic. I tried every pair of scissors in my house. Seriously, the sharper the better for this part.

Lay your "fan" flat and start separating the tissue paper. Be careful to separate each layer. You want the top layer to end up sticking straight up in the air (at 90 degree angle to table).

Don't meticulously separate the paper into neat layers for this project. I did the first one very slowly  making sure each layer was pulled straight our and still folded like an accordion etc. It doesn't look that good- less full and fluffy.

 

Instead, just wiggle your fingers to the center and start lifting the paper up. Make sure you separate the layers all the way to the center, that's how the ball becomes full.

Whatever you do, do not do this project at 1 am and then forget to cut one side of the pom pom into the curved shape and then start to separate it and then realize it and try to fix it layer by layer.

It WILL look like crap. 

Not that I did that. ; )

Check me out on Check me out on Tater Tots and Jello, Simply Sweet Home, Tip Junkie and Creation Corner!

Penchant for Pennants

I am making a pennant banner as a part of the decorations for the baby shower I throwing. When I was scouring the craft stores for a month looking for the best deals possible I found a cute book of scrapbooking paper for half off. It was already a pretty good deal at $10 but at half off I couldn't say no. It isn't specifically baby themed but that works for me. I wanted to make something with his name on it so that it could be hung in his nursery as a part of the decor.

Baby's name will be Gerret- so six letters. I chose four different patterns of paper. Two plain in shades of blue and two patterned for the top layer. The scrapbook paper is 12x12 and this allows me to do three triangles per sheet at 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. I'm using a regular old paper cutter to cut it cleanly. The top triangle I'm making 1 1/2 smaller in width and 2 inches shorter in length. I used scissors similar to pinking shears for a more decorative top triangle.

To do the letters I had to improvise. All of you super crafty people will turn to your cricket machines or whatever method you have for cutting out letters that look awesome. You could also do chipboard letters. 

For a couple of reasons I went old school on this, I mean super old school. I used a stencil and painted on the name.



I would have preferred to have the name cut out- but I though painting it would look cleaner than tracing the stencils and then cutting the letters out by hand.

 It was actually hard to find a paint that would cover those bold polka dots. In the end an oil paint worked the best. Thankfully I had a bunch of different options already so it was no trouble to try tons of options.

I expectantly ended up with little triangles scraps when I cut out the large ones. They measure about 2x6in.

I was able to use them to make a small pennant that I think I will use for the front of the table.

What a fun little bonus decoration for basically no extra work or effort. Love when that happens!

I was featured on 
 Simply Sweet Home!

I'm linked to Tater Tots and Jello, Stuff and Nonsense, I heart Nap Time, Craft Envy, Funky Junk Interiors, Tip Junkie and Creation Corner!

Diaper Cake

Originally I decided to do a tower of cupcakes for the centerpiece on the refreshment table. Then I saw this gorgeous photo and I decided that I need to have that as my centerpiece. That left me with a tower of cupcakes for one side of the table and a pitcher of branches for the middle. I really needed something else substantial to balance out the other side of the table. I was thinking a diaper cake would give good height and would double as a gift.

Now I know I'm going to make one, I just have to figure out how! I turned to the internet for ideas and inspiration.

This will be the inspiration "cake". There's a ton of different ones out there, but this is the look I'm going for. 

I like the how colorful it is, how there's no crazy toys hanging off and how you can't see the diapers. But I seriously wish I had a cricket, people!

I know I want to work in the theme stickers I've incorporated in so many other places and probably the pennant card stock as well. I'm certain I will be using the same ribbon again because  these choices will make for a cohesive table without adding any extra cost.

All this planning ahead of time helps me to find the best deals on materials and ensures the table will look awesome with just the right amount of refreshments and embellishments.

Really though, doesn't this seem like a of of extra work just because I fell in love with this centerpiece? But not once did I consider ditching this new idea!

Shower Goodies

Today I'm getting the invites out for the upcoming shower. The shower I'm planning if for a friend I've worked with in the nursery at my church. The shower is for her church friends only and 30ish people are invited

A few weeks ago I did a plan for the shower and made an exhaustive list of things I'd be looking for. This way I would have it on hand no matter where I am I'd be prepared. This helped me take advantage of some great sales, especially when I wasn't out shopping for the shower specifically.

Z and I were at Pier 1 looking for lamps, of course, and found some incredible deals for the shower instead!

I was brainstorming how to do gift bags for under a dollar a bag/prize. I couldn't find a better deal than that in all my searches but I kept coming back to a pack of white paper bags I had purchased for when I was working in the nursery ( hand puppets.) Then last night my search for ways to make these very plain bags cute and decorative brought me back to my favorite baby shower inspiration blog, bumpsmitten.

Not bad right? I'm pretty sure I could do something like this and have them turn out dang cute.

It's Baby Time!

I've been working on putting together a baby boy shower for the last few weeks. I did a lot of internet image searching for inspiration, then saved all the pics I liked. I want the shower to look professionally done and my goal in every endeavor is a lot of bang for my buck.

I made a list of all my possible ideas and then my next step was to hit up every craft store in my area. Over the past few weeks I've checked prices on each decorating possibility, at each store, and then looked online to quadruple check for good deals.

I've been really inspired by these images. 

Image from bumpsmitten.com

image from bumpsmitten.com

Things I love include the cohesive color scheme, simple and classic platters, the banner,  minimal food choices that look amazing and yummy, and the small details that make this look over the top.

So I adopted these starting points and made a color scheme of navy and turquoise with pops of golden yellow. I developed a theme, it will be "a star is born". Made some smart menu choices that will mimic the look of my inspiration tables. Then went crazy at the craft stores buying the best priced items I could find.

One of the most important choices you can make is decorations. I pulled my inspiration from this  baby girl's shower photo.

image from bumpsmitten.com

 I cannot wait to make my own Martha Stewart inspired "puffs" for over the table! She has a full tutorial on her website. I founf colored tissue paper that make each "poof" or "puff" only a dollar!

You may be noticing a theme from my inspiration photos. They all hail from a fantastic website that provides ideas for every budget.

I can't wait to post updates on this topic. I will be working on the banner and gift bags this week.