Birthday Party Prep Part 2 Tissue Paper Pom Poms!

I soooooo wish I were one of those people who could regularly survive on 4 -5 hours of sleep a night. But, I'm not. I need a solid 7 hours, at least. Or I am no fun to be around for a good part of the day.

In realizing this, and my current 'lame' state of health. I have to adjust my expectations. So my previous ambitious list (last post) is being shaved down to a more realistic list. It's looking something like this...

1. Paper Bunting  (Check)
2. Pinwheels  Tissue Paper pom poms (today's post (check))
3. Party favors
4. Sweater Stuffies
5. Birthday Girl Skirts  :(

So that's it. I figure if I can get those few things done, everything else is a bonus!
On with the Pom Poms! I know this isn't a new idea but, I have been wanting to make these for years! My sister recently made some for a friends baby shower. Go check out her blog, its great and she has some really awesome tutorials up. The poms are so pretty, inexpensive, and customizable. I did a little google research and came across this super easy tutorial on Little Miss Crafts. Go check it out.

This is what you'll need:

• Tissue paper in various colors. I picked mine up at the dollar store.
• scissors
• kids hair elastics
• ribbon

Start with 8 -10 pieces of tissue paper. starting at one end begin to make accordion folds, until you fold the entire sheet. Next, secure in the middle with an elastic, and attach a length of ribbon to the elastic. It should look like this....

Next, trim the ends. You can round them, or cut them into points. Like this....

Then you'll want to start separating the layers one by one. Take your time with this step, after a few layers, you'll get the hang of it.

Once they are all separated you will end up with these!

So pretty! Also, you don't have to trim the edges at all. if you don't they will look like the pink one in the bottom of the above photo. If you don't trim the edges, I'd suggest adding a few more sheets of paper for fullness.

Happy Friday, and enjoy! ~ Katrina

***Question: can y'all see my links??? they show up on my phone but not on the desktop.... just curious.***

Happy Birthday November! A Paper Bunting Tutorial.

November is a wonderful month in our house, so much to be thankful for and celebrate. Both of my beautiful daughters were born this month. Mackenzie will be 6 on the 10th, and Coeli will be 4 on the 22nd.

This year we have decided to have a small surprise birthday party, to celebrate their special days. And I have decorations on the brain. And my to-do list is getting long. Full of little projects to create a fun, vibrant atmosphere. So, all week long I'll be sharing those projects with you!

Projects will include:

1. Paper bunting (today)
2. Paper pinwheels
3. party favors
4. Sweater stuffies
5. Birthday girl skirts

Each of the projects can be done in one evening, with things that are easy to find, or already on hand. We'll just say I like it cheap and easy ;)  So, with out further delay........

Vibrant Paper Bunting Tutorial!

First gather your supplies. You'll need:

• Square paper (I used scrapbook paper 10 x10)
• ruler
• pencil
• scissors
• ribbon
• hole punch
• sewing machine (optional)

Step 1: fold a square piece of paper in half, then in half again then in quarters. when you do this only lightly score the edges, this serves as a guide for the next step. When you are finished it should look something like this...

Step 2: Using a straight edge draw a line from the bottom left corner to the top of the first line. Continue connecting the lines on the diagonal,  top to bottom until you have all your triangles. I found that doing it this way you get the most out of your paper. When you are finished it should look like this...

Once you have your first sheet of triangles cut out, you can now use one as a template for the rest.

 Step 3: Start cutting! Th only took me about an hour. When you are finished You'll be left with a lovely pile of colorful triangles.

Step 4:  This step has two options. Option 1: you can hole punch the top two corners of every triangle and lace with ribbon or string. Option 2: Or you can do what I did, and sew them together. I was a little nervous at first, having never sewn paper. But, It proved to be pretty easy, and I think much faster than the first option. I also think they will hang better when sewn. If you chose to sew them together, use some scraps first and test the tension and stitch length. When you are almost finished one triangle, lift the presser foot, and just slightly overlap the top of the next triangle. It's really that easy.

Step 5: Once you have sewn all your triangles to the desired length, punch a hole in each end.

 Then loop ribbon, like so...

Now they are ready to hang!

 

Make sure to check back tomorrow for another Birthday party tutorial! Happy Bunting! ~ Katrina

Chevron, Chevron.

The title of this post only works if you say it, a la David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) in Dazed and Confused. Right on, right on. get it....?  I'm a dork. Soooo, moving on :)

It's been a month! Yikes. I never intended to go this long with out a post...... where did the time go? I have been busy, busy, busy. Painting my house, Canadian Thanksgiving, still trying to balance being a wife and mom to 3 kiddos, a teething baby, and trying to feel like a normal human in the midst of it all....but some how I still manage to find time for projects and painting. This next post and tutorial all started with a piano......

This is our piano. I found it for free on craigslist last year. Unfortunately, it's been living in our garage for the past year. When the movers delivered it, they decided it was too much work to move it up our front porch, and demanded more money. When we refused, they left it in our drive way. Not knowing how to properly move a piano, it went in to the garage, where it remained till some awesome friends offered to help us out. Just in time for The husbands birthday this year. It's the gift that keeps on giving! 

This is where inspiration began. With the piano now in the house, we needed a rug to go beneath it. To help protect the tiles below, and for sound quality. So, I began my hunt for rugs. Which ended pretty quickly when I realized there is nothing available in the size I need, and the style I wanted. That settled it. I decided to make what I wanted. Looking around the blog world for inspiration I came across a post over at Little Green Notebook ,I quickly remembered that I had the same two spare Ikea rugs from our old house that just never seemed to work. I was going to dye them, but this just looked so much more fun! So if you want to do this project at home this is what you'll need:

• Rug with a low pile or woven, like this Ikea one that I used. only $8.99
• White masking tape in varying widths. I picked mine up at the dollar store. $2
• box cutter, also from the dollar store. $1
• small size sponge paint roller $2
• paint of your choice. I used a fog grey, that I already had.
• tarp and gloves (if using oil based paint, which I did)

1. You'll want to measure your rug and decided where you want the 'V' to meet. I kept it simple by folding my rug in quarters and then using pencil, lightly marked the crease of every fold.
2.  Next, start taping. You can make any pattern you want. I went with a varying width pattern. This is the step where your box cutter comes in handy. when I came to each point, where I wanted to change the angle I just lightly scored the tape with the blade. Then you get a nice clean line and angle for your next piece of tape.  Also, I found that the green painters tape does NOT work. I taped off the whole rug in the green tape, only to come back to paint it the next morning, to find all the tape had curled off.
3. Once you have finished taping off your rug, you can start painting. I had paint on hand that I chose to use. I didn't realize that it was an oil base, but I really like the finished product. You will only want a tiny bit of paint on the roller. If you coat the roller then your finished product will most likely be a crunchy rug. A little paint goes a long way with this project. It should look something like this...

                     4. Now wait. This is always the hardest part for me! I left mine over night. Removing the tape 

was practically the first thing I did in the morning and I was SO pleased with the results! The paint on the tape was still tacky, so it couldn't hurt to let it go longer.

Et voila! You have a chevron print rug. I also think that this project could be done in so many different applications. What about faux bois, or a plaid. Endless possibilities! Have fun and please send me a photo if you make your own! Bonsoir till next time people, and I promise it will be sooner than a month!